1-2-3 Come Do Some End Of The Year Activities With Me

As you're winding down the school year, and looking forward to a well-deserved summer vacation, are you still in need of a few things to plug into the last days of school? 

Because of the crazy winter, and the necessity for quite a few make up snow days, the home stretch may be a bit longer for some, so I've been busy designing lots of interesting end of the year activities.  

Today it's all about hippos.  I love drawing them.  Since being done with another school year is certainly something to cheer about, I thought the play on words "Hip Hippo Ray!"  would be appropriate.

I used it for a 100 Day packet and I'm revisiting that theme with "Hip Hippo Ray I'm On My Way!"  where students complete the writing prompts about the next grade that they'll be in. 

Here's How To Make One: Run off the hippo's head on a variety of colors of construction paper, along with the matching mouth section. 

Students choose a color and then add some finishing touches with crayons.  Wiggle eyes also look cute. Give students a color choice for the bows as well. Girls can put their bow on top of the hippo's head, boys can use it as a bowtie. 

There are 3 pages to choose from for the writing prompts.  Personally I would do all of them, as they are pretty simple. 

This would be a nice Daily 5 activity. There's also a blank page to use for autographs.

Staple the pages together at the nostrils and then glue just that portion to the hippo's head, so that their "booklet" flips up. 

After students have shared their work with the class, hang them in a row along a hallway wall.  Your caption could be: "Hip Hippo Ray!  We're Looking Forward To 2nd grade in a big way." 

A fun way to have your students share their hippos, would be to ask a teacher in the next grade if you could visit their class for 10-15 minutes and listen while your students shared their feelings about being in that grade. 

The older kiddos could then talk about what they enjoyed about being in that grade and dispel any worries or anxieties your students may have had.  It also gives them a chance to meet another teacher and see the room they might be in next year.  

I've also included a "Hip Hippo Ray it's the last day alphabet hunt. Students "spy" something that begins with the various letters of the alphabet, and color that letter when they find it.  On the back of their paper they write the numbers 1-26 in a list, so that when they find a letter, they can write down the word associated with it. 

After students have completed their activities, you can give them a bookmark.  I've made them in color as well as black and white.  They write their name on the top.

If you teach preschool or kindergarten, and have a graduation, I've included patterns to make a "Hip Hippo Ray!  It's graducation day hippo. 

Their writing prompt is why they are proud of themselves.  Include a graduation photo for that finishing touch.  

As with the above packet, I made matching bookmarks.  Click on the link to view/download the Hip Hippo Ray packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you'd like to see more end-of-the-year FREEBIES.  Click on the link to zip on over to that section of teachwithme.

“What a teacher writes on the blackboard of life can never be erased.”