End of the Year Already?

This is not how any of us envisioned the end of the year. We are supposed to be celebrating everything we accomplished this year, having field day, going on field trips, doing award ceremonies, and so much more. Although things are not going to be the same, we owe it to our students to try to make the best of it.

The end of the school year is always on of my favorite times of the year, and no it isn't because I am so excited to get out of there and start my summer vacation. Although, I do enjoy my summer break. I love taking some time to forget about our academics and having a little bit of fun. I am going to miss not being able to hand out my candy bar awards, having our classroom auction, and saying good-bye.

In an effort to keep some things the same, I have put together some activities that we normally do at the end of the year in a digital version that we can use online. At the end of every year, I like to put together some gifts for my students and parents. I make folders and buckets that I send home with every student.

For the folders, I like to put information from the year in it like data and pictures to show how much my students have grown. Throughout the school year my students add things to their data folder. This includes things like testing data, monthly writing samples, goals, etc. This is part of what I include in my folder that I send home. I also make a collage of pictures from the year and put them inside.

Click here to grab your copy

We do some fun things at the end of the year that I include too. One of my favorite things to include in the folder is an activity where each student writes one word to describe each of their classmates. This is a great keepsake for them. I keep mine on my wall the entire next year and replace it with the new one at the end of the year. I created this in a digital version so that students can do it from home this year. We also make word clouds. I usually pair the students up and they make a word cloud describing the other other student. I print these and include them in the folder too. One thing that is a little more challenging and a great time filler at the end of the year is to have students come up with one thing they learned about during the year for each letter of the alphabet.

Let's not forget a memory book. What better way to commemorate an amazing year. I have done these in different ways. Sometimes I give the students instructions and have them create a memory book on Google Slides. This gives the students a little more freedom to design their slides how they want. Here is a student example.

Other times I have the students fill out a memory book. I have created this in Google Slides this year so the students can do it from home. Both of these are included in my end of the year activities.

When I put the folders together, I usually laminate the cover and staple it to a folder. You can also use the full page labels, but that gets expensive. Then, I put everything inside. In the front of each pocket I put a letter to the parents and the student. I like to put the letters on fun, colorful paper. I got the letter for parents from here and the letter for the students here, but I changed the way the look.

Here is what they look like when they are all finished.

The folders are more for showing all the memories of our year. I also like to give the kids a fun gift. I put together some buckets filled with lots of goodies. I buy them at the Dollar Tree for $1 each! There are a lot of different student gifts you can fill it with. I found these survival kits for life on TPT that I like to use. Sometimes I change them up a little bit if I can't find something. I also put in the Pop Ice popsicles and buy each student a book for $1 from Scholastic. I usually try to get Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

The last thing I do is make them a summer journal so that they can continue to work on their writing. They probably don't use it much, but at least I know that they have the materials to do it if they would like to write.

These cost maybe $10/student to create, but you could definitely make some that didn't cost as much. My students love coming in on the last day and seeing these gifts. It is just a small token of appreciation for all the hard work they put in throughout the year.

Here are some more end of the year fun activities to do:

• Set up your classroom with a red carpet and hand out candy bar awards so every student receives at least 1 award.

• Play this Can You Guess Who I Am game.

• Do this end of the year scavenger hunt.

• Have your students write letters to the future students.

• Do a project based learning activity. I like to do this design your own waterpark activity.

• There are a lot of different kinds of writing that you could do at the end of the year. Here is a pack ideas and crafts.

Grab a copy of my end of the year activities.