End of Year Party Ideas for Upper Elementary

Each classroom (and teacher) is different - so each party might be a little different. Choose an end of year party idea that works for you and your upper elementary students!  Some of the ideas require little to no prep, while others take a little more planning.

The end of the school year provides a great opportunity for students to get to show off skills aren't always celebrated in an educational setting.  Allow students that want to share their talents to sing, dance, act, perform, or whatever else they come up with.  You can do this with just your class, or get the whole grade level on board!

Allow small groups of students to work together to come up with an act.  This is a great chance for students to practice leadership and cooperation skills.

Make sure you have some sort of system in place to make sure that each students' performance is school appropriate!  It's easy for students to accidentally sing a song with cuss words or inappropriate content.

Also, be proactive about potential bullying or feelings of exclusion.  If this is a big problem in your classroom, you could have participants perform solo.

Pajama parties are fun and are easily adaptable based on how much time you have to plan and prepare.

On the low prep side, simply have students come to school in their pajamas.  They could also bring a stuffed animal, slippers, or a pillow, depending on your preferences.  During the school day, let them "rest" while listening to you read aloud.  Or, use this as an opportunity for students to compare and contrast a book with its movie.  This requires very little planning on your part, yet is still fun for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.

If you have more time and resources, you could prepare a fun breakfast for your students.  Make waffles or pancakes and have a bunch of fun toppings for them to add.

Another fun pajama day activity is letting students sign blank pillowcases with Sharpies.  This is a fun way for students to collect autographs and messages from other students before summer.

Give students a chance to just play some games with their classmates!  You can set aside an hour or a whole day, depending on how much time you have.

If you don't have enough board games for the class, have students bring in some of their favorite games.  You could also provide puzzles, let students play computer games, or find some printable games online.

Check out my favorite strategy games to play with upper elementary students.

If you are spending the whole day celebrating the end of the year, then plan a few easy group games for students to play whole class.  Relays are always easy to set up and prepare.  Paper snowball fights are always fun. Or play a classic, quieter game like Telephone.

Celebrate the end of the year by creating a memory book that will help students remember all the good time y'all had.  A quick google search of "memory book + grade level" will provide you with a lot of options.  Let students work on their memory book in a relaxed environment, with music playing and a chance to talk with friends.

Then, once students have finished their memory book, let them collect "autographs" of all their classmates.

This autograph book includes sentence starters that help your students give compliments and share their favorite memories with their peers.

If it is nice out, this is a fun activity to do outside.  If you can get your other teammates on board, your students will be appreciative - that way they can collect autographs from friends not in their class as well!

After students are done signing, you could play some fun outdoor games to make it seem more like a party.

Give students an extra 30 minutes to an hour of recess.  Then, when they are hot and sweaty, let them have an ice cream party!

If you want something easy to prepare and clean up, pass out some popsicles.  Or, for a bigger treat, make an ice cream bar with lots of fun toppings.  With summer close by and the temperature getting hotter, this can be a fun way to close out the school year.

Most teachers would agree that students do not get enough time in school developing their art or music skills.  Use your end of year party to help remedy this!

You could make this as structured or unstructured as you would like.  Have some art project planned for students, or simply provide them with a lot of artsy resources and give them free rein to create whatever they would like.

This would also be a good time to have your upper elementary students help you get rid of old and broken supplies like markers and glue.

You could play music in the background while students work, and let them sing when they want to.  You could also stop for dance breaks, letting students dance to songs like "Cha-Cha Slide," "Macarena," "Chicken Dance," "Wobble," "YMCA," or "Cupid Shuffle."

This is a fun way to celebrate the end of the year over an extended period of time.  Blow up a balloon with a fun activity on a notecard in it for each day of the "countdown."  Pop one balloon with your students each day as you countdown to the last day of school.  Students get to do whatever fun activity is in the balloon.

Or, try one of these other end of year countdowns with your upper elementary students!  

What better way to end the school year than by celebrating what students have learned and having a graduation!

This can be as low key as you want it to be - you could invite parents and grandparents, or just celebrate with your students.  You could put out a red carpet (butcher paper), create an aisle for students to walk down, or just have students stand.  You could hand out a certificate for each students, or simply have the class applaud.

After the graduation, show students a slideshow of pictures from throughout the school year.  It is always fun to reminisce!  Plus, this makes a great end of year student gift!