End of year ideas from Ditch That Textbook readers
End of year ideas from DTT subscribers (2025)
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Kristin Daley Conti USED
Here is my end of the year idea. At my school, the Health Teachers ask their students each quarter to write a "Jar of Gratitude" . These are my absolute favorite things to get from students during the year. Below is a sample.
I really don't like the idea of awards at the end of the year. Especially if you give out a lot, because that still leaves a whole bunch of students out, and it is almost worse than just giving out one or two to those "elite" students.. Not every student is going to get the top average, or have great participation, or even great attitudes, but you can't tell me that there wasn't some kind of growth during the year.
So instead of awards, here is what I do. When it is my turn on the mic at the end of the year. I thank students for all of their growth and all that they have accomplished. For some, it is their grades, or making new friends, discovering interests, or even just coming to school when you don't want to. I tell them to check their email on their way home, because I have sent them all a "Jar of Gratitude".
Here is what you need:
- A Google Sheet (student first name and email)
- A pre-made template ( here is an example)
- Autocrat Google Add-on
During the year (or even in the last few weeks, it doesn't really take that long, if you do a little at a time - I have 100 students), I write a short, personal blurb about why I am thankful for them. Then on the last day of school before I head down to our award ceremony, I run Autocrat to automatically send students their jar of Gratitude. Alternatively, you could easily print these out using the same system.
Hope you enjoy!
Kristin Daley Conti
Beth Hook
One of my favorite end of the year activity is-
1. Make a stop motion movie (using a stop motion app), with lego mini-figures, and lego pieces. It should be a public service announcement - to wear your seatbelt. Students make a part one of the movie- showing what happens when you don't wear a seatbelt, and then when you do wear a seatbelt.
Super easy- Grades 3-8th can easily do this, and super simple clean up.
Iris Noon
I've always had my students write an essay at the end of the year describing their early childhood, who they are now, what they have accomplished, what they want their lives to be like in the future, and lastly what they want to have accomplished when they're old and looking back on the life they chose to live. I also ask for the most important incident or person that influenced them so far, and what the impact was or is, whether positive or negative.
Pattie Lamontagne
My end of year activity starts at the beginning of the year with the first story/book read in our ELA Class. Each time we read a story we write the name of the character and the title of the story and or book on a cutout shoe. You can find shoe templates online. The shoes are then hung on a board entitled "Put Yourself in Their Shoes" I find that if students can put themselves in the shoes of a character, they will comprehend and recall events in the story. At the end of the year - I tape a shoe on all of the students' backs and they walk around the room and ask 3 yes or no questions to figure out who their character is.
Example questions:
Am I a fiction story?
Am I the antagonist?
Is the setting futuristic?
Then when we all sit back down - they all guess who they are. Usually all shoes are not used, so they canot figure it out by deduction.
Amy Walker
Here are some of my favorite End of year activities. One of the things my grade-level colleague and I like to do at the end of the year, is starting the last 21 days of the year (or however many students we have), we have a "Cel-YOU-bration", where a student is selected to be celebrated for that day. We put their names inside an envelope that is decorated for that day, and the name isn't revealed until the start of the school day. If a student is absent, then another student is secretly switched out. They get to be the line leader; each student as well as the teacher signs a poster for that student with a special message; and other special privileges.
Another favorite end of the year activity that I like to do is have a balloon pop countdown for the last week of school. Inside each balloon is a special student-chosen activity that the class gets to do, like coding time, art time, Blooket, or some other STEM activity that students choose to do. They especially love it when I join in Blooket because that means they all gang up on me and whip my butt (I've only beaten them twice since the beginning of the year, and these are second graders.)
I also love to do book tastings, flashlight Fridays, classroom transformations, and theme days. One year our classes had a picnic on the grass at lunchtime.
There's so much more that I love to do at the end of the year, but that's all I have for now.
Rachel Cox USED
One end-of-year task that I always like to include is an end-of-year reflection (usually as a Google Form) from my students. Larry Ferlazzo explains this concept and includes sample questions in one of his helpful posts: https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2025/02/23/how-my-ell-newcomer-students-evaluated-our-class-me/
I also like to include a "Dear Future Student" question in my reflection. What advice would students give to future students in the class?
Students' comments can help me to reflect on my class, and sometimes students offer good suggestions for future years. Students' comments can also change my perception of what student learning and experiences have been in my class.
Also, in one of my chatty middle school classes, we keep a running list of interesting (but off-topic) topics that my students bring up in class (best soccer jersey, chess strategy, sports around the world, archaeology, British vs. American English) on the side of the whiteboard. As the end of the year approaches or when we have a few minutes, we read about or discuss these topics. That way, we keep the focus on our academic topic of the day but still recognize interests and encourage interesting questions. (I also have a Google Doc with a running list of sentences written by students with grammar mistakes--no names. We sometimes review those as a class for a few minutes and try to correct the sentences.)
I also like to tell students about summer programs in our community, including ones at the library, that might interest students.
Having students teach their classmates about an academic topic of their choice after creating either a poster or slide presentation can engage students, especially if they have the option of working and presenting in groups.
I also like these geography quizzes from the New York Times Learning Network: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/learning/explore-the-world-with-these-100-country-quizzes.html
We occasionally do one of these quizzes as a class, especially when we have a new student arrive from another country or at times when a country comes up in class discussion.
I look forward to reading other ideas. The end of the year, with shifting schedules and exam preparation and administration, can be challenging.
StoryCorps animated shorts for discussion:
https://storycorps.org/animation/
Tia Miller USED
This is designed for seniors who are graduating. They get all sappy at the end of the year (and very distracted by the nearness of graduation), so presenting these is a nice way to wrap up a class.
Students can present this in whatever way they want (most choose a slide show) as long as what they show fulfills the description.
Something old (something to represent your childhood)
Something new (something to represent your senior year)
Something me (something to represent me, your teacher, or this class)
Something you (something to represent you)
Something to keep (something you want to take with you as you move forward; could be an object or a lesson learned, words of wisdom, etc.)
Something to give (thank yous for people who have helped you get to this point)
Something to leave (could be something you want to leave behind as you move forward OR the legacy you want to leave here at the school)
Something to live (a goal/dream for your future life)
Cristen Harden
End of Year Tip for Teachers:
The end of the year means hello summer and goodbye to some of our beloved staff members who will be leaving or retiring. What happens to all the great content those people have shared with us in our district Google accounts?
The answer: All that stuff disappears when the creator's account is deactivated. Oh no!
Here's the Tip: Move all that stuff (or create it in the first place) in a Shared Google Drive, where everybody is a Manager or at least a Content Manager.
A similar scenario exists for OneDrive.
Ms Muschweck USED
I like to finish the year with a project to help animals at our local Humane Society in possibly getting a forever home. I would contact the Humane Society by email. The manager is quick to reply and forward an animal name, photo, and general information about each animal. I show the photo and name of the animal on the white board. Each student will have a chance to select their animal. The students are given a poster board.
Directions for poster board:
Students will create a poster of their animal.
1. Photo of animals
2. Name of animal
3. General Information about the animal
4. Breed, if given, will research the breed information
5. Give 1 or 2 Interesting facts about their animal or breed.
6. (Contact Information) Humane Society Name and Address, phone number, etc.
A Few Examples: Cat Poppi
The students also created fliers and google slide-show for their animals, which all of these items were given to the Humane Society. The project allowed the students to give back to their community and show each student how they could make a difference in someone else;s live.
Carol Flohr
My advice for end of school year planning - ask EVERYONE, including students (sports & band), what events might make them miss class and date if they know. It's SO frustrating to plan a cool activity, only to discover that half of them are out that day.
Kat Gratz and Laura Ousley
This is Kat Gratz, and Laura Ousley from BCSC in Columbus, Indiana. We are both UDL facilitators at the Secondary level in our district. One of the schools that we support is an alternative education center for students who are trying to recover credits with the goal of being able to graduate on time with their classmates.
We do monthly lunch and learns with the teachers and staff supporting these students, and we were just brainstorming last week about "Ideas for the Final Stretch!" Your email this morning spoke right to us!! We can't wait to see what you release over the coming weeks.
With the help of our other work bestie, chatGPT, we came up with Spring into Fun: Fresh Ideas for the Final Stretch. We are hoping this will help motivate and engage students who tend to struggle anyways, as well as help teachers find a way to have a little fun for themselves as the school days are winding down.
Thank you for all that you do! We love sharing your resources with the teachers we support, and look forward to your emails each week.
Bob Clark
I teach High School Business Education and I like to do teaser assignments at the end of the year. The Business classes follow a specific progression so I will teach a lesson on something from the following year's course curriculum to hopefully peak their interest in next year's course.
Sarah Anderson
My end of the year advice is to offer as much student choice as your curriculum allows. Engagement is hard as you approach summer and schools do things like ABC countdowns and the sun is shining -- it's one of those "basics" that we forget about but giving choices keeps students engaged and helps them feel empowered and focused!
Steph Sukow USED
End of year tips:
One of my favorite activities is having students give end-of-the-year speeches about each other in class. Each student is randomly assigned a person in our class. Students then create an informal speech and share it with the class that celebrates the person they were assigned. This is a great way to build classroom culture and celebrate every student in class at the end of the year. End-of-the-year celebrations are incredibly powerful and help students to stay engaged as the weather warms.
As teachers, set up part of the learning management system or build out an outline for the first week. That way, when we close the computers for the summer, we come back to something already planned/prepared.
Sarah Bolaños
This year when AP tests are done, we will be partnering with the life skills department to run a unified Spanish class. My students will help his students learn some Spanish and culture. I’m really looking forward to it.
Laurie Mullin
Do an end of year evaluation. Let students tell you what worked for them and what didn't. It can be painful sometimes, but the feedback helps you fix those areas for the next year.
Organize everything (real file folders, virtual files in your Google Drive, cabinets, drawers...everything). The more organized your room is on day one, the more 'in control' you'll feel at the start of the year.
Fill out your planner for next year with the activities (usually 'getting-to-know-you' stuff) for at least the first two weeks of school. Coming back with a plan in place helps reduce stress. Also, you are more realistic about the amount of time things take. For some reason, we lose our timing over the summer.
As old as the book is, I still read Harry Wong's The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher right before school starts. It's a reminder of all the little things we sometimes forget to do.
Crystal Uhiren
I just made a PD in 60 Seconds episode with tips about gathering student feedback at the end of the year. When I was in the classroom, I always took the time at EOY to evaluate and reflect on my teaching and make notes for improvement next year.
Greg Ramzinski
A tip I have is to get to know Google's NotebookLM. The more I use is the more I like it. I am doing a course redesign this summer and will be incorporating the use of NotebookLM into my course design to train the students how to use it. I am using it to make notes and gather materials as I work on redesigning my course and am finding it very helpful in this process. I highly encourage you to do the tutorial at the beginning to start to get an idea how to use it. Don't let the 'limit' of 50 sources discourage you because you can merge your sources and potentially have an unlimited number of sources in the notebook. Good luck as we approach the end of the year.
Katherine Cartwright
Every month this year I have had students pick a song of the month. After testing, we are going to make an album cover using Adobe. Nothing groundbreaking, but it will be a fun wrap up.
Keri Simacek
I love to review content from each quarter. I like to play "BASEBALL" to review. 1 = single - one question from any of the subjects taught this year. 2 = double - 2 questions. 3 = triple/3 questions & 4 = homerun. An out would be a question answered incorrectly. I allow teams to collaborate/support each other. It's fun & a good review. I would love to see some template that maybe is already out there. I just use a digital spinner & my own field on the whiteboard.
Abby Pagryzinski
We created some slides that teachers can use to help their students clean up and organize their Google Drive! Feel free to share.
Google Drive Clean-Up (K-5)
Google Drive Clean-Up (6-12)
Heather Bookstaver
It can be a struggle to keep kids engaged with the end of the year, especially after the deadline for grades. My past 3rd and 4th classes have enjoyed the story, Everything You Need for a Treehouse, by Carter Higgings. I like to just give the kids time to dream about the spaces that make them happy. We can use the outdoor classroom for added interest. I have a Pinterest board that they can browse through for some ideas and to stretch what they think are the possibilities. We even skim through an episode of Treehouse Masters to think about the architecture. We usually start with some quick sketches and transfer onto a poster diagram that highlights some of the best features. We present them to the class and display them in the library. There is also a STEM activity from Carly and Adam here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Everything-You-Need-for-a-Treehouse-READ-ALOUD-STEM-Activity-4489482
Enjoy the rest of the year with your students!
Sincerely,
Heather Bookstaver, 4th Grade Teacher,
Tracy Rendleman
In my biology classes, I use the T-shirt template you included in a free slide deck a few years ago. I ask all of the students to design a T-shirt that reflects what they learned in class. I show these to the class, and the students explain why they selected their design. Then, everyone votes for their favorite. It is a lot of fun, and I get great feedback on what's stuck and what they enjoyed the most about class.
Erin Earnshaw
An EOY project I did was a life-lesson video project. Students learned about identifying and tracking theme in reading all year; this is a variation on that by identifying an important life-lesson that you live by, and communicating it in a video under 5 minutes. The video could be any genre: some created a documentary style that explained it directly, others acted out a story using puppets, or animation, or having their friends act it out for them. Another couldn’t decide so asked her family members and put their interviews together to represent her whole family lessons. One drew it on a whiteboard and filmed the whiteboard. All was fair game as they were the writers/creators. The sky was the limit. I gave them a list of literary elements we had studied that year and they had to include at least 5 literary elements (think repetition, symbolism, irony, hyperbole, tone, refrain, flashback, and added some for film like silence). This was an 8th grade ELA project but could be adapted to other grades. Then we spent the last week of school watching the videos with popcorn and snacks. It was so fun. We used WeVideo but kids today make videos so easily with their own apps.
Drew Taylor
End of Year for 6th grade Social Studies - Create a map of the world we just spend all year studying. (Yes, Earth) And create a trip around the world. Visit all continents, at least 3 countries per continent(where possible) and 4 cities per country. On their trip, they must visit 5 World Heritage Sites(like the San Antonio Missions) and 1 cultural celebration(like San Antonio's Fiesta). Also, they have to create a Google Slideshow of their trip.
End of Year for 7th grade Texas History - Create a business. From choosing partners to the business, I walk the student through the process of getting a business up and running. The payoff: they open their business the last week of school. Let's just say the donut stores and ice cream shoppes are very, very popular. No real money allowed. This year, 8th graders are returning to open their business one last time.
Miz Q
One of the best (and worst) things I have done to end a school year was to ask students to write me a letter about their year in my class. It was the worst idea only b/c I started it 2 years before I left the classroom to become an instructional coach. The letters ranged from hilarious to eye-opening, heartfelt to satirical and every single one of them poured their heart into it. I, in turn wrote them each a small note of appreciation with a wish for their future. I told them they had one letter to write and I had 75 notes to write, so mine would be a bit shorter. These letters provided me insight into my own ways of being that I would never have seen or considered without their open honesty. The first year, I started it early and passed around a notebook where they had to swear not to look at one another's letters once they received the notebook. The next year, I had them type or write it and turn it in so I could add them to a binder. If I ever go back into the classroom, it will become a regular end of year activity for sure!