Creative ways to end the school year

The end of the school year marks a unique opportunity for educators to create lasting memories with students. If you aren't able to try any of these activities out this year, keep them in mind as beginning of the school year rolls around or use them at the close of next year.

STEAM challenges

• Students choose a book, either a new one or a past read that they enjoyed.

          They must create an object that goes with the book. Then they share the story and what they chose to create with their classmates. These can go on display or be taken home, depending on the materials used with the books. 

Pictured here are my students using LEGO blocks:

• Use a picture book to challenge students to construct an object from the story, for example, we read the new version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen:

Students were challenged to build a troll bridge out of LEGO blocks. I gave them a piece of blue paper as the water and the only stipulation I made was that it had to be elevated, not touching the water.  As the students worked they found that they wanted to continue the challenge with more requirements, like the ones that are the sturdiest, tallest, etc. 

The best part was listening to them share their strategies for building and helping each other when they got stuck. It also inspired some to want to perform a reader's theater of the story! 

• Put up a big Spot the Difference to complete as a class. Then challenge students to make their own and trade with one another. They can use old magazines to cut out pictures and words or use Google Slides or another digital format to make their pictures. 

The one shown in this video is from the publisher's website for the book, Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler and Loren Long. 

• Challenge students to create a BookFace photo. They will need access to a camera and book covers You can do this with book covers that are already separated from books or from the books themselves. In small groups, 3 people is usually good, students select a book cover that they can finish with their own bodies, faces, or other objects. Then students pose in a way that aligns with the book's cover art and another student takes the picture. Pictures can be edited and cropped so that only the BookFace remains.  Here are some of our favorites from this past year:

Blast From the Past

This is a fun way to look back on the school year and reflect on those moments of growth, humor, and classmates who have come and gone.  

• Show photos and ask students to recall those lessons. I also record or have them write down what they are interested in at the start of the school year.  At the end, I share with them what they said and ask if anything has changed since then.  It is so neat to hear how their interests and lives change.

• Roll videos produced by students, for example, stop motion films, book trailers, etc.  After looking at some, students asked to make more next year and for specific events, like, Talk Like a Pirate Day.  We even made several of our own as a class on our last library day!

• Have students rank their top reads of the year. Our library management system allows them to see their circulation history, so students were able to rank their favorite books they checked out. 

Looking ahead

• Share with students special days, holidays, or hide them in plastic eggs around the room. (I got the list from LM_NET and had to cut some out due to the age of my students.) Students select one to learn more about and then share with their classmates what they learned. You can have them write it on a sticky note, make a poster, or a digital copy.

This poster displayed here is from my Capstone Publisher representative:

• Survey students about their opinions about the library program or your classroom.  I've had students use devices to fill out Google Forms and I've had them write their ideas on paper posted around the room.  This helps to shape the next year and gives students a voice:

Play unplugged games

• Peep Knock-out: you take turns with a partner trying to knock a Peep off of the side of a table using only a plastic egg that you roll.  I heard about this game from a librarian colleague of mine and was waiting to play it on a special occasion. My 1st graders played the game and then we came together to critique it and adjust the rules for playing it again in the future. 

• "Water Balloon Battle" or "________ Battle": You take turns launching a balloon on paper towards your opponents figures, also drawn on paper.  Your eyes are closed when launching and if you hit the figure then you succeed.  I first saw this on a fellow librarian's Twitter account and had my students play it, they loved it!  They also had fantastic ideas for adjustments.  
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  Follow the directions below for the rules to the tabletop game: 

Of course there are so many fun ways to end the school year or engage with learners to build community, please leave your favorite activities in the comments or if you have specific questions, send them my way.

Teaching idea: "Today is..."

Today is "National Pizza Day!"  These five words will cause students to begin thinking, talking and asking questions about the topic.  These special days, which occur every day, are ideal topics for students to practice inquiry-based questions, make connections with one another, serve as writing prompts and go perfectly with library resources and standards.  

Here are some ways that I have used them:

• Share a joke, fact, or quote about the topic
• Find a GIF to help illustrate the special day, or show the GIF first and ask students to try to guess the special day
• Direct students to a database to find out more about a topic
• Guide students to write open-ended questions about the topic
• Connect the topic to a current event 
• Challenge students to create a survey about the topic
• Collect books, both fiction and nonfiction, from your library collection and invite students to check them out (Twitter post example)
• Put out realia that goes with the topic and allow students to handle the items
• Play a song, game or listen to a poem or speech about the topic, like in Dean Koontz's book, Every Day's a Holiday:
  
  
  
• Make an iMovie, TikTok or Instagram Reel of your display
• Use the topic to ask students to choose between "This or That" options 

Here is my SLIDESHOW of days I have used with students, in person and during distance learning. 

Some questions you may have about this approach:

Q: Where do you find what special day it is?

A: Type "TODAY IS" in an Internet browser window and click on the search results.  Or bookmark: National Today  ,  National Day Calendar ,    Days of the Year

Q. How do you choose what to feature?

A. You know your student development levels and what is appropriate as an educator. Think about how you would expect to use the topic: discussion only or a full lesson? 

Q. What if you have students who don't celebrate holidays?

A.  You can focus on historical events and famous people's contributions.

Q. Do you check every day or can you look ahead of time to plan?

A. I like to check on a daily basis but if I know a certain observance is coming up, I will pencil it in my plans ahead of time. 

Q. Can you go beyond special days, like special months or weeks?

A.  Yes! There is a librarian on LM_NET who posts each month with the title: January is..., February is..., March is..., etc. You can search the archives for those threads.

Q.  What if I don't have time to make a slideshow or display?  

A.  No problem! You can just tell the students without any visuals and ask them to describe their experience with the topic.

UPDATE: since I first published this on 8/18/2022, I have done more with this teaching idea:  

Shannon McClintock-Miller created a School Librarian Plan Book and it is full of special days that are school-appropriate! You can purchase it on the DEMCO website. 

Capstone Publishing  has a yearlong calendar that is in a single poster format that includes special days.  Contact your representative to request one to be sent to you. 

Calendars: You can also find wall calendars on this this topic! Here's one I found at a supermarket:

 

Egg Hunt for a topic:  I printed a list of the "May is..." list from LM_NET and cut apart the days to put into plastic eggs.  I hid the eggs around the library and told the students that they were to pick an egg and then read over the special days that are on inside of that egg.  From that list they are to choose one to find out more about. They can find a book that goes with the topic or they can make a visual about the special day to share with others.  Here are some photos from that lesson: 

Student presentations:  allow students the time and space to share what they learned by teaching others and even planning a lesson around it. Here are my 4th-6th graders presenting on May the 4th:

Publish a Whole Class Book on a Topic:  My 6th graders used their special day and used it to go through an entire inquiry cycle.  

They developed questions about the topic, chose one on which to focus, set out to research their question and took notes over what they found. 

We used Google Jamboard to brainstorm and sign up for questions.  You can also partner students up or use Padlet. 

During the research process students monitored their learning and adjusted their question based on what they found out. 

 Finally, they each designed a page in a whole class book about the topic that would be available for reading in our school library.  

They added their resources to their individual pages or compiled them at the end of their book. As a class they brainstormed titles for their class book, critiqued each other's pages, and chose a book cover design for their published book created by one of their classmates.  

To print their final books, I used Wal-Mart's photo center, however, because of the template restrictions some of the pages didn't come out completely.  In the future I will use the BookCreator APP or get more funds to print the book on a larger scale.  

At the end of the process we had a book publishing party where students read all of the class books and reflected on what should change for the next time I do this with a class. 

Student reflections:

Read Every Day's a Holiday and ask students to create their own special day: 

The Menderist Blog published my experience with one instance of this approach in which one of my students felt seen. 

Check my Instagram (@thestoryspectator)  and Twitter (@ffarokhi) for my past displays of special days.

Do you currently use or have you used these in the past with students?  Please share your experiences and tips in the comments below!