36 Ideas for the Last Weeks of School
- Play class favorite games and sing favorite songs
- Build a class memory book
- Create a bulletin board of learning and events from the year
- Make a class coloring book of memories
- Create a class yearbook
- Invite former students in to share about the next grade
- Have a school-wide step-up day to meet next year’s teachers
- Have all students write one positive thing about all classmates and put together a list for each student
- Have each student decorate a t-shirt and then sign each other’s shirts
- Create a class time capsule to be opened in a few years
- Get outside and play fun games together
- Be especially consistent with beginning and end of the day routines
- Model expected routines/behaviors as needed
- Revisit rules
- Maintain a posted schedule
- Consider reducing choices to a manageable number
- Be patient and consistent
- Don’t let “little” things (walking in halls, etc.) slide
- Spend 30 min. at the end of one day as a class cleaning and straightening
- Take down old posters
- Add new student work to walls
- Add fresh plants to the room
- Wash down furniture
- Get rid of junky supplies (dry markers, broken rulers, etc.)
- Create new bulletin board displays
- Brainstorm more ideas as a class—How can we make our room look awesome?
- Look back through writing notebooks to notice growth
- Create a class anthology of student writing to celebrate
- Create board games to reinforce content learned throughout the year
- Play a game of Jeopardy with student generated questions—ones that reinforce learning
- Get outside for some fun science work
- Write children’s books to demonstrate learning
- Create Kahn Academy style videos to help next year’s students learn skills
- Create a class terrarium and observe/study
- Have a riveting class read-aloud (or two) ready to go
Are you looking for some great summer learning? Check out my new online courses. Email me at mike@leadinggreatlearning.com to ask about group rates for schools and districts!
-
Mike Anderson has been an educator for more than 25 years. A public school teacher for 15 years, he has also taught preschool, coached swim teams, and taught university graduate level classes. He now works as a consultant providing professional learning for teachers throughout the US and beyond. In 2004, Mike was awarded a national Milken Educator Award, and in 2005 he was a finalist for NH Teacher of the Year. In 2020, he was awarded the Outstanding Educational Leader Award by NHASCD for his work as a consultant. A best-selling author, Mike has written nine books about great teaching and learning. His latest book is Tackling the Motivation Crisis: How to Activate Student Learning Without Behavior Charts, Pizza Parties, or Other Hard-to-Quit Incentive Systems. When not working, Mike can be found hanging with his family, tending his perennial gardens, and searching for new running routes around his home in Durham, NH.
You may also like
5 Strategies for Keeping Lessons Short
- November 29, 2022
- by Mike Anderson
- in Blog

Are You Teaching SEL or Character Ed?
