7 End of the School Year Habits

This is my kids’ last week of school, so I have been doing all the end of the school year things. It feels like the end of the year kind of snuck up on us. If you are feeling the same way, here is a checklist of a few simple ideas of things to do at the end of the school year.

I have created an Amazon storefront with everything linked here.

Have Your Child’s Teacher Sign a Book

Each year, we have our older two kids’ teachers sign Oh, The Places You’ll Go and my younger son’s teachers sign What To Do With An Idea. (After becoming aware of other Dr. Seuss titles depicting racism, I decided to not continue to buy his books.) My plan is to give my kids’ their book when they graduate high school. The notes are so precious and I know this will be a treasured keepsake for my kids when they are adults.

Over the years we have had a lot of parents tell us that they are buying Matthew’s book, When God Made You for the same reason. Lots of great books would work for this treasured keepsake.

Say Thank You to Teachers

Have your kids write thank you cards for all the specialty teachers they have during the year, and consider putting together a small gift for them. I think this is such an important exercise for kids to intentionally sit down and write a kind note to their teachers and know it is meaningful for the teachers to receive.

Make or Buy a Special Gift for Your Child’s Teacher

Your child’s homeroom teacher is one of the teachers who spends the most time with your child, so be as generous as you can to thank them for all their hard work and love shown to your child. Every year, I shop after holiday clearance sales so that I can be extra generous at these times.

This year, I bought chip and dip serving trays 70-90% off during Target’s holiday clearance sales. I just added a bag of chips and wrapped them up. It was so nice already having these items ready to go for the end of the year. It saved me so much time and money. To read more about how I shop after holiday clearance sales, check out this blog post.

Check out my list of affordable teacher gift ideas and tips on how I save 70-90% on these every year.

Photograph Your Child’s Last Day of School

Take a last day of school photo of your child. These photos are so precious to me because you can see how much they have grown! I always love to have my kids hold a sign documenting the end of the year. You can easily print a sign to document the year or use a reusable sign like I do.

Fill Out a Year-in-Review Sheet or Book

Capturing your child’s handwriting, friends and special school memories on one sheet (like this printable) or in a book to create a treasured keepsake for the years to come. My mom had a school years book that she used for documenting our school milestones, and I still love looking at it.

You can find lots of school memory books here.

School Years: Record Book: Capture and Organize Memories from Preschool through 12th Grade: This book is my favorite and the one that I have for my kids. It has a sturdy cover, oversized pockets and clean design. I love it!

School Years: A Family Keepsake of School Memories: This is an affordable option and definitely will get the job done. It has a simple design and its pockets fit 8.5×11 papers folded in half with ease.

Growing Up: A Modern Memory Book for the School Years: This is the most expensive option, but it’s a more modern version that allows you to write memories for kindergarten through high school and has a pocket for keepsakes.

These simple Q&As are another great way to document your child right now.

Organize End of the School Year Art and Papers

If your kids’ school is like mine, their backpacks are likely full of artwork and papers completed during the year. Get the papers organized, photographed or tossed immediately. Don’t let them pile up. In the past I have made these file boxes for my kids. They are cute, easy and so simple! No more stacks for me and it feels so good to get this taken care of right away.

Do Something Fun for the Last Day of School

Create a special memory with your family to commemorate the last day of school. Make smores, have a water balloon fight, order pizza — anything to make the day special.

Make a Summer Bucket LIst

To kick off summer, our family loves to make a Summer Bucket List of all the fun things we want to do. It’s the perfect start of summer activity to anchor our family in what really matters to us. Check out my free printable Summer Bucket List here.

If you need some fun summer activity ideas to have on hand, I have a whole Amazon storefront full of things to pull out when the summer boredom sets in.

What would you add to this list?