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One thing I want to do this year is spend a class period talking about how
the students thought the class went this year. Also I would like to spend a whole period discussing
how the year went in general. I will probably have questionnaires for them to think about and complete for homework before we dive into the discussion. I also have students write out some goals at the beginning of the year
that I will review with them. -
Some of you have just finished school; some are in the process at the moment. What have you done to bring a purposeful, satisfying conclusion to the year?
Did you review some high points, academically and socially? Storytelling? Photo display on the bulletin board? Compare beginning-of-year problems with end-of-year problems to show growth? In short, what did you do to finish rather than just “stop”? -
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We “publish” a school newspaper at the end of the year so the prep work for that is often a looking back at the year.
A first grade tradition has been to hold a “Storybook Day” close to the end of school. We celebrate the fact that first graders can now read their own books after being in school only nine months. Students come to school dressed as a storybook (fiction or historical) character and bring their stories along. We spend a good part of that day reading their stories.
Our last day of school is a school community picnic along with the 8th and 12th grade graduation exercises. The last 15-20 minutes before the dismissal bell the students are all called back to their classrooms where they are handed their report card and given any last words from the teacher. Then school is officially over for the year!
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I taught three levels of elementary music on a weekly basis this past year. I did year-end testing with the students on the next-to-last week of school, and saved the last week for an End-of-Year Music Party at which all three levels came together, along with moms and some grandparents, and demonstrated things they had practiced and learned in music class this year. The students had no rehearsal of what they would present, but each class would simply on-the-fly do the activities I called on them to do: scale drills, rhythm reading, rounds or part songs, game songs, demonstrate their knowledge of key signatures, notes and rests, letter names of lines and spaces, sight-singing, etc. At the end I pulled all three classes together for a couple of music games like “Button You Must Wander,” and then treated everyone to note-shaped sugar cookies and chocolate milk. It was a fun way to reinforce everything one more time, praise them for all they had learned, and leave them with a good feeling about music class! (Not to mention opening the parents’ eyes more to the value of teaching music.)
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Toward the end of the year we celebrate the students’ accumulation of poetry, articles, and stories (all written into one composition book) by asking high school volunteers come to listen. In small groups, individuals get to read their choice of as many poems, stories, and articles they wish to share with their high school friend. As the older ones actively enjoy the younger ones work, the 3rd and 4th treasure their collection even more. Interaction across the grades like this is something I try to actively pursue and this is one that has worked well at the end of the year.
Another annual tradition is creating a lapbook. Throughout the year the students make multiple styles of individual minit books that represent significant parts of the year. These minit books contain things like the Bible Memory of the year, or history with pictures of people studied in history class, a reading project done on a chapter book, copies of hymns memorized, a collection of the visuals and puns used to memorize the states and capitals, a few photos from the year, etc. The final two weeks of school we assemble these minit books into one grand lapbook that they get to show to the first and second graders before proudly taking them home to treasure for years to come. It is really a nice way to review parts of the year.
Another tradition that feels like a nice closure is the final reading classes for the year. The final few days of reading class each student reads a picture book of their choice to the rest of the class practicing interpreting the story well orally — using both voice and body language. They love this and usually clamor for the chance to read theirs to the first and second graders too.
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