Summer birthdays: do you expect the teacher to do anything?

[Anonymous]

This isn’t hard - celebrate all or none. I do question why a teacher doesn’t seem to understand such a simple concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wtf how is this a big deal to pick a day and celebrate summer birthdays? Kids love being celebrated for their birthday. People like you should not be teachers.

Omg I cannot believe you just said OP shouldn’t be a teacher because she’s not celebrating summer kids birthdays.
You absolutely SUCK.

OP shouldn’t be a teacher because she puts more effort into writing a post complaining about her class to an anonymous message board than spending 5 minutes helping all kids in her class feel special for birthdays. She absolutely should not be a teacher, she should actually be fired, and I certainly hope you’re not either. More good teachers, wayyyyyy less OPs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t hard - celebrate all or none. I do question why a teacher doesn’t seem to understand such a simple concept.

+1000

[Anonymous]

If OP can’t be bothered to put a cardboard birthday hat on what, 6 kids? And lead a round of happy birthday I cannot imagine how severely neglected this class is in all aspects. OP, can anyone in your class read? You’re in the wrong profession.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and no parent has ever asked me what I have planned for THEIR child's birthday, whenever it is. Many parents ask if they can bring in treats to share but that's it. I give the birthday kid a hat to wear (I teach kindergarten) and they can choose something from my prize box.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the logic that if you would celebrate a birthday that fell on winter or spring break at school (or even just on a weekend), you should also celebrate the summer birthdays. It's all or none.

I think the best school approach to birthdays I've seen is to once a month have a an all-school birthday part for every kid who has a birthday party that month, in the cafeteria at the end of a Friday. It was not my school but if I had kids in elementary now, I'd suggest it. It takes the pressure off teachers to host the school parties, and it means that all kids share their birthday celebrations with a bunch of other kids, so it promotes kids being unselfish and not having to have a day just for them. It also makes it very easy to ensure kids whose parents can't afford to bring in cupcakes or other treats also get to be celebrated. You don't wind up with comparison among kids or parents for the individual birthday celebrations.

And this approach makes it easy to cover summer birthdays without even doing a special separate party for them. You just do the August birthdays at the beginning of the year (including the kids whose birthdays were before schools tarted) and you add the July birthdays to the June party. Very easy.

[Anonymous]

Unnecessary.

-an August kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and no parent has ever asked me what I have planned for THEIR child's birthday, whenever it is. Many parents ask if they can bring in treats to share but that's it. I give the birthday kid a hat to wear (I teach kindergarten) and they can choose something from my prize box.

That person may be odd but this should be very simple. You say "I do nothing" or you tell them the designated day the summer kids get to wear the hat. You have a birthday plan, just share it with the asking parent. Nothing should surprise you anymore about parents. I can't believe a real kindergarten teacher doesn't know that already.

[Anonymous]

We have two July boys. One in 1st and one in 4th. Most teachers seem to celebrate half birthdays or towards the end of the year. Our school is a “food free celebration” school so it isn’t as big of a deal as if your parent could bring in cupcakes or what not. They get to bring in their favorite book for the teacher to read of get a sticker. Uneventful and neither of them would care if they missed it.

[Anonymous]

Schools celebrate student birthdays?
Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and no parent has ever asked me what I have planned for THEIR child's birthday, whenever it is. Many parents ask if they can bring in treats to share but that's it. I give the birthday kid a hat to wear (I teach kindergarten) and they can choose something from my prize box.

My July kids would want to wear the hat and choose something from the prize box. They'd ask themselves, but I could absolutely see a shyer kid asking their mom and wanting their mom to ask.

[Anonymous]

Maybe celebrate half birthdays but if that wasnt your policy at the start of the year, do it next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and no parent has ever asked me what I have planned for THEIR child's birthday, whenever it is. Many parents ask if they can bring in treats to share but that's it. I give the birthday kid a hat to wear (I teach kindergarten) and they can choose something from my prize box.

My July kids would want to wear the hat and choose something from the prize box. They'd ask themselves, but I could absolutely see a shyer kid asking their mom and wanting their mom to ask.

No kindergarten teacher worth her salt would single kids out like that and not expect blowback from the kids intentionally left out. Kids live for this stuff, they aren't going to let it go by unnoticed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and no parent has ever asked me what I have planned for THEIR child's birthday, whenever it is. Many parents ask if they can bring in treats to share but that's it. I give the birthday kid a hat to wear (I teach kindergarten) and they can choose something from my prize box.

My July kids would want to wear the hat and choose something from the prize box. They'd ask themselves, but I could absolutely see a shyer kid asking their mom and wanting their mom to ask.

No kindergarten teacher worth her salt would single kids out like that and not expect blowback from the kids intentionally left out. Kids live for this stuff, they aren't going to let it go by unnoticed.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and no parent has ever asked me what I have planned for THEIR child's birthday, whenever it is. Many parents ask if they can bring in treats to share but that's it. I give the birthday kid a hat to wear (I teach kindergarten) and they can choose something from my prize box.

My July kids would want to wear the hat and choose something from the prize box. They'd ask themselves, but I could absolutely see a shyer kid asking their mom and wanting their mom to ask.

No kindergarten teacher worth her salt would single kids out like that and not expect blowback from the kids intentionally left out. Kids live for this stuff, they aren't going to let it go by unnoticed.

+100

I have a summer birthday kid. In kindergarten, he and the other summer birthday kid were excluded from wearing the birthday crown and picking a prize from the box. Towards the end of the year, the other kid asked if they were going to get a chance to wear the crown and was told the birthday stuff had been put away. He’s in high school and still remembers being upset by it.

If you don’t celebrate any birthdays, it’s fine. If you only celebrate the kids who have a birthday on a school day, then it’s fine to exclude the summer kids. If you recognize weekend or school year holiday break birthdays, then you should figure out away to recognize the summer kids.