The end of the year is such a special time! There are so many fun moments that come in the last few weeks of school. There can also be lots of educational moments too!
Today, I am going to walk you through my top 10 end of the year activities! These are ones that I do every year without a doubt because I LOVE them so much! Plus, when we get to number 10 I have a fun freebie for you!
- Balloon Countdown!
This idea I stole from Miss 5th. You take a balloon for each student and put their name inside the balloon. Then, everyday until the last day of school you pop a balloon. That student is the VIP for the day. In my classroom that student gets to sit in a fancy chair, use fancy pencils or markers, get a candy treat, and get to share an All About Me book with the class. They LOVE this day and it is always fun to see the reaction when I pop their balloon! This is an excellent way to make each kid feel special on the last weeks of school.
2. Camping Week!
We always have a camping week to end the year each year. My kids love coming in the classroom and seeing tents and other fun items! We do TONS of learning this week, as well. We focus our science, math, social studies, reading, and writing with camping themed items! The kids are learning all week and they don’t even know it because they are having SO.MUCH.FUN.! I always ask for donations to decorate the room so it is really easy to set up!
You can check out what we do here!
You can also check out the learning unit here!
3. Reading Review Surgery
I LOVE this unit! This is a unit to review everything we learned in reading that year. The students become doctors and their job is fix their patient. They have to read articles, play operation (or surgery), fill out incident reports, and then analyze X-Rays! It is so much fun and they are doing some very rigorous work!
4. Egg Drop STEM
Every year toward the end of the year we complete the egg drop STEM. The students get into a group of four and they decide how they are going to keep their egg safe when I drop it from the roof. Each student can bring in one recyclable item from their house. Then, they put together a contraption for their egg. I take all the eggs to the roof and drop them. They then find out if their egg broke or not. The students LOVE this and learn so much from it. After we are done they analyze what they would have done differently.
5. Sending Letters Home
Each year I write a letter to each student on a small notecard. I usually just buy these notecards in the dollar spot at Target! I then send the letter home to the student. They get so excited to get a letter from me and the parents LOVE it! They always tell me that they put it in their memory box to keep forever. It is a simple thing that goes a long way in student relationships!
6. Award Ceremony
On the last day of schools I ALWAYS host an award ceremony. I use red paper to make a fake red carpet and I announce the award that I gave to each student. I tell them why they received that award and give them a certificate that they can keep forever. They get to walk the red carpet and have SO.MUCH.FUN! We add small decorations that I buy at party stores too! I even let them dress up like celebrities if they want!
7. Oh the Places You’ll Go Writing
Every year at the end of the year I have the students complete a writing to go with the book Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss. We read the book and then write about where we think we will be when we graduate. They go through the whole writing process and then we put it in an envelope. I send a note home to the parents that tells them to keep it until the students graduation day. I hope that my kiddos open it on graduation day and remember themselves as little kiddos!
8. Market Day!
I always save our economics standards until the end of the year. Why?! Because those standards can be SO.MUCH.FUN! The students learn all about economics and then they build their own businesses. They create products and then sell them to their friends. It is the perfect end of the year activity!
Want to see how I run my market day?! Head here to find out!
9. Novel Studies and Book Projects
By the end of the year you have taught all your standards and you want your kiddos to put them into practice. The perfect way to do that is through novel studies! Some of my favorite novels to do this with is Lemonade War, Shiloh, and Because of Winn-Dixie. We read, analyze, and complete projects!
If we aren’t doing a whole class novel study then I have my kiddos reading in book clubs. When they finish their book they complete a book project on it. They LOVE these book projects. When the projects are done they get to share them with the class. When they share my students make a list of books they think sound interesting that they can take home with them for the summer! It is a win, win!
Check out the book projects and novel studies here!
10. Reminiscing Using Art and a Scavenger Hunt! (Freebie Alert)
I love to reminisce on all the fun we had all year. We usually make super cute banners to hang in our hallway, complete a fun art collage, and then do a scavenger hunt! Do you want all of these for FREE?! Sign up here and they will sent right to your mailbox!
I hope you can incorporate some of these ideas in your end of year FUN!
Hi, looking for the 3rd grade rocks flap sign each student can write on and decorate.
I am going to guess you mean this freebie? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KzhAtUz4RhnCLRDKxu-GHDvCnupE963q/view?usp=sharing
If you are on the mailing list you will get all these freebies often! 🙂