By the time Mother’s Day rolls around it’s been a long and tiresome school year. You may be thinking about what you’d like for mother’s day and how you want to relax, not about what you can have your students make for their mothers.
There are so many cute ideas on Pinterest. Really, they are super cute and as a mother, I would love to get them. However, a lot of them also take a lot of prep work or extra materials.
Do you have extra time or money to make a Mother’s Day gift for all of your students’ moms? But the gesture of this gift goes really far, so it’s a great idea to pariticapate. Mom’s get them and tear up. If there was a parent who was difficult because they love their child so much, it helps bring positivity to that relationship too.
I think the biggest complication with creating Mother’s Day gifts is that you need to be aware of students who don’t have a mom. Maybe they have two dads, or their parents are divorced or mom passed away. Be aware of your students’ homelives as you prepare for Mother’s Day.
In the end, sending our students home with a mother’s day gift seems like a no-brainer. So here is how approached Mother’s Day with my students.
Mother’s Day Poem
If you didn’t know already, poetry is my jam. I absolutely love it and moms love it too. Poetry is the perfect gift because it’s free, it doesn’t take very long and it’s heartfelt. Seriously, as an adult, I have written some of these poems for my mom and she just tears up because they tug at the heartstrings so much.
There are no two poems alike, unlike cards, mugs, or plants. It’s your students’ unique thoughts about their mother. What they know and understand is sweet and funny all at the same time.
Here are three poems you can have your students write for their moms.
Mother’s Day Two-Word Poem
I love two-word poems because they are so simple. It’s exactly what it says two words on each line of the poem. Students can write all about their mother, grandma, or another mother figure in their lives.
The tricky and challenging part of a two-word poem is that your students have to think about someone else. This is truly difficult for them. I usually write two-word poems with 4th graders and they struggled. What do they actually know about their mom? How much do they pay attention to what she likes? Writing this poem isn’t just a nice gift it makes your students think about other people, sometimes for the first time.
The other reason two-word poems are so challenging is that I only let students use every word one time. That’s right they can only use the word like and love once each. This forces students to get descriptive and creative. I love what they come up with.
To make their Mother’s Day gift extra specialI usually work with the art teacher, if there is time, to have the kids paints a watercolor painting on thick paper. We mount their poem on it and wrap it in tissue paper.
If you think this Mother’s Day Poem is perfect for your classroom this year just click.
Mother’s Day Haiku
Think back to what a haiku is. It’s a Japanese poem with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5. These poems are historically written about nature and focus on a small moment in time.
However, nowadays we always break the rules and make traditional types of writing more modern. So I created a haiku lesson specifically for Mother’s Day. It has examples of poems that are about my mom in general and one that focuses on a small moment in time, where I was swimming in the lake with my mom after a particularly hard summer.
You can choose if you have your students write in general about their mom and challenge them to focus on a specific moment. Honestly, writing about a specific moment that is special and memorable is hard. Think back to a moment that was special and made you feel loved is a big challenge. You know already reading this which students you will ask to do that.
The other reason I love this poem is that it leaves room for a picture with the poem. Students can draw a picture or print a picture at home.
Mother’s Day Acrostic
Acrostic poetry is classic and teachers often reach for acrostic poetry when they need to teach poetry because it is simple and familiar. If that is what you need then you will love this option.
Acrostic poems are when you write, in this case, Mother’s Day down the left side of the paper and each line begins with a letter. Often times acrostic poems have one or two words per line, but not the way I teach it.
When I have my students write acrostic poems they use full sentences that can continue onto the next line. They have to think more deeply about who their mother is to write all of those beautifully displayed sentences.
This poem takes a lot of brainstorming and planning. They need to think about who their mother is, figure out how to start each line, and rearrange their writing to make their thoughts fit into the words Mother’s Day.
Every time I think I am on a roll while writing an acrostic, and am going to finish the example quickly, I get stuck and have to rearrange all the lines to make it work. I have to think about what’s important and what I can cut out to make it fit and sound good. It will improve your students’ writing.
If you would like all the prep work done for you here is my Mother’s Day Acrostic lesson.
I hope you have fun with your students this year, writing poetry for their Mother’s Day Gifts. Poetry really is the best Mother’s Day gift because it is heartfelt and sweet.