The end of the school year is near! Do you have your last day/week activities all planned out for your class?! If not, we’re here to help.
Whether you want to stick to schoolwork and reviewing or you want to plan something a little more exciting for your kids, you’ll love these 10 fun and easy activities and ideas to end the school year with your class.
Make a Countdown Bulletin Board
Help your students countdown to the end of the year with a fun bulletin board like this one! Each day a different student will get their chance to pop a balloon and reveal how many days are left until Summer Break. This is a fun activity that will help that they can look forward to at the end of the day and an easy way for you to remind them to get their work in and keep on task.
Fill Up End of the Year Memory Bags
Have students reflect on their year by having them make memory bags. Here’s how it works. Give students a brown paper bag to decorate. You can choose to put your own reflects on the sides and back or have them decorate it with their own reflections from the year. Then, have them place 10 different items in the bag to represent the school year. Have them fill out a notecard for each item explaining the role it plays, and then each child will present their bag on the last day of school.
Host an Interactive Themed Day or Week
Make your reviews interactive and fun by turning them into a whole day or week of activities! Like camping week, market week, movie day,beach day, popcorn day, or surgery day! Use these themed days to incorporate and review skills that you have learned all year before you go into testing (or just as a general year-end overview). Your students will have so much fun they won’t even realize that they are practicing their new skills!
Write to Next Year’s Class
During the last week of school have your students get together to write letters or a “Survival Guide” for next year’s class. Have them write what the incoming class will learn, their favorite class activities, and everything they’ll get to do in your classroom. And then save all of the letters, or the guide, and give them to your class next year.
Make an End of the Year Backpack Book
These Backpack Books are the perfect End of Year activity to end your school year with a bang! This memory book fosters reflection and goal setting for your kids in science, reading, writing, math, social studies, and more. They can be displayed on a bulletin board in your classroom or door and sent home as a keepsake of their year.
Incorporate a Sweet Treat
Nothing beats an end-of-year lesson that includes some fun summer-inspired food or drinks! In this lemonade activity, your students will get to compare pink and yellow lemonade and make a graph chart on everyone’s favorite lemonade. After graphing, the students will brainstorm words to describe their favorite lemonade and then write opinion pieces about which lemonade they like best!
Host an Awards Ceremony
Celebrate each student in your classroom on the last day of school by hosting your own class awards ceremony (you could even decorate your classroom like a stage) and giving them their own special award. You have your students vote on who gets these awards or pass them out! The best part about these is they don’t have to be serious, you could make silly awards and pass them out and the students will still love them. Use these award certificates or make your own!
Play Friend BINGO
Have kids grab something to write with and then pass out an End of the Year Bingo sheet to each student. Make sure everyone knows the rules: children will find a classmate matching each description and write his/her name in the box. Kids can go ahead and fill in blanks they already know or they can wander around asking friends if they fit one of the characteristics. The first person to fill 5 in a row wins. Easy peasy and a great way for kids to get their last interactions in with their classmates!
Host a Minute To Win It Game Day!
Who doesn’t love playing games in class? Here’s a super fun and cheap way to host a game day in your classroom on the last day of school. Have your students compete against each other by playing these Minute To Win It games. You could even get prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Host a tournament or just do games that students can move around the room and compete in one at a time.
Give Students a Year-End Surprise
Surprise your students on the last day of class with a “thank you for being in my class” gift. Some easy gift ideas include bubbles, goodbye stars, or slap bracelets. There no doubt that students also love snacks! Giving your students a little keepsake or treat at the end of the year will let them know that you care about them.
Need some more ideas for your hybrid or remote students? Try these fun Zoom games!
Congratulations on completing another school year. Enjoy your summer!
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The working life of a school nurse has always been hectic – treating schoolyard injuries, doing health screenings, helping address mental health issues and so much more. And then Covid arrived, making the “old days” seem quaint.
School nurses’ response to the pandemic has underscored what we already know: they are health care superstars. In these last 12 months of disruption and crisis, school nurses have heroically taken on even more responsibility, served as public health advisors for school boards and administrators, and kept students and communities safe through the pandemic.
Here are some lessons we learned about the role of the school nurse in 2021.
Nurses are critical in safe reopening
As districts across the country continue reopening with varying phases, plans, and protocols, nurses are critical to their doing so safely. As the frontline of student safety, they’re on point for best practices for reopening policies, temperature testing, screening, mask distribution, health and safety guidelines, ongoing monitoring, and more.
They are a pillar of public health
Nurses are the health experts that school communities look to for guidance. They answer questions from parents, staff, and students. Nurses have always been health educators, but especially now, that role is so important in disseminating local health policies and guidelines, training staff on COVID-19 infection control, helping staff do self-care, and educating the wider community. Many are involved in wider public health initiatives or organizations.
Their jobs are complex
While COVID-19 prevention and mitigation efforts are at the top of their list, nurses still must attend to all the other illnesses, injuries and student concerns that they always have. School nurses are a lifeline for students with chronic conditions, often procuring their equipment and medications, drafting student health plans, and helping them manage their conditions. They also reach out to at-risk students and help with deliveries (such as medication and food) to those in need. They often serve hundreds of students, all with different and changing needs.
Nurses’ expertise is unmatched
More than any other role in the education system, nurses are the health and wellness linchpin. Their training and skills go beyond everyday health care. They must have great listening and communication skills, be life-long learners, be empathetic and caring, think quickly, and have great judgment and problem-solving skills. They’re consummate team players, using interpersonal skills, professionalism, and attention to detail. And increasingly so, they must be knowledgeable about new public health threats and developments – connecting the dots between local and national trends.
They’re important to a student’s overall success
Good health is foundational to a student’s ability to thrive. When they’re healthy, they’re better able to excel in their studies, develop their interests, pursue their dreams and build relationships. Nurses support student’s success by providing care and support – to students’ physical, emotional, mental health as well as social health needs. They provide assessment, intervention, and follow-up for all students.
They can deliver care anywhere
School nurses have always provided care and support in person, but now they’re doing it remotely – or using a combo of the two. They have had to “go virtual” basically overnight and work to ensure kids didn’t face a gap in care. They’ve had to figure out fixes for students who need ongoing care but maybe don’t have digital access. They have to make the call on what care can be done remotely and what requires in-person attention. Having the right tools and the continued support of their districts and administrators remains important as ever.
Going forward, these important lessons will inform how the school nurse’s role evolves. Being at the frontlines of how COVID-19 has affected communities, schools, and students, the voice of the nurse will be critical in shaping health care and public health for decades to come. Thank you, school nurses, for all that you do to keep your schools and communities healthy and safe!
This article is furnished by California Casualty, providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
It’s that time of year again that all teachers both love and dread- the end of another school year. With the last day officially on the horizon, you can practically feel the excitement (and restlessness) radiating off of students, but there is still work to be done before final grades are submitted.
With papers piling up and patience running thin how do teachers make it through this time of year to summer break?
Here are some end-of-the-year strategies and tips for teachers.
1. Count it down
Give students, and yourself, something to look forward to each day when they come to school by doing an activity that lets them count down the days until summer break. Need some countdown ideas that will keep your students engaged and motivated up until the very last day? Check these out!
2. Try something new!
You know that one lesson plan or activity that you’ve wanted to try, but just never had the time to do? The end of the year can and should still be for useful learning! If you have gaps in your lesson plans, it’s the perfect time to test new strategies that you have in mind and would like to incorporate into your classroom next year.
3. Stay in your routine as long as possible
Any experienced teacher will tell you that one of the best tips to navigate all of the craziness the end of the school year may bring, is to stay in your routine. Your students will catch on and reflect your behavior if you begin to wind down too soon. That being said you can play games and end of the year activities just be sure to keep your classroom structure.
4. Get organized
Between finals, overdue homework, grading, and all of the lessons that you are still completing, your desk can pile up pretty quickly at the end of the year. Staying organized and on top of work as best as you can is key to finishing the year strong and getting final grades in on time.
5. Carve out some time for yourself
Although you do want to stay on top of your work, try not to spend every night hunkered down in your classroom attempting to get everything done all at once. Finding some time for self-care is important, especially during the end of the year when you feel like your to-do list is a mile long. Although carving out a few minutes for yourself to go home and relax, take a walk outside, play with your children, read, take a bath, etc. may seem counter-intuitive, you will be able to release your stress and have more energy for the final push as the last day of school gets closer.
6. Reflect on the successes of your year
Take some time, with or without your students, to reflect on the year that you’ve had- what they’ve learned, what their favorite lessons were, the friendships that were built, and the strong bond that you have all grown together as a class. Celebrate student successes, laugh at funny moments, and don’t forget to give yourself credit for all that you have accomplished as an educator this past year as well.
Lastly, accept that your last few days of school are going to be filled with emotion and require your full attention. But the end is near. It may get a little rocky and you may become overwhelmed, but soon you’ll be packing up your classroom and all of your memories from this past school year with it. So remember to enjoy each second with your students.
Hang in there you’ve got this!
This article is furnished by California Casualty, providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
1. “As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients. They may forget your name but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
2. “Nurses are the heart of healthcare” – Donna Wilk Cardillo
3. “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. “Nurses are angels in comfortable shoes.” – Unknown
5. “Save one life, you’re a hero. Save a hundred lives, you’re a nurse.” – Unknown
6. “Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription. ” – Val Saintsbury
7. “The happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of there.” – Gordon B. Hinckley
8. “I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.” – Maya Angelou
9. “Nursing is a work of heart.” – Unknown
10. “Nursing is an art: and if is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body.” – Florence Nightingale
11. “To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse.” – Rawzi Williams
12. “A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope.” – Carrie Latet
13. “The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly bling, a means of locomotions for the infant, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, and a voice for those too weak to speak.” – Virginia Henderson
14. “Nurses: one of the few blessings of being ill.” – Sara Moss-Wolfe
15. “When you are a nurse you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch your” – Unknown
16. “America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system.” – Barack Obama
17. “Let us never consider ourselves finished nurses… we must be learning all of our lives” – Florence Nightingale
18. “Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.” —Dag Hammarskjold
19. “Being a nurse is weird: I can keep a poker face through trauma, but I have a mental breakdown over losing my favorite pen.” – Unknown
20. “When I think about all the patients and their loved ones that I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don’t remember me, nor I them, but I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them and they to me and those threads make up the beautiful tapestry in my mind that is my career in nursing.” – Donna Wilk Cardillo
21. “A nurse is compassion in scrubs.” – Lexie Saige
22. “Being a nurse means to hold all your own tears and start drawing smiles on people’s faces. Nursing is sacrificing.” – Dana Basem
23. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia
24. “Nurses are there when the last breath is taken, and nurses are there when the first breath is taken. Although it is more enjoyable to celebrate the birth, it is just as important to comfort in death.” – Christine Bell
25. “Bound by paperwork, shot on hands, sleep, and energy… nurses are rarely short on caring.” – Sharon Hudacek
26. “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Shakespeare
27. “When a person decides to become a nurse, they make the most important decision of their lives. They choose to dedicate themselves to the care of others.” – Margaret Harvey
28. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
29. “Doctors diagnose. Nurses cure.” – Unknown
30. “Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people, brings happiness.” – Harold Kushner
31. “Remember: Nurses are like icebergs. At any one time, you are only seeing what they are actually doing.” – Ian Miller
32. “Caring is the essence of nursing.” -Jean Watson
33. “Whether a person is male or female, a nurse is a nurse.” – Gary Veale
34. “Nursing is not for the faint of heart nor the empty of heart.” – Unknown
35. “Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts.” – Charles Dickens
36. “The character of a nurse is just as important as the knowledge he/she possesses.” – Carolyn Jarvis
37. “From caring comes courage.” – Lao Tzu
38. “A nurse is not what you do. It is what you are… I am a nurse. It’s not what I do, it’s what I AM.” – Unknown
39. “To make a difference in someone’s life you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care.” – Mandy Hale
40. “Thank you, Nurses! Because of you, we live in a happier, healthier world.” – Unknown
This article is furnished by California Casualty, providing auto and home insurance to educators, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and nurses. Get a quote at 1.866.704.8614 or www.calcas.com.
