S.O.L. Train: Moments That Count in the Classroom: 5 Great Ways to End Your School Year PLUS Teacher Bonuses

Well good evening! or morning, or afternoon depending on when you read this. The end of the year is nigh and I know you can probably feel the warmth of the sun on your face as you open those doors and walk through them for the last time this year. Although we've had nothing but rain and sweatshirt weather the past few days. Now, before you get all wrapped up in those last day happy hour plans, you want to keep up the fun and learning until those kiddos leave your care. Now I can already hear you saying But I don't want to... Testing may be over and it's super tempting to find a bunch of videos to watch. Here are some great alternatives:

1. Bee Poem and Craftivity

This is our shameful plug. It's very cute, fun, educational, and engaging. That's four adjectives, holy cow! Drop the mic, I'm done. Kidding, but seriously, this is great. And for you, fine and awesome reader, we want to offer it THIS WEEKEND ONLY, for a mere fraction of it's original value.

Here are some fun pics of what you get:

Click the image below to purchase:

Now, if you're thinking, girl you crazy, I don't have any money, we have something for you too. You can get our craftivity absolutely FREE! Just click HERE.

2. Balloon Popping Countdown

This idea is super cute and provides a lot of fun for your students. It's #22 on the list. Here's a fun twist, have students take turns standing under the balloon as you pop it to catch the surprise for the day. If you're still in test mode, fill the balloons with quiz questions. Students can answer for a prize or special reward. Also, to add a little fun to a warm day, you can hang the countdown outside and fill a couple balloons with a small(and I mean very small) splash of water. Have students bring a change of clothes just in case they're uncomfortable getting wet.

3. Random Acts of Kindness List

The link takes you to the printable. It's a boy with a missing tooth holding a piece of paper in the middle of the top row. OR, you can do as we teachers do and have kiddos make and decorate their own! Remind students that being a "quality student" as we like to say, or a good citizen is not something that stops when school does. You can even offer it up as a challenge and give a prize to the first 3 students who write about it and show you the following school year.

4. Minute-To-Win-It

Here are some fun Minute-To-Win-It challenges for your last day celebration. Encourage critical thinking and teamwork up until the very last minute(haha, no pun intended).

5. Candy Ball

Fun and sweet activity. If you want to add an educational component, include pieces of paper with challenges or questions that students have to complete to win the candy. Young ones may do better playing in groups. Also, you can opt to not use gloves and just have students unwrap.

BONUS!!!!!!!

We can't forget about you and your needs lovely teacher friend. Here are some links just for you:

End of Year To-Do List

We all have them. See if you missed any items with this handy post!

Affordable Student Gift

Let's face it, we don't always have a lot of pocket change, even though we wish we could give our students the world(well most of them *winky face*). Here's a cute idea and a great way to get rid of some extra stuff you have around the classroom. If you want something a little more unique, check out this framed word cloud idea.

3 Boxes to Pack at the End of the Year

Get an early start on packing up to save your sanity.

8 Mistakes Teachers Make at the End of the Year

These are some really productive ways to make your last days easier.

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