Seven Ideas for the Last Week of School
Hard to believe, but the school year is coming to an end. Sometimes it can be difficult to think of things to do during the last few days or weeks…the kids know it’s almost over and concentration is in short supply. Here are a few ideas you can use to make those last days fun for everyone; they’re mostly for elementary age kids, but some can easily be done with younger kids as well.
7. Write letters and thank-you notes. Been on a great field trip this year? Surprise the director/librarian/tour guide with a thank-you note (or many!) Letters can be written to friends, parents, teachers, siblings, or other people in the children’s lives. For younger children, they can draw pictures to send.
6. Do some artwork. This is a great time to go outside, find a view of something (building, tree, bridge, park) and have everyone draw it. Or, bring an interesting picture into the classroom and have everyone draw something in a similar style. If you’ve got a box of crafts odd ‘n’ ends, set it out with some glue, paper, and scissors and let everyone go crazy.
5. Read, read, read. This is a great time for reading aloud – not just the teacher or parent reading to the children, but children reading to each other. Let kids choose a book to read to the class or to another child.
4. Clean! Kids have so much energy – put it to use by having them help clean the classroom. They can dust shelves, sort beads, scrub, and sweep. You may even want to divide kids into groups and make them responsible for certain areas of the classroom.
3. Brainstorm about next year. What are some topics that the kids would like to study next year? Were there any topics that you studied this year that they want to continue? Books they’d like you to read aloud to the class? Have them share their ideas, take notes, and work some of their suggestions into next year’s plans.
2. Review work. This is a nice time for kids to look back at what they’ve learned. That might include looking through notebooks or binders at past work, and picking out 5-10 pages that are the best. If the children have an art notebook or portfolio, have them choose one picture or project and mount it on poster board or construction paper.
1. Evaluate. Have each child sit down and evaluate the year. You may want to create a simple graph for this. Have them look at several areas: has their concentration increased this year? Has their handwriting improved? Have their work choices been appropriate? This can give them some ideas to work towards in the coming school year.
Now that you have a bit more time and are under less pressure, make time and talk to the children, have one-on-one conversations with each child…we hardly make time for this during the year – always too busy and too much to do.
Thanks a lot -
I like writing a letter and I think I’m going to give to to my students. I also like reading.
Thanks a lot for the ideas!
Ute, that is very true. Just taking the time to have a conversation can be very fruitful. Children often have things on their minds that they don’t mention unless we deliberately take the time to talk to them one-on-one.
Nora, letting writing is so much fun! My trainer, Sister Mary, had the children write a thank-you letter to the tour guide at the museum we visited. The tour guide called to say that she had received the letters, and she was crying! She said she’s never gotten letters in all her years of leading field trips, and she would keep them the rest of her life. It’s very powerful!