Wrapping it Up!

Welcome to our fun blog everyone!!  I hope that you enjoy our blog, as much as I have enjoyed getting to know the ladies behind this amazing blog!  These ladies have gone from teachers I stalked followed on IG, TPT and blogs, to now being some of my favorite blogging ladies!!  I have already learned so much from this group, and I am so excited to be part of it!!

I'm even more excited because this weekend I will get to spend the weekend with some of these amazing ladies!!

Today I am excited to share with you some of my favorite ways to Wrap Up the School Year!!

In third grade I love keeping my kids busy until the very end, because if you don't, you will loose them!!  To do this I give them an incentive every day.  Some of these incentives cost me money, some of them cost me nothing!!  I love doing our Fun Days in May calendar because they look forward to it just as much as I do!

I have a great, fantastic, wonderful set of parents who are more than willing to help us out!  They have provided so much for us to do during these sixteen days!!

To help display these fun ideas I post them on our back bulletin board!  I have every day in an envelope and then at the end of the day I open the next day's envelope.  My kids do a drum roll, and then go silent as they await to see what the next envelope will say!

Another way I helped to get into the end of the school year mood this year was to work on some awesome end of the school year lap books and bucket lists!

These lap books come from another talented Hello Sunshine Teacher, Ashlyn over at The Creative Classroom!  I LOVE them!!  My kids have had a lot of fun putting them together, and it is amazing how different each one looks!

I also started working on my end of the year gifts for my kiddos!  I found these awesome cups from Walmart, in my colors of course, and knew that I wanted to use them for something!!  I went to the Dollar Tree and got the crazy straws, ran to Fry's to get the koolaid and I was in business!!

$15 for 24 presents!  Score!!

I hope that you have found some fun ways to celebrate the end of your school year!  If you're looking for more great ideas feel free to check out our link up, and share your ideas too!!  Plus come back all month as we share more ideas with you!!

Summer Pen Pals

 

This simple idea will encourage your students to keep reading and writing through the summer!  

Before the end of the year have each student bring in two stamped envelopes.  (Or just two stamps if you already have envelopes.) Show them how to write their address on the front of each. Then collect the envelopes.  Of course, they'll all be curious about these envelopes, but don't tell them anything yet. Let the excitement and curiosity build a little!

Later, or the next day explain to the students they are to read a book this summer.  After they read the book they'll write a letter to a friend to convince them they need to read this book. They will place the persuasive letter in one of the envelopes and mail it to a classmate.  They will also put in the second envelope that has their own address on it.  The second envelope will be used by the receiver to write a return letter!

I've written more detailed directions you can download here.

Do you have a favorite activity for the last few days of the school year?  Link up your blog post about that idea. (Blog posts only, please.)

An InLinkz Link-up

Summer Break Count Down

The end of the year is coming too soon!  I only have 12 days left with my sweet kiddos.  Luckily, I am looping up to 3rd grade with them next year and I couldn't be more excited!

Do you need a fun and motivational activity to get you your kiddos to the end of the school year? I made a banner to help us count down the days to Summer Break!  On the back of each pennant is an activity for us to do that starts with each letter.  

Last year, I used my Silhouette to cut out the banner and the letters.  Then, I printed the activities on labels and stuck them on the back.  I used an arrow to help keep track of what day we were on.

This year, I made a digital banner and added a behavior management piece.  

Each day leading up to Summer Break, they have the opportunity to earn a letter and the special activity that is written on the back.  Every morning they start with four suns on the board.  Depending on how they behave, they can either lose or earn suns.  At the end of the day, if they have all four suns, they will earn their letter.  Of course you can modify this in order to meet the needs of your class.  I've done variations of this behavior management activity, and when I have a really difficult class, they only need to have one sun on the board to earn their reward.  Whatever works for you!

These are the activities I came up with.  Feel free to use or adjust any of these activities.  Some letters took a little extra thought and creativity to make work.  :)   

S - Sidewalk chalk {I bring a bucket of chalk from the Dollar Tree and let them go to town on the playground.}  
U - U need a brain break {enter GoNoodle!}
M - Mind games {hangman, memory, and other random games}
M - Mystery Box {I bring a special treat in a box and have them guess what it is using only yes/no questions.  It is usually something tasty!}
E - Extra Recess
R - Read outside {I let them bring their library books and my books, then we read around the courtyard.}

B - Bubbles {I bring them bottles of bubbles from the Dollar Tree and let them play.  One year I made homemade bubbles with dish soap and used pipe cleaners as the wand.  It was cheap, easy, and fun.}

R - Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament

E - Eat a treat {again, I bring in something special and delicious!}

A - Airplane contest {I provide the paper, they design their own paper airplanes.}

K - Krazy dance party {Blast some Kidz Bop and let them dance away!  Freeze dance is one of our favorites.}

! - Ice Cream Party! {I bring the ice cream, they bring the toppings!  If I'm adventurous, we make ice cream in a bag and use some of Cara's fun activities.}

You can download yours for free here!