As the school year draws to a close, it’s important to plan end-of-year activities that finish the year on a positive, reflective note. You’ve all put a lot of work in to get to this point, so use these activities to reflect, engage in gratitude, and set students up for summer success. Let the countdown begin!
FREE PRINTABLE
Printable Last Day of School Signs
These adorable FREE “last day of school” signs are easy to print, color, and use as a photo op to document the end of a successful school year.
1. Let students be teachers
We bet you have at least one student who can’t wait to take over the classroom. Use our Students as Teachers Planning Guide to have kids plan, practice, and ultimately lead a lesson for the whole day. Students will love being in charge, and you can enjoy seeing which of your mannerisms they take on in their “teacher” modes.
2. Get students’ opinions
Starting in upper elementary, students can complete this end-of-year survey that asks them what they liked about the class, the teacher, and classroom culture. You can use the results to plan for next year, and students can reflect on what they learned about the content and themselves as learners.
3. Dance it out
Use this end-of-the-year playlist to end the year with a dance party. It can be a planned event, an impromptu dance party, or a dance-off.
4. Share a plant
We love this idea! Take one plant, like a spider plant in this example, and replant it into pots for each of your students. Then, students take their own mini-plant home on the last day of school. It’s a great memento that reinforces science and gives each student a literal piece of the classroom.
5. Play bingo
Bingo is one of those games that never gets old. Play this End-of-Year Bingo game and have students move around the room, getting to know each other a little better. It’s also a good way to get students to start reflecting and looking forward to summer.
6. Have a class “snowball fight”
Split your class into two teams facing each other. Have each student write three things about themselves and wad it into a snowball, then let the snowball fight commence! Set a limit for a few minutes of “fight” time, then have students each grab a snowball and read the items listed, guessing whose paper it is.
7. Make mini-yearbooks
Spend some time creating mini-yearbooks just for your class. Brainstorm the events that students remember most about the year, and draw them on this mini-yearbook sheet. Then, use the backside of the page for students to exchange signatures and notes.
8. Summer bucket list
You have your summer bucket list, so help students create their own. What do they want to accomplish this summer? Help students by providing information about library reading challenges and other free activities in your community. Students can use this Summer Bucket List page to record their ideas.
9. Write a letter to next year’s class
By June, your students have lots of opinions about the grade or course. Let them put those opinions to good use by writing a letter to next year’s students. This letter template will get them started.
10. Compare the beginning of the year to now
You can see how much students have grown, now help them see it too by comparing and contrasting themselves on the first and last days of school. Bring out any photos and assignments that you have from those early months of the school year for students to use as they reflect, and use this Venn diagram to record their thoughts.
11. Design a classroom escape room
If you have a class that’s developed a great sense of community and loves to work together, design an escape room for them to complete on the last day of school. The challenge: Can they escape in time for summer break?
12. Fill up a memory bag
Give each student a brown paper bag and ask them to decorate the front, including reflections about the year. Then, each student adds 10 items from the year to their bag, with notes about why each is important. Finish up by having each student present their items by doing a gallery walk or author’s chair.
13. Complete a class puzzle
Complete a jigsaw puzzle together. When you’ve finished it, mount and frame it and hang it on your wall with a note mentioning which class you completed it with. Then, next year’s class can see the puzzle created by the previous class and get excited to complete their own puzzle next summer.
14. Summer word search
There will always be a little downtime at the end of the school year, so print these summer word searches for students to work on after they’ve cleaned out their desks and helped you tidy up the room.
15. List what they’ve learned from A to Z
What a great way to look back over what kids have learned! For each letter of the alphabet, have them write and illustrate something they learned or did throughout the year. Learning virtually? Have students create a Google Slideshow instead.
16. Send thank-you notes
Writing a thank-you note is a skill every student should learn, so why not include it in the end-of-year activities? Have kids write a note to someone who made their school year special, then seal them in envelopes, address them, and deliver them by hand or mail. And while you’re at it, why not write a thank-you note to your own class?
Learn more: Use these thank-you cards to get started.
17. End-of-the-year portrait
The end of the year is a good time to reflect on what students like, can do, learned, and more. Use these All About Me worksheets to engage students in creating an end-of-year project they can share with their friends and parents.
18. Send students home with a jar full of compliments
Give each student slips of paper for them to write compliments to one another. Then, students stuff jars with compliments to take home and read all summer long.
Buy it: Reusable jars at Amazon
19. Talk behind each other’s backs (really!)
Have your students help tape a piece of lined paper to one another’s backs. Then, each student uses a felt-tipped marker (not a Sharpie—it might bleed through). Set a timer and put on some favorite music. Let the students mix around the room and write a positive message on each student’s paper. For example, The best thing about you is …, What I appreciate most about you is …, I remember …, etc. After a set amount of time, have students stop, remove their papers from their backs, and enjoy reading the words of love from their classmates.
20. Coast into summer
So fun! These DIY memory coasters are easy to make and give kids an end-of-year souvenir to take home.
21. Read end-of-year books
Little ones especially have a hard time with the end of a school year. Next year lots of things will be different, and that can be a sad and even scary thought for some. Read-alouds are simple but powerful end-of-year activities. Check out these End-of-Year Books To Bring Your Class Closure, like The Egg by M.P. Robertson, to spark conversations about what kids have learned and what lies ahead.
22. Create personal poems for each student
Put AI to good use by asking it to write a poem for each student in your class. Students can read their poems to themselves or read them aloud at the last-day-of-school poetry slam. We’d like to see the poem it comes up with for the student who is always talking or the student who always has an opinion!
23. Nominate “People of the Year”
Help your students compile a list of the “People of the Year” for your class. Include people important to your classroom (the custodian, the principal, everyone’s favorite “lunch lady”) along with classroom visitors and speakers from the year. Add in some people from current events and pop culture (the current president, a favorite musician) and even folks they studied throughout the year (Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart).
Learn more: Use the self-portrait template to create each profile.
24. Take a field trip to the next grade
This is one of the most exciting end-of-year activities for students. Take them to visit the classrooms they’ll be in next year. Arrange to spend some time with the teachers, talk to the students, and hear more about what they’ll be learning. This is a good way to address fears many kids have about moving on from a classroom where they’ve been comfortable.
25. Author a six-word memoir
This project has taken the world by storm. In six words, can you capture the essence of your school year? Kids can spend a little or a lot of time on this one, refining their words and even illustrating them. Collect them all into a slideshow (anonymous, if kids prefer) to share on the last day.
26. Toast your class
Students get a chance to practice public speaking in a very meaningful way with this end-of-year activity. Get a few liters of ginger ale and plastic champagne flutes from a party store, arrange your students in a circle, and invite them to give a toast—maybe a goal for the next school year, well-wishes for their peers, or a favorite memory. After everyone has spoken, lift your glasses with a cheer and celebrate to end the school year.
27. Make a graffiti wall
A graffiti wall is another way to leave a lasting mark. Use large paper, unrolled and attached to a space on your wall, for students to decorate. Then, roll up their graffiti wall, store it during the summer, and either post it in the next grade’s hallway or at the beginning of the year to energize your next class.
28. Create a time capsule
What will students remember about the year? Use a shoebox to capture the memories from a year in objects, letters, even recordings. Students can end the year by burying the time capsule or storing it in a location in the school (the trophy case?) where they could return to it before they graduate.
29. Do all the favorite things
The end of the school year is not the time to introduce something new. It is the time to revisit the favorites that made this year memorable—students’ favorite videos, songs, brain breaks, and games. Use this choice board template to capture all student favorites, and let them choose how many times they want to relive it all.
30. Write an end-of-year comic strip
If this school year were a comic strip, which activities would be scenes? What do students remember most? Students can work on comic strips in groups or individually. And if they focus on black-and-white comics, it’s easy to copy and bind a comic book for each student to take with them for summer reading.
31. Play end-of-year charades
Looking for game-based end-of-year activities? Play charades! Have each student write out one memorable moment from the school year on a slip of paper. Collect all the slips in a bag, hat, or the like. Divide kids into teams and have them come up one team at a time, choose a slip, and act out the memory for the group. No need to keep score—the goal is just to relive all the happy memories from the year.
32. Write “I Am” poems
By the end of the year, students have an idea of who they are as a 2nd grader, 3rd grader, etc. The last days of school are a great time to write “I Am” poems. Use these “I Am” poem ideas for inspiration.
33. Send students home with a summer full of affirmations
Send students home with a jar of positive affirmations to use all summer long. Especially if you have been using affirmations during morning meeting or in lessons, this is a great way to send students home with tools they can use to feel strong all summer.
Learn more: Get a batch of Printable Positive Affirmations for Kids to start every jar.
34. Print a growing tree
Capture each student’s fingerprint as a tree leaf on the tree template. Label them with their names, then hang them in your room from year to year so kids can see who’s come before them.
35. Hold a joke-off
Most students aren’t known for their stand-up, but with a box of jokes, students can end the year with a laugh. One at a time, students come up and pull a joke from a box. They read the joke and see who can figure out the answer.
Learn more: Use this list of summer jokes—they’re sure to get laughs.
36. Set students up for reading success
Reading logs are a great way to capture the books that students read each summer. Start a day of summer reading with some read-alouds, then do some book shopping to inspire students to jot down ideas for what they want to read, and send them home with summer reading logs. For a day about summer reading, consider inviting a local librarian in to talk about what your local library has planned.
Learn more: Get the full summer reading bundle.
37. Draw a school-year timeline
Classroom walls can start to look empty at the end of the year as you take things down to prepare for summer. Temporarily fill in the space with a long strip of butcher paper, then have kids create a timeline of the year. Break it down by month, then ask kids what they remember. Prompt their memories by having them look over their work (what a fun way to review!), and don’t forget to include events, speakers, and holiday celebrations.
38. Make T-shirts
Mark your time together by making fun tie-dyed bandannas or decorating T-shirts with everyone’s signature or handprint. Or try making friendship bracelets or necklaces. Every time your students wear one of these items, they’ll fondly remember your year together.
39. See who knows you best
Challenge your kiddos to show who knows you best. Create a quiz all about you: What is your favorite school lunch? Which read-aloud made you cry? Which coffee place do you get your morning coffee from? Record your students’ answers on chart paper with markers, or use Google Slides. It’s amazing how much kids pick up on our likes and dislikes!
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