June 5, 2023 · curriculum
Happy June to all teachers and students! You made it this far and are so close. We know/remember how incredibly exhausting this time of year can be between the heat, endless end of the school year events and requests, report cards, cleaning and packing up your classroom, and of course, the bittersweet farewells with your students. If you still have some time with your students, our Pride Books 2022 post will give you some read aloud ideas for Pride this month. You can also work with your students on setting up for Summer Reading in a joyful and fun way (we hope). We wrote about End of the School Year Activities in 2022 and in 2019 "What is always on your end of year list?" A quick 10 always on there items from us because we have so many and love traditions and making memories with our classes. Lastly and maybe most importantly, don’t forget to think ahead about what YOU need this
summerJuneend of the yearschool's outsummer reading
June 6, 2022 · blog posts
One of our beloved "class pets!” We’re almost there, we're almost there! As I’ve been thinking about what I’ll take with me from this school year, when I’m at my most positive (which is rare, especially these days to be honest!) I find myself holding onto the goofy moments of community with students. We’ve written about simulations we’ve designed to discuss inequity or how we incorporate representation into our curricula... but today I wanted to just highlight some foolishness we’ve done in the past, which are some of my favorite memories. 1. The Annual Birthday Prank To be perfectly honest, we keep kid birthdays low key. They become difficult to keep up with and there’s always the issue of off school year birthdays or inequities or over the top parental moves. However, we like to model how fun it is to celebrate others together. Our tech director is someone who helped everyone out, is
end of the yearpranksfunmemories
June 1, 2022 · curriculum
The first slide from our tie dye how to slideshow for students. Happy June! You made it! This has been quite the year, so now it is time to celebrate everything you all have accomplished together and have some fun! I have a number of different traditions or fun activities that I love for the end of the school year. We wrote a post a few years back with some of our favorites , but I have even more ideas that are listed below. Write a poem for your class! We had an introduction and conclusion stanza or two as well as two lines for each student. We definitely took liberties with the rhyming, but it’s something students really love and appreciate. We’ve heard about the poem as a fond memory or something students have held on to years after (we also gave each student a copy to take home). A photo slideshow is always fun and appreciated! It’s been harder with COVID, masking, being in two
end of the yearsummertraditionsgratitude
May 23, 2019 · blog posts
We were asked what is always on our end of year to do list.. Below are a few pieces we always have on that list. Ironically, for me the end of the year has so many of its own mini lists and rituals. A few things that are always on there for me are: 1. Write thank you notes (this includes personal ones I write, and also putting aside class time and guiding the students to reflect and write their own. These include notes to students, ridiculously reliable, wonderful maintenance staff, an amazing receptionist, a family that has been really kind, a colleague/peer that helped you out, a class of students you used to have that is graduating etc..) 2. Log that all our classroom books have been returned! Have students help out, remind families etc. 3. Set aside class time to solicit student feedback. We wrote blog posts about how and why we do this in 2017 and 2018. End of year feedback from
end of the yearreflectionsummersummer reading
August 22, 2018 · curriculum
Thank you card from a student at the end of the school year. We try and end every school year by asking our students for their feedback and reflections. Students love this as it is their turn to evaluate us for a change! We love modeling how asking for and receiving feedback is part of learning and growing, as well as demonstrating our commitment to lifelong reflection and learning. Also, I’m always surprised by what students remember, appreciated, and enjoyed. Sometimes, the things they complain about during the school year are the things they say they enjoyed the most at the end. Some patterns we’ve noticed over the years are that students tend to especially appreciate amazing read alouds, the well stocked and curated classroom library (and personalized book recommendations from their teachers), experiences (for example field trips or guest speakers), games (and fun!), and their
feedbackstudentevaltechnologyend of the year
August 17, 2017 · Uncategorized
Message from two students on the last day of school (names removed for privacy). As the beginning of the new school year approaches (or Teachers’ New Year, as I like to call it), memories and reflections from last year always pop up as we decide what we want to keep, adapt, and get rid of as we start anew. This year, Gabby and I are moving from teaching 5th grade to teaching 3rd grade, so the calculation is even more complex. The first way we close the year is by literally closing a book. We also finished our class read aloud, Walk Two Moons, on the very last day of school, which felt perfect - Walk Two Moons (if you haven’t read it, RUN and pick it up!) has a complex, multi-faceted ending with lots of emotions, just like the end of the school year. It also reminded me for the umpteenth time how much I love read alouds and how they are an essential teaching and learning tool, but also
back to schoolend of the yeartraditionscommunity building
July 19, 2017 · simulations
Well into summer, I finally have some time to sit down and reflect on the school year! One piece I wanted to take a closer look at was the end of year evaluations from students (of us!). Gabby and I created a Google Form with seven required questions and an optional anything else you’d like to add (they are all listed or summarized below in bold font). We then asked our students to give us honest, thoughtful feedback as part of our reflection and planning for next year. We find that using a Google Form and having students respond on their computers often causes them to write more and feel more “anonymous” and empowered to be honest. There are many reasons why we ask our students for feedback. Primarily, we do want to know what they are taking away, thinking, feeling, and reflecting and student evaluation of teachers is an important and often overlooked resource. We also want to give
feedbackevaluationend of the year