Most schools in the U.S. are on the verge of ending school sessions for the summer. It’s an exciting time for both teachers and students. Sometimes I think the teachers are more excited than the kids! With the excitement, though, comes a lot of craziness and uncertainty about what the end of the year will bring. It gets harder and harder to start full lesson plans, but the kids need to stay busy or a bit of chaos will begin.
Here are some ideas for activities teachers can try on the last few weeks or day of school:
End of the Year Classroom Awards
- Have an end of the year awards ceremony for your students. You can assign the awards on your own or create ballots and have the students vote on the winners. Awards can be simple and standard, such as “Leadership Award” and “Most Improved”. Other awards can be silly and fun, like “Megaphone Award” for the loudest student and “Chef Award” for the student with the best snacks and lunches packed. It’s a fun time to come together as a class and celebrate everyone’s individuality and strengths.
- Have your students write a letter to next year’s teacher. If you know who each student will have, this is a great time to let the students know. Even if you don’t, though, students can still write a letter to their future teacher introducing themselves, telling what their strengths are, and what they look forward to in the upcoming grade. It’s also a great way to practice writing skills on one of the last days of school.
- Watch a movie that aligns with a book. Make it fun! Bring popcorn or allow students to bring their own snacks. It’s fine if some students have already read the book, since they can identify similarities and differences between the book and the movie. For those students who haven’t read the book, it might just encourage them to do so.
- Have students help with organizing, bulletin boards, and clean-up tasks. Some students love being little helpers and this is a great way to utilize their strengths during natural break times.
- Give time to play some fun but educational board games. Scrabble, Boggle, Konexi, and Blurt are just a few of them. Blurt is one of my favorites because it forces students to use self-control and patience when it is not their turn to “blurt” out the answer.
Whatever you choose, remember to stay cool, calm, and collected. Enjoy the last days with your students!
Last Weeks of School Survival Kit
Social skills are what allow people to communicate and interact positively with others. Most children learn these skills through positive role models, adult guidance, and interactions with others. They just learn them and the rest is pretty easy! Others, though, don’t pick up on the social skills that way. These are the kids who are getting into arguments with peers, like to follow their own set of rules, don’t see why they have to wait their turn, and sadly, often don’t have many (or any) real friends. Teaching social skills isn’t easy. It’s something extra you have to teach on top of everything else, so sometimes it gets forgotten or put off. It is, however, the most rewarding thing to teach because it REALLY makes a difference. It doesn’t happen quickly, but you can see a kid transform from being avoided by other kids to really being *liked* by his or her peers. That’s special, really.
Psychologists have researched for years to try and find a perfect ratio of number of positive to negative comments. These researchers have investigated the power of positive comments at work places, in marriages, and at schools. It was interesting to find that many researchers agree on a ratio of around 5 positive comments to every 1 negative comment. With more negative comments, people tend to feel discouraged and undervalued. I find this so interesting because I would say that this ratio needs to be even higher for children and young adults in schools. That means that teachers should be giving at least 5 positive and kind words of encouragement for every 1 negative thing they say. Below are some simple tips for incorporating more positive into your classroom:
