When one of my boys was in first grade, about the time man began walking erect, his teacher gave him a special brightly decorated canvas sack for his birthday to bring home and later return. In it there were several books he could read on his own and several books that were for us to read to him; all birthday themed (see some suggestions here: http://holidays.kaboose.com/birthday-books.html  and here: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=kids+birthday+books&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=8790874299&ref=pd_sl_4htizx8n5y_b . Included was an assortment of activities such as birthday themed coloring pages (readily available now on the internet), word search, again birthday themed. Over the years I�ve adapted this birthday sack and changed books and activities but the main idea is still the child�s birthday celebration. I also include stories in Spanish since most of my children speak Spanish at home (you can include a book or two in the student�s native language of course). The students always look forward to taking home this special bag for their birthday. I like to send it home for the weekend so that the child has several days with the sack at home. If the child�s birthday falls on a day school is not in session (summer vacation, Christmas etc.) I make up a day for them to take the sack home. We have a little ceremony at the end of the day where we sing Happy Birthday to the student and give him/her a balloon and a birthday certificate and hand over the sack. I include also an attached list of the books in the sack to make sure I get them all back. When money allows, I include in the sack a box of crayons and a colorful festive pencil with an eraser and sometimes a sweet. The sack can replaced with a small backpack like the ones that are very popular these days. The thing is to make it special for the students. This idea can be used for other special themes also (Earth day, Halloween etc.). Hope you can use or adapt this idea. Ed