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What are some of your favorite things to do during the end of the school year? I love using end of year read aloud books along with activities to end the school year strong!
The last week of school is not just the time to say goodbye and pack up.
The last week of school is also the time to encourage and motivate your students to be the best that they can be. It’s also the time to remind them that their voices matter!
“Say Something” by Peter H. Reynolds is another great picture book that empowers students to use their voices. If you are looking for a book to go with some meaningful and fun end of year activities, this is the best read aloud for that.
What is this end of year read aloud book about?
“Say Something” by Peter H. Reynolds is about showing students all the reasons they should use their voices!
This read aloud book will not only help emphasize the importance of their voices, but it will also teach your students when, why and how they can use their voices.
This book is also perfect to be used as an end of year read aloud for all elementary grades!
I love pairing read alouds with activities during the last week of school. Check out the links to the other end of year read alouds and activities below.
Below is how I’ve conducted this read aloud and activity in my 4th grade classroom. However, you could easily adjust and implement the quick read aloud lesson as part of your end of year activities.
Say Something Read Aloud Lesson Plan for End of Year:
My Objective:
To encourage students to use their voices now and in the future.
Pre-Reading
Before I read aloud this picture book to my 4th graders, I used the Turn and Talk strategy to get the students thinking about the topic of the book.
Questions for Turn & Talk discussion:
- How do we communicate?
- What is the purpose of communication?
- When do you like to communicate?
During Reading
While reading, I would stop and get students conversing with one another. Here, I like to just stick with using the Turn and Talk strategy. It’s a great strategy to allow ALL of your students to express their opinions and ideas.
Questions for Turn & Talk discussion:
- Have you said something or wanted to say something to stand up for someone?
- Can you be silent and still say something?
Post Reading
After reading, we started a class discussion before diving into one of our last week of school activities. You could continue to use Turn and Talk here as well.
I asked students the questions listed before, but we focused on recalling when, why and how we should say something. I recorded the students’ answers on the anchor chart as a visual representation that we could use later.
Questions for Turn & Talk/Class discussion:
- When, why, how do we say something?
- Why is it important to say something?
- What do you want to say to the world?
End of Year Read Aloud Activity:
As part of our last week of school activities, students created an art piece with their message to the world. There are many ways you could do this fun end of year activity in your classroom.
Students could draw, create a poster or even a quick video to spread their messages to the world.
To complete this activity, I simply asked my students:
“What’s one message you want to tell the world?”
Once the students brainstormed and decided on their messages, they created a watercolor background for their messages. When the watercolor background dried, we used sharpies to write down the messages. It’s quite easy to make and the end result looks amazing!
These are the materials that my students used to create this art piece:
We also did a gallery walk around the classroom to showcase our messages.
I love ending the school year with meaningful activities such as this one.
Now, the kiddos are ready to use their voices to help improve the world!
Need to save this for later?
Pin this Blog Post or the In A Jar Read Aloud Lesson Plan for later use!
Need more last week of school ideas? Check out my other end of year read alouds below:
- End of Year Read Aloud: Book #1 – I Wish You More
- End of Year Read Aloud: Book #3 – In A Jar
- End of Year Read Aloud: Book #4 – The Invisible Web
- End of Year Read Aloud: Book #5 – Wherever You Go
Say Something Read Aloud Lesson Plan:
Need End Of Year Gift Ideas for Students? Check out these posts here:
DIY End-Of-Year Scratch-Off Cards and DIY Student Word Art Self-Portrait.
I hope that this post has been helpful to planning out your last week of school activities. 🙂
What are some fun last week of school activities you do in your classroom?
Bye for now,
Prima from LittleYellowStar
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Other Blog Posts That You Might Enjoy:
- How To Create A Calm Down Corner In The Classroom
- 11 Classroom Essential First Year Teacher Must Haves That Won’t Break The Bank
- Meaningful And Fun Back To School Activity: Create A Classroom Wreath!
