Surviving the Last Few Weeks (or Days) of School

Most schools in the U.S. are on the verge of ending school sessions for the summer. It’s an exciting time for both teachers and students. Sometimes I think the teachers are more excited than the kids! With the excitement, though, comes a lot of craziness and uncertainty about what the end of the year will bring. It gets harder and harder to start full lesson plans, but the kids need to stay busy or a bit of chaos will begin.

Here are some ideas for activities teachers can try on the last few weeks or day of school:

End of the Year Classroom Awards

Have an end of the year awards ceremony for your students. You can assign the awards on your own or create ballots and have the students vote on the winners. Awards can be simple and standard, such as “Leadership Award” and “Most Improved”. Other awards can be silly and fun, like “Megaphone Award” for the loudest student and “Chef Award” for the student with the best snacks and lunches packed. It’s a fun time to come together as a class and celebrate everyone’s individuality and strengths.
Have your students write a letter to next year’s teacher. If you know who each student will have, this is a great time to let the students know. Even if you don’t, though, students can still write a letter to their future teacher introducing themselves, telling what their strengths are, and what they look forward to in the upcoming grade. It’s also a great way to practice writing skills on one of the last days of school.
Watch a movie that aligns with a book. Make it fun! Bring popcorn or allow students to bring their own snacks. It’s fine if some students have already read the book, since they can identify similarities and differences between the book and the movie. For those students who haven’t read the book, it might just encourage them to do so.
Have students help with organizing, bulletin boards, and clean-up tasks. Some students love being little helpers and this is a great way to utilize their strengths during natural break times.
Give time to play some fun but educational board games. Scrabble, Boggle, Konexi, and Blurt are just a few of them. Blurt is one of my favorites because it forces students to use self-control and patience when it is not their turn to “blurt” out the answer.

Whatever you choose, remember to stay cool, calm, and collected. Enjoy the last days with your students!