WOW MOM (Ideas for Mother's Day and Two Free Printables)

Hi friends.  Hope you are doing well.  I'm down to about two weeks left for this school year.  I cannot believe it!  This time last year I was in total stress mode about my daughter starting kindergarten.  I've always heard that once your children start school time starts moving even more quickly.  I am in complete agreement with that notion.
She has had a wonderful kindergarten year and made so much growth.  She loves her school and especially her teacher.  We were talking last night about her best friends and Ms. M was in the list.  So sweet.

Speaking of sweet, Mother's Day is right around the corner and I'm sure you're planning some sweet surprises for your class moms.  If you are looking for a lovely mentor text to go along with Mother's Day, I highly recommend A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza.

This sweet story follows Choco as he searches for a mother.  He goes from animal to animal comparing physical features to see if he is a match.  He eventually connects with mother bear who brings him into her untraditional family.
Like many of Kasza's books, the students will really enjoy the surprise ending.  This text is wonderful to use with many comprehension skills:  problem and solution, predictions, sequencing, and text to text comparisons (would be great with P. D. Eastman's Are You My Mother?).
I love this book because of the wide scoping definition it gives to what a mother is.  With all of the students that come through my classroom being raised by someone other than their biological mom, A Mother for Choco illustrates how a mother can be anyone who loves and cares for them.

After reading this text, we will complete a thought map about moms.  If you would like a FREE copy of this activity, click on the picture below.  (The clip art is from JW Illustrations.)

We have also been working on a couple of gifts to give to our class moms for Mother's Day.  Yesterday we made our mom glyphs.  They turned out fabulous and the kids had fun making them.

In addition to our mom glyphs, students will also make their My Marvelous Mom booklet.  We'll start work on those later in the week.  But when A saw what I was printing for my students, she wanted a copy.  She gave me my own personal edition of My Marvelous Mom and I LOVE it.

For a FREE copy of this booklet to use with your students, click on the picture below.  If your students are like mine, they will be excited to make these booklets and proud to give them to their moms.  (The clip art is from Scrappin Doodles.)

I hope some of these ideas help you as you plan for Mother's Day with your students.  There are so many wonderful ways for your students to show their moms how much they love them.  I'm sure anything your kids create will be cherished.
Have a great week.