May is one of my favorite times in the school year. May is the month when you can taste how close summer is but you are also enjoying the time you have left with your babies. It’s the time when you reflect on where your students were when they came to you and how much you’ve taught them in order for them to be successful in their next year. This is the time where you come out of your January through March slump when days just feel like they drag on forever and you can’t even imagine the end of the school year. May is when our California hot, sunny days last into the evening and when everyone’s mood seems a bit brighter. As our year comes to a close, I often think about how blessed I am to be doing what I love and making a difference in little human lives.
Throughout the few years I’ve been teaching, I’ve compiled a bunch of end of the year activities to end the year as strong as I started and to enjoy the last bit of time I have with my class. Here are some of the resources and activities I’ve found throughout my journey.
Activities for the end of the school year:
1. Memory Book – Throughout the school year, I keep various art projects (specifically monthly holiday art projects) and writing pieces to eventually create a memory book for my students to take home with them at the end of the year. I also take a picture of them with my “First day of kindergarten” frame on the first day and the (close to) “Last day of kindergarten” frame around the last day of kindergarten. These pictures, art and writing show their growth throughout their year in kindergarten. I bind it all up with my fancy binding machine and give it to them on the last day of school.
2. ABC Countdown – While I was scrolling through Instagram, I found a fantastic resource called the Alphabet Countdown. Each day represents a different letter and we count down all the way to “Z” where we Zoom off to summer! This teacher has created one countdown that you can take and use right away and created an editable version where you can add your own days! At my school, students wear uniforms so I changed a couple of the dress up days to make it work for my school. So far, my students are loving this countdown and it has given us something to look forward to as we end our year together.
3. Awards – Each year, I go through these awards I purchased on TpT and give an award to each student in my class. We have a whole ceremony where I describe the accomplishments of the student and present their award.
They look so excited and proud when they hear their name and everyone claps for them.
4. Minute to Win it Games – These games are a SUPER fun way to end your year. I usually do these in the last week or so. This is a free resource from TpT which makes it even better. My favorite games to play are “Cookie Face”, “M&M Race”, “Flip it” (your kids will thank you when they’re in college for this one) and “Bouncer” (another college favorite).
5. Cleaning Day – I’m always so amazed when I ask my kids to get a wipe and clean because it’s like once they have a wipe in their hands they want to clean every surface. My kids even get in fights about who is cleaning what area. So they love cleaning with wipes but when I ask them to clean up their toys from free play or put their supplies away it looks like a disaster area – it’s ridiculous! Anyway, once we’ve put all our workbooks, contents of our pencil boxes and whatever else children hide in their chair storage, I get out the wipes and let them go to town on everything in the classroom.
How do you end the year in your classroom?
