The end of the year is such an exciting time in kindergarten! Students have learned and grown so much from the beginning of the year and now it is time to have fun and celebrate all of their accomplishments. It is a great time to not only review skills, but create some final memories together as a class family.
ABC Countdown
One of my favorite ways to end the school year is with an ABC Countdown! There are 26 letters in the alphabet, so this countdown takes place over the last 26 days of school. Each day has a new letter, and we do something fun that day that starts with the letter. For example, “A” for “Art Day” or “B” for “Bubble Day”. There are so many different ideas to go with each letter and you can make it as extreme or as simple as you want.
Along with our countdown, I love to incorporate writing with a Countdown Journal. Each day, students fill in a page describing what we did that day and draw a picture to go with it.
An editable calendar, a list of ideas for each letter, and the journal template are all included in my ABC Countdown resource.
Memory Books
Kindergarten memory books are another fun project that make great souvenirs from the year! At this point in the year, students are able to write and draw so well, that these books always turn out so amazing.
I like to start the books a few weeks before the last day of school and focus on one page a day. There are pages to write about their teacher, friends, school, field trips, favorite activities from the year, and so much more. It is so fun to be able to reflect on all of the fun things we did together during the year.
You can grab the memory book pages HERE.
Glow Day
I enjoy doing room transformations throughout the school year, but I always end the year with a big one…Glow Day!
We make the entire classroom glow with black lights, glow sticks, and neon paper/materials. We spend the whole day reviewing kindergarten skills with fun glow in the dark activities.
You can read all about Glow Day HERE!
Directed Drawing
Every month, my class does a new directed drawing and we display them in our classroom. It is so fun to see how unique all of their drawings turn out and they are always so adorable. The best one of all though, is this sweet graduation drawing. At the end of the year, their drawing and coloring skills are amazing, and they really take their time with adding details. And seeing these hang on the wall, knowing they are about to be first graders, makes them and myself feel so proud of them.
End of the Year Read Alouds
As with any time of the year, I love to tie in some themed read alouds. The end of the year is a great time to read books about summer. This includes themes such as the beach, camping, ocean animals, ice cream, watermelon, pirates, etc. I also read books about graduation and moving up to first grade. My favorite book to read on the last day of school is A Letter From Your Teacher: On The Last Day of School. It always makes me emotional.
End of the Year Gifts
On the last day of school, I like to send my students off to summer with a fun gift full of things they can do. I get some plastic beach buckets, (you can find them at the dollar store or in bulk from Oriental Trading). I fill the buckets with summer items that you can also find for fairly cheap. I include things like bubbles, sunglasses, beach balls, sidewalk chalk, rubber ducks, snacks, etc. Then, I attached a little gift tag that says “This year was BUCKETS of fun!” You can grab the FREEBIE gift tag below!
I hope this gave you some good ideas to end the year with your class. It truly is a special time to make some final memories and reflect on the amazing year you had together!
