Countdown the School Year

Have you ever done an end-of-the-year countdown? I love doing this with my class. I have tried many different ideas and all of them bring a level of fun as we celebrate the year and wrap it up together. 

1. A Simple Countdown Chain

I went really simple again this year. With my own child finishing up her senior year, it is too much to go all out in this season. So, I sat down and created a chain with the number of days left. We began at 10 and, as of today, there are four links left. Kids love just getting to remove one piece each day and seeing the chain shrink. 

2. A Bulletin Board Countdown 

Some years, I have gone all out with creating a countdown that features a beach scene on my bulletin board. Each day we remove one piece and under each piece is an activity for us to do together as a class. This one took a bit more work, but it was a lot of fun!

3. Balloon Countdown

Another fun idea is to blow up several balloons to count down the end of the year. I stuff a slip of paper inside of each balloon with a surprise or activity for that day. Students enjoy taking turns and popping one balloon each day to see what is inside as we countdown to summer vacation. 

4. Scratch-off Countdown

One year I created these fun scratch-off countdown cards. I saw something similar for a welcome card for the year announcing things that the class would be doing or learning for the year. That's when the idea struck me that you could also do that same idea, but to countdown to the end of the year for the last five days. Under each scratch-off is a little activity or prize for the students. They absolutely loved these and guarded them with their lives as we counted down together. 

If you are interested in the scratch-offs, you can find those right here. 

Five different styles include:

• Splashing into Summer (Waterpark-Themed)
• Countdown to Summer (Beach-Themed)
• Bringing in the Summer (Luau-Themed)
• Cheering for Summer (Football-Themed)
• Blast off to Summer (Space-Themed)

These are editable so you can add your own activity or prize beneath each scratch-off. Also, they come in full color as well as blackline to save ink. 

You can find the scratch-off dots over here at amazon.  These are just stickers that you place directly over the text. So fun for kids to scratch these off and reveal the prize. 

Whatever you choose to do, or not do this year, I hope you have a wonderful end to your school year!