Instead Of An Apple For The Teacher, How About An Apple FROM the Teacher?

Yikes! It's July 19th; how'd that happen?  Every year summer zooms by like no other season.  I feel like I was just blogging about end-of-the year activities, and now my wheels are spinning dreaming up stuff for fall! 

Seeing all of the adorable back-to-school displays, certainly puts one in the mood and generates excitement for the wonderful loss-leaders and discounts on school supplies.  Nothing like the smell of a brand new box of crayons to get the energy and creative juices flowing.

One of my favorite summer projects, was putting together treat bags for my Y5's first day, or dreaming up some other little gift that would make them feel special and welcome.  Since I often taught two alternating classes (40+ total kiddos), I looked for something quick and easy on the budget.

We have lots of apples here in Michigan, and all sorts of orchards surrounding my school, so I did all kinds of activities with an apple theme.  One of my Y5's favorite snacks was dipping apple slices in caramel.  

Since an apple is super-healthy, I thought it would be a wonderful alternative to the usual treat bags or candy for a first day gift. (Less time consuming too!)

So they looked more like a welcome gift, I felt the apples needed jazzing up in some way, and wanted a cute saying to put on my green construction paper leaf. 

Cyber space never lets me down.  I found this cute poem on Pinterest.  Amy, over at Positively Splendid came up with this sweet gift tag that she attached to the front of her apple.  She made this as a gift for her son's teacher.  Click on the link to grab her FREEBIE.

I revamped her poem and included a ladybug in mine.  Simply run the leaves off on green construction paper, trim and tape a toothpick to the back, so you can simply poke it into the top of the apple.  Wahla! Your gift is done.  

Besides the poem leaves,  I also have sets where I added:  "Welcome to (preschool, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th grade)!"  to the bottom of the leaves.  To make things more personal, sign the back or bottom of the leaf. 

For that finishing touch, add a ladybug sticker.  If you don't have any on hand, I've included 8 different ladybugs that you can print, trim and glue onto your leaves. 

There's a set of little ones for the smaller leaves, as well as a larger size, if you want to make the big over-sized leaves.  Click on the link to view/download the 1st Day Apple Treat. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. 

Wishing you an "apple-icious" rest of the summer.   I'm off to hit some garage sales with my daughter.  Woo hoo!

"If an apple blossom or a ripe apple could tell its own story, it would be the story of the sunshine that smiled upon it, of the winds that whispered to it, of the birds that sang around it, of the storms that visited it, and of the motherly tree that held it and fed it until its petals were unfolded and its form developed." -Lucy Larcom

1-2-3 Come Sail Away Into Summer With Me!

Are you in the home stretch and dying to scream: "Woo hoo! School is out for summer!"?  I always liked to give a little something to my kiddos on the last day.  

If you'd like to do something that won't break the budget, I think you'll enjoy the Sailing Into Summer pencil fan-boat.  I've been making little fan boats since I was a child (some 50 years ago-oh my!)

In those days, I’d use a Popsicle stick for the mast, but I thought it would be sweet to include a pencil, marker or candy pixie stick, as the pole, to add that little something extra.

I doubt many little ones will catch the play on words with "fantastic" but I just had to include it.

I've also made a template for the beginning of the year, (Sailing into a new school year...) if you'd like to make these treats for your open house or the first day of school.  You could also have your current students make these for your next year's kiddos.

Here's How:

    Run off the boat template on assorted colors of construction paper.

Cut them out; write your students’ name on the front and then sign them.   Run off the “Have fun sailing into summer. I hope it’s fantastic!” sail, on white card stock and cut them out.      

    I colored the mast brown, but you can skip that step and use a glue dot to fasten a wooden pencil, marker, or candy on top.

    If you don’t have glue dots, simply cut 2 slits and insert your treat.  For a bit more pizzazz, I colored the sunshine with a yellow marker.

Fold a sheet of white copy paper 6 or 7 times. I made my width a little less than an inch.  Cut off the excess leaving a 1 inch margin. 

Glue the “sun” sail to the top of this tab. Pinch the top of the folds and staple them together so that they come to a point at the top of the mast.

Place on your students’ desks or tuck in their backpacks on the last day of school. 

Click on the link to view/download the Sailing Into Summer (or a new school year) "craftivity."  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.  My "Pin it" button is at the top.

"In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can." -Michael Korda