I don’t do a big countdown or anything toward the end of the year, but nevertheless, the kiddos know the end of the school year is coming!! So, I’ve developed some things over the years that help us embrace the chaos while still working hard and staying on track!!
I’ve also learned over the years, that no matter where you teach, many youngsters are NOT as excited for summer as we may be…some may be wondering who will take care of them, where/what they will eat, if they will be safe, and if they will be at the same school next year.
Others may have a stable home environment, but still miss the routines, keeping busy, playing with friends, and their beloved teacher. For those reasons, I try to keep our end of the year as “normal” as possible by still following our regular routines, having the same expectations, and continuing our academic rigor, with some end of the year reflection and fun mixed in!
Here are TEN things we do to finish the year strong:
Rainbow Dress Up Countdown
This is a fun way to work together as a class and have our own little “secret” celebration that is special for just our classroom.
With about two weeks left, I make the color schedule and send it home. Kids can wear as much or as little of the daily color as they’d like and it’s fun to see the clever ways they do it!
6 Days Left = Red Day
5 Days Left = Orange Day
4 Days Left = Yellow Day
3 Days Left = Green Day
2 Days Left = Blue Day
1 Day Left = Purple Day
Last Day = Their Choice (I don’t do a dress up day on our last day because it’s a half day and some parents have special outfits for pictures, etc.)
GRAB THIS FREEBIE!
End of the Year Booklet
I introduce our End of the Year Booklet during the last 5-7 days. Students work on a few pages each day. I introduce the pages at our meeting spot, we discuss some ideas, and then students can work quietly with friends or independently. The book allows for some time to reminisce on our year together. It also has some autograph pages for kids to write notes to friends. Then, on the last day of school, they take it home for a great keepsake! Click HERE to read more about this great booklet!
Giant Wall Schedule
This started out as a tool for me many years ago, but it turns out, the kids love it…they love to see what’s coming up, they love to think of things to add to it, and they like to help cross things off as we accomplish them. I discovered it actually helps them have a smoother end of the year when they look at it as a job/checklist and there aren’t any big surprises.
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| Blank chart…ready to go! |
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| Fuller chart as we get closer to the end! |
Readers Theater and Poetry Jam Performances
We choose several plays with about a month or so left in the year, but I’ve also done it with just two weeks to go and it worked well, too! After choosing our plays and parts, students highlight their parts in the script. They practice during literacy stations and I also give them some blocks of time when they can all get together to practice. We spend a few days making props and costumes out of construction paper. When we’ve had several days to practice, we schedule some performance time for the Kindergarten classes so they can see what my “big” 1st graders can do with their awesome reading skills! We also invite our parents to come for our Readers Theater and Poetry Jam Performance and it’s always a hit!!
Check out all of my Reader’s Theater Plays HERE!
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| The Three Billy Goats Gruff and the Troll
(not included in my pack!) |
The poems we do come from our Poetry Journal. Throughout the year, we do one poem per week and students are very familiar with all of them. Read about our Poem of the Week routine HERE OR HERE! They choose a few friends and poems to read aloud for the audience. Then, they practice reciting and/or adding motions or actions to their performance. Our whole performance takes place in our classroom and takes about 30 minutes, but it’s a great way to wrap up their hard work and show off a bit for their parents!
ABC Chart
One of my favorites!! I make a big ABC Chart and the class brainstorms some great words from our year together. Students always come up with some neat and creative words and it’s another fun way to reflect on our year together. When we are done, students may also grab a blank ABC paper and fill in their own ideas to take home. I also end up raffling off the big chart during my big anchor chart giveaway (see below) so someone gets to take it home!
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| Some names blurred out, but you can see their great ideas! |
Anchor Chart Giveaway
On the second to last day, I give away any anchor charts or small posters that we made together. Charts we made about specific standards, rules for various activities, phonics charts, and any consumable type paper that I would throw away at the end of the year is up for grabs! I tell them a few days ahead of time so they can start making plans for which ones they want. Then, I lay all of the charts around the room on the floor or tables. I call their names using my name sticks and they go grab what they want. We keep going until all papers have been taken. They are excited to take home a piece of our classroom and year together. Most of them tell me they are going to play school with siblings or friends. It warms my teacher heart!! 🙂
Minute to Win It Games
This is a really fun activity we do on the last day! I change it up a bit each year. I look on the internet for “minute to win it” games for kids and usually choose 4-6 games to play. Find games that work for you…several of our favorites involve food as materials, but if that doesn’t work for you, there are TONS of games that use cups, feathers, cotton balls, etc.
Some of the games they do as a team, other games are one kid at a time from each team. We don’t keep score, and we don’t even time some of the games, but we have some good laughs and great fun together on our last day.
Some of our favorite games:
Noodling Around-Using a piece of uncooked spaghetti in the mouth, they try to scoop up two uncooked penne pasta pieces from the side of the table…no hands allowed! (I use half a spaghetti noodle to make it a bit easier for 1st graders). I usually let all kids do this one at the same time and see if they can do it in one minute or less.
Cup Stacking-Each team has 15 cups and stack them as fast as possible into a pyramid shape…I do several rounds of this one so each team has one kid working individually at a time
Breakfast Puzzle-I have several “puzzles” of breakfast cereal box covers and they work as a team to put them back together. This is a race type activity.
Cheerio Stacker-In one minute, they see how many Cheerios (or other round O cereal) they can stack in a tower. This can also be done with pennies if you choose.
Cookie Face-Everyone gets a cookie. They lean back and put the cookie on their forehead. Without using their hands, they try to wiggle the cookie into their mouth. This is a difficult one, but they love it!
Tic Tac Attack-Using tweezers (or chopsticks) they transfer as many tic tac candies as they can from one bowl to another.
Ice Cream Sundae Party
This is both a celebration and an end of the year management tool. A few weeks out, they get their Ice Cream Party Ticket and “earn” their way to our party. At the end of each day, students color a letter on their ticket. If they are not there or did not have a satisfactory day, they do not get to color a letter. I leave a few days leeway so that everyone has a fair opportunity to earn all the toppings. We vote as a class for 6-7 toppings for the students to choose from on our last day party. I usually provide the ice cream and toppings, but I’ve had parent volunteers bring the supplies in the past as well. I also have parents there to serve and clean up, so I can visit with the kiddos and keep things on track.
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| Ice Cream Party Tickets |
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| The Spread!! |
Photo Booth
Kids LOVE to pose for pictures and use silly props! I found all of my props at the Dollar Tree. Parents love to take some fun pictures during this time. I also take pictures and e-mail and share on our class app so all parents can see the fun.
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| Fun Dollar Tree props and our closet as the backdrop |
This year, we happened to have a family who runs a photo booth business, so they donated their booth and props to us for the last day! So awesome! Kids got an adorable little photo booth strip of each of their pictures to take home and it was a great keepsake! So…keep your ears open in case you have someone with access to an official photo booth! 🙂
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| Our special professional photo booth for the 2017-2018 school year |
Summer Gifts
Ever since my very first year teaching, I’ve given books away as their end of the year gift! It’s evolved over the years a bit, but I give every student one fiction book and one nonfiction/informational book. I use my bonus points that have accumulated throughout the year to purchase the books…sometimes, I go a bit over and buy some on my own, but those Scholastic bonus points are amazing!
I work hard to get each student something they will love and are interested in…I do cheat here, though!! With a month or so left in the year, I ask them to make a list of their favorite fiction and informational books and topics. I tell them it’s so I will know which books to purchase for my library for next year, but I really use it so I will have an array of their favorites to shop for. I also aim to pick books at or slightly above their reading level so it will be something they will use throughout the summer.
I hope you found this helpful and enjoyable! I know the end of the year can be very stressful and exhausting, but these are some ways we try to keep sane, have fun, and enjoy each other before we say good bye!
I bought your end of the year booklet for my students, and they absolutely loved it!