Teaching With Haley O'Connor

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Make the Most of Digital Student Memory Books

As we near the end of the school year, I’ve been racking my brain coming up with substitutes for all the fun EOY activities. Even though we won’t be able to have award ceremonies in person or share our yearbooks together, we CAN still make special memories.

I absolutely love this blog post that Elementary Nest wrote about digital ideas for the end of the year. She even has a free Balloon Pop resource!

One of my favorite activities for the end of year is working on our memory books together. In my room we would dim the lights, turn on fun music, take our shoes off and spend time reflecting on all the fun and learning we shared. Even though we can’t be in one classroom, we can still reflect on our year and work together to share photos and memories.

My goal during this time (and every year…even without quarantine) is to make sure you have the resources you need to make these memories happen for your students. That’s why I spent some time this week making my End of Year Memory Book digitized…is that word?? Digitalized?? I’m not sure but I’m excited either way! 😊😊😊

One of the best parts of our memory books is the precious notes they write to each other. During normal school years, we would sit in a circle and pass our books around so everyone gets a chance to write to each other. I figured out a way to do something similar through Google Forms and I hope it’s helpful to you.

Here are some picture directions!

sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year

Make sure you have students sign their name on EACH note. This is super important so it’s easy to share notes with their friends. If you make a separate line for their name, it will be confusing when you go to share them. 🙂

sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year

Here are a few other pages from the digital memory book in case you need something to share with your students! It was important to me that each slide is intentional and encourages students to truly reflect on your year together. This school year is going to be especially memorable for our students and this special keepsake will help them remember the very best parts.

sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year; all about me activity

There are 2 teacher slides, and each of them comes with an option for he, she and them.

sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year
sharing digital memories with students; digital memory books; distance learning; end of the year activities; google classroom; end of the school year

I’d love to hear how you’re sharing memories with your class!

To make the memory book even more special, I definitely suggest making a Google folder full of class pictures. You need a media release and many schools send them out at the beginning of the year. Remember you can only share photos of your students in private, like a folder you only share with families.

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