Sometimes, the end of the school year can be a pain in the neck. I know for me, I drag myself out of bed, slap my best teacher attitude on, and scramble for meaningful activities to have my students do that don’t require much prep on my part.
I got tired of the scrambling part, and developed these sets of activities for those days where I refuse to throw up another movie but also don’t want to put my students through a slough of busy work.
These activities are reflective and fun. Students get to demonstrate their creativity with things like comics and collages, while looking back at their year. As teachers, we know how important it is to reflect on lessons, classroom management, and the year overall. And it is important to impart this skill on students as well.
Use these print-and-go creative activities to get your students reflecting on their year and promoting a growth mindset. These are also amazing when used in lieu of assigning an essay or paper.
Try any of these 8 creative activities to get your students engaged and end the year on a high note.
1. Advice for Future Students
Having students give advice can provide you with some valuable insight on skills to teach the next year. For me, some of the things students write are “Budget your time.” Which is true. I give students slips with due dates but there are always those few who mysteriously lose their due date slips and develop amnesia about assignments all in one go.
2. Encouragement for Future Students
These are special to me. It shows students that they have gone through tough things this school year but they overcame them, and they can use their voice to help others overcome challenges. Plus, you can save these and actually give them to future students!
3. A Comic about Learning
I used to draw and doodle on all of my assignments all through my school career, so I take every opportunity to get my similarly minded students drawing. It gives an excuse for the artsy kids to show their stuff, and for everyone else to practice their art or get creative with stick figures and color!
4. letter to Your Future Self
When we look at our reflective practices we are hoping to influence who we will be in the future. I like to point this out to students and have them wonder about who they will be at the end of their high school career or even at the end of their academic careers. Will they have drastically improved a point of weakness? Earned a scholarship?
5. Playlist Reflection
Teenagers and music go hand in hand. So give them an opportunity to channel their inner DJ and curate the soundtrack of their school year (with school appropriate music!).
6. Blooper Reel Reflection
TikTok and Ig Reels are all the rage right now, so let your creative students loose and let them choreograph a thirty second blooper reel of the funniest moments from the year. You can all laugh and share them out.
7. Quarter Growth Reflection
This one channels journaling. Students look at their academic progress in each quarter and write about it and draw a small sketch.
8. Year Book Inventory and Collage
Not yearbook, year book. Students write down all the books they have read that year and make a collage of the book covers, reflecting on which ones they adored and which ones they didn’t. This can give students insight on what genre works best for them and can carry them throughout adulthood.
Want these for your classroom? Check out my TPT store here. I have both Google Slides versions and a print version.
The digital version of this activity is provided on Google Slides with text holders. For completion of the comic, I advise students print the page out and color it in and then upload onto Google Drive
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