All year, the last day of school seemed so far away and summer break felt like it would never come. So what's that pit in your stomach now that the end is here? Is it sadness? Nostalgia? Are you, gasp, going to miss your students? It's hard to say goodbye, but so easy to celebrate all the milestones. Here are eight memorable K-5 projects to make with your kiddos.
1. Coast into Summer
Use one — or all! — of these adorable templates with your students to make school-year memory coasters. Simply print them on cardstock and have your students write their favorite memories. Snap a photo of each student and voila-instant K-5 projects that parents will love. Use a laminator to protect each coaster and bundle them up for students to take home with them.
2. Dream Big About the Future
How did a year of learning, reading, and dreaming impact your students? Find out by asking them what they want to be when they grow up. From mermaids to doctors — encourage them to follow their hearts! Next, take a picture of each student, add their answer beneath it and turn their answers into a photo collage. Have some fun and use a program like Photoshop to give each student's photo some flair that relates to their chosen professions, like a stethoscope or football helmet. Print them out and laminate... boom, memories forever. Perhaps they'll compare notes on who stayed on course at their high school reunion?
Project inspired by: Fresh Picked Whimsy. Try it with: this Polaroid camera.
3. Recap the Year in One "Snap"
From field trips to the science fair — ask each student to reflect on the highlights of their year and choose their favorite "snapshot." Create construction paper film to border their handwritten answers (then get a laugh trying to explain disposable film to your students). Paste and laminate it onto a camera cutout and hang them all on your bulletin board for one last design before you pack up your classroom.
Project inspired by: Little Soaring Eagles. Try it with: this laminating machine.
4. Write a Best-Seller
Put together a fun questionnaire that gets your students reminiscing about things like their favorite lesson, most embarrassing moment, or best lunch. They'll have a blast using their creative thinking skills to come up with answers. Make copies of each students' page and bind them all together into a memory book that tells the story of the school year from each student's perspective!
Project Inspired by: The Unengaged Undergrad. Try it with: this binding machine.
5. Store Up Your Best Memories
Turn the last day of school into a walk down memory lane. Print out prompts for your students that ask them to think outside of the box. Ask about their best day of school or funniest joke from a classmate or favorite guest speaker. Be creative! Have each student write down their answers to a few. Take a large Mason jar and with a label maker, print out a sign that designates it the "Memory Jar." Throw all the answers into the jar, then have each student choose one memory to read out loud to the class.
Project inspired by: Make & Do Crew. Try it with:Â this label printer.
6. Make Everyone Scream!
What made this school year so awesome that you want to scream it from the rooftops? Have your students use their writing skills to summarize just that. Then take a picture of each student that looks like they're screaming. You can take them outside and have them yell at an object to make it realistic! Print out the pictures and paste them onto the captions so they're screaming their memories. Go ahead and laminate each one so each student can take these K-5 projects home to save.
Project inspired by: Teacher Idea Factory. Try it with: this photo printer.
7. Honor Their Favorite Book
The books your students connect with now are the ones that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. With a writing prompt, have them explore the one book they loved the most this year and explain why. Then take all their responses, make copies, and bind together into a book that each student takes home. It'll beef up their summer reading lists when they see what their friends loved the most.
Project inspired by: Teaching My Friends. Try it with: this binding machine.
8. Host an Awards Ceremony
Make everyone feel special by honoring each student with a personalized award. Come up with creative, funny, or serious superlatives and print them out. Then on the last day of school, host a special awards ceremony to hand them out and celebrate each student's unique contributions to the class.
Project Inspired by: Teach Train Love. Try It With: this laser printer.
Celebrate a successful (and memorable) year with these K-5 projects your students and their parents will cherish.
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