Graduation People Decorations for Preschool Plus a Free Printable

We make these little "graduation people" every year for our grad celebration at preschool.

We attach them to the bulletin board at the front of the classroom along with the words, Class of 201_,  as part of our ceremony decorations.

To make the people, we provide basic paper cutouts (head, cap and gown) and googly eyes.

The preschoolers glue the pieces together and then add details to make it look more like themselves.

We provide yellow, black, orange and brown paper strips so students can choose a colour that matches their own hair.  

If someone has curly hair, we help them use a pair of scissors to curl the strips.

Kids are encouraged to use markers to draw on details like eyelashes, freckles, glasses (if they wear glasses!) and rosy cheeks to make each one unique!

We also provide bows to use as bow ties for the boys or hair bows for the girls. (Usually the bow tie is not on top of the writing, as below, though! :))

In previous years, our graduation people looked like this. Cute, but no writing element.  

This year we thought the display would be even more fun for parents and kids if it included something to read, as well.

So we scribed each child's ideas about either what they learned in preschool or what they enjoyed most about preschool on a printable page.

If you'd like a copy of this page for your own project, I'm happy to share it with you HERE.

There's one for preschool graduation.

And one for Kindergarten graduation.

Check out THESE POSTS for additional graduation ideas and decorations!

Free Student Award Printable and Graduation Decoration

We like to change up our graduation display a bit every year.  

We have lots of parents who attend our preschool graduation multiple times with each of their children so we like to keep things FRESH!  :)

This year one of our displays featured these STAR awards.

The awards were printed on yellow paper.  

Printing on cardstock is best, but if that's not an option they can be printed on regular coloured paper, too.  

Here is a sample printed on yellow paper.  
After we wrote the star qualities, the kids smeared gold sparkle glue around the edges to make it look nice and glittery and then we mounted it on royal blue paper!

Teachers can choose two star qualities to add to each star OR teachers can choose ONE quality and have students choose the other one to describe themselves.  

If you choose the latter option, you may want to brainstorm a list of positive qualities as a class to give your students lots of ideas from which to choose!

Here is what the stars looked like hanging from the ceiling for our display.

To hang them, we attached pieces of fishing line to the ceiling and then taped a number of stars to each line.  

I hope this idea helps add to your graduation celebration!

For more graduation ideas, take a peek at another graduation post HERE. 

 

To pick up your free Star Award/Decoration printable, visit my Teach Easy Resources shop on Teachers Pay Teachers!

 Happy Graduation!

Five for Friday - Preschool Graduation

This was the last week of school before summer.
And it was a busy one! 

 I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share five happenings from my week!

We wrapped up the year with our three year olds by celebrating with a "glow in the dark" bowling party!

With the help of the gutter covers, our little guys actually made some really good throws! 

There may have been one or two lofted balls added into the mix, but no one seemed to mind!

Our 4 year old students each made a "mini me" in cap and gown to decorate our walls for graduation.  

I think the little "graduate" below may be wearing his cap upside down...

But no matter!  

We love it when each little character is unique - just like our students!

To see more of our preschool graduation decorations, click {here}.

After hanging all of our decorations on Thursday, the big day arrived and our 4 year olds had their graduation ceremony!  

I think I was more nervous than they were.... 

Why?  Who's to say?  But everything went smoothly!

Here is the song we played while the children did their procession down the aisle.

I don't know why this song moves me so much, but it does!

(Note:  If you are having trouble seeing this link, you may need to view it directly from my blog.)

At the party, Miss Danica and I were very spoiled with gifts from our preschool parents. 

We were so lucky to have such a helpful and supportive parent community this year.  

We will miss them right along with missing their kids!

I celebrated the end of the year once I got home by having a nice, big...

NAP 

with my favourite napping partner!

Although I'll still be working at other things this summer, my schedule will be a little more flexible than when school is in session.  

I'm so looking forward to having the time to catch up on my sleep!

Ah, summer!

To check out others' Five for Friday posts, connect to the linky party 

on Doodle Bugs Teaching {here}!

  

Preschool Graduation - Ideas for Celebrating this Special Day

We're on the final countdown till the end of the school year.  

8 days left and lots to do!  Scrapbooks to set up, Father's Day party to organize, Father's Day gifts to wrap, graduation gifts for the kids to prepare, diplomas to roll, songs to practice, graduation decorations 
to make....

Whew!  

How many days left, again?  :)

I can't yet post photos from this year's party, but I thought I'd post a few images from last year.  

Our set up this year will likely be somewhat similar. 

Here's the sign I made for the entrance last year.  

I think it's safely tucked away so I am hoping I'll be able to use it again!

The sign is attached to our rolling circle time calendar.  

I just covered the racks at the bottom with paper to make it look presentable.

You can see all the sparkles on the close-up!

Below is the bulletin board we created to act as a backdrop. 

Each child made a little figure that looked somewhat like themselves.  (Well, in terms of the hair colour, anyway!)
Some of the kids only wanted their figure to have ONE eye and such!  
I may want to crack down on that next year! :)

In front of this board was a "crayon" banner featuring each student's name.  

(Names have been blocked out for privacy.)

  The children decorated the crayons by adding black stripes, stickers, sequins, etc.

Here's the full picture of the bulletin board/banner combo.

Another option for the banner is to create one with balloons.  

To make this banner, just use a needle and thread, poking the needle through the tied end of your balloons.

Here's a full class picture from the year we made the balloon banner.

You'll notice a star display board on the right of the photo.  
Click HERE to see what's written on the stars and to get a free printable!  

As a gift for the kids, Ms. Danica took a photo of each child in a cap and gown outside in the garden area. 

They were all posing with the Dr. Seuss book, 

"The Places You'll Go!" 

I placed the photos inside some frames and we displayed them on a table at the ceremony.
Here's a sample of a few of them.

After performing the songs and receiving their diplomas,   we usually have a potluck lunch. 

Then we send the children home with their photos, their class pillowcases click here, and their scrapbooks.  

Yep, it's a lot of work, but of course every preschooler deserves a good send off.

Entering elementary school and leaving the world of preschool behind is a big deal!

Preschool or Kindergarten Graduation Keepsake for Your Students

A year-end tradition at our preschool is to make

Handprint Pillowcases.

It's a bit of a time-consuming project, but an awesome keepsake for the kids and well worth the effort.

We start the process by asking all of the students to bring in a pillowcase.  We mark each child's pillowcase with his/her name on a piece of masking tape.

Before we get the students involved, we write a poem in the middle of each pillowcase with a fabric pen.

  Thanks to Ms. Danica for taking on this task!

Here is a close up of the poem.

 (I'll apologize now for all the yellow overlays covering the students' names.  Privacy before beauty!)

Once the poems have been added, 

it's time for the kids to do their part!

We set up our fabric paint and start making some prints!

We work with one student at a time and take him/her around to ALL of the pillowcases to make a handprint. 

To keep the process efficient, we try to keep the placement of each child's handprint consistent (i.e., "Sarah's" handprint will be in the top left corner of every pillowcase).

We also have each child use the same handprint colour throughout. 

We lay the pillowcases on tables so that we can just move from one to the next as we make our prints.

For our collection of twenty pillowcases, we needed three tables.

Beside each handprint, we write the child's name in fabric pen.

And on the back of the pillowcases we'll be adding prints of both my hand and Ms. Danica's hand.

We had TWO parents come in to help the children make the handprints and assist with writing the children's names by their handprint with a fabric pen.

Thank goodness for parent helpers!

This project takes some time, but it's definitely worth it.

  

The children love their pillowcases and it will be a great way to remember all of their friends from preschool.

The hard part will be getting them to wait until the last day of school to take them home! :)