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25 Engaging End of the Year Activities
Planning for the end of the year can be bittersweet. Here’s a collection of ways to celebrate the year with your students!
1. Kindness Countdown – This challenge keeps the year from dragging and keeps it positive through the end of the year! This resource can be found in Blair Turner’s TpT store. Oh, and she has two AH-MAZING Instagram accounts to follow. One keeps me growing as a teacher, and the other keeps me laughing!
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| KINDNESS CHALLENGE |
2. Summer Simile – I found this delicious activity on Pinterest, and it’s a FREEBIE from Student Savvy.
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| CLICK HERE |
3. Dear Next Year Letters – One of my FAVE-O-RITE activities as a teacher. Reading the advice that students write to other students makes smile and gives me a window into student perspectives about me and my class.
4. Balloon Countdown – I’ve seen numerous variations of this around, but it seems to work best for teachers who teach one group of students. Each day teachers pop a balloon leading up to the end of the year. To add meaning, Miss 5th puts the name of a student in a balloon, and that student is celebrate for the day! I found this activity on Miss 5th’s Instagram… If you are not following her, you need to….now. SO.MANY.AMAZING ACTIVITIES.
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| Miss 5th’s Balloon Countdown |
5.Balloon Sail away – This is too CUTE! Teachers take and print pictures of students with their hands up, and cute out the pictures. Students can write about how the year carried them away, what they are looking forward to in upcoming grade, their favorite memory, or draw a picture that tells the story of their year.
6.Memory Book – There are a number of variations of this activity. The one picture involves taking a manila folder, folding it few times, and decorating it to taste. If the folding it too much, you can print, copy, and staple. Regardless of your decision it’s a great way to recount the best times of the year with your students, and can double as a “yearbook.”
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| SEE MORE |
7. EOY Soundtrack – Let students make up a soundtrack that describes the year…Make sure you keep a copy and after 5 years create the best play list EVER.
8.Kite Crafts – This is similar to the balloon fly away and allows the students to reflect on their year.
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| Kite Template |
9. End of the Year Reflection – Get students reflecting on the year this is the freebie from the blogger Brain Waves Instruction.
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| FREEBIE |
10. Awards – Have students vote (or you pick) for their peers and pass them out. You can choose to go funny, serious, edible, or somewhere in between!
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| MORE HERE |
11. End of Year poems – Students create various poems about the school year.
12. Interview a Classmate – Students interview each other other about their year. To take this activity to the next level teachers can have students create videos of their interviews and watch them on the last day.
13. Letter to Future Self – This one is especially powerful if the students are coming back to the school! They write a letter to their future self and open it AFTER the first week of school.
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| CLICK HERE |
14. Find a Friend Who – I use this activity in the last days as an icebreaker to get students up and moving.
15. Advice Column – Students give advice in the form of an advice column to future students.
16.End of Year Superlatives Photobooth – A photobooth with cutesy signs! Enough said!
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| CLICK HERE for PRINTABLES |
17.Summer Bucket list – This craftivity is so much fun! Students write a list of all activities they hope to do during the summer. I encourage students to think about their learning too (can’t help it), which I model by adding read ___ books at the park, or keep a daily journal.
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| SEE MORE |
18.Summer Pop Art – I love Pop Art!! It’s so much more than “coloring” and involves teamwork and collaboration. Many of the activities combine art and academics.
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| CLICK HERE |
19.Dive Into Summer – Take a picture of students, have them make a mask, add a straw, and create a summer story. This is from teacher ROCK STAR Hope King.
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| MORE HERE |
20. Kind Words – This is similar to a gift exchange, as students pick a name of a teammate (Be sure that they do pick their own name) and write a kind note to them. I tell my students to be on the lookout for kind actions/word from their teammate. Students then exchange the notes on a given day.
21.Picture Timeline – Teachers create a timeline of the year using pictures and student work. This is a pretty large lift to take on last minute.
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| SEE MORE |
22. Buddy Biography – Students interview a classmate and complete template that includes key parts and memories from the year.
23.Hollywood Ending – This is an end of the year “red carpet” party for students to celebrate the year. For schools that are anti-funparties, students can write to create a “Hollywood” ending for the school year.
24.Word Search– Create a word search that includes key terms from the year.
25.Would You Rather – This is a fun FREE from the amazing blogger Rachel Lynette! It’s easy to implement. Print and Go!
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| FREEBIE |
What do you do to celebrate the end of the year? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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Tanesha B. Forman
I'm a current middle school administrator who loves breaking down complex topics and providing opportunities for educators learn, reflect, practice, and implement methods that foster equity and anti-racism. I believe we win together!
Behind the Blog
Hi, I'm Tanesha.
I’m a current middle school administrator who loves breaking down complex topics and providing opportunities for educators learn, reflect, practice, and implement methods that foster equity and anti-racism. I believe we win together!
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