Congratulations to YOU for making through another amazing school year! You deserve all the accolades, pats on your back, and chocolate your heart desires. Now it’s time to celebrate. Counting down the end of the year should be fun for you AND your students and if you believe that, you’re in the right place!
Whatever your classroom has looked like this year, YOU- being an amazing educator, have made it this far by adapting, being flexible, and getting creative with your students. You have been helping your students gain some sense of normalcy and routine, while learning and holding space to make them feel safe and supported. Do you know what that means? You deserve to PARTY! I’ve got you COVERED for your end of the year celebration! In this post, you’ll learn about some fun ways to celebrate with students in the classroom together! So what are we waiting for?! Let’s get into some fun engaging ways we can do that! And don’t forget to grab your EXCLUSIVE Brag Tags as a freebie below!
SCAVENGER HUNT
Scavenger hunts are a classic way to insert some excitement! Send your kiddos on a super fun scavenger hunt that has built in timers so you can just run the show!! This resource is LOADED with items that can be found in your classroom! It’s even editable to add your own items.
End of the Year Scavenger Hunt
Would You Rather
Host this silly, but oh so fun game of “Would You Rather”! You can even add in a review of counting or graphing your answer – like how many people picked diving with sharks over swimming with dolphins! You can start your day with this activity or use it as a time filler throughout the day. The best part is you can totally add movement to this activity. You can have students jump or sit depending on their choice. You can have them do jumping jacks or run in place. That’s the beauty of this simple activity you can have it be as involved as you want, and no matter what, kids have a blast! There are sure to be some hilarious discussions about our choices! There are 20 different prompts included with editable slides! See a few of the fun prompts below.
WOULD YOU RATHER ACTIVITY
Oh the Memories
Who doesn’t love reminiscing about old memories? What better way to document with a fun interactive memory book. I decided to switch up our classic memory book to instead create a fun flipbook! Students can share stories of their year by filling out the pages in THIS memory flipbook! It’s an easy print and go resource with various differentiated pages to meet all your learners’ needs!
END OF YEAR MEMORY FLIPBOOK
Cool Countdowns
There are so many fun ways to countdown your last days together. I love to use a banner of balloons that are filled with themed celebration days. As a class, we pop a balloon each day to see what tomorrow holds for us- pajama day, very crazy hair day, nickname day, soak up the sun day, the possibilities are endless! Every day is a sweet surprise and it’s such an engaging and memorable way to end your year together. Grab this FUN balloon pop version for FREE!
END OF YEAR ABC COUNTDOWN FREEBIE
And if popping balloons in your classroom isn’t possible, have no fear, you can still countdown the end of the year! Check out this EDITABLE digital version that can easily be displayed as an alternative to incorporate this end of year countdown that covers twenty six days of memorable FUN! It is perfect, simple way to countdown your days together and there are even editable slides included to add in your own fun ideas!!
EDITABLE END OF YEAR ABC COUNTDOWN
Friendly Farewells
Of course we’ve spent all year practicing all the kind things so it’s only right we go out with one last kind act! During your countdown, choose a student each day to spread the love to. Decorate an anchor chart with a printed picture of the students face in the middle. Throughout the day, students can write to share what they’ve loved about them over their year together. Let them take it home as a sweet end of the year gift! Want a template made for you? There’s one included in the End of Year Activity Pack!
End of Year Activity Pack
Let’s Connect AND Reflect
In this jam PACKED resource, you’ll find TONS of engaging and delightful ways to wrap up the year together and have some fun while doing it! From Roll and Share to Find a Friend Bingo, your students will love connecting with one another and reflecting on their year together. Get them outside while still practicing skills with Sidewalk Scoot or show they’re prepared for the next grade with Anatomy of a ______ Grader! Keep reading below for some more exciting ideas!
END OF YEAR ACTIVITY PACK
After all that reflection, they deserve to brag! Check out THESE exclusive brag tags students can wear all over school to strut their stuff. Subscribe to grab this for FREE!
Grab this free resource now!
Show Your Shine
Have students show off how they’ve shined this year with this reflection writing craft! Being able to reflect is an important skill, not just for students, but all of us. It helps us to grow and learn from past experiences, and gives us joy to remember what we’ve already accomplished. Students will love completing this adorable craft, while reflecting on what they’ve learned this year.
Advice Letters
Speaking of writing, did someone say letters? If you’ve never done advice letters at the end of the year, you’re missing out on some of the cutest writing you’ll ever read! You might also even get some great advice for yourself! Elementary kids are wise beyond their years sometimes!! Check out these advice letters templates for students to write to upcoming students found in the activity pack!
Brain Dump
Another great way to end the year is a good old brain dump! It’s as easy as a piece of anchor chart paper and their brains. We get together and discuss ALL the things we’ve learned from the year together. It’s rather impressed to see what they come up (see some of ours from first grade below). Then, after we’ve dumped our brains, we get go off and show what we know with a topic of our choice! Students LOVE getting to choose their own activity and show what they know! It’s learning AND fun!
How much fun would it be to throw an EPIC red carpet award ceremony for your kids? This one is SUPER easy and a great way to recognize and celebrate your students and their hard work throughout the year. Grab a red carpet like THIS, use a mic to call out awards, and let kids feel like royalty walking down to accept their award! Speaking of royalty, who doesn’t love wearing a crown to celebrate?! Check out THESE fun end of the year celebratory crowns!
END OF THE YEAR CROWNS
Happy Mail
Are you even a teacher if you don’t love getting packages of goodies in the mail?? Well pass on the love! Check out these celebration bags- a sweet package filled with goodies to end our time together mailed out by their awesome teacher! You can pack whatever you’d like to show your kids some love! Need some ideas? Here are some goodies you can easily print and pack!
BELOW ARE JUST SOME OF THE FUN THINGS YOU CAN INCLUDE IN YOUR STUDENTS’ HAPPY MAIL PACK!
- Bookmarks – encourage all the reading over the summer!
- Crowns – help them show off their accomplishment of making it through this year!
- Certificates – give them something to hang and be proud of!
- Puzzles – great for your brain and great for some fun!
THE BUNDLE
Below you’ll see the bundle that includes ALL these engaging activities… with some FREEBIES of course! It is JAM PACKED with fun, celebratory activities to create lasting memories. You and your students will end the year with a BANG, reflecting, crafting, and showing off all their accomplishments! I truly enjoyed creating an entire exciting experience for students, while also helping take some of the pressure off you when it comes to planning for such an awesome end of the year. Not only are these activities a BLAST for students, since most of them are editable, it gives you all the flexibility to celebrate in your own way. From no prep printables to crafts and projects, your students will LOVE remembering the amazing year you’ve spent together.
END OF YEAR BUNDLE
I hope you enjoyed learning about how we can celebrate the end of our year together! Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! Not only will you get the most up to date tips, tricks, how to videos, and classroom projects… also of course more fun FREEBIES including The End of the Year Digital FREEBIE! If you would like to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.
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