Mermaids, Birthdays, and A.R.

We've had a busy, busy few days!!

Yesterday, we had birthday party to go to...it was Little Mermaid themed.






We LOVE The Little Mermaid!!

It was my FAVorite growing up.

eh...who am I kidding? It's STILL my fave...lol. I can sing all the songs, and say all the words.

Photo: Swim time! http://instagr.am/p/MLvNBzuxZZ/

This girl is a swimmin' fool!!


Doesn't matter what the body of water is  - beach, pool, bathtub, puddle...lol.

She's a happy girl in the water....just like her mama!


The birthday host gave goggles to everyone who came as a "thank you" gift...

A LOVED them...lol

She wore them for the rest of the day...



hahahaha!!!

Sorry, I just HAD to show you....

but that brings me to a question I've had for a while.

Why has it become customary that we, as birthday party hosts, have to give out "thank you" gifts to the guests?
I mean, we spend all this money on the food, decorations, possibly a rental of some sort, and all kinds of other things - I just don't get it.
Don't we give out thank you cards??
Can someone let me in on this secret? I mean, for our thank you gifts, it's usually a craft that the kids do while they are at our parties...I mean, that's good, right??

Anyway, back on track....

Then we went up to St. Augustine for a bit - remember??

I went to Flagler College up there....BEAUTIFUL college.

I still have friends up there...

One of my friends was having a birthday party.

So we went, but we also visited some other friends...

We had lunch at the place I worked while going to school up there -
Photo: Having lunch at my old stompin' ground http://instagr.am/p/MOSZGTuxfc/

And A got to play with some of her friends...ok, a LOT of her friends...and swim in the pool - AGAIN..

Check out my "totally 80s" girl...hehe

Photo: My totally 80s girl http://instagr.am/p/MOIKkTOxY1/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Squirrel~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Monday, Tara posted her Made it Monday craft she did...and they were birthday tags, owl themed.
So SUPER cute!!
But I'm not doing an Owl theme...

I'm doing the beach theme...
So I decided to make my own :)


Like the circles??? I got all techy with my hub's Corel Draw program...I feel all special now..lol

And here are the surfboard tags.


What do you do with them??

Well, you can attach them to whatever you get for the kids, but I was going to hole punch each end of the surfboard and then "thread" a silly straw or pencil through both holes...and you can do the same with the circles.
You can get them from my TpT for free :)

AND

I FINALLY got around to making my pirate A.R. theme pack into a beach/surfing theme :)

I absolutely LOVE it!!!


There are surfer bookmarks with A.R. levels, genre and series graphs, reading logs and A.R. quiz logs, bulletin board pieces so they can "surf" to each island as they grow in A.R. points, monthly goal sheets and a certificate if/when they reach that month's goal, a poster for skill focus during reading (with suggestions), and a letter to the parents.

If you would like a different theme, I am open to suggestions!!
Also, I know some of you do reading counts, and I was trying to make this fit for that as well, but I don't know enough. If you are someone who wants this set made for Reading Counts, please let me know and we can work it out!

And I leave you with THIS smile...



I mean, seriously....how can that NOT make you smile?!?!

17 comments

Kindertrips said...

I am an ocean themer so your freebie tags are something I will download- thank you! Your children are precious!
Jennifer
kindertrips

Jessica said...

The Little Mermaid was my favorite too! I can still sing the songs too. I know birthdays are strange now a days. We just threw a huge surprise birthday party for my dad and after sending thank you notes to those who came we received thank you notes for inviting people.
Jessica

Apples and Papers

Brandi said...

I'd love a sports themed AR pack! I also sing all of the little mermaid songs!

Brandi
Success in Second Grade

Journey of a Substitute Teacher (Ms. T) said...

I LOVE The Little Mermaid :)

And B's smile lights up a room! I'm grinning still :)

Journey of a Substitute Teacher
Endless Pinabilitites!

Emily said...

Ooh girl! I wore out my VHS tape of The Little Mermaid so my grandma bootlegged me a copy! I've called a fork a dinglehopper ever since that movie.

I love how you are so good at balancing your family and school stuff. I need tips! =)

Emily @ Second Grade Silliness 

Corinna said...

Your girls are the sweetest!! I also and a Little Mermaid fan. My daughter and I were mermaids for Halloween last year:)

Aloha,
Corinna
Surfin' Through Second

Susie Q said...

This last picture is too much! You made my day. Thank you for sharing it.

Learning With Susie Q

susieqsclass@gmail.com

The Colorful Apple said...

The Little Mermaid was always my favorite too! My husband thinks I'm cuh-razy when I sing all the songs! The goggle spicture is so cute!

Sara :)
Smiling In Second Grade

Heather's Heart said...

Your little one's picture is a good reminder that we need to enjoy life and laugh because we are all very blessed. =)


Heather
Heather's Heart

Lisa R. said...

OMG...love the goggles picture!! How stinkin' cute! My daughter would've gone crazy over a Little Mermaid birthday party. She is all into Disney Princesses right now. Love, love, love those birthday stickers that you made!! I have my eye on your pirate products- I plan on scooping it up as school gets closer!
Lisa
Learning Is Something to Treasure

Brandi said...

Thanks for working on the sports theme!

Brandi
Success in Second Grade

Amber @ Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher said...

The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie! Always has been too!

Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher

Amy C said...

I love Surfin Through AR! It is on my wishlist!

Traci Clausen said...

Ok... IDK WTH happened... I've missed a zillion posts of yours. They never showed up on my blog scroll, nor my reader... BUT google didn't remove me as a follower of yours. Google really shouldn't get it my way like this!!

How AMAZING is that smile?!?!

Emily said...

Thank you so much for sharing. I've never had a theme classroom before, but I am really thinking a surf/beach theme would be perfect! Thanks!

Jen R said...

Emily - I have lots of beach themed stuff in my TpT! :)

internetexplorer said...

This is my sister's favorite theme. It's sweet, colorful and just suits a kid's innocence. Glad to be exploring the net and found great Little Mermaid birthday party ideas like this. THis is going to be my niece's party theme next year. yehey <3 God bless always! I would love to pin some photos from this post hope it's find with you.

Back to Top