A Class Finale They Won’t Forget! 18+ Ideas & Resources

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Carl W. Buehner

Many teachers will soon say bye to their learners. In the few days you have left with your learners take the opportunity to leave them with fond memories and knowing you believe in them. This may be difficult, especially when your students are restless. However, you still have time to end the year meaningfully by getting students to reflect, express gratitudes, cultivate relationships with their peers, play, and explore the world. Below are tips, resources, and ideas to help you end the year making a lasting impression. Feel free to download the slides and share them with your staff. Find many more ideas in the archive of the #TeacherEdchat I recently hosted.

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End of the Year Activities! from Shelly Sanchez Terrell

Ideas

Students can:

reflect by creating digital scrapbooks. Try any of these web tools and apps Buncee, Canva, Tackk, Smore, Biteslides, and Glogster.
reflect on goals and set some goals for the summer in a vision board or goal poster.
create a digital magazine or newspaper of their favorite moments and memories. Try Issuu, Flipsnack, these Google newspaper templates, or these resources.
make a teacher appreciation video, magazine, or slideshow.
end the year with a short live presentation. Try having them share their passion in a TedTalk, Ignite, or Pecha Kucha format.
watch and write their own commencement speeches.
provide advice to future students. Check out this Voicethread of 3rd graders giving advice.
play and move. Use GoNoodle.com for 5 minute brain breaks in class that get you and the students moving!
learn outdoors. Check out my presentation with over 10 school ground activities.
play games or create their own games. Check out my game based resources.
learn from a guest expert physically or virtually! Skype has a list of guest experts you can find here.
make a video together, such as lip dubs, a farewell video, or memories video. Find my video projects resources here.
explore the world with virtual fieldtrips. Try these resources.
Students can explore the world with Google Cardboard. Get resources, help and ideas in the Google Cardboard Teacher Community.
connect with other classes virtually. Find classes to do Mystery Skypes here.
Integrate humor in lessons. Find ideas in my post about integrating humor.
Let students know you believe in them by writing them a farewell letter like this one or create a goodbye slideshow.