end of the year certificates Archives

Digital Award Ceremony – End of the Year Virtual Classroom Awards

May 13, 2020 teachersbrain education, Teaching Tips

End of the Year Activities

Celebrating accomplishments at the end of the school year is not only popular, but important to recognize student achievements. Accomplishments can include more that academic success. Recognizing improved behavior, attendance, athletics, character, art or music abilities are great ways to shine the spotlight on your students at the end of the year.

Distance learning has made it more difficult to celebrate our students with their friends and family. But, it is not impossible! If you are an educator who is using Zoom, Google Meets or some other way to video conference your students, there is many ways to celebrate.

First, send and invite to the families and students for your virtual ceremony. If you normally give certificates to students, fill them out as normal and then share them during the ceremony. You can than email or mail them their certificate.

Don’t want to worry about printing out certificates?

You can create certificates in a PowerPoint or with Google Slides to share during your meet-up. Then, just send them a copy through email. There are lots of pre-made editable certificates available online also.

Planning a Virtual AWARD Ceremony

If you are doing your own planning for your classroom, grade level or even the entire school, here are some key elements to consider:

Introduction Music
Introduction Slide to the Ceremony
Certificates (Titles and possibly add Images of each student)
Music during the show
Funny Moment Slide Breaks (A group photo or funny science moment)
Will there be a video or live announcement from you, a special guest or the principal?
Ending Music
Practice Practice Practice

Here is an example of how to create an end of the year virtual ceremony:

There are virtual award ceremony templates already made for you at TpT to make your celebration easy. You just drag and drop text and images in the google slides.

Do you have an award ceremony for your students? If so, what types of awards do you give? Please leave your comments below, I would love to hear how you recognize your students.

End of the School Year Themed Days in the Classroom

May 3, 2018 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Hopefully, you have all that testing behind you now and are freed up to do some educational activities that are engaging for your students! I always have a theme-based end-of-the-year celebration with my students. I also have an end-of-the-year celebration where the parents are invited to share some special moments with their children before the summer heats up! Here are some theme ideas that I usually let my students choose from:

Hawaiian
Spy Day
Beach or Ocean Day
Pirate Day
Circus
Mad Scientist Day
Craft Day
Super Hero Day

We do activities with items I purchase from Oriental Trading Co. usually. I also ask parents to donate items for the day. We make a t-shirt to go with the theme. All the activities are educational, but they are theme-based. This is a day just for kids, but I do have a couple volunteers helping me with activities.

When I invite the parents to the room, we have a slideshow showing pictures taken throughout the school year. Each year, (20 so far) I’ve made individual photo albums for all my students and present them to the parents as a parting gift. Even though these cost me a lot, they proved to be priceless! Many students return years later with that album in hand. They tell me how meaningful the albums are to them. One even said, “When I’m down, I can look at it, and it always cheers me up.” I’m glad I invested in them. Then, I have parents bring in a dish to share. They can also bring in footballs to play outside with the kids after we all eat. It’s a great day! To make it really special, I also give every child a candy certificate as a keepsake.

The end of the year is a busy time for teachers, but it is also the best time to make memories that will last a lifetime with your students. You can build connections with the community, and celebrate the time you shared together as a class!