First Day of School Idea

On the first day of school last year, I took a minute to speak with each child in my class.  I sat next to the child and showed them the metal board that I had bought at Target.  I told them it said "Hello my name is" and that I would like them to write their name in the white area.  I then took a picture of the child holding the sign. That first night I put all of the children's pictures and pictures of my assistant and myself on our classroom website.  The whole project was super easy but it gave me a quick little check on where each student was (at least as far as writing their name and answering a few questions about themselves and their summer).  It was also very appreciated by the parents who could look up pictures of their child's classmates when they were trying to put a face with a name.   

Our classroom website (we use myclassroomconnection.com) where I post a newsletter and photos every week.

It also ended up as part of my "end of year keepsake" that I gave the kids.  I used CollageIt to make a collage of all of the pictures.

I made a second collage of pictures I took at the very end of our school year. I asked each child what they wanted to be when they grew up.  I wrote their answer on the red back of the "Hello my name is board."  I should have let the children write their answers themselves (or at least sign the board) but I was doing this at the very last minute (second to last day ?!?) and was afraid I wouldn't get through everyone.  I made a second collage and then laminated the two collages together.

Both the parents and  kids liked seeing how they had grown over the year and I am sure the laminated keepsake will be fun to look back on in future years.