Closing the Chapter: An End-of-Year Classroom Routine with Meaning

From the Classroom

We knew it was coming; the temperatures rise, giving way to sweatier recess times, and eventually the state tests are over and spring break is well in the rear view mirror. It’s here. The end of the school year. 

When a school year ends I have conflicting feelings. I celebrate the remarkable progress, academic and social, that my students made. But I also can’t help but think: “If I just had…”  And of course, because I am human, I’m ready for the longer break that summer brings. Time to catch my breath, time to catch up, and time for rejuvenation. Whatever the feelings, here we are. The end.

As the classroom starts transitioning to summer mode, the students definitely notice. This year, I left the classroom library until our final student day together. I’m moving classrooms this time around, which means not only putting books away, but actually boxing them all up. The final day arrives and the bare walls stare blankly at us, feeling like both an end and a beginning. Boxes line the edges of the room and our desks are already empty, including mine. But our bookshelves are still brimming with tubs of books. Chapter books, picture books, graphic novels. Fiction and nonfiction. Small books, big books, and in-between books. The 1,000+ books are still gloriously out in the room. These six shelves of books keep the room feeling like home.

We kick off the morning with a short read aloud and then, one last time, I release the students to relax and read. 

“But Mr. Wheeler, we turned in our book boxes last week!” 

“Yes, we did. But we still have our classroom library – so go ahead and pick one book you’d like to read today; after our reading time, we’ll be packing the books away.”

The students scurry off. The library is so familiar to them by now, and almost all of them know exactly where they’ll go to choose their last third grade read. The room falls quiet and I pull up Dave Brubeck’s “Strange Meadowlark” on spotify for one last play. Honestly, the music is completely unnecessary on this sacred last day of school. I take a breath. I snap a few quick photos of the students reading around the room. I sit down and compose my end of year email to parents before wrapping up our reading time.

Now, the madness begins. I gather the kids and give them specific instructions for cleaning and organizing the books. I assign groups of students to different sections of the library and shift into the role of manager. 

With just a little guidance from me, the students are on their way. Nine year olds are pretty good at this! Box space is at a premium, so I persuade my most organized students to relax their high standards and mix a couple of boxes, just slightly, in order to fit all of the books into their summer resting places. In the bustle of packing I overhear their comments:

“Oh! I loved this one!”
“What was it about?”
“Wait, we had more of this series?! How did I not know?”
“I don’t think anyone has ever actually read this one, look at it?!”

I thank the students for their help and reward them with a treat and a break. The commotion and comments are such a fitting bookend to the year, pardon the pun, because it sounds and feels a lot like the first days of school. All the work of third grade has come to an end, but a new beginning is just around the corner. First, though: summer.