End of the Year Awards (#Awards for Upper Grades)

It’s that time of the year… time for end-of-the-year classroom awards! This time, I’ve chosen a social media theme . I call these “Hashtag Awards” (Follow me on Twitter!). There are 45 ready-to-go awards and a blank one for you to get creative with! They’d be perfect for upper graders, who think they’re too cool for the rest of the fun, cheesy elementary school stuff. (Also check out my other collection of end-of-the-year awards!) Here are a few awards from the collection:

Hashtag Award 1 Hashtag Award 2

Click here to download the 46 page collection: End of Year Awards – Hashtag Collection

Don’t forget to grab some awesome pens to use when you fill these out! I recommend These Paper Mate Flair pens (kind of a teacher must-have!)


Click the photo to grab some!

… or grab these or the super fun Gelly Roll Stardust sparkly gel pens! Throwback to middle school! Click the picture below to buy some sparkly happiness!

 

Like what you see? Poke around some more! Support my blog by checking out my other posts and the advertisers who sponsor me. 🙂

 

Favorite End of the Year Activities

EndOfYearActivitiesSTICKERThe 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!

End of the Year Awards (44 Printable Certificates)

end of the year awards Sticker

Many teachers give out classroom award certificates at the end of the year. But there’s always those few kids who are hard to find an award for. And who has time to come up with gobs of awards that fit their students. Well, look no more! Here are 44 (yes, 44) pre-made award certificates for you to print off, fill out and distribute! If you plan on teaching for multiple years, it might save you time in the long run to print off a set and sign them (your
name only, not the date or grade) and save them in a folder so you don’t have to find them and sign them next year.

Here’s the PDF version (click to download: End of the Year Awards Collection) so you can print them all at once. I’ve also included a End of the Year Awards- Tracking Sheet for you to write down who gets which award in case the end of the year gets a little hectic. This is what the awards look like:

Super Scientist Award

Personal note here… these are so much more fun to fill out for your students when you’re writing with these Gelly Roll Stardust pens from back in the day! (Yes, I found them on Amazon!! They still exist!)


Click the picture to grab a pack!

One teacher requested a blank version of this certificate so you can write in your own award title. Such a good idea. Here it is:

blank certificate

And since I’m a “pen junkie,” I’ll share with you my other favorite for writing certificates… METALLIC sharpies! They make everything so fancy!


Click the photo to check them out!

Click here to check out my collection of upper grade “Hashtag Awards” (46 printable classroom awards). Here’s a sample:

Hashtag Award 1

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Liebster Award!

liebster-blog-award

(Liebster = sweetheart, beloved person, darling).

A huge thank you to Kelly at Free Little Words for nominating Squarehead Teachers for the Liebster Award. In my humble opinion, every teacher is a liebster. Thank you teachers!

The Liebster duties:

1.  Post 11 facts about myself.

2.  Answer the 11 questions posed by the nominator.

3.  Pass the love to 11 other bloggers &

4.  Pose 11 new questions for the newly ‘loved’ to answer.

Part 1: 11 Facts

  1. I’m 5’ 11” tall.
  2. My husband has dimples.
  3. When I’m in the passenger’s seat giving directions, I often confuse right and left (must be the stress of navigating!)
  4. My nails are always painted a bright color (all done by yours truly, of course. I’m broke.)
  5. I love scented candles!
  6. I’m obsessed with my planner. I take it with me everywhere!
  7. I thought the computer animated kids movie, Madagascar 3, was hilarious!
  8. My favorite number is 10 (since it’s the easiest number to work with).
  9. Not a fan of carbonated beverages.
  10. I love Gerbera daisies! They’re the happiest flower!
  11. My sock drawer doesn’t contain a single pair of plain white socks. They’re all bright colors and patterns.

Part 2: Answer Questions By Nominator

Toilet paper over or under and are you a scruncher or a folder? Over. Always. Umm… scruncher?

Are you a cat or dog person? Neither… sorry!

What chore do you absolutely hate doing? Cleaning out drains, especially the shower drain. Yuck!

If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be and why? Oooh! TOUGH question. Not sure, but definitely an age after I’m married to my husband.

What is something you learned in the last week? How to correctly pitch a baseball.

Which celebrity do you get mistaken for? Taylor Swift.

What’s one thing your parent/s did that you swore you would never repeat with your own children and you have followed through with? Hmm… nothing comes to mind. Guess I had awesome parents. Sorry!

If you could have a room full of any one thing, what would it be? Peace and quiet.

What do you value most in other people? Christ-like character.

If you could only see the world in black and white plus one other colour, what colour would you choose? Dang, this one’s hard too! My first instinct is to say blue, since it’s my favorite color, but that might make me feel cold all the time.

Do you believe ‘half the fun is getting there’? Yes. Attitude determines altitude.

Part 3: Nominate Other Blogs

Do It Yourself Divas

Crazy Busta-Movin’ McCoys

The Fun, Cheap or Free Queen

Adventures of a Future Teacher 

Latter-day Chatter

Rockstar Diaries

The Pioneer Woman

The Mormon Worker

Confessions of a Homeschooler

Johnny Jet

Beginners Photography Blog

Part 4: New Questions

  1. What is your default cell phone ringtone?
  2. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?
  3. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?
  4. What would you name the autobiography of your life?
  5. Describe yourself in 5 words.
  6. What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?
  7. Have you ever won anything (contests, radio prizes, etc.)?
  8. What do you miss most about being a kid?
  9. Are you proficient with chopsticks?
  10. If you could switch lives with anyone for a day, who would you switch with? Why?
  11. What expression/phrase do you say the most?

Free Online Award Maker

online award maker

I’m a teacher who doesn’t mind having my handwriting on an award I give to a student. But for those teachers out there who prefer to have everything typed, it’s your lucky day! This is a cool online award maker… and it’s FREE! Enjoy!

 

Click here to see my end-of-the-year awards collection (43 different award printables).

Click here to see my collection of blank everyday awards.