What should I teach on the last day of class?

For many teachers, the last day of school can be worse than the first. All of the worksheets are done, grading is finished, and the students are anxious to start their summer vacations. Any hope of getting in a last-minute lesson is dashed when you see your students' anxious glances at the clock. However, there are still some things that you can do to fill the time until that final bell rings.

You can ask your students to each write a note to students who will be incoming in the fall. Have them talk about their favorite class activities, share jokes, or give new students important information for surviving the school year. You may gain some insights on your teaching style, and you can always use the letters as icebreakers the next school year.

Make some memories by creating class memory books that are easy. You can create simple printable worksheets for students to complete and staple together as a book. Have them write down favorite memories, draw pictures of the classroom, and sign autographs for each other. If you have time, you could even include a class picture on the cover.

Quite literally! You can use the boundless energy that the students have to take down posters, scrub desks, shred old homeschool worksheets, or pack up books. To avoid the groans, consider making it a game or a race - divide the class into teams and see which team can complete its tasks first to win a prize.

Develop a list of silly topics, one for each child, and put them in a jar. Have each student pull a topic and give them a minute or two before calling them up. Encourage the students to get creative with fun topics like "what would you do if you were the president" or "convince us to buy your shoes."

After all, your kids would rather be outdoors. Try some fun outdoor games that require teamwork, like relay races or water balloon tosses. It will allow your students to burn up some energy without tearing your classroom to pieces.

If your classroom is stocked with a variety of educational games, now is a good time to pull them out for entertainment. Organize game centers around the classroom and allow students to pick which ones they would like. Set a timer and have groups rotate from one activity to another periodically.

Elementary school students in particular will enjoy imagining what the next grade will be like. Have them write an essay or draw a picture to share with the class. Or you can have students share their plans for the upcoming summer vacations.

Pull out all your spelling teacher worksheets from the entire year, and hold a class spelling bee. It will be an enjoyable way to spend time and refresh students' memories. Older children may enjoy a Jeopardy-style game involving facts that they learned throughout the year.

Pin or tape a thick sheet of paper to every child's back. Have students go around the classroom and write something nice on the back of their peers. If this is too rambunctious for your classroom, have your students make autograph books that can be passed from row to row and filled out by their peers.

Teach your kids to show their appreciation. Have them write thank you cards for their favorite school staff. This can be parent volunteers, the principal, even the janitor or the food service workers.

The last few weeks of school are a great time to do some of the those fun enrichment activities that you may have had to put off in order to fit in all that is required. Make some memories, get outside, and start thinking about the long days of summer ahead. 

Here are Some Ideas for Your End of the Year Fun:

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1. Write a Letter: Some ideas include having students write a letter to themselves reflecting on the past year and looking into the future. You can collect the letters and mail them just before the new school year starts. Another idea is to have students write thank-you notes to people who have helped them throughout the year – teaching aids, parent volunteers, office staff, even other students. Another favorite is to have your students each write a note to the new students coming into your class next year giving advice and encouragement on how to succeed in your class.
2. Ask some end-of-the-year and summertime Would You Rather Questions. Get some for FREE here!

1. Let Students Teach: Give each student 20-30 minutes to teach a mini-lesson about something he or she is passionate about or to lead the class in a game, song, or other group activity.
2. Create a Class Survival Book: This is similar to the letter-writing activity above, except that each student contributes a page to a book that you keep in your class library. Over the years, you will have a collection of books advising future students about how to succeed in your class.

1. Go Outside! Check out this post for learning games you can play outdoors.
2. Solve a Field Day MYSTERY: Teachers love our reader’s theater “Whodunnits” and this one is perfect for the end of the year! You won’t need to print anything, and by the time you’re done with the reader’s theater, you’ll have a classroom full of Sherlocks! Who Freed the Fish?
3. Put on a Show: This could be for parents, a younger class, or just for your own amusement. Consider skits, dramatic readings, acting out a story, a talent show, a poetry slam (reading their own or reciting poems of their choice), story telling (like the Moth), or reading favorite pieces from the year.
4. Make a Class Video: Use pictures taken throughout the year to make a video. Older students can add captions and music. Add in live footage of students talking about their favorite parts of the year.
5. Reflect on the year, either verbally or in writing. I have an entire blog post dedicated to this topic! Read 20 End of the Year Reflection Questions for Students (and here are 20 more for teachers).
6. Grab these FREE End of the Year Reflection Question Cards. Use them with Quiz, Quiz, Trade, in partners, or as writing prompts.
7. Have a Camping Style Read-In: Set up tents, turn off the lights, and close the blinds. Kids can bring pillows and read by flashlight. Serve s’mores for snacks (you can make them in the microwave – yum!). You could even extend this for a few days or a week with a different activity each day.
8. Have a White Elephant Book Swap: I have done this several times with adults (it was super fun!) and think it would work well with older students. The game is based on the gift-stealing game that is usually played during the holidays. Each student brings a book that they love, wrapped (they don’t have to be new). Play the game as usual, except that when a student’s book is selected to be unwrapped, that student shares a few sentences about the book – why he or she liked it, a quick summary, etc. While the books are being opened, a student or the teacher can make a list of all of them. Not only will each student get a new book to read over the summer, but they will also have a list of book recommendations from their classmates.
9. Give Boom Learning a Try: Boom makes task cards paperless! Use pre-made decks or create your own. Here are some super cute and summery ones you can give a try!
10. STEM and STEAM: Sadly, many teachers don’t get enough time to do much science and art during the school year. Now is a great time for STEM, STEAM, and project-based learning!
11. Create a Theme for Each Day: Make each day of the last week fun and special with a daily theme. Some ideas include: Silly Hat Day, Pajama Day, Backwards Day, School Spirit/Colors Day, Hawaiian Day, When I Grow Up Day (dress as what they want to be), Western Day, Hawaiian/Beach Day, Clash Day (dress in clashing outfits), Inside-Out Day, Fictional Character Day, Rainbow Day (wear as many colors as possible), and Plushie Day (everyone brings a stuffed animal).
12. Break Down the Classroom Together: Students will love shaving cream on desks to wash them, getting to take home bulletin board elements and other classroom items you are not planning to save for next year, and organizing manipulative and center materials. Here is a fun idea from Heather, a teacher in the Minds in Bloom Facebook Group: “We have to strip our walls. Instead of waiting until school is out, each day during the last week I take down just a few things. Then, we play ‘What’s Missing?’ The kids love trying to figure it out.”
13. Make a Summer Keepsake: Give each student a beach ball, a Frisbee, or a sun umbrella for their classmates to sign with Sharpies.
14. Make a Wearable Keepsake: Consider tie-dye bandannas, T-shirts, or baseball caps that everyone signs or hand-prints, or make friendship bracelets.
15. Have an Awards Ceremony and give each student a fun and special award. Or make the award even more meaningful with these Colorable Awards (here are some for primary).

Click here to see them in greater detail!

Check out these super fun End of the Year Student awards!

1. Or just color: Let your students chill out and relax with these Free Reading Bookmarks. Or, if you want a whole lot of coloring, then try these Colorable Growth Mindset Posters.
2. Make a Summer Top Ten Lists: Consider Top Ten Books I Want to Read, Top Ten Things I Want to Do, and Top Ten Places I Want to Go.
3. Shake up your classroom management system: Everyone is restless, and your old system may be losing its effectiveness. Check out this blog post for more ideas from other teachers on handling this tricky time of year.
4. Create a Graffiti Wall: Put up some light-colored butcher paper on the wall and have markers available for students to write about their favorite memories of the year, shout-outs for their classmates, and summer plans. This is a quick and easy way to temporarily decorate walls you have stripped for the last few days of school.
5. Do a Countdown: Counting down until summer can be a fun way to track those last few weeks. One idea is to write the name of a different fun activity on colored construction paper strips. Make them into a chain, one for each day left. Each day, break the last link in the chain and do the activity on the strip. Your students will love the surprise. You could also do this with balloons by putting the idea inside the balloon.
6. Toast to the Year: Use fruit punch or bottles of water and have your students make toasts remembering the year and looking forward to what is coming.
7. Write Poems: Write end of the year Acrostics, Haikus, or try some free poetry activities!
8. Focus on Random Acts of Kindness: Encourage your students to continue to be kind to each other and to find ways to be helpful. Grab this free Roll a RAK activity.
9. Summer Activities Brainstorm: As a class, brainstorm as many fun summer activities as you can. Aim for ideas that are free and accessible (for example, drawing a hopscotch on the sidewalk or running in the sprinkler, rather than going to Disneyland). Type up the list and send a copy home with everyone.
10. Sidewalk Chalk-O-Rama: Get a large bucket of sidewalk chalk and hit the playground. Students could draw memories from the past year, write shout-outs for friends and staff members, or just draw for the pure joy of creating something.
11. Make a Timeline of the Year: Here’s another great way to temporarily decorate recently-bare walls. Put up a long piece of butcher paper on a wall (or use a hallway) and mark out the months and significant dates and events as a guide. Then, let your students fill it in with memories, stories, and pictures. You could also do this with sidewalk chalk.
12. Rate the Teacher: Create a survey – ideally online with Google Forms or another app, but printable will work, too. Have students rate various aspects of your teaching on a scale and also leave comments. Consider using happy/neutral/sad faces for younger students. Good reflection for your students and some insight for you. You will likely get more honest and useful answers if you make the survey anonymous.
13. Make Baggie Ice Cream: Here is a free recipe. You can get it along with 6 other free end of the year activities!
14. Set up a Photo Booth: All you really need is a fun background, some props like silly glasses, hats, and feather boas, and a camera/phone. A printer is nice but not necessary. You could also make a sign with your grade level and room number.
15. Do a Service Project: Plant flowers, collect food for those in need, write letters to soldiers, pick up litter (with appropriate safety protocols in place), etc.
16. Have an End-of-the-Year Party: Here are some games you might want to play.
17. Or have a picnic: Make it a potluck. You could invite parents or have a picnic with your whole grade level.
18. Remember to Take Care of YOU! Get enough sleep. Indulge in end-of-the-year treats, but try and get some veggies in there, too. Get a pedicure. Take a bath. Have a glass of wine (or two). Spend time with friends. Take a few minutes to think back on how far your students have come and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Don't forget to grab your 7 FREE End of the Year Activities!