BONUS Episode: 10 Fun Ways to Build a Classroom Community at End of Year

Kirsten 0:00

This is the social studies teacher podcast, a show for busy elementary teachers looking for fun and engaging ways to easily add social studies into their classroom schedule without feeling overwhelmed or pressed for time. I'm Kirsten at the southern teach, an educator and mom who is passionate about all things social studies. I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement. So let's dive in together.

Kirsten 0:47

Kirsten 1:47

Let's talk about why it still matters. We think back to the beginning of the year, and we're focusing on building relationships and teamwork and having a positive classroom community and class culture. But here is the thing, it is just as valuable to nurture those connections as the year winds down. It helps students leave on a positive note. So instead of feeling just done, they're leaving with really great memories of their class. It reinforces teamwork and collaboration. It's a great time to do, you know those fun community building activities again, that brings students together as you're wrapping things up and you've already taught a lot of the content for the year. And it also supports transitions. This could be a big one, because some students struggle with change. They are scared to go up to the next grade level. They're going to miss their friends, they feel really sad, and building community helps them feel confident and connected as they move to a new grade. I personally, even as a teacher, felt sadness on the very last day of school. It always was sad for me, and I would try not to cry. Some years were better than others, and this also happened as a kid. I really felt really sad, because I liked my class at the time, and it's that anxiety of not knowing you know who's going to be in your class next year. So it is kind of just sad all across the board, and we want to make sure that we kind of help them feel confident, connected, that they can thrive just as much as they did in your classroom in the following year, even if they don't know their teacher yet, or who's in their classroom yet.

Kirsten 3:24

So how can we intentionally create a sense of togetherness before the very last bell rings? I want to share with you 10 simple ideas that I've personally tried, and I think are really great ideas that I think you'll enjoy.

Kirsten 3:40

So the first idea is to host a class potluck or picnic. There's something special about sharing food and some conversation together without thinking academically, just having fun with your class. So just let students bring in snacks or even small little dishes. Or you can keep it simple and bring popsicles for the class, or bring a few pizzas for lunch. And you can have a picnic outside if it's nice outside, or you can create a fun cafe style setup in your classroom. Use this as a chance to reflect on the school year, share favorite memories, and even celebrate your class community in general. Bonus is in the background, have a slide show of photos from throughout the year in the background, if you have that.

Kirsten 4:27

The second idea is to work on a group project together. Encourage teamwork. Give students a collaborative PBL project to work on in their final weeks of school. You can have a class mural, and students are drawing or writing about their favorite class memories. You could do a video time capsule - that would be fun, where you let students record their best moments from the school year. Or you can just try a PBL activity. One of my favorites that I did towards the end of the year with my third grade class a few years ago is the geometrosity PBL project by digital divide and conquer. I'll make sure to link that in the show notes if you might be interested in it. You could always fast track it, since it is quite close to the end of the year for some schools, depending on where you are, but I do know that some schools go through June. So you could try this out and see if it might be helpful or fun for your students.

Kirsten 5:24

The third idea is to take a meaningful field trip if you have the chance. This could be a really great way to build memories as a class and as a grade level. It doesn't have to be far. It could be something simple as going to a local park or a museum, and you could even do some type of virtual tour. And if in person trips aren't possible, try inviting a guest speaker to come to you or just do a special class activity, instead. You might even want to try doing some type of community service option, so you could organize a volunteer activity like a campus clean up or a donation drive that could impact and benefit your local community.

Kirsten 6:09

Number four is to organize a game day keep the energy high after standardized testing or whatever happens towards the end of the year for you guys with a full day of games and activities. Not even education related, it could be something similar to what people might have like field day. But you could do outdoor games like relay races, capture the flag, scavenger hunts. You could do indoor classroom games such as would you rather, or trivia, or a Jeopardy style class review. And you could also do some team building challenges, such as escape room activities or a class wide board game tournament. That could be really fun to do. And bonus is giving out some small prizes or certificates for participation, or if anybody wins, however you want to do it. But a game day could be a really great fun way to build classroom community at the end of the year.

Kirsten 7:06

Number five is to create a class time capsule. Let students capture memories from this school year to be opened in the future. Have them write letters to their future selves sharing their favorite moments and what they've learned in your classroom, and let students even add small objects, drawings or a class photo to the time capsule. What is the best part about it is that you would keep it in your classroom to open next year or pass it to their future teacher for an exciting surprise - they definitely could appreciate that. Another alternative is to mail the letters to your students in a year or two. Make sure they write down their address or ask parents to send addresses, let them in on it, and then in a year or so, email or send the letters to your students or to the parents of your students - that would be really fun.

Kirsten 8:03

All right. Number six is to host a talent show, art exhibit or a fair. So I remember fondly the end of the year talent shows that we did as a whole school. Let your students shine by celebrating their unique talents and interests that may or may not be related to school or education in general. You can have them perform music, comedy, magic tricks, whatever they like to do. You could do an art exhibit that allows students to showcase their digital designs or paintings or drawings. Or you can do a social studies fair that lets students present their favorite topics that you have taught from the year. A bonus is you might have some students who are not into talent shows or want to do something performing in front of others, they can always help host or decorate or create programs for the talent show. So this is just a really fun way to let them celebrate their interests and even tie it in with adding like their favorite social studies topic and culminated by parents or other classes. So try this and see if it might be beneficial for you.

Kirsten 9:15

Number seven is to build a gratitude wall or a compliment box. Encourage kindness and reflection by creating a space for students to uplift one another. Try setting up a gratitude wall where students can post thank you notes and kind words for classmates, and you could also do a compliment box. Everybody has their own shoe box that they've decorated or a paper bag that they've decorated, and students are anonymously or writing their names on encouraging messages for every student in the class. And if you want, you could read some of the notes aloud on the last day, or they could pick some of their favorites that really resonated with them as a heartwarming send off. And don't forget you as a teacher should participate, because I think it's always beneficial to get individual notes from their teachers to take home on the last day, and just giving it nice personal touch, what you have loved about having them as a student in your class.

The eighth idea I have for you is to let students lead a classroom presentation or even debate, if you want them to do some friendly debate on a fun school appropriate topic, maybe related to what you've learned or just something that's happening in the world or current events, but the idea is to let them present on their favorite topic from the year. If you want them to do a class presentation, you can have students take personality quizzes like my Enneagram for big kids resource that I'll make sure to link if you want to do that as well, discuss their strength,s and just giving them a fun little way to share what they love and teach others about their smarts and their skills and their interests. You could even do something where they're proposing ideas for improving the school or just improving something in general. And you can do like a shark tank style thing where you've got a panel of judges, and the person has to pitch their idea, and then the judges will give feedback.

Number nine, try holding a class awards ceremony. This is also something that could be easily done. Make that last week extra special and recognize every single student in your class in a fun and positive way. You could let students nominate their classmates for awards, or you can just assign different awards for them based on their leadership skills or academic skills or social skills, or just what they're really good at, what they're honed in on. I really liked using emoji award certificate by Hubbard's cupboard, and I'll make sure to link that this is something that was my go to. They had a variety of awards, so I had plenty of options for my students. And I think there's also an editable version, if you want to add your own themed awards. They are super cute, but just making sure, you know, thinking about most likely to or, you know, reading star, something related to writing, maybe somebody's really artsy. And you could even do certificates or small prizes to celebrate students unique qualities. I've heard of candy awards. Those are also a fun idea. The resource I'm linking is not related to the candy awards, but you could always add a candy in there, and maybe you know something that is related to that emoji award, you could always find a piece of candy or a type of candy to go along with that, or you could just give them their favorite candy however you want to do it. But a class award ceremony could be great. You could invite parents, or just have it just amongst them. And you can even stream it, maybe through zoom or Google meets, and just let parents also see the award ceremony.

All right, the very last idea I have for you is to reflect on the year with a class discussion or a writing activity. So give students a chance to share their feelings, thought,s and lessons learned before they go. Have a nice round table discussion or sit in a circle on the carpet, talk about their favorite memories, what they'll miss about the year. You could also use a reflection journal with prompts such as, what was your favorite lesson this year? What advice would you give to next year students? And what's something you have learned in this class that you will remember forever? I created the a letter from your teacher on the last day of school book companion. And this is based on the book with the same name by Shannon Olson. You can buy it on Amazon. You can purchase it pretty much anywhere you'll find books. It's called a letter from your teacher on the last day of school, and the reflection book companion, that's all in there, you'll see vocabulary activities, you'll see, you know, some comprehension activities. But also there's going to be some space to reflect on the school year. And it's just a really great, simple, low prep resource to utilize if you're looking for something and you've, you gotta put some academic stuff in the end of the year, but you're not sure how to do that. This is a great way to do that, and pairing it with that, read aloud, reading the poem to your students, really great activity overall.

The last weeks of school do not have to feel like a countdown. They can be some of the most meaningful weeks of the year. So let's recap those 10 fun ways to build classroom community. Use or lose these ideas. Mix them up. You've got several weeks or more to try to see what you can do to really end that classroom community and the school year on the best note possible. So number one, potluck or picnic. Number two, do a group project. Number three, going on a field trip or some type of community service project. Number four, game day. Number five, doing a time capsule. Number six, talent show or class fair. Number seven, a gratitude wall or compliment box. Number eight, doing some student led presentations or friendly debates. Number nine, class award ceremony. And number 10, reflection activities for the end of the year. The best part about this is that again, mix and match, use or lose, fit your class's needs and make the last days of school truly unforgettable. If you found these tips helpful, let me know, and also share this episode with a fellow teacher who you know would really enjoy this and don't forget to check out my blog the southern teach with more ideas and resources, not just for the end of the year, but also, really throughout the year.

Thank you so much for listening to this bonus episode of the social studies teacher podcast, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week, and I will talk to you on Monday.

Thanks for listening to the social studies teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and strategies.