It’s here, the last day of school! The kids can no longer contain their excitement and most parents are scrambling to get all the last week of school tasks completed. The busyness is often compared to the week leading up to Christmas. There are field days, field trips, and class parties! The list goes on and on…
There are a few things that we like to accomplish in the last week of school to document and celebrate another year. Of course, we do the obligatory last day of school photo complete with sign and posting it with the first day of school photo for comparison. We also send a teacher gift for each teacher. I made gift bags this year with the tag reading “We need s’more teachers like you!”. Catchy right? In these bags, I included several different kinds of marshmallows (Walmart seems to have the best variety), chocolate graham crackers, honey graham crackers, fudge striped cookies, Hershey chocolate bars, a variety of chocolate squares (like dark chocolate and caramel), Reese’s cup, and campfire roasting sticks. I put everything in a cooler bag that they can reuse for picnics and beach trips. In the past I have made manicure/pedicure kits with nail polish, filing boards, nail polish remover, and hand/foot lotion. Then I attached a tag reading, “Thanks for being a Toe-tally awesome teacher”. I have also purchased beach totes that included all the essentials for a trip to the pool or beach, such as sunscreen, towels, flip flops, magazines, and a tumbler.
One of my favorite traditions is to send the book, ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ by Dr. Suess, into school for the teachers to sign at the end of the school year. I have done this every year since they were in early preschool and I plan to do it until they are seniors. Then I will give them the book for graduation. This reminds me of a yearbook that we used to sign as kids in high school. The book will be displayed at their graduation open house and I hope they will cherish it for years and years.
Additionally, I like to video tape the kids and ask them a set of questions at the end of each school year. Yes you heard me correctly, you know the thing that we have stuffed away in a closet gathering dust that never gets used. I always say to myself that I need to take more videos of the kids than just taking pictures and guess what? I never get around to it. Well now is the time and you will want this later. You could also do this on their birthday each year too. I just can’t always remember to get the video camera out. So I linked the website below that I used for the free questionaries’. There are probably a million resources out there to pick from. I remember one year, my oldest told me that his best friend was ME and that he loved ME. I will hold onto that forever especially in the teenage years and when he gets married. Another one of my boys said he wanted to marry me. Oh my heart!
https://www.papernook.com/blogs/news/7152834-free-printable-annual-birthday-questions
Last but not least, I like to surprise the boys with something on the last day of school. It could be as simple as a few hundred water balloons and new water guns, a bucket filled with books and art supplies, or something else. You could even write on the sidewalk or driveway a fun message to welcome the summer and have a finish line draped across your front door for them to cross. I actually found throwable paint balls at Micheals this year. We love to get messy! So I said, why not? The cashier at the store told me I was very brave! I say crazy! We washed off the paintballs with a few hundred water balloons, genius I know! So let me know what you do to commemorate the last day of school with your kids and post a comment below. I am always looking for new ideas.
