Literature for the End of the School Year: The Important Book

This is a fun (and honestly quite funny!) activity for the end of the school year. You get your current students to tell your next class (through writing) tips about your classroom, the grade or you as a teacher. They write what is important on slips of paper (we provided a template) and then you store it in a jar over the summer and read to your new class on the opening week of the following year.

Materials

The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown, Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard
Template Important_Thing
Pencils/ Erasers
Scissors
Jar

Directions

Read The Important Book to your class. This will help them understand how to distill information.

Print up the template- we included two variations. Cut them out or have each student write several.

Have the children then write up tips for your next year’s class- it may be the routines you have, things you love or a caution about things that might not be your favourite as a teacher! You may want to discuss specific topics or give examples if your class needs more guidance. (The important thing about recess is…., The important thing about Mme deMerlis is that when she sneezes… it is never just one but rather twenty! etc.) The students will inevitability incorporate some of the experiences and the things that they learned and it can be a fun time to reminisce on some of the events that happened throughout the year. We shared them with each other before we popped them into the jar.

Store them in a safe spot over the summer and then open the jar and share it on opening week the following year with your next class. Once they read it, you will be surprised how many ask at the end of the year when it will be their turn!