3 ways to say farewell to classes.

Many of us are coming to the end of another academic year and in a few weeks the summer holidays will begin. Many students will finish another year and reach another milestone, some will graduate from school/college/university and take a bold step into the unknown. This is usually a bittersweet time for students and staff. Many students will be excited about the holidays, some students will be celebrating achieving their desired grades or better, and some will be commiserating on just missing out. Some will be excited about their life beyond school, some will be sad to say goodbye to friends and mentors, and some will be anxious about what the future may bring. Below are 5 ideas to give your current students a memorable send off.

1 Certificates and a small gift: Write an individual certificate for each student. They can be funny or they can celebrate a personal achievement and you can get students to help create these for their peers. You can accompany this with a small gift like a pen, lollipop, or flower.

2 Advice for the future: This is more of a lesson (for intermediate teens upwards), but it captures the reflective nature of the moment and turns student experience into something positive which will stay with you and your students for a long long time.

• Tell students to anonymously write down a question they would like to ask their future self.
• Put the questions in a hat.
• Show students pictures of the following words and get students to repeat the words: fabulous, blindside, jealous, meandering, congratulate, berate, guilty, inalieable.
• Get students to match the following synonyms to the words: beautiful, surprise, insecure, explore, celebrate, be annoyed, to blame, natural.
• Tell students to watch Baz Luhrmann's 'Everybodies free to wear sunscreen' and write down as many pieces of advice for life as they can.
• Tell students to check with their partner and share the different pieces they heard.
• Ask students follow up questions about the advice: It it good advice? do you agree/disagree? Why?
• Put the questions students asked at the beginning on the wall.
•  Give students pieces of paper and ask students to work in pairs and look at the question. Students should write one piece of advice for each and place it under the question.
• Take a photo and share it digitally with the students.

3 Class appreciation poem: This is another lesson but it can be used with lower level students from the end of elementary upwards.

• Ask students what makes them happy? what they are good at? what subject they found hard? Ask students how they felt they did on the exam?
•  Tell students they are going to read a poem and they should write down what exams don't do and see.

Exams don't measure sports,

Exams don't measure art,

Exams don't measure music,

or the goodness of your heart.

Exams don't see your beauty,

Exams don't see your worth,

Exams don't know the reasons

You were put on this earth.

Exams don't see your magic,

How you make others smile,

Exams don't time how quickly

You can run a mile.

Exams don't hear your laughter,

Or see you've come this far,

Exams are just a tiny glimpse

Of who you really are.

Remember you're the best!

• Give students the name of a fellow student in the class and ask them to write one line about what that person is good at, or write a one line positive memory of that person. Try to think who knows who. :)
• Collect the lines, mix them up and rearrange them into a poem. Play some dramatic instrumental music and read them out as a poem. 
• Type up the poem, print it out, and give each student a copy.