The end of the school year is an exciting time but also one where students experience a lot of stress and anxiety of the changes in routine and starting a new school year. We always recommend teachers read their students the book, Last Day Blues, in preparation for the end of the school year. This story features the familiar character, Mrs. Hartwell, from First Day Jitters. This read aloud is a great way to start the conversation about the end of the year and check in with your students. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Mrs. Hartwell and her students have reached the end of the school year and summer vacation is quickly approaching. Although the students are looking forward to their summer vacation, they worry that Mrs. Hartwell will be sad and lonely all summer. The class decides to make their teacher a gift to cheer her up.
On the last day of school, the students are ready to give Mrs. Hartwell their gift. She is happy to see they made her a poem listing all their best memories from the school year. As the students make their way home for summer vacation they consider how sad all the teachers must be. Little do they know, the teachers are just excited about summer vacation and ready to celebrate! This book makes a great read aloud for the end of the school year!
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Even though it is the end of the year, the learning never stops when it comes to a good read aloud. The best part is, with the Starts With a Story lesson plans, all of these activities are designed for you so there will be little planning for teachers! Here are some of the skills this book companion address.
- Practice making connections to the story. This is a great way to increase comprehension and tie in social emotional learning.
- Discuss the stories plot by having students identify the problem and solution characters faced.
- Ask students to write about their summer plans.
- Have students write their opinions on the last day of school.
- Teach a lesson on quotation marks and reading with expression.
- Complete a mini lesson on nouns.
- Discuss the transition of the end of the school year and summer vacation.
- Talk about the different feelings students might be experiencing during this time of year.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
There is so much to do at the end of the school year: packing up your room, report cards, placement, the list just keeps going! On top of all that, teachers still have students in their classroom and lessons to teach. We hope that our book companion for Last Day Blues will bring relief to teachers. These activities are printable and ready to use as soon as they’re in your hands. All you need to do is select what you want to use and read the book!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Field Trip Fiasco by Julie Danneberg
- A Letter to my Teacher by Deborah Hopkinson
- Lizzie and the Last Day of School by Trinka Hakes Noble
- When It's The Last Day of School by Maribeth Boelts
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
