Can you believe it — it’s already May!
That means the end of the school year is almost here — it’s home stretch time. And a great time to start a fun countdown routine!
I have actually found myself teaching virtually since April 30. That was NOT what we were hoping for, and has thrown a bit of a wrench in my end-of-year plans.
(My plan now can be basically summed up as: SURVIVE!)
I’d been brainstorming some ways to count down that might be fun for my students, but since I’m not totally sure how/when the year is even going to end, I don’t have anything set in stone yet.
But, I didn’t want my ideas to go to waste, so if you’re in luck and teaching in person, here are some fun countdown ideas you might be able to use!
Here are 5 fun things to try to count down the last 30 days of school (and a link to some FREE cute countdown posters at the end of the post!)
Balloon popping
Balloons are surefire way to any primary student’s heart!
Why not write 30 different tasks on a slip of paper, roll them up, slide them each inside a balloon and then blow them up?
Attach the balloons to a bulletin board, and have a student choose one each day to pop. Then, do the activity inside!
Some ideas for your balloons: brain breaks, yoga, nature walk, extra recess time, learn a new game, bubbles, write your words of the week outside with chalk, etc
Lettre/son du jour
You can count down the last 30+ days with a letter or a sound a day! There are 26 letters (but 28 sounds) so you can do a letter each day and then 2 or 4 sons composés.
Or, double up on your letters so you can add more sounds, or just do a sound a day for the last 10+ days, or whatever you like!
If you’re looking for a ready-made alphabet routine, be sure to check out my « Enseigner l’alphabet en 35 jours » product on TPT.
I made it for the beginning of the year, but there’s no reason you couldn’t use it at the end instead!
It says 35 jours because there are 6-7 review days built in, but you could drop those and complete the resource in 28 days (one letter/day, except two days for Cc & Gg).
This resource includes lots of fun alphabet activities en français for your maternelle or première année students and would be a great pre-summer review!
Chanson du jour
To help expose your students to some awesome francophone music, you could make a list of 30 songs in French. During the last 30 days of school, you can listen to one song per day.
L’appréciation de la langue et la culture and exposure to different accents (plus great music) in French is so important for our young students!
You could even have them vote on their favourite song each week, or do a “bracket” to discover their number one favourite.
If you need some song ideas, be sure to check out my blog posts featuring my favourite French music: you can see Part 1 HERE and Part 2 is HERE.
Histoire du jour
This activity would be so much fun for your read-aloud block!
To start, choose 30 of your favourite read-alouds – they could be books your students have already seen this year, or new ones.
Then, make a chain with 30 links. Write the title of a book on each link (I would write the titles before putting the chain together), and display the 30 books on your classroom shelf. Each day, you can remove a link and read the book that’s on it.
It’s easy to count the remaining links to see how many days of school are left!
You can also pick a different comprehension strategy to review each time you read a new story (making connections, inferring, predicting, etc.).
End of Year Memory Book
I LOVE doing an End of Year Memory book each year! I didn’t get to do one last year with my students due to COVID, but I looped my class this year so was hoping to do one this year with them instead.
It’s not looking great for us to be able to do them in person, BUT last year I luckily converted mine to a digital version as well.
I’ll assign them 1-2 slides to complete per day and at the end, they’ll have a whole “slide show” memory book by which to remember this crazy year!
I love the digital version because they’ll be able to add photos and everything – I got parental permission at the start of the year for photos and love snapping pics all year long to document our learning.
Want some cute countdown posters?
Pre-distance teaching, I had made some cutie summer watermelon-themed countdown posters for my classroom.
I planned on displaying them with our read-aloud chain, and I will if we ever end up back in person!
If you can make use of these posters this year, you can grab your own copy right HERE. Just click, add your name & email, hit the pink button, and I’ll send you a copy right to your inbox.
Here’s a peek at what they look like :
And again, here are those links for the other resources I have that can help you count down till summer!