Saturday, May 10, 2014

Spark Student Motivation: Mother's Tea

You made it! It's Saturday! :)

One of the most motivating events in my classroom is my Mother's Tea!  I've been hosting this tea party since almost the beginning of my teaching. It's an immense amount of work, but so worth it! Of course along with academics, I think it's equally important to teach our students the importance of appreciation and kindness.
My Mother's Tea is a tradition in my classroom (always the Friday morning before Mother's Day), so I give my moms the date at Open House, then I send out Save the Date magnets about 1 1/2-2 months before the tea, then official invitations 2 weeks before. I like to give long advance notice for my working moms to assure every student in my class will have someone to represent them.
I set up as much as I can after school the day before and when my students walk in the next morning, they are so surprised and excited! I've collected linens and tea cups for years and have a large enough collection for all of my class sizes that have ranged from 21-32.

My students dress up and arrive early because they are so excited about our long awaited event!
After the mothers have checked in at the front office, each student takes a flower to escort her back to the room. They wait anxiously for me to tell them their mom/grandmother/step-mom is here-this is the first group to go! 
 All of the food is set up on each table for our guests to serve themselves. My students are in charge of getting their drinks (drink menus are on the tables). We practice carrying the teacups so we don't have any accidents! :) (Zero breaks this year!)
After our guests eat, students are welcome to say something to their mothers on the microphone. (Not all students are brave enough to do this, but I allow the opportunity for those who want to). I also open it up for the mothers to say something special to their child (if they're brave enough too).
**This is when the tears start flooding the room! It's all unrehearsed, which makes it more touching. 
 I just LOVE this picture of my student and his mom! Absolutely gorgeous! Precious memories and a time for my students to appreciate the importance of the role models in their lives.
These pictures were sent to me after the tea with sweet thank you messages.
 
 My students write "The Best Part of My Mom" based off of the book "The Best Part of Me" (thanks AMC). These heartfelt messages are keepsakes and treasures!
These messages bring an awareness to my students and their mothers about what they appreciate most!
After the tears are already flowing, I show our end of the year video which brings on more tears (happy and sad). I LOVE my Mother's Tea and I love appreciating my families of my classroom!

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!
Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!
Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

10 comments:

  1. I love every bit of this! Everything looked just perfect for the Mother's Day Tea! How sweet! I also love that you show the end of the year video....precious!

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  2. What a beautiful day for them! The setup is just perfect!

    Not Just Child's Play

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  3. Oh my goodness! This is so perfect!! I could only hope to be as organized as you to do this next year (the save the date magnets are an awesome idea). A truly special event!
    Karli :)
    Creating a Thoughtful Classroom

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  4. What a fun event! I am sure the students and moms loved it! Thank you for sharing this!

    Mary
    Fit to be Fourth

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  5. What a wonderful, meaningful event ~ It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it!

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  6. That's a great idea, a Mother's Tea! One of my teacher friends has "Fancy Friday" before Mother's Day where kiddos get all dressed up and their moms come have lunch with them. So cute!
    -Meg
    TalesandTeacherisms

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  7. I love your Mother's Day Tea - I can't believe you send out save the date magnets - too cute. I still love the Best Part of My Mom writing. Glad you got those 1700 photos sorted out for your video : )
    Happy belated Mother's Day to you - hope your family spoiled you!

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  8. I have tears in my eyes. This is just too beautiful for words. I already knew how special and big your heart is, but this....this just tripled it. I just adore you!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

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  9. This made me tear up just reading! I want to be in your class!!!! You're the best, Mrs. Miller!
    xoxo
    Jivey

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  10. I want to start by saying how fabulous I think you are. You are so dedicated and I love following your blog, you have given me so many great ideas. I would love to have the Mother's Day tea in my room. I also host a poetry cafe in April. Do you think it would be too much for the parents? Also, would you be able to send me a picture or file of your drink menu for the tea. Thank you so much for inspiring me to be a better teacher!

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