End of the school year is always a bittersweet time of year for teachers and students. Everyone transitions to a new teacher and new class and it can be nerve-wracking for some. Not only is it a lot for students but their teachers as well. Teachers have a laundry list of things to accomplish before the end of year. For the most part, students have checked out. I decided to look for some end of the year activities that might hold on to the little bit of attention they may have left.
One idea I thought of are end of the year read aloud. I came across a woman’s blog that included some read aloud about students growing and moving on and the love their teachers have for them. Some books on the list are: Love Is by Diane Adams, Little Tree by Loren Long, The Big Test and Last Day Blues by Julie Danneburg, etc.
Another idea I thought of was some fun end of the year activities that have students reflect on the past year. Some examples were making a video of yourself talking about memories or favorite parts of school. Another was filling up a memory bag, write what you learned from A-Z (which my second graders are currently doing), writing thank-you notes, and many other fun activities listed on the weareteachers.com website.
My school always has morning work for students when they arrive so I also found some end of the year word searches to keep them busy!
Lastly, a classroom checklist that you can take ideas from or add your own!
What do you do at the end of the year?
https://babblingabby.net/10-read-alouds-to-end-the-school-year/
https://www.weareteachers.com/end-of-year-assignments/
https://wordmint.com/public_puzzles/17228
Hi Nicole!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading through your blog post and I agree it is very bittersweet for teachers as the school year is coming to an end. Thank you for sharing some read aloud options for the end of the school year. I am in the process of writing down books that I want to collect to have in my classroom library and I will definitely include those on my list. I really love the video idea you mentioned! I feel like kids would love recording themselves and sharing their favorite part of the school year. This would also be a cute little gift for teachers to keep for them to have a little memory from each student. It would be awesome if you put all the videos together to make a movie out of it and have all of the students watch it. Thanks again for sharing your ideas!
-Lexi Gardner
Hi Nicole!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list of ideas to do with students at the end the school year. I love the idea of using a read aloud as an opportunity to talk about students growing and moving on. Some of my students have mentioned to me that they do not want to leave 5th grade and are worried 6th grade will be much harder. Right now I am doing a "Compliment Project" with my students where they are all write a compliment about everyone in the class. Enjoy the end of your school year :)
Megan D
These are such great ideas for keeping students engaged and reflecting on their school year! I love the idea of end of the year read alouds and activities that encourage students to think back on their favorite memories. This time of year is truly so bitter sweet. I have been having some feelings about the end of the year myself. Only a half day left for me!
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