Happy Summer Birthday!
Posted by Hope Spencer on 10 Jul 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Routines, Holiday and Seasonal
My birthday is coming up soon! I have to say, having a summer birthday never really bothered me. I had friends who felt a bit cheated about not being able to celebrate their birthdays at school, but I guess I didn’t notice it. I always had a good time having a birthday party with my grandparents or with other relatives we were visiting during the summer. My little sister’s birthday was in the summer too, three weeks before mine, so I guess that helped me love a summer birthday. But, now that I think about it, it might have been fun to have my mother bring cupcakes to school on my special day just once.
In my classroom, I was careful to make a fuss over students with summer birthdays. Some years we celebrated half-birthdays. Other years, I asked students to choose a day that was special to them and we celebrated that day.
To celebrate, we sang to the birthday child and, depending on the grade I was teaching, decorated his chair, made a card in his honor, or wrote a poem for him. After all, the best part of a birthday, no matter what day it’s celebrated, is making the birthday person feel special.
Here’s hoping all of your birthdays are celebrated in style!
Hope
Congratulations to Kathy Dobbs, director of Kathy’s Family Daycare in Simi Valley, CA. She is the winner of a copy of The Big Book of Monthly Ideas (Pre-K) in our weekly blog drawing.
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42 Responses to “Happy Summer Birthday!”
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More Comments Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 » Show All Comments
I’ve always worked at year-round preschools, so this has never been an issue for me (though great ideas if I’m ever held to the traditional school year!) I’ve always been kinda bummed with my middle of winter birthday… summer birthdays get to have so much more outdoor fun (like pool parties!)
I have to say I can relate. My birthday is in December the 20th to be exact and it often got lost in the shuffle of the holidays in school and having parties were always a challenge because of everything that is going on during that time of the year. I try to make a big deal over my students birthday and I am fortunate that I have been able to celebrate with all of my students because they are all attending a summer camp program at my school this year so that no birthdays will get forgotten.
I always meant to do something in June for summer birthdays but when June rolls around, birthdays are forgotten. After reading the thought about some families not able to afford a party I now see I need to make summer birthdays a priority.
Unfortunately, I usually forget to celebrate summer b-days. I think I will try to celebrate near the end of the year with the last week or two to wrap up.I always give a b-day pencil, but I have wanted to buy the crowns.I think I will go ahead and get them during the summer.
I too often thought about celebrating summer birthdays in the classroom but sorry to say my follow through was sketchy. After reading some of the thoughts and ideas here I will try harder to make everyones special day special.
I liked the bag of the chair idea.
Thanks again to the Mailbox and my colleagues for helping make sure all the little things in life are noticed.
My son’s birthday is the last week of April which is always vacation week for us in New England. He always chose to wait until summer to celebrate because everyone goes away. So it’s not just summer! We recognize August birthday’s in September, and July b’day’s in June.
Neat ideas-
I also celebrate my summer birthday students towards the end of the year. It makes for lots of yummy treats at the end of the year:)
As a teacher, I celebrated everyone’s birthday in my class. We often think about the summer birthdays being hard to celebrate with friends from school but there are other times of the year that it is just as hard to have a well-attended party. I am thinking of the child’s birthday that falls during Thanksgiving or Christmas. Many families are busy with the holiday celebrations so their children do not accept invitations during the holiday breaks. I try to make these children feel even more special during our schooltime celebration of their birthday. Oh, and there are also the children whose families can not afford to have birthday parties. I know my students’ families well-enough to know when this might be an issue. I try to do more for these children, too! Everyone’s birthday should be celebrated!
I too have a summer birthday and always wished I had one during the school year when I was with my school friends.
I talked to my parents of the children with summer birthdays and have them choose a day in a month to have a special “remember my bithday”. They bring a special snack and we sing “Have a Special Day” to the tune of “Happy Birthday”. They wear a crown just like the Birthday children do and have a card or cards made by the children to take home.
When my daughter was in kindergarten, she was upset that she wouldn’t be able to celebrate her birthday because it was a summer birthday, July 13th. So that was the first year we started sending cupcakes in to school on her half birthday–January 13th. It seemed to work out well with all. Christmas was over and everyone was ready to celebrate something else in the middle of a cold and snowy month.
I have a summer birthday in August. Most of my parties with friends were always smaller because a lot of families would travel about that time for their summer vacations. In my classroom, I always make sure that summer birthdays are celebrated at the beginning if they are in August and June and July are usually celebrated in May. This year, I had lots of students to celebrate so I started asking in April if they would like to celebrate. Let’s just say we had lots of yummy treats the last few months of school!
I always like to recognize my student’s birthdays, even the ones who have summer birthdays. My assistant and I have a bag that slips over the birthday child’s chair with decorations and Happy Birthday written on it. We all sing to that child and give them a card with a birthday pencil. Then we let the child pick a gift from the birthday box, which they all love to do. For summer birthdays, we pick a day toward the end of the school year, put the birthday bag over the child’s chair, and also give them the birthday card, pencil and let them pick a gift from the birthday box. This way, summer birthdays are not forgotten, and they are surprised at the same time!