5 Awesome Activities for an Unforgettable End of the Year!

Last updated on May 12th, 2024 at 06:10 pm

Last week I wrote about 10 end of the year read-alouds to read to your students, which really started to get my mind on the end of the year. So to keep with that theme, this week, I’m going to share five awesome activities you can do with your students to close out the year in an unforgettable way!

1. Plan a Field Trip-Once all the testing is over, kids are a bit burnt out from being in the classroom anyway. Why not plan a field trip for students to learn by exploring a new place? Look for places near your school’s location and contact them for information. Some ideas include-the zoo, a museum, a play, the public library (to learn about the summer reading program!) There are places you can find that offer free field trips and your school only has to cover transportation costs. Other ideas to cover field trip costs, if it is not in the budget, is to apply for a grant, find a sponsor, connect with community organizations, and, if all else fails, charging a small fee to your families. Make sure to follow your school’s procedures for field trips. Also, be sure to plan the field trip well in advance of when you intend to go.

2. An ABC Countdown-You may have already seen this idea, but it is a fabulous one! Especially, for the younger grades, think PreK-2. I created one with my teammates one year for our kindergarteners that we tweaked the following year. The activity for each day came from ones seen online and some we came up with on our own. The idea is to come up with a theme/simple awesome activity for each letter of the alphabet with the last letter being on the last day of school. A calendar is created and sent home to parents with a letter that includes ways in which parents can help by donating needed items. Here are a few to get you started:

• A for Animal Day-Let students bring a stuffed animal to school (My rule was it can’t make noise and has to be able to fit in your backpack.)
• B for Bubble Day-Bubbles at recess. Either each student can get a small bubble container or the teacher can blow bubbles from a giant container for students to pop. I’ve done it both ways and the students enjoyed them both just as much!
• P for Popsicle Day- Each student got an ice pop to eat during recess.
• R for Reading Day- Each student brings in their favorite book and time is taken during the day to read them with a partner.
• Or R for Rainbow Day-We let students write with rainbow colors and did a rainbow experiment with paper towel, and cups of colored water.
• X for Xtra Recess Day-X is hard to come with, but this one works with a little creativity. Have as little or as much extra recess as allowed. Even 5 minutes makes a difference.

Let your imagination run wild with these ideas. The key is to make them not interfere too much, or not at all, with the learning of the day and to keep them simple and low/no cost. Kindergarten Smorgasboard does a backwards ABC countdown called “Backward Bootcamp.” Click here for that.

3. Top 10 Countdown-Count down the last ten days of school in style. Similar to the ABC countdown, but shorter, come up with ten activities for students to do. They could be a surprise made up by you or you could vote on awesome activities with your class. Perhaps, a countdown of all the favorite things of ___ grade! One day could be rereading a favorite book or two, one day could be doing favorite brain break songs, one day could be replaying a favorite game from the year, etc. These ideas could be placed in balloons on a small slip of paper and pop one each day or make a paper chain with each idea written on a seperate link.

4. Creating a Memory Book-There are many memory books out there that others have created for classroom use. Choose one that works for your class and grade level. Here is one I posted from last week. After they are created, have students sign each other’s memory books for a student and parent keepsake of an unforgettable year!

5. A Year in Review- You can create a slideshow of photos from the year and watch them together as a class! Set it to music if you wish. Take the time to reminisce with students about the year. Share stories and laugh together. Bonus: If you have an event for parents at the end of the year: kindergarten graduation, 5th grade ceremony, etc, you could reuse the slideshow to show to parents.

Whether you choose do something big, small, or nothing at all to celebrate the school year coming to an end is up to you. It won’t change the difference in their lives you made this year and your students will remember that!