As the school year comes to a close the days seem to drag by. After my first year teaching second grade, I learned to plan the end of the year activities as detailed as I did at the beginning of the year!!
There is a big difference between the beginning of the year when the students are timid and the days seem to fly by, compared to the end of the year when the students are OFF THE CHAIN and the days slowly tik by. I always added a few fun activities as well as plenty of review with a cute theme!
End of School Activities
Creativity is the key to finishing strong! Teammates and I would brainstorm “WHO” we could have visited for surprise appearances. We always reached out to former football players/students and asked them to come to recess. We often had “famous” parents and grandparents that we would ask to come to speak to the grade level. This is a great time to host a mini “career fair.” Basically, anything that would entertain and seem educational would do!
We had to get creative! Our Media Specialist always ran approved movies over the school TV channel, but I definitely needed 4 more hours’ worth of work! We always planned extra recess time filled with popsicle parties, sidewalk chalk and organized games. Parents were always gracious and would send in items we posted in the newsletter. Many would come during the last few days and celebrate with their child!
End of School Year Fun Activities
One of my favorite must-have activities is a fun packet filled with as many review pages as possible to keep them busy. I would staple together a few pages per day and we would begin using them for morning work. They would keep them inside their desk, and I would have them pull them out when needed throughout the day.
Year End Parties and Honors Day
My first year I was clueless about how Honors Day was run. Every school does something different and it was as if I had never attended one before. I scrambled the day before to make a “program” for the parents. I scrounged to make awards for each child and bought finger-butter cookies and Hawaiian Punch on my way to work that morning. This was definitely not my finest hour, but I made it! Needless to say, the next year, and every year that followed, I was prepared!
I have a great e-book to help you finish the year strong. It has so many more ideas and includes 24 awards you can hand out to your kiddos for Honors Day! I hope you do not have to scrounge around like I did to pull an honor’s day program together at the last minute. Do you need an easy End-Of-The-Year gift for your students? Check out this printable freebie! Super easy and super fun to give!
Finish Strong!!!
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