The Elementary Entourage: Packin' Up Tips with Amna from Teach Two Reach

The end of the year is a trying time for us teachers. Kids are going bananas and let's face it, so are we. I'm here to share with you some end of the year ideas that will help you wrap up the year and keep the kids busy as well.

First up:

TREASURE BOX AUCTION

If you do a money management system, or even if you don't and give students some sort of currency (tickets..etc.), this will be amazingly fun for the kids.

I love this system because it helps me clear out items I don't want to carry on with me for next year.

I like to try to put much of my left over treasure box items up for auction. Basically, students have saved money that they haven't used for other things...some have more, some have less. I lay out all the items that are going to be bid on. We go over the rules of a silent auction and students can either raise their hands or hold up an object such as a Popsicle stick when they want to bid on something.

I'll describe all the items before I begin so students can be aware of what there is and if they would like to wait out for something. Then I start with random items and depending on the quality of the item, I start the bid. For small items, it will be something like 25 cents and then go up, and prices vary for others. I usually have multiples of smaller items so I say like, "5 kids can this item."

Then it is bidding time. I keep on increasing the price until the last kid (or kids if there is more than one of the item), standing gets it. Then we move on to other items. Some kids love to get a bunch of little things. Some kids hold on to their money for the bigger items. But I always tell them they are taking a risk holding out as well because they might not get it. Sometimes what they want gets bid on by a higher bidder, and so it doesn't go to them, so then they just bid on other things. Basically, I make sure that everyone gets something.

End of Year Student Compliments

love using my own kids as test subjects :)

Here is a way to keep the students busy for a while so you can sneak in some packing up or cleaning out in the classroom. One of my biggest tips is to try to get little things done while students are busy. You can go through paperwork that needs to be recycled, or slowly start taking things down from the walls, or cleaning out drawers, etc. This next activity will help give you some time to do just that.

I learned this when I was student teaching 8 years ago. I put a picture of each student in the middle of a piece of paper that has spaces to write going all around the picture. The number of spaces depends on how many students there are.

Then, we arrange our desks so that it is easy to pass the paper to the student next to them and that the rotation can be nice and circular without students getting confused as to who gets the paper next. I give each student a person to start with (not themselves), and they write one kind or nice thing about the person in the picture. They write their name after their sentence. Different color pens look good. Then we all rotate the papers at the same time. By the end, students will have written a compliment for each other student in the class and I will make sure I leave a space for my compliment as well.

This serves as a beautiful keepsake that students can treasure forever.

I am attaching a link to the PDF file that has the template - it will have the place in the middle for the picture and the title. You will need to add in the bubbles to write in according to the number of students in your class. Enjoy!