Last days of school countdown activity

Really quick post for me today!  I am enjoying my first Monday of Summer Break....LOVE!!!  I feel like summer should give me MORE time to post on my blog, but instead I have just been on the go, go, go with my fam and haven't wanted to take the time to sit at my computer.

BUT...I wanted to post this before I forget all about it!

I had the MOST FUN with my class at the end of the school year!  Each day, for the last 10 days of school, I had a special treat or activity planned for them.  They came into school every morning soooo excited to see what was planned for that day!  It was a blast!

I typed each activity up and folded them small enough to fit into a balloon.  I have clips hanging from my ceiling to display student work, so I clipped the balloons onto those.  The kids were so excited and very curious when they walked into the classroom and saw them for the first time!!  

I decided to plan my activities according to which day they would work best, so I labeled each balloon.  Each day, we popped the balloon for that day.

You can check out this post for photos of some of the activities we did.  Most of the photos I couldn't post because my little ones faces are in them.  Didn't think to be smart about taking those photos!

Here is the complete list that I did with my class this year:

- bubbles

- shaving cream

- pick your own seat

- sidewalk chalk party with our reading buddies

- bubble gum

- read-aloud story outside

- DEAR time outside

- movie with popcorn and movie candy

- smelly marker hand shapes

- 10 extra minutes of recess

I think my students would have a hard time choosing a favorite, but they really LOVED "pick your own seat" day.  Every so often throughout the day I would say "Pick your own seat!", and they'd scoot around the classroom finding a new place to sit.  So fun.

My favorite???  Well, they were all fun, but setting movie day for the day before the last day of school was like a stroke of planning genius.  My teaching partner and I each had a movie choice in our room, and the students from both classes got to choose which movie they wanted to watch.  And we got a much-needed break from busy bodies and noise...and time to staple and sign our report cards.  Win-win.

And, we had this...

Sooooo cute, right???  A parent donated the popcorn and cute little popcorn cups.  And some movie candy too.  The kids were practically speechless.

Anyway, I will most definitely plan a balloon countdown at the end of every year.  It added the perfect amount of fun to each day and gave us some moments to just celebrate our class and our time together.

Do you have a fun way to countdown the last days of school?  Or have you used this fun Pinterest idea in your room?

By the way....if you'd like to grab a copy of the activity slips that I stuffed into my balloons, click here!

Check out other fun end-of-the-year ideas by clicking here!