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Articles

Ending the School Year with Distance Learning

Ending the School Year with Distance Learning

The end of any school year can be a bittersweet time for both teachers and students. This year, these feelings are heightened as we consider how to have closure with our students when we might not be physically together with them in school. Students and educators may experience feelings never…
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May 21 2020
Pause and Celebrate

The End of the School Year: A Time to Pause and Celebrate Successes

The walls of the classroom look emptier than they looked a month ago and a few remnants of the presence of students remain: a pencil here or a sticky note there containing a past thought. As the last student leaves the room in which you’ve built a community, many emotions…
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Jun 03 2019
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Academic Engagement in the Home Stretch

You’ve made it to the last few months of the academic year! From spring fever to state testing, there are lots of reasons why students might need a nudge to stay engaged in academics around this time of year. Here are some tips that can help! Keep things moving Attention…
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Apr 12 2017
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

How’s Your Reinforcing Language?

Once June arrives, it’s tempting to focus on the more leisurely days ahead. That’s important to do—we all need rest and rejuvenation. But before you begin that well-earned downtime, pause for a moment to bring closure to your year of teaching—to consider what went well in your teaching and how…
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Jun 04 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Joyful Endings: The Last Few Weeks of School

Although we hope that our students’ learning won’t stop just because school does, it’s good to help them reach a sense of closure during the last few weeks of the year. Good endings leave students with feelings of pride in their growth, a strong sense of themselves as capable learners,…
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Apr 30 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Class Memory Books

On Move-Up Day, a rite of passage for the children at my school, I tend to feel a bit wistful as the second graders I've been teaching head off to meet their new teacher, and I welcome next year's class. Although the first graders are always eager to meet me,…
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May 29 2014
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Reflecting on Your Teaching Year

At the end of another school year, it's tempting to count the days left, wave goodbye to my class, pack up my room, and mentally check out for the summer. I've earned it, haven't I? But as the year winds down, I'm reminded that many of the end-of-year activities I…
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May 19 2014
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Wrapping Up the School Year

Ideas from Responsive Classroom consultants Lynn Majewski, Babs Freeman-Loftis, and Tina Valentine  Lynn Majewski: You can do this one in conjunction with packing up the classroom library: each child chooses a favorite book and tries to convince classmates to read it over the summer. There are a variety of ways…
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Apr 10 2012

Celebrating Friendship

Take time at the end of the school year to help children reflect on how they have worked to get to know each other, efforts they have made to be kind, and the friendships they have formed. Here are two tales of unique and unlikely friendships that you could use…
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May 20 2011

Reflecting on Hopes and Goals

As the school year winds down, how will your students reflect on the hopes, dreams, and goals they set for this year? Many books could inspire this sort of reflection, including those I wrote about in "Read-Alouds to Inspire Hopes and Dreams" and "Revisiting Hopes and Dreams in the New…
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May 18 2011

Read-Alouds for Remembering

How has your class grown this year? What acts of kindness have they done for each other? What have they learned? What do you hope they will remember? Children's books can be great vehicles for exploring these sorts of questions during the last weeks of school. Here are two great…
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May 18 2011

Bringing the School Year to a Strong Finish

The end of the school year is an emotional time. By this time, many students (and teachers!) are eager for summer vacation, yet many children have mixed feelings about leaving the comforting structure of school. As the weather warms, attention to schoolwork fades. And perhaps most difficult for teachers who’ve…
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Apr 01 2011

Read-Alouds for the Last Day

What do you read to your class on the last day of school? I always put so much energy into that last choice. I wanted a book that would celebrate the community we had built, the friendships we had made, the values we had discussed . . . and at…
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Jun 01 2010

Behavior Challenges in the Homestretch?

It's April. It's tempting to think that by now students understand our expectations and know how to behave, so we can all just coast to the end of the year. But, in most classrooms, that's probably not true. In this season, children are filled with spring fever, facing mixed emotions…
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Apr 01 2010

The Last Days of School

Endings can be difficult for both children and adults. As the last days of school approach, the children in my first grade classroom and I will be feeling a range of emotions, including sadness at saying goodbye to friends, anticipation of new adventures, and anxiety about the coming transitions. The…
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Apr 01 2010

A Focused Finish

Q: What's the most important thing to focus on during the last weeks of school? A: Showcasing students' learning and celebrating the community you've built together should be the focus at the end of the year.  It's a prime time for doing deeply engaging work, such as a culminating project,…
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Apr 01 2009

My Hope and Dream for You

A few weeks before school ended last year, I wrote my fourth grade students notes stating a “hope and dream” for each of them as they moved on to fifth grade. My goals were to help them feel proud of their accomplishments over the year and to encourage them to…
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Apr 01 2009

Success Night

When Kyle and his grandparents walk into Summit Elementary School on Success Night, the hallways are already buzzing with children and their families. Kyle’s grandmother catches sight of his second grade teacher and waves. Kyle says they’ll visit her room later. “First I’m going to show you what I’ve done…
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Apr 01 2008

Recognizing Students’ Accomplishments All Year Long

Publicly recognizing children’s accomplishments can benefit their learning and the overall school climate. But how do you do it without setting up a competition among students? This is a question that many schools face, especially as the end of the year draws near. At Sheffield Elementary, a grade 3–5 school…
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Apr 01 2008

“Look At This Lemon”

As each school year ends, I look for ways to highlight for my students all they’ve learned during our time together. Last year, I found a quick, fun way to do this during Morning Meeting, while also giving the children a bit more practice in observing and classifying—important skills in…
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Apr 01 2008

The Last Six Weeks of School

The school year is drawing to a close. It’s been a year filled with many learning experiences for the children and for you. Though learning doesn’t end just because school does, it’s good to help children bring a sense of closure to the year of classroom learning. This article highlights…
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Apr 01 2007

Ending the Year on a Positive Note

Question: What's something you do with students to end the year on a positive note? A: A few years ago I decided to make sure my class would have time for saying goodbye on the last day of school. To help them prepare, the night before I gave them “thinking…
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Apr 01 2006

Looking Ahead to Next Year

For students, teachers, and parents alike, few events bring more hope and nervousness than the start of a new school year. As the summer winds down, many teachers begin to have conflicting feelings about the year ahead. We’re at once curious about our new students and daunted by the challenge…
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Apr 01 2005

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Question: The end of the school year offers a unique opportunity for students and teachers to reflect on their year of learning together. It’s a time to recognize efforts, celebrate achievements, acknowledge challenges, and look forward to the year ahead. We asked several teachers, from kindergarten to eighth grade, to…
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Mar 31 2001

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