The end of kindergarten is an emotional time. It’s exciting because you MADE it. Yet, sad because your time with that set of children is quickly coming to an end. Some years seem to go quickly and some seem to drag on forever. Whatever the case, you want to make sure those last few days of school are as memorable as possible. Here are some ideas that I have done during the last 30 days of school, mostly kindergarten.
Prevent that summer slide
You taught your heart out all year and then comes summer. Yes, the summer slide is a thing. It happens. It’s horrible. And you have to hear about it next year from all of your students’ new teachers, right? Wrong. It’s very possible to keep your students thinking about all that you’ve taught even if it’s just a few times a week. About 5 weeks before the end of the year, I start hinting to parents that the end is near. We need to go as hard as we can and my expectations rise even higher. I expect my students to be working even harder than they have been all year. I don’t really do anything differently, but parents tend to slack off when the end of the year is happening.
I start sending home little notes about things that each child needs to work on towards the end of kindergarten. It keeps the parents in the loop and places a little birdie next to their ear reminding them to work with their child. I also make sure to run my copy machine. I do so many paperless activities throughout the year that I usually have a nice bit of copies left over so I can make summer packets for my students. These are personalized for each child. I only print pages that each least one child will use and then I spend about 30 minutes making a copy for each child.
I pull out what they don’t need and then place back in what a child does need. This usually goes fairly quickly because I think about them in terms of small groups. My lower students usually all need the same practice. Same for the middle and higher groups. The only thing that may be a little bit different is math in comparison to reading. I take a few minutes before making copies to write and break up the class into groups for reading and math. This help when I copy and can quickly see how many of each set to make. You can check out what my summer review sets look like here.
Save the memories with your students
Years ago, I also made memory books with my students. Mine were very extra with printed photographs in every child’s memory book. They took about a month to make and were a ton of work. I also created a DVD of all of our memories and pictures that were taken over the year. I used to take over a thousand pictures every year. Eventually, the memory books became too much work, so I worked just on slideshows.
We eventually added an ABC-themed video. My students came up with an actionable thing to do that started with each letter of the alphabet. Then, we divided the class up and students got to choose which one they wanted to do. I sent out letters to parents asking them to send in certain items. It was THE cutest video I ever made. They came up with jumping jacks for J, blow bubbles and bubble gum blowing for B, and so many other cute things. The video started with one child doing the talking. “A is for apples” and then it was followed by a child biting an apple. All of the families loved it. If you have multiple devices to record on or a few free moments to get the recording done, I highly suggest doing this.
Create fun memories
For the last 30 days I try to add in as much fun as possible. A few years one of my schools did a themed 5 days of fun. We had a pop it day and all of the kids got to bring their favorite pop its to school. This was an easy way to add some fun. Some other ideas would be bubbles, outside reading with sunglasses, chalk, movie day, and toy day. Ask your students what they would like to do for a day. You will be surprised how simple it may be and could possibly be free. My students decided once that they wanted time to just play with play doh. This was an easy yes because I had a closet full of it.
Take pictures to give to your kids. The pictures that I always take end up in our slideshow, but I always take some special ones at the end of the year. I enjoy taking a Ms. Brown and me picture to give them. I write a personalized note to each of my students and glue our picture down on the page. It makes it extra special that they got to take a picture with me. I also do a Me and My Best Friend picture. In kindergarten, they think they will never make any more friends and usually want to stay with that class forever.
I want them to cherish who they became friends with and make sure to give them a picture with that child. These are some of the cutest photos I’ve ever taken and truly cherish them all. We also take a class picture when everyone is at school. During the year, we take a professional class photo, but it never fails that someone gets sick and is not there for the photo. I make sure I take a picture the day everyone is at school, print it off, and give each child a picture to keep forever.
End of the year gifts
The DVDs, memory books and pictures count as part of my end of the year gifts to them. However, during the school year I normally find a good deal on a cute $1 book. I purchase enough for the class and save them until the end of the year. I decorate a gift bag with each child’s name, drop the book inside with crayons, pencils, their summer review pack, and a gift. Over the years, I have personalized a variety of water bottles and cups, whiteboards and anything else that I could find for $1. Dollar Tree usually has super colorful and cut items because it’s getting closer to summer. All of these are things that help make the end of kindergarten really special for my class. I’d love to know an idea you have for the end of the year. Comment or find me on Instagram and let me know.
Read on about my end of the year packing tips.