There's a first time for Everything...

This is my very first blog post. I figure I'll start with one of my favorite events of the entire school year, the Mother's Day Tea. I first got the idea of holding a tea from Joanne at Head Over heels for Teaching. She is my inspiration. She's absolutely amazing. She has such creative and wonderful ideas. I've used most of them in my class, but put my own twist on them as well. I knew I wanted to do something special for the mothers in my room. I started to prepare for the tea by buying a mother's day tea bundle on TPT. Click here to see the exact bundle that I used. This allowed me to create a drink menu and seating cards for my tables. I brought in actual teacups from home, but the computer teacher and art teacher also donated some cups (how sweet of them!) They are so good to me. I first had Save the Date magnets made on Vistaprint and mailed them out about a month prior to the tea. When it got closer to the date of the tea, I sent out invitations home to get a head count.

Here is a picture of the table set up. Almost all of the decor was purchased at the DollarTree aka teacher heaven. I informed students that if mom couldn't make the tea, they could have any other female role model to join in the festivities. I wanted to make sure that each student had someone to represent them. I make sure at Back to School Night I mention the tea to give parents the heads up. I really make it point to explain how important it is for them to support their children and try and make every effort to attend. I even make sure that my mom is there as well.

Before I made the menus you see pictured above, I went to the store and decided which flavors of tea I wanted to serve. I also made iced tea, lemonade, and water to serve as cold drinks  I went to Costco and picked up different treats like brownie bites, scones, and fruit. I also picked up some yellow roses and gave one to each of my students to hand to their mothers as we escorted them upstairs to the classroom.  During the tea, my students served their mothers, making sure they didn't get up at all. We also played a game of "Mother's Day" Bingo that featured influential women from around the world. I had picked up some prizes at the dollar store for the winners. To top it off, each child wrote something special about their mother and read it in front of the class. There wasn't a dry eye in the room! I also took a picture of each child with their mother. I ordered prints on Shutterfly and am going to pick up frames and have them sent home. We wear uniforms in our school, so I asked my principal if they could change into nicer clothing when they got to school. Most of the girls wore a dress and the boys wore khakis and a colored shirt. I told me they couldn't wear jeans. I wanted to make sure they looked their best for the picture. What a success!!!   I want to thank Joanne for giving me such a great idea. I can't wait to do this next year!! Check out her blog here