More Great Ideas to End Your School Year

Memory Book – Run off copies of a memory book (look in the Downloads section) for each child to color and fill in the missing information. Here are some suggestions:

1st page – “My Memory Book” with teacher’s name, school, year.
2nd page – “This is me.” (Child draws self –portrait.)
3rd page – “This is my teacher.” (Child draws teacher’s picture.)
4th page – “Here are my friends.” (Child draws friends.)
5th page – “My favorite thing at school is...” (Draws favorite activities.)
6th page – “Something I’ve learned this year…” (Draws accomplishment.)
7th page – “When I grow up I want to be…” (Draws future self.)
8th page – “This is my handprint.” (Trace around child’s hand.)
You could also have children draw their favorite sport, color, book, song, food, etc.

Class Yearbook – A teacher in New York shared this idea with me years ago. It’s going to take a little work, but it will be something children will treasure the rest of their lives! You will need to assemble photographs of the children, as well as pictures you’ve taken throughout the school year. Take 26 sheets of paper and write a letter on each page. Glue pictures of the children on the page their name begins with. Next, sort through the pictures and glue them on appropriate pages. (I’ve give you some suggestions for each letter below.) Label the pictures and run off a copy for each child. Use cardstock for the front and back cover and bind.

A- apple tasting, art, alphabet, “Alligator”
B- “Bear Hunt,” blocks, birthdays, books, bus
C- computers, caterpillars, counting, cooking, CLIFFORD
D- dinosaurs, dancing, drawing, “Days of the Week”
E- easel, exercise, eating, exploring
F- friends, fall, first day of school, “Five Little Monkeys”
G- GINGERBREAD MAN, games, graphs, gym
H- Hundred Day, Halloween, holidays, handprint
I- ice and snow, insects, “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “I can___”
J- jack o’ lanterns, journals, jump rope
K- KISSING HAND, kites, kindness, “Katalina”
L- letters, library, “Lettercise,” lunch, LEO
M-“Macarena Months,” music, math, magnets
N- nests, nursery rhymes, names, numbers
O- oceans, outside, “Over in the Meadow”
P- pizza parlor, P.E., puzzles, painting, “Peanut Butter”
Q- quiet time, quilts
R- reading, rainy days, running, rabbits, “Rime Time”
S- singing, spring, shapes, senses, science
T- “Tooty Ta,” turkeys, teeth, tests, TACKY THE PENGUIN
U- upside down, under, umbrellas (April showers)
V- Valentine’s Day, VERY BUSY SPIDER
W- word wall, writing, winter, “Wally Acha,” weather
X- “X” marks the spot (treasure hunt), X with body
Z- zoo field trip, zigzag art, “Z” end of the year
*Use the name of the school, teacher’s name, etc.

Here’s a poem for the cover:

      We’ve learned and played in many ways,
      But now the year must end.
      Here’s a book to remember special days,
      And all your kindergarten (first grade) friends!

Hint! If you don’t have photographs, have your children draw pictures for your book.

*Make a video of your students singing, working in centers, and doing other things they like best at school.

Autograph Book – Cut paper in fourths. (I like to use colored paper.) Have children count out 10 pieces. Hole punch and tie with a ribbon. Children walk around the room and get their friends’ autographs.

Hint! You could also let them collect their friends’ phone numbers (with parental approval).

Fancy Writing – Your kids will get a kick out of doing “fancy writing” with their end of year books and projects. Demonstrate how to write a word and then add dots of different colors to the ends of all the letters.

Memory Shirt – Have children bring in an old t-shirt from home. (White works best.) Provide them with fabric pens and let them have friends write their names and draw pictures on their shirts.

Hint! Plan several days for this project. It’s “no fun” if you have to do it all at once.

Sweet Dreams Pillowcase - Let children bring in a pillowcase and have their friends decorate them with their names and pictures. They will have “sweet dreams” all summer!