Each year I love creating memory books for each child that captures their growth throughout the year. Typically, I collect work samples from the beginning of the year until the end in a portfolio that I use during conference time to share student learning with parents. I also hold on to a few keepsake projects that I think would fit nicely in their memory books. This year I did a family project that wouldn't fit in the book so I took a photo of each child's before I sent it home so that I could include it. I also like to include photos of the school, our classroom, a class photo on the play scape, field trips, and other exciting events that may have occurred throughout the year. I also include an end of the year poem or letter from me. This year I am thinking about including a reprinted version of the letter I sent home to the children over the summer. Most importantly, each child's memory book tells the story of their year in learning from beginning to end.
I also like to invite families to celebrate their child's accomplishments with an end of the year celebration. In the past, I have had a celebration with just my class as well as collaborated with other teachers on my grade level. My celebrations typically include a song, a slideshow, an award that recognizes each child for an accomplishment, and an opportunity for the children to share some of their work with their families. This year one of my colleagues and I are collaborating to have a family picnic lunch. Our school is having a Sharing Assembly where each class shares some form of learning. We will be singing a song and sharing a collaborative Animoto video that shares each child's thoughts about kindergarten. We have invited families to join us for a picnic lunch after the Sharing Assembly. Once the children have the opportunity to enjoy lunch with their families, we are inviting the families into our classrooms so that the children can share some of the work that they are working on collecting. Each child is having an active part in selecting the work they will share! We are all very excited about the upcoming event!
How do you celebrate the year with your students?
I love your ideas for celebrating the end of a successful year. It sounds like you definitely could even make an Animoto video to show at your end of the year celebration!
ReplyDeleteIn fifth grade we have a similar way of celebrating the students' growth, but in particular we focus on literacy. Throughout the year I have saved the students final drafts and publish pieces of their writing, which they put into a Writing Portfolio they create. They also write an about the author which gets framed, and gather their big projects of the year which required a lot of reading and writing. On their desks, each student displays their portfolio, their projects including their poetry books, civil war projects, and heritage books, and framed about the author page in order to create a gallery. Parents are invited in and students read their favorite poem from their collection. Afterwards parents have the opportunity to look at their child's work, as well as the work of others, and see the growth they have made throughout the year. I'm glad, like always, we are on the same page!