Don’t let the school year end on your student council leaders. Make these last weeks together positive and set up for next year’s success with these fun school spirit projects and activities.
With four to six weeks left, schedule a brainstorming session with your student leaders. Start by creating a “no-idea’s-too-crazy” list, then narrow it down from there.
If you need good group brainstorming and decision-making protocols, grab my popular teambuilding flip deck, perfect for days like these!
After your students decide on the activities they want to do (making sure they don’t overcommit themselves!), create committees and assign project leads. Then hand each group a project planning kit and let them do the rest!
These are 25 of my favorite end-of-year student council ideas, both school-wide projects and activities for just your student leaders, to fill your last month of the school year. Use this as a starter list for your brainstorming session.
Reflect on the Year
You should do this the day before your brainstorming session. Pose reflection questions for your students to identify strengths and improvements and how they want to keep growing.
These End of the Semester Reflection Cards are perfect for small group or whole-class conversations that will get them reflecting on their assets, areas for improvement, and their goals for the year. There are even some feedback questions in there for you.
Appreciate Your Teachers
The first full week in May is National Teacher Appreciation Week. Coordinate with your boosters or PTA group and do something each day for your staff.
Things like a snack cart, a coffee and beverage bar, lunchtime chair massages, etc.
…And Your Nurses and Lunch Heroes
Their national appreciation days are also at the beginning of May. Put up superhero decorations and thank you banners recognizing these essential staff members too.
Create a Summer Bucket List Bulletin Board
Include all sorts of wild suggestions and lets students add their own to the wall or provide blank bucket list sheets for students to make their own!
Write Farewell Limericks
May 12th is National Limerick Day, celebrating Edward Lear, who popularized the silly poem style. Assign groups of students to write their best limerick for each of your retiring staff members and share them during the morning announcements this week.
Use this quick how-to guide to help get your poets going.
Offer Advice to Incoming Officers
Gift blank notebooks to next year’s incoming officers. Have your outgoing officers write their best advice on the inside of the cover. Present them to your new officers at their induction ceremony.
These notebooks will be great for your officers to use throughout the year to brainstorm ideas and take notes. I like these kraft paper-covered notebooks from Moleskine because you can easily decorate the covers!
Hand Out Testing Snacks
On state or end-of-course testing days, deliver snacks with positive messages to the classrooms to help students refuel.
Host a School Gear Drive
Encourage outgoing seniors to donate gentle-used sports equipment or school spirit apparel items. Hold them for next year’s incoming students and sports seasons.
Organize Your Classroom
Set aside a few days to tackle your Leadership supply closet, shared Google Drive, and paper files. Remove, clean, toss, and sort through everything before putting things back. If needed, get clear tubs to organize assembly props, mark drawers and shelves where supplies go, and label divider tabs and file folders.
I use these Clean Up Crew task cards to assign jobs to get everything prepared for the fall.
Finalize Your Records
While other students are cleaning up, meet with your officers to ensure all minutes, meeting notes, budgets, and other essential records from the year are accounted for and filed away.
Your leaders should also copy any files future groups may need from their accounts to a shared drive. Ensure they clearly name the files so next year’s group can easily find them.
Host Summer-Themed Games at Lunch
Use this summer-themed Minute to Win It game ideas list, or have your students create their own. These are perfect for lunchtime or spirit assembly class competition games.
Spread Some Luck
May 23rd is National Lucky Penny Day. Get a roll of shiny new pennies and hide them around the school for students to find throughout the day.
Host a Paper Airplane Contest
In honor of Sally Ride Day on May 26th, host a paper airplane competition. It could be as simple as a quick lunchtime or spirit assembly competition.
Or suggest it as an end-of-year project to your science teacher, with the finalists going head-to-head in front of the whole school.
Offer Lemonade Cups of Kindness
At lunch one day, hand out cups of lemonade. Have your students pre-decorate plain white cups with affirmation, inspirational, and positive messages.
Make Officer Shirts
Gather up next year’s officers to make custom shirts to wear at summer leadership camp and kick off the first few days of next year. Get tie-dye supplies in your school colors and find time to gather them up to make them.
This is a great way to begin building community with them and create excitement heading into summer.
Celebrate National Donut Day
Always the first Friday in June, National Donut Day runs deeper that eating yummy donuts. The Salvation Army started the day as a fundraiser during the Great Depression, paying homage to the volunteers who cooked them for WWI soldiers.
Arrange to sell donuts that day as your own fundraiser for a local veteran’s organization.
Create a Memory Wall
Make an all-call for students to share their best photos of the year. Print them and create a bulletin board titled “What a Year!” or “Thanks for the Memories!”
Calm Finals Week Nerves
During finals week, lead the school in a short meditation, yoga stretch, or breathing exercise at the end of each day’s morning announcements.
Coordinate a Graduate Parade
This is a perfect Graduation Day or seniors’ last day tradition if you have an elementary school nearby. Walk your seniors over for a parade through their halls decked out in caps and gowns while the younger ones cheer them on. Your students will get a kick out of feeling like rock stars and being role models to them.
Write Welcome Letters
Have your seniors’ (or 8th graders’!) last assignments be writing letters to incoming freshmen or 6th graders. Encourage them to offer advice for navigating not just school but this stage of life and taking advantage of all the opportunities available to them. In the fall, hand them out to the incoming students.
Prep for Back to School
Don’t feel like you have to undertake everything before heading out to summer, but try to tackle a few things that will make the first week a lot easier. Here are some ideas:
Have students sign up for who’s coming in before school starts to decorate the halls and plan the first-day assembly.
Pencil out ideas for your back-to-school bulletin boards.
Decide (or at least brainstorm a list of ideas for) next year’s theme.
Get all your officers’ phone numbers and create a group chat to share ideas and reminders.
Print and cut out locker signs so they’re ready to decorate and post.
Have a Summer Themed Dress-Up Week
During the last full week of school, host a dress-up week with daily summer-related themes like Beach Day, Baseball Day, Camping Day, Rodeo Day, Fourth of July Day, and Yacht Club Day.
Adopt a Leader
During the last week of school, have teachers submit any requests for help organizing, cleaning, or moving their classrooms. Have your leaders help take care of these tasks so summer can start on time for everyone!
Create Last Day Selfie Backdrops
Construct a fun backdrop or two for taking selfies and group photos on the last day of school.
Thank Your Teachers
Grab my print-and-go thank you card kit and give your students some flex time to write personal notes of appreciation. Help them think beyond this year’s teachers and recognize any teacher, coach, or staff member who has positively impacted them.
This is an especially great activity to reserve as a senior or 8th-grade tradition. Have students deliver them on the last day of school.
Hopefully, this list gives you and your students more than enough ideas to fill the last month of the year. Be sure to grab my Project Planning Kit, a lifesaver that allows your student leaders to take the lead in brainstorming, planning, and carrying out any project, big or small. The best part is that these universal templates and forms become a how-to guide for next year’s group!
Image credit: Adi Goldstein
