5 Fun End of the Year Activities for Upper Elementary
The end of the year is just around the corner and it’s time to start thinking about planning some special activities to celebrate all the hard work and memories made during the past school year.
I’ve pulled together five of my favorite end-of-the-year activities that are easy to plan and prep and will create an unforgettable end of the year for your students!
end of the year Memory Books
Give your students a chance to reflect on the past school year by creating a memory book. Their memory book can include memories about field trips, their teacher, their friends, what they learned in each subject, current events, special school activities, lunch and recess, friends, hobbies, and more!
I have created these kid-tested (and teacher-approved) memory books specific to 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade. Each memory book includes a variety of different pages to choose from like ABCs of the year, subject specific pages, lunchtime, recess, field trips, all about my teacher, my friends, what’s in the news, and more! Use them all, or pick the ones that work best for you!
All you have to do is pick the pages you want to use, make copies, and have your students get started! This is the perfect activity to use at the end of the year.
CLICK HERE to see the memory books in my TPT store.
Letter to My Future Self
Encourage your students to visualize their future as they write a letter to their future selves. You can choose to have them think of themselves 1 year from now, 5 years from now, at the end of their senior year in high school, or any time period you choose.
Have your students include their current favorite things, advice for the future, future hobbies and activities, who they think they will still be friends with, what class they predict they will like most in school, or things they hope to achieve in the future.
Have each student seal their letter in an envelope. You can send it home with them, and have them put a message on the envelope saying “Do not open until (date)”. You can also have students self-address their envelopes, hold onto them in your classroom, and mail the letters to each student on the future date the letters were written for.
Your students will LOVE opening these letters in the future and seeing what they wrote to themselves!
Top 10 Lists
Everyone loves a top 10 list! Have your students reflect on their school year by creating their own top 10 lists about the past year. Complete one top 10 list each day or set aside a block of time to complete several different top 10 lists.
Possible ideas for lists include Top 10 Things I Learned This Year, Top 10 School Lunches, or Top 10 Things About My Teacher.
Grab these Top 10 Lists in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! This resource includes 15 different top 10 lists and an autograph page at the end. All you have to do is make copies and let the student’s creativity begin!
Word Clouds
Are you looking for a special gift to give to your students at the end of the year? Word clouds are personalized and memorable gifts that are low-cost (or even free) and easy to create.
Gather words to use in each student’s word cloud by creating a printable page with each of your students’ names on it. Hand out the sheet and instruct students to write one positive word or character trait next to each of their classmates’ names.
Use the traits and words classmates wrote about each other, and add a few of your own, to generate a unique word cloud for each student. There are many websites that allow you to create word clouds for free. Some sites let you personalize the fonts, colors, and shape of the word cloud.
Two of my favorite sites to use when making word clouds are worditout.com and wordclouds.com.
Put this special word cloud on each student’s desk on the last day of school. They will love seeing their unique gift and the positive things their classmates and teacher think about them.
End of the year awards
Celebrate the unique achievements of each student by having a casual end of the year awards ceremony with your class. You can choose from a huge variety of award themes or have the students brainstorm a list of possible awards.
You can have your class vote on which award each classmate should get, or make it a surprise and choose the award given to each student yourself. Students will LOVE getting a special award that focuses on one of their strengths!
The end of the year is a special time to reflect on the past and celebrate all the hard work and memories made throughout the year. These end of the year activities provide a fun and meaningful way to do just that!
CLICK HERE to see all of my end of the year activities!
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