End of the Year Memory Bags

Okay, all you friends who are just about to finish up your year (not you super-lucky ones who are already done) ... have I mentioned how VERY jealous I am?? As of today, I have 19 school days left ... 19 sounds do-able, until I think about everything I still need to squeeze in ... then I start to hyperventilate ~~a little~~ a lot.

So, maybe while I was dreaming of already being on summer vacation, I decided to create an end of the year resource for my students - End of the Year Memory Bags. These are very similar to my Paper Bag Character Reports (which is my second most popular blog post of all time). My students were very disappointed we weren't doing the Paper Bag Reports this year, but since I keep half my class for a second year every year (I have all the grade 5 and 6 students in the school), I don't do anything the same two years in a row. I thought this might pacify them. ;)

As it is WAY too soon to get my students into that end-of-the-year mindset (I'm not that crazy), I tested the resource out on my daughter at home (the things she has to do for her mama) ;). She loved it, though - and I LOVED hearing about her reflect on her school year - what things stood out as her proudest moments.

All your students need to complete this project is a paper lunch bag - preferably the ones with the flat bottom.

Your students have different choices when picking out what organizers they will include on the different panels - so they can reflect on the experiences that they will truly remember.

The best part is what's on the inside - students have to choose 10 items that symbolize or remind them about something meaningful over the school year. For each object they include in their bag, they will fill out a card explaining why they chose that object.

Students can present these bags orally, or they can be hung on a bulletin board or lined up along a shelf, students could also set them up gallery style and have students walk through to see the displays ... or they could take them home to share with parents if you're already cleaning up your classroom.

I've even included a rubric just in case you need to squeeze in one more assessment. I can't wait to pull these out during our last week of school - I'm so excited to find out what memories my students made this year ... and maybe what they'd like to forget. ;)