Personal yearbooks are one of my favorite projects. I create a personal yearbook for each student in my children’s classes. The front page of the personal yearbook contains a photo of the student at the beginning of the school year and a photo of the student at the end of the school year. I love to see how they’ve grown.
Each month, I took a photo of each student at school. The students in my daughter’s second grade class wrote about their photo in their own words. I interviewed each of the kids in my son’s kindergarten class and wrote down what they said. The last page of the personal yearbook contains a photo of the student with their teacher and a handwritten note from the teacher. This year I completed 40 personal yearbooks – 20 for each class. The personal yearbooks were given to the moms at the Mother’s Day breakfasts at school.
I loved seeing all the moms look through the personal yearbooks with their kids. My son had seen his pages throughout the year but he hadn’t seen them all put together. After we looked through the album together, he said, “I really wish we could keep this mom.” I was only too happy to tell him that we were taking it home!
Here’s a quick glance inside my children’s personal yearbooks.
My son’s book contained pages for school events, everyday activities and field trips. Interviewing the kindergartners was such a joy. They were so sweet and I never knew what they are going to say.
My daughter’s teacher assigned project that were done at home each month. Most of the pages in Kara’s book are about those monthly projects. You can see that she wrote a lot because she knows that is what her scrapbooking mom expects. The other students in her class started out the year writing brief descriptions until specific questions were provided for them to answer.
The personal yearbooks are definitely a labor of love. The time involved for each month totaled several hours for each class but it is a wonderful feeling to know that these children will have these memories for the rest of their lives.
I hope to continue with the personal yearbook project next year!
Okay, this is simply AMAZING!! And I am so stealing it when my son starts school. 🙂 Kudos to you for completing one for not only both of your kiddos, but also for ALL the kids in their classes…..told ya your are the Queen of Scrapbooking! 🙂
LOL Christine. I’m so glad you are going to do this for your son.
Are your templates for the personal yearbook pages available somewhere?A few years ago I had a mother of one of my students do this for my class. I would love to do this again.
Hi Becky. I used pages that I modified from free ones offered by Becky Higgins. That is where I got the idea to do these books. I think I might make my own templates for this next school year. That wouldn’t be until July or August though.
This is such an amazing and meaningful gift that you gave to these kids and their families. Seriously this must have literally taken you all year! What a wonderful thing you did, Kelly! Love them!
Thank you Malia! It was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun too. I love to get into the classroom and really get to know all the teachers and other students.
Wow! I’m blown away with this idea – and how beautiful these yearbooks are too! You already know that your giving yourself – and your kids – a wonderful keepsake they’ll treasure always… I hope you also realize what a special gift you’re giving to every child and their parent(s) too! You rock!
Thank you Laura! I am happy to help save these memories for the kids. I just had a few parents tell me that their kids still look at their personal yearbooks from past years. That make me so happy!
P.S. It is amazing to see how much each child has grown from the beginning of school to the end!
It is amazing! For my son’s class video, I had the August and May pictures on the screen for each child while Taylor Swift’s never grow up was playing in the background. It definitely made me tear up.
Kelly, this is most definitely a labor of love, girl! I started snapping photos of my grandson this year beginning the first day of school. Upon inquiring if I could attend a class birthday celebration for my grandson to document it, I was informed that, due to media releases, photographs were not allowed to be taken in class or of other students. I was also told that yearbooks are made each year. I am figuring this is part of the reason.
I am just a wee bit sad that I am not able to record more of what my grandson is doing at school. Next year, my strategy will be different. My daughter-in-law said that she would help contribute more to my project!
Kudos to you sweet lady…and to your precious babes!
♥ Linda
A few other people have mentioned to me that they have a problem with the school letting them take pictures Linda. 🙁 My daughter is going to a new school next year so I don’t know what it will be like there. I have been told that only teachers are able to take pictures during field trips etc. I know that you are already documenting your grandson’s life outside of school so he will have those memories. You can definitely do the front page photos of him at the beginning and end of the school year yourself. As he gets older maybe you can just have him journal about his experiences at school.
You are a very generous woman! What treasures you have given to your children and their classmates. You get my vote as Room Mother of the Year!
Thank you Cynthia! It is really a labor of love. I have to thank the teachers who are so supportive of the project!