As you approach the end of the year, it is time to start wrapping things up in your classroom. The end of the year is always bittersweet. I’m sure you are excited about the upcoming lazy days of summer. You may also be a little emotional thinking about your students and how far they’ve come – especially through such a difficult school year. They grow so much academically and as people. 🙂 Today, I’m here to help you celebrate their successes and keep their memories close for years to come!  The perfect way to do this is by having your students create an end of year memory book! 

Why Should I Make an End of the Year Memory Book?

Memory books are a fun and engaging way for students to reflect back on the school year and see how far they’ve come. They are also a special keepsake for both students and their parents. I have talked with previous students about how they often look back at the memory book we made together years later. This always warms my heart and gives me that motivation I need to keep on going!

Your students will enjoy the much-needed brain break while working on their books. It’s a great way to remember all the fun you had together throughout the year. You will also get to see their creativity blossom as they complete all of the pages.

Tips for Creating a Special Memory Book!

There are tons of different ways you can organize the creation of a memory book in your classroom. Some teachers like to start working on them at the beginning of the school year. They have students complete pages for special events like the first day of school, Christmas and Easter, and the 100th day of school. At the end of the year, they complete the final pages of the book and put it all together.

Other teachers like to complete a memory book as an end-of-the-year activity. This is usually the preference of most teachers. It becomes a great escape from all of the recent testing rigor. It’s also a great time filler in between all of the crazy events that happen at the end of the year. When you have those random 10-minute blocks of time between award ceremonies and field day, the memory book is a great activity for the students to work on.

A great way to do this is by creating a folder for all of your students that includes the individual pages of the memory book. You could give it to them in May, which is usually the last month of school. This way they get to work on the book at their own pace and whenever they have free time. It works out great as an activity for early finishers, in a writing center, or for a Fun Friday activity during the last couple of weeks of school.

The easiest way to finish the book is to just staple it together. If you want to get extra fancy, you can always laminate the front and back cover and then bind the book together. Just do whatever works best for you, or whatever time allows for! Either way, the books will turn out great!

End of the Year Memory Book Pages and Activities

After years of piecing together different pages and activities to form a memory book, I finally created my own to share with you! It is filled with so many fun and creative ways for your students to reminisce about the school year. Each page includes facts to be filled out by your students along with plenty of space and illustrations to make it their own.

The End of the year memory book contains lots of fun pages your students will love completing:

• A Little Bit About Me
• About My Friends
• All About My Teacher
• About My Classroom
• All About My School Day
• So Much Learning
• The Best Books I’ve Read This Year
• Field Trips that Rock
• Moments to Remember
• I’m Really Going to Miss…
• My Plans for the Summer
• Next Year…

A class signature page is also included which is always a fan favorite.

My personal favorite page in the memory book is the Dear Future Me page. I love to see what students write to their future selves! I can just imagine them rereading their letters in five years and looking back on how far they’ve come!

This End of Year Memory Book is available in a print and digital format so it is perfect for any virtual students that you may have or for those who prefer to work on a computer. I also created a special version for all of my friends in the UK, Australia, and Canada.

Check out the Video Preview!

I know you and your students will love this end-of-the-year memory book, and parents will be just as happy to receive them! You can find the End of the Year Memory Book in my store.

Looking for More End of the Year Activities?

If you are looking for other fun end of the year activities check out these no prep options your students will love:

• End of the Year No Prep Skills Review for reading and math
• End of the Year Awards
• Teacher Reportcard
• Fun Summer Review Activities

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Be sure to pin this image to your favorite classroom Pinterest board so you can come back for all of your End of the Year needs and activities!