2020 — What a year for educators! We’ve sounded the alarm, been whacked with distance learning, zoom-bombing and hybrid models, but finally, it’s almost the end of the term.
The team here at Teacherly have compiled this creative list of ideas on how you can celebrate your end of term:
Zoom party:
- Whilst video calling platforms have become an essential part of everyday life, it’s no surprise that it should be a large part of your end of term celebrations. Here are some ways to spice up your zoom party:
- Ask your students to dress up. Pick a theme whether it’s a pyjama party, favourite character or an animal — the more creative the better.
- If feasible, ask students or parents to decorate backgrounds with balloons, banners and other party decorations
- Another idea is to create a personalised background image to use on Zoom. You can create one using Adobe Spark, or choose from the many resources online.
- Entertainment! Find someone (a colleague or volunteer parent) to play the part of a magician, princess or superhero for a short program alternatively, you can liven up your zoom with a guest goat.
- Change up your regular calls by adding in games, it could be as simple as a Kahoot quiz, an online scavenger hunt, a round of online bingo (requires more prep) or even the masked singer on zoom using flipgrid.
- It won’t be a party without snacks; ask students to bring to the call some treats and favourite beverages to share virtually.
Create a virtual yearbook
Create an online yearbook using Google Slides or Teacherly, add a students name and photo on top and have classmates contribute voice notes or videos to their friends about their favourite qualities and memories about the students.
Alternatively, you can create an Instagram account dedicated just to your students and they can submit the pictures they want to have posted to celebrate the class of 2020.
Record a podcast:
Using anchor or a voice recording feature, record a short podcast with a principal, senior leaders celebrating the students and congratulating them. It would be a priceless memory they could keep forever.
Get the community involved:
Secret Santa but this year we all deserve an early Christmas! Have students or the wider community ‘adopt a senior’ and send out messages of congratulations or care packages with a set budget.
Drive-Thru Party:
Organise a car parade of students through the school parking lot or neighbourhood. Encourage families to decorate their cars or bring along balloons and banners.
Celebrate Dubai Style:
We saved the best for last! Take your celebrations to the next level like Canadian University Dubai, to celebrate their graduating class of 2020 they innovatively took the opportunity to have the faces of their graduates light up on the Burj Khalifa.
No matter how you choose to celebrate your end of term, remind yourself and your students the amount of determination, strength and patience they endured to reach their goals. They have grown stronger with each challenge and ready to face the world with infinite possibilities.
