Argh! It's the end of the year! So much to do, so little energy!
Here are some ideas for making the last week more manageable
1) Towards the beginning of the week start packing up things that you will not be using. Have the children help you. I found a great way to do this was to write a list of jobs I needed to be done and ask children to sign up for certain jobs.
2) Use up left overs. One year I had a morning work cycle I called 'fun art' (you can tell it was the end of the year as I ran out of cool names!) I got an old roll of wallpaper rolled it out the length of the room and then got out all the old art supplies and let the children design/draw/do whatever. 99% of the children joined in which allowed my assistant and I time to do clean up
3) Simple cooking activities
Here in NZ our end of the school year is around Christmas time. I know it is not the same in the Northern Hemisphere, however I often made gingerbread and the children decorated their creations! You could also try
- a sandwich bar
- fruit kebabs
4) Warm fuzzies!
Write each child's name at the top of a blank piece of paper.
The other children go and write or draw something they like about that person on the sheet - this takes a good few hours to complete and keeps children really engaged.
Here are some ideas for making the last week more manageable
1) Towards the beginning of the week start packing up things that you will not be using. Have the children help you. I found a great way to do this was to write a list of jobs I needed to be done and ask children to sign up for certain jobs.
2) Use up left overs. One year I had a morning work cycle I called 'fun art' (you can tell it was the end of the year as I ran out of cool names!) I got an old roll of wallpaper rolled it out the length of the room and then got out all the old art supplies and let the children design/draw/do whatever. 99% of the children joined in which allowed my assistant and I time to do clean up
3) Simple cooking activities
Here in NZ our end of the school year is around Christmas time. I know it is not the same in the Northern Hemisphere, however I often made gingerbread and the children decorated their creations! You could also try
- a sandwich bar
- fruit kebabs
4) Warm fuzzies!
Write each child's name at the top of a blank piece of paper.
The other children go and write or draw something they like about that person on the sheet - this takes a good few hours to complete and keeps children really engaged.
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5) School treasure hunt. The older children can design a treasure hunt around the school and then organise teams made up of other class members. This is a great way of getting the sometimes rambunctious final year students engaged!
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6) Board game day. Children bring in a favourite board game from home and play board games! You can make this as little or as much work as you want. For example, you could set up a maximum amount of games that can be going or have a free for all!
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7) STEM Activities.
There are lots of free STEM activities that are great and easy to do. You could try one of the following. Children could do them individually or with a group.
-Make a tower that can hold a tennis ball.
-Make the longest paper chain you can out of one piece of paper.
-Make a catapult that could shoot a marshmallow.
-Build a tower with just one cube as the base.