As the end of the school year rapidly approaches I’m excited to share what has easily become one of my favorite traditions to mark the completion of another academic season. Thank you, Pinterest.

Starting in preschool, I began working with my children’s teachers to leave a note about their year with my son or daughter in a school memory book.  The Dr. Seuss “Oh The Places You Go” book is the perfect choice for this project.

Initially, I planned to keep this effort secret and surprise my kids with their book as they head off to college. However, I quickly realized the logistics of this would be too difficult to pull off. And it turns out they kinda like being a part of the process! As the kids got older, they took control of passing around the book to their various teachers. We often put a teacher checklist on the front of the book, sometimes the teachers will even pass it among themselves since they can see who has yet to sign.

In hindsight, it would have been meaningful to have other important people (piano teachers, coaches etc.) add their voices as well.

And since I always love a good list, here are 4 simple steps to making school memory magic…

1. Order book
2. Create project instruction sheet. I printed a letter to explain this book project to the teachers and taped it inside.
3. Send book off to school with your child a week or two before the end of the school year. I’ve learned it is best to avoid the last few days of school, there is already so much going on during that time.  Also, as they get older and have more teachers, they need a bit more time to pass the book around.
4. Smile and enjoy knowing your kids will always treasure this beautiful book filled with kind words, memories and love from some of the most important people in their little lives, their teachers.