Another school year is coming to an end. Encourage kids to answer the questions in this free printable end-of-school journal to capture the year’s memories forever!
When school comes to an end, it’s a perfect time to create a little time capsule filled with children’s memories of the past year. Who was their teacher? What did they enjoy learning? What was their best memory? Who did they become friends with? Children will enjoy looking back at all the good times they had at school, and parents and teachers will appreciate finding out what made a positive impression. Whether you are a teacher, parent, or homeschooler, this journal should work for everyone!
At the beginning of the year, I created a similar printable book for my son, called a back-to-school journal. The questions were similar, but it was all about hopes and expectations.
Now, it is time for outcomes.
For us, this was a special year. It was his first year of school, and it was also our first year of homeschooling. Not everything went exactly as we expected this year, but comparing journals from the beginning and end of the school year, I see that we have accomplished a great deal. He is much more confident with letters and has filled most of the books with his own handwriting this time.
And his answers reflect the new books and friendships that the year sparked. Though he still likes french fries best. :-)
Why a Book?
My son loves making books. Over the last year, I created several printable books with prompts for him—Back-to-School journal, Best of the Year journal, and All About Me journal. You can download them all for free.
Besides the text, each real book has illustrations, of course, and these are an important part of the book. There are elements to colour, as well as drawing prompts, to inspire children to draw self-portraits, their friends’ and teachers’ portraits, and design a book cover for their favourite book.\
Additionally, there is the element of learning about bookbinding. I suggest a simple method, but for some kids, it can be the start of a home book production hobby. Besides these four books with prompts, my son made about twenty books for his themes—about robots, space, and his favourite characters from books and cartoons.
If you’re looking for a one-sheet last day of school questionnaire, check this one from The Keele Deal!
10 End-of-School Questions
The questions are formulated in such a way that they can be useful for making the book at home as a family keepsake and at school as a way for teachers to use it as a final craft of the year.
The questions include:
- name, age and grade
- best friend and teacher
- favourite book and favourite lunch
- favourite topic to study and favourite activity to do in the past year
- their favourite memory of the year and what they want to do when they grow up
Along with the questions come ten drawing prompts. Sometimes it’s nothing but a frame, and other times it’s a picture to finish. And for kids who like to colour, there is plenty of room on the pages to do just that!
How to Bind the Book
Good news – you will only need three sheets of paper for creating this book! You will also not need to do any cutting to assemble this book. Just print and fold.
1 — Print the pages on both sides. The detailed instructions are given in the template.
2 — After all the pages are printed, stack them together, following the numbers at the bottom of each page. Fold the page at the line in the middle. You will get a book of 10 pages!
3 — Next, punch holes with a hole punch.
4 — Thread a cotton twine through the holes…
5 — And tie a knot!
You can use a ribbon and a big hole punch if you want children to help with these steps. But if you don’t have a hole punch, you can also use a needle with thread to sew the pages together!
More Printable Activities?
Thank you for reading!
