Sometimes publishing a writing assignment on a special piece of paper adds some extra incentive and interest. Here’s a simple printable you can use for the final publishing step of a friendly letter assignment. Or if your kids like the idea of “from the desk of” letterhead, have them design their own.
Click here for the free printable: Letter Template
The end of the year can be such a fun time… testing is over and summer is near! Thank heavens! But how to keep your students learning when they’d rather be at the beach? Here are some of my favorite ideas:
Review games. Fun distracts kids from the fact that they’re reviewing! I’ve tried this in a tournament style, where teams compete in a variety of games for a big prize. Try these fun review games!
Field day activities outside. Many teachers don’t have time for lots of physical fitness activities, so use the end of the year to help kids enjoy the outdoors while working on team building and leadership skills. Here’s my post on 21 Dr. Seuss themed ideas and this post about a fun water game I learned.
End of the year awards. Your class can vote anonymously on the awards or you can assign them. Check out my collection of 44 printable awards or my blank star awards.
Book Reports. Each student in my class had the opportunity to share their favorite book from the year. I let kids make come kind of visual project or display, which they seemed to enjoy making and showing their classmates. This is one report template you can give your students if you’re looking for a springboard.
Yearbooks and Year-In-Review projects. I absolutely loved this one. It might be my all time favorite. You can assign each student to write one article, or have each student write each one for themselves. Ask parents to bring in or submit pictures from throughout the year. Students can draw pictures or create artwork to go with the writing. This is also a great review of the parts of a paragraph and the writing process. Here are my two printables for this idea: 10 page printable yearbook or 1 page end of the year round up.
Awesome art projects. All those art projects you’ve been dying to do with your class but you don’t have time? Do them! Here’s a cool mask idea for upper grades.
Click here to view more end of the year ideas I’ve written about!
Transitions can get boring really easily… especially if kids only know one or two transitions for each purpose (introduce, sequence, etc.). Here’s my printable transitions poster. It can go on the wall in your classroom, or you can have students put one in their literacy journal. Enjoy!
Click here to view the printable poster: transitions list poster
In case you didn’t know, the new Microsoft Word 2013 has tons of cool templates! For all kinds of things, all kinds of occasions. I found these ABC cards completely made and ready to print. Awesome!
Click here to download: Alphabet Flash cards
It’s that time of year… the weather’s getting warmer and the kids are getting really squirmy! Must be the end of the school year! But learning’s not over (it never really is, right?)! Here’s a summer-themed language arts activity for kids that reviews grammar and helps them create a poem about summer time! Click here for the PDF: Grammatical Poetry- Summer
Here’s what the page looks like:
Click here for more grammatical poetry!
One of the best ways to preserve memories is to write them down. Help your students preserve a fun summer time memory be encouraging them to write it down. Encourage them to focus on details that help make the story rich. Motivate your students by allowing them to share their written memory with you, the class or other students. Here’s the free printable worksheet that goes with this activity. There are 2 versions (one provides space for your kids to draw a picture, and the other doesn’t). Click the links below to see the PDF: Summer Memories- draw own picture or Summer Memories- with picture.
A teacher friend in Utah snapped this cool photo of a first grade classroom’s reading corner. How cool!
Have you seen cool classrooms? Get permission from the teacher and send me a photo!
Be sure to check out my second giveaway! Two lucky readers will each get $20.00 worth of your favorite downloadable “nerdly fun & educational games” from Nerd in the Brain! Also check out Nerd in the Brain’s monthly freebie!
I saw these posters in a first grade classroom and thought their simplicity made them effective. And they’re pretty darn cute! Click here to view this same teacher’s main ideas vs details poster.
Sorry this one turned out blurry!
Squarehead Teachers 