The end of a school year can be a bittersweet time for many students (and teachers). This year seems extra bittersweet. End of year celebrations are going to look different this year. I’m used to celebrations, gifts, award ceremonies, and other summer kick-off activities. However, we’ve been teaching remotely for weeks (and weeks) and away from our students. Should we even celebrate the end of the year? My answer is yes. How? I am going to give you a few end of the year ideas to complete virtually in this blog post.
I am choosing to focus on the positive aspects of the school year. Yes, the last two months have been at home, virtually learning, but we had August to March 12 together.
Every year I have a the balloon pop countdown. I roll up little paper strips that have fun activities on them and stick them into balloons before blowing them up. I usually make a fun Summer Countdown bulletin board to put them on. Every day we pop a balloon to see which fun activity we will do.
We are still doing the End of the Year Countdown, using my Digital End of the Year Countdown. This Google Drive document celebrates the last five days of school. The Google Slides begin with a video of the balloon pop and the following slide tells what fun activity students will do. The activites area snippets paper activity, Zen Yoga Day with yoga videos, Stem Day, which begins with watching Iggy Peck, Architect, a virtual field trip, and a dance party. It is all included so it’s super easy to use. Download it from my blog shop right now.
I wasn’t going to do an end-of-the-year slideshow because of the time taken away from us due to Covid-19 school closures. But that’s not fair to my students. I think they deserve the same as every other class. It’s definitely been a bittersweet process but I’m doing it. My end of the year slideshow pack makes it easy. There are premade slides for everything you can think of {and if I forgot it, there are editable slides}. Check it out here.
Memory books are going to look different this year. Usually, you print memory books and complete a couple pages each day at school. This year, I’m using a digital memory book. I assigned it in Google Classroom. If you upload a folder of photographs to your Google Drive and share the folder with students, they can insert pictures in their own book. Because it is digital, they can keep the memory book forever. Students can also print it out when they are done to keep a paper version or they can print it out before completing it and do it by hand at home. So many options! You can get the digital version here or I offer a paper and digital version. Get the digital memory book right now from my blog shop.
Another fun idea for the end of the year is my Digital Shows pack. Included are templates for an Art Exhibit, Talent Show and Pet Show. My students enjoyed all three. For the Talent Show, my first graders did gymnastics, TaeKwonDo, dance, cheered, scooter tricks, karate, even a “sword” fight. I loved the Pet Show because I love animals. Students had parent record them hugging, running, and doing tricks with their pets. For students that don’t have a pet, we met their stuffed animal pet. The art exhibit was super easy and parents enjoyed seeing all the art work from our students. I have all directions for designing, uploading and sharing included to make it easy as pie. Check it out! Your students will love it!
I am packing up my classroom this week. We have to put all of the students supplies into bags to be distributed later this week. I am adding my end of the year gift to students bags. My end of the year gift is easy wth my end of the year gift tags. I simply add the gift tag with a ribbon and I’m done.
I am also assigning students summer review work on Google Classroom so my students can keep their skills sharp over the summer and be ready for second grade. I have a digital first grade review resource in my store if that is something you are interested in. I also have a printable version that you can print out and send home. If I had more notice about classroom pack up and supply distribution, I would have sent it home with my student’s supplies because I think they need more paper and pencil activities. Download it from my blog shop now.
Looking for more End of the Year blog posts? Here are a few you may like: end of the year tips and surviving the end of the school year.
I’m not going to lie about this year being stressful. It has been one of the hardest years in my 25 year career. I’m proud of the way we all overcame and rose to the occasion but I’m happy it’s over. Here’s to a better year next year!
