end of the year ideas
Building Self-Esteem By Giving Achievement Awards!
Are you looking for end of the year awards for your kiddo’s, certificates, candy bar wrappers etc.?
Do you want a nice end of they year note home to parents or a poem?
To same you time and energy, I’ve designed some, and then did some surfing so you don’t have to!
I found several poems and notes, and revamped them to come up with two of my own.
Click on the links to view/download them: End of the year poem: Adieu To You, End of the Year Note Home to Families
Here are some great links:
For candy wrappers I made an "Owl miss you!" packet complete with activities and a candy bar wrapper. click on the following links for other candy bar wrappers:
For certificates: I've designed a graduation packet filled with 16 certificates for a variety of awards, + over 100 certificates in my certificate packet.
Other sites with more certificates can be found by clicking on the following links:
Innovative classrooms offers 30 certificates!
Family education has 19 certificates
KidBibs can even send your award via e-mail! How cool is that.
dltk kids helps you create your own portrait or landscape awards using their software program and clip art. Click on the link to check it out.
I hope you find something that suits your needs. It doesn't take long to make a lasting impression on a child. A simple certificate does wonders for their self-esteem. Put a smile on a little one's face today!
Do you have a certificate or helpful website that you'd like to share?
If we all take a moment to add to everyone's bag of tricks, how easy our lives would be. diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here.
PIN away if you think anything on my website would be interesting to someone else!
1-2-3 Come Flip Over Opposites With Me!
It’s that time of year when students start wearing flip-flops!
I was looking at clip art and thinking “What can I do with flip flops?” I thought of “opposites”.
One sandal is the flip word and the opposite word is the flop; hence they flip flop.
I spent lots of time whipping together a 155-page packet so you wouldn’t have to!
I think your kiddo's will really enjoy this great vocabulary builder; it’s easy to implement and fun to do.
I know that school’s almost out, but hopefully this will get you excited for next year.
Hang up the flip-flop poster.
Choose a "flip" word for the day. i.e. "big".
Students have to guess the "flop" word "little" which they write in their flip- flop recording journal.
If you're also studying synonyms and/or antonyms, have the journal do double duty and challenge students to think up a synonym/antonym for the flip and flop words as well.
This only takes a minute, but will provide tremendous vocabulary building opportunities, an easy way for students to understand opposites as well as strengthen their understanding of synonym and antonyms.
The better their vocabularies, the better their writing skills. By writing the words, and doing the trace & write activities their spelling will also improve!
Flip-Flops make a great addition to your "Word Work" for Daily 5 activities too!
The packet includes:
- 550 traceable opposite word cards
- Covers to turn them into Itty Bitty booklets +
- Directions of what else you can do with the cards including a variety of games like Kaboom.
- Kaboom bomb cards
- 275 traceable pocket cards, (These can also be made into a flip booklet.)
- You can also turn these pocket cards into puzzle cards. Sample puzzle included.
- Blank set of cards to program your own opposite words, or worksheets. i.e., Write in one word and have students fill in the matching opposite word.
- A list of 550 words that make up 275 pairs of opposites.
- 3 different types of opposite recording sheets + 5 different journal covers so that students can make a Flip Flop Op Journal to record the daily Flip word activity in.
- Flip Word Of The Day Poster
- Flip Flop Word Wizard Tracking Chart-Poster +
- A certificate of praise
Click on the link to view/download Flip Flop Opposites
I hope your students absolutely flip over these fun activities as they build their vocabularies!
Feel free to PIN anything you think might be helpful to others.
"Anyone who has not made a mistake, has not tried anything new." -Einstein
Thanks For The Memories…
Are you looking for a nice keepsake for your students or an interesting end-of-the-year writing prompt?
How about making a keepsake booklet? This makes a nice Daily 5 activity, or do the booklet as a whole group for your writing or reading block.
You can also send it home to be worked on during the summer.
Whether you send this home for students to work on with their families, or do a page or 2 each day during the last week of school, this booklet is sure to make a wonderful keepsake of the year your students were in your grade.
I've included cover pages for pre-school, young fives, kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades, + a blank page for others to fill in their grade level.
Add photographs of students and their best friends to make the booklet even more special and allow time for children to pass their booklets around to gather autographs.
To expedite things, why not run off an extra copy of the master autograph pages and have everyone, including yourself, sign the page and then simply run off enough copies for each student to include in their booklet.
Click on the link to view/download School Memories Keepsake Booklet
I hope all your memories were marvelous!
Learning With Owies!
It’s that time of year to haul out the Band-Aide box as children are coming in from the playground with scraped knees and elbows and a variety of other boo-boo’s.
It’s also a nice time to review all of the letters of the alphabet to make sure your students are retaining what you’ve taught them.
What better way to do that than with Band-Aides!
I made a boo-boo alphabet, using that “must-have” first aid equipment that a teacher simply can’t be without, and decided to turn the letters into an alphabet booklet that would reinforce parts of the body, which is a Y5 report card standard.
I had to get a little creative with some of the letters, but I think you’ll find this unique ABC book interesting and fun.
Simply make one for yourself as a teacher’s copy, and read it to your students or use them as flashcards, or print off copies for your entire class and use as a whole group writing/reading center.
It’s also a fun activity to send home for the summer.
Click on the link to view/download Band-Aide Alphabet booklet
A great companion to this is My Owie booklet.
Students cut and glue the matching numbered pictures to the correct boxes in their booklet.
This is a nice way to review parts of the body.
It's also a cute booklet to send home with a child who has gotten hurt on the playground.
Also includes:
- A graphing extension
- 3 skill sheets
- Dr. Simon Says Game
- 2 songs to review body parts
- 9 word-wall word flashcards with 7 picture cards and a cover-card to make an Itty Bitty booklet
- An Accident Report-form letter to send home to parents +
- An art Band-Aide activity to make, to use as a manipulative to use with the songs and game to learn/review parts of the body.
Click on the link to view/download My Owie booklet packet
Thanks for visiting. Do try and pop in tomorrow for more ideas and tips. How do you handle boo-boo's when they happen in your class? I'd enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here. Thanks in advance for making the time to do that.
PIN away if there's anything you feel might excite parents or teachers as well. I think sharing is so important!
Until next time may all of your boo-boo's truly be healed with a kiss and hug!
In The Good Ole Summer Time
When I think of summer I think of sunglasses.
I found this cute clip art and I thought what could I do with this?
As Dr. Seuss would say, A few “thinks” later, and I had several new things for you to do with your students!
My Sunglasses is an easy reader where students trace and write the color and number words, circle the number in the sequence and then color the sunglasses.
Number 10 has a twist. I’ve also included a graphing extension.
Click on the link to view/download My Sunglasses.
Do a few of your little ones still not have a handle on those 3-D shapes, or have you just begun to introduce them for next year’s kindergartners?
Then Seeing 3-D Shapes Through My Sunglasses is perfect for you.
Click on the link to view/download Seeing 3-D Shapes with sunglasses!
Next, there are a variety of ways you can use 20-Summer-Sun Compound Word Sunglasses.
You can run off and laminate the puzzle cards and have students put them together as a center.
I’ve included directions for a variety of games that you can play with them such as Memory Match Concentration or “I Have; Who Has?”
They are great as worksheets. So that you can program the glasses with other lessons, to reinforce more report card standards and practice other skills, such as skip counting, subtraction or addition equations, shapes etc. I’ve included a blank set of sunglasses.
Have students cut the sunglass pages apart, put them in alphabetical order, trace the words, collate the pages and make a booklet.
Click on the link to view/download Summer-Sun Compound Word Sunglasses
Finally, ABC Sunglasses are traceable upper and lowercase letter pages that can be made into a booklet or used as separate worksheets.
Again, there’s a blank set of sunglasses so that you can program your own skillsheets. i.e., Write only the uppercase letters in and have students fill in the lowercase letters, or write in the lowercase letters, and have students fill in the uppercase ones.
I’ve also made the sunglass letters into puzzles. Color the sunglasses, laminate them and cut the pieces apart on the puzzle lines.
Besides a puzzle center activity, I’ve also included a list of game ideas you can use the pieces for as well.
Click on the link to view/download ABC Sunglasses.
Thanks for visiting. Be sure and pop back tomorrow for another teaching tip.
Feel free to PIN anything you think might be interesting to others.
Do you have an end-of the year activity you do with your students? I’d enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas. Thanks in advance for taking the time. I hope these activity sunglasses are fun for your students, and your remaining days with them are made in the shade!
For your convenience, I reposted 3 of my visitors "favorite" articles from last year:
Let's Have A Pet Parade, Sweet Summer Dreamin' Pillowcases, & Thanking Volunteers.
Scroll down to check out these end-of-the-year fun things to do with your kiddo's.
WRITE on!
Happy Father's Day Venn Diagram Comparison:
Brainstorm with your students how they are the same and different from their dads. A fun way to do this is with a Venn Diagram.
I like to use 2 brightly colored hula hoops to do this, and then write words on index cards.
I then transfer this information to the white board so that students are seeing it again, and can copy what applies to them on their own Venn diagram.
As an added writing extension students could also compare their grandpa's with their dads. After they make their Venn Diagrams have them draw a picture of their dad and themselves/grandpa inside the diagram.
You could also add their school photo.
This makes a cute card to give to their dad's on Father's Day by adding "We may be different, but we are also the same, and this you know is true: I LOVE you!"
The Sweet Taste of Summer:
Brainstorm with your students of all the fun things they like to eat during the summer that are a bit different than the foods they eat during other months, such as Popsicles, ice cream, things cooked on the grill, stuff they take on a picnic, watermelon, strawberries, etc.
Run off my master of a Popsicle. Students cut them out and write their favorite things to eat during the summer.
When they are done, tape a large Popsicle stick to the back of their work. Buy a checkered tablecloth at The Dollar Store, cut it into a small rectangle to look like a picnic table and staple it to your b. board.
Arrange the Popsicle sticks around the table as a border in a crisscross fashion. The caption: The Sweet Taste Of Summer
Or... cover your b. board with blue paper. Cut out two Peach lips. (One top and one bottom) Make these so that the mouth looks open. Cut out a long pink tongue. Place the Popsicles in and around the mouth.
Wishing On A Summer Star:
Brainstorm with your students some of the places they'd like to go during the summer, if they could go anywhere in the world. Write them on the white board.
Run off my masters of the starfish on two different shades of light brown construction paper. Each student will need one of each color.
Children cut out their starfish. On the larger, front view one, they complete the writing prompt: "If I could go any where in the world this summer I'd like to go to... and list all the places they'd like to visit.
On the other smaller back of the starfish, they glue Cheerio's on the lines, for a nice 3-D touch. Glue the two stars together in a kitty wampus way.
Put light blue paper on your bulletin board. Buy a fish net from The Dollar store and staple it diagonally in the middle of the board.
Sprinkle the starfish on the net. Caption: Wishing On A Summer Star
Click on the link to view/download Summer Fun Writing Packet
I hope these ideas will excite your students and get them to WANT to write.
Thanks for visiting! I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more fun in the sun activities.
As always if you have a creative idea that your students enjoy doing, I'd love hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com
or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.
PIN away if you find something you think would be helpful or interesting to another teacher or parent that home schools!
Wishing you a super summer that simply sizzles with fun!
