Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 195. Ditch the Countdown: A Better Way to Create End of Year Closure

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195. Ditch the Countdown: A Better Way to Create End of Year Closure · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:00
  Heidi: This is episode 195 of Teacher Approved.
• 0:06
  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
• 0:09
  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
• 0:13
  Heidi.
• 0:13
  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
• 0:16
  Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
• 0:19
  strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
• 0:22
  effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
• 0:25
  each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
• 0:28
  Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
• 0:31
  the show.
• 0:36
  Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
• 0:39
  episode, we're sharing the three keys to ending the school year
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  with heart and intention, and we've got a teacher approved tip
• 0:46
  for creating your own sense of closure.
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  Heidi: Let's start with try it tomorrow, where we share a quick
• 0:52
  win that you can try in your classroom right away. Emily,
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  what is our prompt this week?
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  Emily: This week, try what we call a one spot tidy. Set a
• 1:00
  timer for just 90 seconds and have your class do a quick
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  cleanup of one small area of your room. You could even have
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  several of them all around the room doing this, and it can just
• 1:09
  be one drawer, one bookshelf, one supply bin. And the beauty
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  of this approach is that it breaks down end of year cleanup
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  into little manageable chunks that feel doable, even when
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  everyone's energy is rock bottom.
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  Heidi: I love that idea. Instead of one massive, crazy cleanup
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  day that is going to leave everyone cranky, you can try
• 1:29
  planning these micro cleaning moments instead.
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  Emily: The satisfaction of seeing even one small area
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  transformed can be surprisingly motivating for everyone. If you
• 1:39
  like this idea or anything else we share her on the podcast,
• 1:42
  would you please make our day by giving us a five star rating and
• 1:46
  review on Apple podcasts?
• 1:48
  So let's talk about end of the year closure. And I have to say,
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  as I was working on this episode, every time I wrote
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  closure, it made me think of friends when they were like,
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  That's what I call closure.
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  Heidi: You gotta snap your phone shut.
• 2:03
  Emily: Well, if you've been listening for a while, you might
• 2:05
  remember, and if you do, we're super impressed, that way back
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  in episode 11, we first shared this framework that we're gonna
• 2:11
  talk about today. And it actually is one of our favorite
• 2:14
  episodes we've ever done. It's just we completely forgot about
• 2:16
  it until, like, a week ago. We both came across it when we were
• 2:20
  looking at podcast episodes, and we're like, Hey, this is a good
• 2:23
  idea! So we're going to revisit that today, and the three ideas
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  are reflection, transition and celebration. And guess what?
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  They still hold up as a practical guide for wrapping up
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  the school year with intention and meaning.
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  Heidi: If you have been feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to
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  create a real sense of end of the year closure in your
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  classroom, this is the episode for you. Because, you know, May
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  is a lot. You are juggling assemblies, grumpy kids, packing
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  up and finishing grades. It's kind of tempting just to crawl
• 2:53
  to the finish line.
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  Emily: But if you want the year to feel complete for you and for
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  your students, building in even a few moments of closure can
• 3:01
  make a big difference, and it doesn't have to be complicated.
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  Heidi: Our first key to closing the school year with heart is
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  reflection. These last weeks of the school year are the perfect
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  time to help students pause and recognize just how far they've
• 3:14
  come since August. Without intentional reflection, that
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  growth easily goes unnoticed or unappreciated, especially by the
• 3:21
  students themselves.
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  Emily: Yeah, learning happens so gradually that sometimes it's
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  hard to see the transformation until you take a step back and
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  really look.
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  Heidi: One of our all time favorite reflection ideas is
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  year mapping. You divide your students into groups, and then
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  you give each group a subject area, like math, reading,
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  science, and they write down everything that they learned in
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  that subject this year, and then you can combine the pages into a
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  giant map of your school year.
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  Emily: Oh, and they'll be so proud to remember all the things
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  they have learned this year. You can also use digital
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  reflections, especially if you teach upper elementary students,
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  you can have them create a my year of growth PowerPoint, where
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  they select examples of their work from throughout the year,
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  and then they can explain how each piece shows their
• 4:04
  development in a skill, and they can reflect on challenges that
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  they overcame. And it might surprise you, because students
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  may choose to showcase pieces that aren't their best work, but
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  instead they kind of represent significant turning points in
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  their learning journey. Kids can be surprisingly astute at
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  noticing their own progress if they take the time to really
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  look at it.
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  Heidi: And I have found that reflection doesn't always have
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  to be a formal activity. One of my favorite things to do at the
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  end of the school year was during morning work. I would
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  remind the students of how at the beginning of the year, when
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  we would do our morning work, it felt so hard and they felt like
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  they would never be able to do it. And then I have them look
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  back at some of the first pages, because I kept it bound in the
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  whole year book, so that made this easy. If you don't have it
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  bound, you might have to pull up some beginning pages and show
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  the kids what one of those early pages looks like and how easy it
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  looks to them now. They are just so amazed at how far they've
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  come when it seemed that beginning. Idea that this would
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  be an impossible task.
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  Emily: Yes, I love that, and it's so easy. I think that's why
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  it's so helpful to incorporate reflection throughout those
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  final weeks of the school year, rather than saving it all up for
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  the last day. When we make reflection an ongoing
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  conversation at the end of the year, the students have time to
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  really process how far they have come and all the things they've
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  learned.
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  Heidi: And don't forget that as the teacher, you need your
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  reflection to what worked this year. What do you want to
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  repeat? What do you never want to do again? Our free end of
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  year roadmap is a great place to capture all of those thoughts,
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  and we have a link to that free resource in our show notes.
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  Emily: And that naturally leads us to our second key to a
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  meaningful end of year, which is helping students transition to
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  what's next. Transitions are a normal part of life, but they
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  can bring up a lot of mixed emotions for students. Hey,
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  sometimes even for teachers. There's excitement about moving
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  forward, but also anxiety about the unknown. By calling out
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  these transitions directly, we can help students approach them
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  with confidence instead of nervousness.
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  Heidi: One transition activity that can be a fun tradition is
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  to do a passing of the torch. Have your current students
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  create welcome packages for next year's class that can include
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  things like advice, sharing their favorite memories of the
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  year, or describing what to expect in your classroom. These
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  are so sweet to read it beginning of next year, and
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  students really love writing them. You can add a twist by
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  having students create short video tours of your classroom
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  learning centers and explaining how they work. That's just a lot
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  of fun for everyone, and a fun way to fill some of those long
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  last days.
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  Emily: It's such a great way to give kids ownership in the
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  transition process. It's also helpful to demystify the next
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  grade level with like a little preview. So if possible, you can
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  arrange for students to visit next year's classrooms for a
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  quick activity or chat with the teachers.
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  Heidi: But even when that is not feasible, you can take your
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  class on a super quiet hallway field trip to peek at those
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  classrooms and get a glimpse of what they are up to. Make sure
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  you point out the fun things that you know is happening in
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  those classrooms, to get your kids excited about their next
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  transition.
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  Emily: That simple connection point can create so much
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  excitement about the transition, and it helps give your students
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  context for what next year will look like for them. Heidi, you
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  had an idea that you liked to do for transition called a looking
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  back looking forward timeline. So tell us about that.
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  Heidi: I love doing this. So you start as a class, you brainstorm
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  memorable moments from the past year, then you just list them
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  all on the board, and each student chooses one of those
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  memories to draw and write about. This could be anything
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  memorable to the class, like a favorite read aloud, a fun go
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  noodle activity, a field trip, a memorable math lesson. You'll be
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  surprised at the things they remember and the things that
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  they don't, maybe a little bit disappointed in the things they
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  don't remember.
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  Emily: Yeah, so as the teacher, you might want to come up with a
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  few suggestions ahead of time, because it's likely that they
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  won't be able to generate enough memories on their own.
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  Heidi: No, they all get stuck on, you know, Halloween parade
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  and the class party. And if getting one memory per kid is
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  too difficult. You could always partner students to work on this
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  together. So you have the kids draw their memory and a little
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  paper polaroid frame, and you can add a writing page if you
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  want them to write as well. And then you collect these to make
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  an end of the year bulletin board. You print the header that
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  says Looking back at blank grade, and obviously you fill it
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  in with your grade level. But here's where the handy part
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  comes in. When it's time to start setting up your class in
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  the fall, all you have to do is trade out 'back at' to 'forward
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  to' and now your back to school bulletin board says, looking
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  forward to blank grade. All you had to do is change a couple of
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  words.
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  Emily: And you're not limited to using this as a bulletin board.
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  You could put it on your door or on the wall outside your
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  classroom. Could really put it anywhere you need a back to
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  school display, and if you don't want to leave this up for next
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  year, it's still a really great activity for the end of the
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  school year. Don't be limited by our ideas. If you just like this
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  for a one off activity.
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  Heidi: I like to put this in the hall as like a really long
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  timeline, so you could kind of walk through your school year,
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  it was a fun memory. And if you were interested in doing this
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  with your own class, you can find this set in our store. We
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  will put a link to it in the show notes. It includes the
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  photo frames for students to color and different size writing
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  sheets, plus it has all the bulletin board pieces like a
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  title and some cute border strips, and a teacher guide,
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  where we walk you through everything step by step.
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  Emily: And yes, ideally, this is something you could put up in
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  May and leave up all summer. But some schools aren't cool about
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  that. Why do they want everything off the walls?
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  Seriously, I don't understand why it's so imperative.
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  Heidi: They're not scrubbing the walls. Yeah, I don't get it.
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  Emily: But if you are in that boat, we're so sorry. But even
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  if you want to reuse it next year and you have to take it
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  down, you can repost it. Just take a picture of how you had it
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  set up, put it all into a big envelope or a folder, and you'll
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  be good to go for next year.
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  Heidi: It's so nice to have a meaningful way to fill some time
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  at the end of the year. But my favorite part of this activity
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  actually happened when school started up again. When I would
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  do this with my own students, I was surprised by how touched my
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  former little kiddos were to see their work still on display, it
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  helped them feel like they were still part of my class. And I
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  really loved having a way to show them that even though they
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  were getting bigger, they were moving on, they would always be
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  my kids.
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  Emily: I think that's what makes the third key to a meaningful
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  year end so crucial. Celebration doesn't just recognize
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  achievement, it also honors the connections and joy that make
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  our class community special.
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  Heidi: Celebration is really at the heart of what we want to do
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  at the end of the school year. This is where we can recognize
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  not just academic achievements, but the whole experience of
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  growing together as a class this year. The goal is to honor
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  individual journeys while also acknowledging the experience
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  that we have all had as a group.
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  Emily: And you don't need elaborate party plans to mark
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  the moment, something as simple as a compliment circle or even a
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  toast with sparkling apple juice in plastic champagne flutes can
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  make a special memory. And something we always love to do
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  is student created awards.
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  Heidi: Unlike traditional end of year awards, we want our
• 11:00
  students to choose what they are most proud of, not what we think
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  they should be proud of, and give them an award for what
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  really matters to them. We have a free resource that will walk
• 11:08
  you through this whole process, including several cute styles of
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  awards to choose from. And there is a link to that in the show
• 11:14
  notes.
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  Emily: And we'll link to the episode where we talk about that
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  as well, if you want to deep dive into end of year awards.
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  Heidi: Yeah, the show notes are where it's happening in this
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  episode.
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  Emily: It really is.
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  Another idea is to use the power of music to celebrate by
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  creating an end of year playlist with songs that have become
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  meaningful to your class throughout the year. So like the
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  song you always played during cleanup time, or the one you
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  loved for brain breaks and the one that you practiced a million
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  times for the class program. Playing this playlist during
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  your final days together will evoke so many shared memories
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  and create that wonderful sense of nostalgia. You can even share
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  the playlist with parents so they can keep listening at home.
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  Heidi: You can also tap into that nostalgia by revisiting
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  some of your favorite read alouds. Like I don't know about
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  anyone else, but I was always reading to my students, probably
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  multiple times a day, so we had many favorite books that were
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  fun to read again, and it's a fun group discussion to
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  reminisce on all the picture books and the chapter books that
• 12:09
  we had read during the year.
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  Emily: These are such fun ideas for celebration. But don't
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  forget your support staff. Having students write thank you
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  notes or design small posters for custodians, office staff or
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  specialists, it's a great way to celebrate everyone who made this
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  year possible and impacted your students.
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  Heidi: But the final celebration moment that I think every
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  classroom needs is some kind of a closing ritual. This doesn't
• 12:32
  have to be elaborate, but it should provide some kind of
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  emotional closure to your time together. With my second
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  graders, I ended each week with a closing circle, and that
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  ritual would be really easy to adapt for an end of year
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  activity. You just gather everyone in a circle, and you
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  ask students to share their proudest moment from the year.
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  You might have to prompt them a little bit about, you know, some
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  ideas, because in the moment, they seem to go blank. Once
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  everyone has an idea, you go around and they get to share
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  with the group, and then you have them think of a wish that
• 13:01
  they want for next year. They whisper it into their hands.
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  Then, you know, we all close our eyes while we're holding our
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  hands cup together. And then on the count of three, we say our
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  class cheer, or, you know, we could just count down. And then
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  we let our hands go, and we let our wishes float up into the
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  world where they will be floating around in their new
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  classrooms waiting for them when they come back to school in the
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  fall. It's so simple, but it's just really profoundly
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  meaningful.
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  Emily: I did that a few times too, and it really was just the
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  perfect little period on the end of the school year. A good way
• 13:34
  to get teary.
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  Heidi: Oh yes, definitely.
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  Emily: When you incorporate these three keys, reflection,
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  transition, and celebration into your end of year plans, you
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  transform those final weeks from a countdown to a meaningful
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  conclusion. Your students will leave your classroom not just
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  with their report cards and summer reading lists, but with a
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  deeper understanding of their own growth and a sense of
• 13:55
  anticipation for what's coming next.
• 13:58
  Heidi: And something you should start anticipating is our
• 14:00
  upcoming teacher summer talks event happening in mid June.
• 14:04
  This is a free audio summit with lots of back to school
• 14:07
  strategies from experienced teachers designed to fit into
• 14:10
  your summer schedule without requiring you to sit in front of
• 14:14
  a screen for hours during your summer.
• 14:16
  Emily: We'll be sharing more details about that soon, but in
• 14:19
  the meantime, we'd love to hear what your class will be doing to
• 14:22
  end the school year in a meaningful way. Come join the
• 14:24
  conversation in our teacher approved Facebook group.
• 14:28
  Now for our teacher approved Tip of the Week, where we share an
• 14:31
  actionable tip to help you elevate what matters and
• 14:33
  simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is create
• 14:37
  teacher closure too. In all your planning for student closure,
• 14:41
  don't forget that you need meaningful endings as well.
• 14:44
  Taking time to process your own journey through the school year
• 14:47
  is essential for your professional growth and your
• 14:49
  emotional well being.
• 14:51
  Heidi: And surprise, our end of year roadmap is the perfect free
• 14:56
  resource to help you do this. You can reflect on the teaching
• 14:59
  strategies that really worked well this year, challenges you
• 15:02
  navigated and personal growth that you experienced as a
• 15:04
  teacher. And it's just all an easy to use handy dandy digital
• 15:09
  format that you can just pull up wherever you need it.
• 15:12
  Emily: If you haven't downloaded the free end of your roadmap
• 15:14
  yet, what are you waiting for? The link is in the show notes.
• 15:19
  Heidi: To wrap up the show. We're sharing what we're giving
• 15:21
  extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
• 15:23
  credit?
• 15:24
  Emily: I'm giving extra credit to my new collapsible laundry
• 15:27
  baskets. Ooh, fancy. They are from clever made and I got them
• 15:31
  on Amazon, and they come in a set of two, which is great,
• 15:34
  because you always need more laundry baskets. But the key is
• 15:38
  they fold totally flat when you're not using them. And I
• 15:41
  have tried other collapsible laundry baskets before, and they
• 15:44
  are either too flimsy, so that once you get the laundry in
• 15:47
  there, they kind of fall apart, or they're too bulky when you
• 15:50
  collapse them, you know, like those, like silicone ones, that
• 15:52
  you collapse and they're still, like, three or four inches tall.
• 15:56
  No, this is, like, basically flat when you collapse it and it
• 15:59
  stays collapsed. It's so good. This is, like, the perfect
• 16:02
  Goldilocks laundry basket.
• 16:05
  Heidi: I'm wondering, I'm just thinking of, like, teachers who
• 16:07
  are gonna have to be hauling stuff home for the summer that
• 16:10
  they might need to work with. Do you think that would be like,
• 16:12
  that would work for transporting, like, big, you
• 16:15
  know, teacher manuals and books and stuff?
• 16:17
  Emily: Maybe. I mean, it's pretty sturdy because it holds,
• 16:20
  like, it's got a, like, solid, solid bottom, and then the top
• 16:23
  is made of, like, a steel frame, and then it's got, like, really
• 16:27
  sturdy, like, a pop up brace that pops up on the sides when
• 16:30
  you want it up. So I think it could. I think it could. You
• 16:33
  might want to be careful about, like, carrying it, I don't know.
• 16:36
  You'd have to test out how much weight it could hold, so you
• 16:39
  don't bust them. Like a reusable shopping bag is not as sturdy,
• 16:43
  but less expensive if they bust, so you'd have to weigh out and
• 16:47
  decide which things go in what kind of container.
• 16:50
  Heidi: It could be nice. So if they fold flat, you could just,
• 16:53
  like, tuck it in your cupboard over the rest of the year and
• 16:56
  just pull it out every May or June. It can be real handy.
• 16:59
  Well, experiment and see.
• 17:01
  Emily: Yes, let us know, people. What are you giving extra credit
• 17:04
  to, Heidi?
• 17:05
  Heidi: My extra credit goes to Matt Swack on Instagram, and
• 17:08
  it's Matt, M, A, T, T, with an underscore, Swack, S, W, A, C,
• 17:12
  K, and I'll put a link in the show notes. But his account on
• 17:17
  Instagram is just full of beautiful drone shots of nature.
• 17:21
  There's just waterfalls and beautiful trickling streams and
• 17:25
  lush green trees, and it's just gorgeous. Not a lot of the
• 17:29
  landscape that we have around here, so it's lovely to see, and
• 17:32
  it's so calming. His account is one of my favorite ones to watch
• 17:36
  at the end of the day to unwind, so if you need a little
• 17:38
  breather, check out Matt Swack Instagram, 10 stars. So good.
• 17:44
  That's it for today's episode. Remember our three keys to
• 17:46
  closing the school year with heart and intention—reflection,
• 17:49
  transition and celebration.
• 17:51
  Emily: And don't forget to download our free end of your
• 17:53
  roadmap where you will find everything from reflection
• 17:56
  prompts to task checklists to set you up for success as you
• 17:59
  transition from school year to summer.
• 18:04
  Heidi: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm
• 18:07
  Heidi.
• 18:08
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 18:11
  or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
• 18:14
  episode.
• 18:15
  Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 18:17
  Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
• 18:20
  Bye for now.
• 18:21
  Emily: Bye.