Meaningful Ways to Open and Close the Kindergarten Year

Inside: Here you’ll find opening ideas, for the beginning of the year, that will help you get your kindergarten program off the ground. You’ll also discover closing ideas, for the end of the year, to provide closure as you bid your little friends farewell.

What Do I Do at the Beginning of the Year?

As teachers, we are given much to read and digest in the form of standards and curriculum for all the subject areas, but very little guidance in the form of what to do at the beginning of the year, as well as the end.

How we begin and end the school year matters.

In the first month, we want to do things that get us off to a really solid start. We want to establish routines and procedures, get to know our students, create class rules, and more.

And during the last month, we want to wrap things up nicely with closure activities, that leave us heading off to summer break with a feeling of satisfaction.

I’ve written about the beginning and end of the school year many times. Below, I share links to each of those posts to provide some food for thought about how you might intentionally open and close your own kindergarten year.

Nailing the Beginning of the Year

What you do at the beginning of the year, does not have to be such a mystery. My year is built around 6 building blocks, that when used together, and rolled out slowly, provide a very smooth start.

Here are some posts that discuss those building blocks, offer a kick-off plan, and give one example of a way to establish class rules together with the children.

6 Building Blocks to Launch the First Weeks in Kindergarten

Making a Flexible First Day Plan for Kindergarten

5 Fun and Playful Ways to Introduce Kindergarten Classroom Supplies

5 Fun and Playful Ways to Introduce Classroom Procedures

Using Classroom Rules to Build Positive Teacher Language

Launching Choice Time Centers at the Beginning of the Year

First Days of Kindergarten: Launching Learning Blocks

Get-to-Know-You Activities for the First Weeks in Kindergarten

Can We Do Whatever We Want? Exploring Class Rules in Kindergarten

Tying Up the End of the Year

Just as you devote a lot of attention to building your classroom community, you should also give thought to how you break it down. Here are 6 posts that offer numerous ways that you might wrap up the school year. Choose what works best for you and your students and leave the rest.

The Last Day of Kindergarten

6 End of Year Ideas for Distance Learning

The Kindergarten Slide Ceremony: An End of Year Tradition

The Kindergarten Countdown: Simple End of the Year Fun

End of Year in Kindergarten: Moving Up to the Next Grade

The Magic of Tidying Up – Classroom Style

Going in With a Plan

Being intentional about creating a plan for the beginning of the school year will not only lead to a better opening, but will put your mind at ease knowing that you’ve thought through all aspects of those first days.

Here is the Kindergarten Kick-Off Plan that I have used for many years, and is now offered in a digital format, so you can use it as a guide, but create your own customized slides. You can read more about how it all works by reading 6 Building Blocks to Launch the First Weeks of Kindergarten.

Likewise, choosing satisfying rituals, for those last days, will help you bring closure to your classroom community and send your little friends off with nothing but positive memories of your time together.

Having an intentional plan can make all the difference in how smoothly the beginning of the year and end will go. There will always be hiccups, such as crying children, forgotten lunches, and short attention spans, but you’ll be much better prepared to handle them if you go in with a plan.

For more ideas on classroom traditions such as birthdays and how to welcome the day, week, month, and season, check out the Growing Traditions page in the Roots & Wings Resource Library.