Hip, hip, hooray…It’s a field trip to the next grade!

Looking for something to do with your kiddos in these last few days of school? I’ve got the perfect end of school year activity: Take them on a field trip- to the next grade!

Project this onto your SmartBoard:

Get your students pumped by asking them about all their concerns and questions they have for the next grade level. My third graders love to take a field trip to Becky’s fourth grade classroom!

They prepare by writing down a list of burning questions that they want answered-
“What happens if I don’t do my homework?”
“What do we learn about in math?”
“Do you do science experiments?”
“What’s the best thing about fourth grade?”

You KNOW that they can go on forever with this questions, but I have them narrow it down to their top 4. We then go to the fourth grade classroom and ask the experts all of our questions.

The fourth graders show us how to check books out of the classroom library, the fourth grade math workbook, homework bingo…and so on!

If you are looking for a fun activity to do with your students in these last few days….consider going on a field trip to the next grade! :)

Click on the button below to download this freebie!!

Another activity that I make a priority to do in the last week of the school year is my Student Feedback Forms. I believe it is so important for not only myself to reflect on the school year, but also to have my students do the same. I introduce the feedback forms during my morning meeting on one of the last days of the school year. I explain how I am always looking for ways that I can become a better teacher and I want my students’ feedback on how they think and feel the school year went.

I ask very specific questions on the feedback form. Some questions include:

What was your favorite lesson we did?

What was your least favorite lesson we did? Why?

What will you remember about your teacher?

How do you know that your teacher cares about you?

I really encourage my students to give me their completely honest thoughts and feelings. I always learn SO much about my practice and personally myself as a teacher.

Look at some of these responses my students wrote:

Question: One thing I never told my teacher is…

Student response: That I love how she is and acts. Like she doesn’t use clip charts. Doesn’t tell the whole class if we get in trouble.

What does this tell me? Don’t use clip charts!!! No, seriously :) I use a classroom economy behavior management system, in which students earn credits for positive choices or debits for poor choices. I focus mostly on giving my students credits and praise, praise, praise, their positive actions. This system is new for my students, as they are familiar with the clip charts that their previous teachers use.

Question: What did your teacher do that really helped your learning style? (I explained what this question meant to my second graders.)

Student response: When she gave me a spaser (spacer) to help my writing.

What does this tell me? To continue to make accommodations and modifications based on a student’s individual academic needs. Side note, this is a picture of some of the spacers that I use in my classroom. For this particular writing prompt, I made unicorn spacers because it was an opinion writing prompt, “Do You Want to Own a Unicorn?” You can read more about this writing lesson here: Opinion Writing

And…it just so happens that unicorns leads me to my next feedback form….

Question: How will you remember your teacher?

Student response: How she smiles.

What does this tell me? To keep smiling. They notice. It matters. It may be that you are the only adult that is showing them kindness, love, and acceptance. One thing that I pride myself on as a teacher is that I really do love my job. I show my students that I love my job (and them!) by smiling. When I greet them for their arrival, at their dismissal, during my actual teaching, when chaos is breaking out all around me…I continue to smile. This student response tells me that they notice and it is appreciated.

Want to get your own (editable!!??!) feedback form for your students? Read more below.

This zip file includes a PDF file and also a customizable PowerPoint file, which means that you can add your own word/text but the clip art remains protected.