Happy Birthday

There are birthday stickers, crowns, certificates and more all available for purchase.

I like to keep the celebration personal and simple.

I read Heartprints by H.A.Hallinan at the beginning of the year and retread it a few other times throughout the year.  It is a quick story about being kind to others.  I have the birthday student come to the front of the class.  I fill-in information to write a short story about them.
The story is:

Today is your birthday!  (Or future or past date if it was over a weekend or vacation. Though, you know, kids only have birthdays on weekends.  That is usually when their home party takes place.  Young children sometimes haven't figured out the dates yet.)
You are _____years old today! (You will be __years old !)
Your favorite color is ____.
Your favorite food is ___.
Your favorite thing to do in kindergarten is ____.
Hip hip hooray, today is your birthday!

On the backside of the paper, each classmate signs their name as a heartprint wish to celebrate the birthday.  Some classes can tell a word to describe birthday child such as  Kind, friendly, good helper, artist...we talk about what they like about the friend.  I try to stay away from "I like your shirt, hair...." but this is more difficult until the end of the year.


Then we sing a special birthday song and "move" their candle.  This is a big deal!
I have a line of candles for students whose age is 5 years old, 6 years old and 7 years old.

We count how many candles are on each line, how many are left and which row has more/fewer.  The candles are arranged by birthdate so the candle on the end will be next to be moved.

Our school announces birthdays each morning, and they get to walk to the office for a birthday pencil.

If the child brings a snack, they can choose a friend helper(s) to assist with passing it out.

Student can also:
-line leader
-special class helper (pass out papers, monitor, book holder, light helper, do an errand...)
-choose an extra story to be read,
-choose a class game, song, video

Birthdays don't need to be about what you can get, but a day to remember how special you are and how you can lead or help the class.