Teachers are finding new and creative ways to say goodbye to their students after teaching remotely for the last part of this school year. Although it’s been a unique and different experience teaching virtually, end-of-year celebrations will carry on as usual for educators! Skipping last-week-of-school traditions, like handing out superlative certificates and crafting #endofyeargifts, is just not an option. Some teachers are finding virtual ways to celebrate the closing of the school year, while others are driving by students’ homes just to see their faces one last time before summer. Here are 25 creative ways to end the virtual school year with students!
1. The show must go on! Celebrate each student’s talent with a Flipgrid Talent Show.
Flipgrid.com is a free online platform where students can upload pictures or videos of themselves. Teachers can put these snippets together into a culminating video!
2. Plan a dress-up theme for the last day of virtual learning! Leave it to our Kindergarten teachers to go ALL OUT on this one.
3. Make an avatar for each of your students using bitmoji.com, or Pixton EDU then make a special end of year class photo.
4. Dress up as your favorite GoNoodle star and engage your students in an end-of-year GoNoodle celebration!
Check out @kellgram12 on IG for more GoNoodle dress-up ideas.
5. Virtually read aloud, an end-of-year favorite.
6. Host an end-of-year Zoom picnic!
This awesome teacher took the next step and made her class picnic into a virtual, interactive math lesson with whiteboards.
7. Kahoot has been a favorite teaching tool during distancing learning. Use it to create an end-of-year class trivia night.
@thesassyteacher made her trivia night into a Guess Who game! The best part is that Kahoot is free! You can choose to either “Discover” already-made Kahoots to play while on Google Meet with your class, or you can “Create” your own Kahoots that are specific to your class. Students will need access to https://kahoot.it/ or the Kahoot app to play along.
8. End-of-year frames are always a thoughtful sentiment, and they’re also a great way to celebrate the uniqueness of each student!
9. Some teachers are preparing ahead of time by delivering t-shirts that can be worn and snacks that can be munched on during the last virtual meet of the school year.
10. Create and frame a word cloud with each student’s best qualities.
This teacher had the brilliant idea to first survey students on Google Forms and ask what they each thought were their best qualities. She then created word clouds for free, and framed them with a bonus picture of herself and each student!
11. Make an adorable collage of your students to celebrate what’s next in their journey.
12. Lawn signs are one of the most popular ways that students are being celebrated this school year!
13. One of the latest kid-friendly trends is painting rocks!
More images and full tutorial at We Heart Teaching!
Why not give special, hand-painted rocks to your students as a memento of the school year?
14. See your students one last time in a parade.
Some teachers are leading the parade as they drive through neighborhoods and wave to students, while other schools are hosting “reverse parades” where students get to drive by their schools and wave to teachers. Any type of parade is exciting for students!
15. Personalized gifts make students feel THAT much more special at the end of the school year.
This sweet idea can be handmade with love using just some string, beads, and a sharpie!
16. While we’re on the topic of personalized #endofyeargifts, these key chains are the cutest.
You can purchase personalized keychains on Etsy or at the Christmas Tree shop, but many teachers are putting their cricuts to use to personalize this end-of-year gift. They’re light enough to be sent by mail in a small envelope and with a cute note!
17. Superlative certificates are an end-of-year favorite! Distance learning will not get in the way of this tradition for teachers.
18. Use iMovie, Google Slides, or PowerPoint to create a very special slideshow to present at your last virtual meet.
19. Mail out a colorful and celebratory postcard!
20. It’s been a “whirlwind” of a year… to say the least. Head to the Dollar Tree to purchase cheap pinwheels for each student, then you can fill up each section with something you adore about him/her.
You can have these pinwheels ready for pick-up at an end-of-year parade or drop them off to your students’ homes. They will look adorable in student lawns and make the kids feel extra special.
21. It’s not a celebration without balloons! The Dollar Tree or your local grocery store is sure to have a wide selection of cheap balloons.
22. A summer bucket is a classic for many teachers.
Miss Maule says that the “changes from this school year are not stopping her from celebrating her students’ accomplishments,” and she just can’t wait to send them off with a bucket of fun!
23. Drive by your students’ homes and show some love with a homemade poster.
24. Have your students make their end-of-year memory books digitally.
You can create your own memory book in Google Slides for free or, you could also download a pre-made template from a fellow teacher on TpT. @mrsmamallama’s is pretty awesome and can be used for any grade level.
25. Prepare for summer vacation by taking the kids on a virtual field trip to a favorite summer getaway, like Disney World!
There are so many valuable and fun virtual field trip options to choose from. Check out this extensive list of virtual trips around the world!
Saying goodbye is never easy at the end of a school year, and this year is certainly no different. Any of these end-of-year sentiments will be sure to send your students off into summer with a huge smile. Goodbye 2019-2020 school year. HELLO 2020 SUMMER!
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