Mother's Day & Getting Ready for Next Year

Mother's day is tricky in my room.  Many of my students don't live with their parents.  They are in foster care or live with grandparents now.  I don't want to make a huge deal about mother's day and make any of them feel bad so I combined it with a science unit. Mid-April we planted flower seeds as a part of our plant unit.  I made these super cute clouds/castles to go along with our Jack and the Beanstalk read aloud.  I used them to label the kids plants.  One of my students with Autism sat and waited for her magic beanstalk to grow.  She was so disappointed that the seeds didn't immediately produce a giant plant! Now that the sprouts are growing nicely, the kids are taking them home to their moms (or just home) for Mother's day.  (The blue planters I found in Target's dollar spot)

(These pics were taken a while ago, they are bigger now!)

I know that this year isn't over yet but I'm getting SO excited to start getting ready for next year!  I have so many ideas for Monday Made It! I'm glad that I keep seeing posts about all of you who are doing this too!  Next year, I will have ANOTHER new position.  I will either be a 1st-3rd grade 12:1:1 teacher OR a 4th-5th 12:1:1 teacher.  (For those of you who don't know, a 12:1:1 room means there are 12 special needs students, 1 teacher, and 1 aide).  Not knowing is driving me nuts!

If I had known which class I was getting, I would have bough soooo much more during this sale (I'm hoping to find out next week-fingers crossed)!  

I can't resist getting ready for next year so this is what I bought (click on the pictures to go to the product on TPT): 

Umm...this is actually for this year.  I love the memory book & awards!

I used a prize catalog last year but then this year I inherited a giant prize box so I decided to go with it.  Next year, I'm going to do both...they can choose the prizebox or a prize from the catalog.  Of course, I HAD to have the rules to go with it:

This unit looked like so much fun so I couldn't resist!  I figured it could work for whatever room I get.

If you've made it this far, I have a question for you: What position would you rather have:  1st through 3rd grade or 4th and 5th grade?