1) “Our Quilt of Knowledge”

Give each of your students a square of paper and have them write one or more things on the square that they are glad to have learned this year. It doesn’t have to be academic! It could be sports related, extracurricular, social, behavioral or a life lesson.Then, take the squares and arrange them to create a “Quilt of Knowledge”. Laminate, if possible, and make sure to show next year’s group at “Back to School Time” all of the exciting things that they will learn in their new grade.

2) “A Little Advice for Surviving Grade ___…”
After reflecting back on the year that was, have your students write a short “advice column” to next year’s class. Be sure to take the best “advice columns” and share them with your new class in the fall as a bit of an ice breaker activity.

3) “A Simple Simile”
After students have had a chance to talk about their year, have them create a simile comparing their school year to something either positive or negative (it’s more entertaining to have a mixture of both).

“Grade six was like making a really hard jigsaw puzzle, it took a whole year and it wasn’t easy, but I finally got all of the pieces in the right places.”

Credit: Laura Candler