Balloon Countdown to the Last Day of School

You know how those last few weeks of school are, right? Excitement builds because summer is coming. I like to countdown the final ten days with ten activities so our school year ends with fireworks (well, not literally, though that would be fun). Our creative journal also reflected our countdown.

Our miniature chalkboard was worth its $1.00 at Dollar Tree. But more fun than that were the 10 balloons, each holding a slip of paper. We popped one balloon per day and did the activity listed within.

DAY 10's Balloon: Eat an ice cream bar at 9:47
Creative Notebook entry: Make a large 10 out of paper. Glue it on your page. Write 10 states/countries and capitals you memorized this year.

DAY 9's Balloon: Do your subjects in alphabetical order

Creative Notebook entry: Glue on a large 9. Write 9 people you studied about in history this year. 

DAY 8's Balloon: Watch "How Things are Made"

Creative Journal entry: Make a large 8. Write the names of 8 friends you made at co-op.

DAY 7's Balloon: Estimate how many items are in the container. Closest guess wins a prize. (I also offered a 2nd and 3rd prize, which was perfect, considering I only have 3 children.)

Creative Journal entry: Glue on a large 7. Using colored pencils, write 7 fun things we did or places we went this school year. 

DAY 6's Balloon: Lollipop Treat!

Creative Journal entry: Make a 6 with Roman numerals. Write six things that distracted you out of our classroom window.

DAY 5's Balloon: Write on your desk day. (After I covered it with a long roll of paper.) They used the paper for math computations, spelling words, a few notes and doodles. 

Creative Journal entry: Draw a clock and set it to 5:00. Write 5 formulas you learned in math.

DAY 4's Balloon:  National Apple Pie Day! Go to McDonald's and get a hot apple pie. 

Creative Journal entry: Draw a 4 using unusual objects to form your number. Write 4 of your favorite subjects.

DAY 3's Balloon: Drink chocolate milk at 10:42

Creative Journal entry: Make a giant 3 and add fireworks. Write 3 occupations that might interest you when you are an adult.

DAY 2's Balloon: Color Tag! Play tag with your friends, using squeeze bottles full of colored cornstarch like that which is used in Color Runs. 

Creative Journal entry: Make a large and colorful 2. Write 2 things you might like to do this summer.

 

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! Break our 180-link paper chain and open your Last Day of School present. 

Creative Journal entry: Write the words finished, done, and the end in several languages. 

The ideas you just saw were for our 2021-2022 year. With a baby in our house this year, I was low on time and inspiration, so I reviewed that list and mimicked those ideas. Instead of National Apple Pie Day, it was National Orange Juice Day, so we drank orange juice while watching how it is made commercially. Our highlight wasn't a Color Run but a Mexican Party, complete with fish tacos, a pinata, and friends. 

Fish tacos, chips & salsa, pineapple, and soft drinks in 
glass bottles. 

And with that, school is out for another year! 

Creative Journal Ideas

Summer was still in full swing when my children came to me asking, "Are we going to do another creative journal when school starts?" 

"Do you want to?"

"Definitely!" 

I was pleased. I learned about creative journals from Deana Swanson's blog, The Plain Professors. The journals are composition books that we fill with artsy things and fun writing projects. Nothing is graded and nearly everything is meant to be interesting and fun. Apparently, the fun factor is high if I get asked about creative journals during the summer. I've noticed that nobody asks if they can please memorize prepositions or do more story problems.

Creative Writing Journal with decorated cover

We started school this week. Each morning when I grade books and prepare assignments for the day, I write today's journal entry assignment at the top of their page. This works because I only have two students. I would write the day's assignment on the chalkboard if I taught a large classroom.

Several people were interested in the ideas we did in our journals this past school year. I tried to keep this list to original ideas, but I've been so inspired by my childhood and other people that the lines are foggy on what is original and what isn't. 

Incorporate Daily Life

1. List 6 memories of summer vacation. 
2. Write 3-5 sentences about yesterday, listing something positive and something negative.
3. Make a list of 12 things you might see when we go on our nature hike.
4. Draw and color a mushroom you saw on our hike.
5. It is raining today because of Hurricane Ida. Write 8 facts or descriptions of hurricanes. Look up the information if you need to.
6. Write a summary of our trip to SC.
7. Write a paragraph about the Frontier Culture Museum we visited.
8. Write a paragraph about Rough and Tumble.
9. Write 3-5 sentences about Fire Safety yesterday. Be sure to include something you learned. 
10. Draw a poster for fire safety. Include one sentence of advice. 
11. We visited Great-grandma Nolt last evening. Give some reasons why it could be fun for an old person in a nursing home to have visitors. 
12. It's my birthday! Draw and color a birthday cake with 39 candles! 
13. We just went to Lakewood as a family. Make an acrostic using the word LAKEWOOD.
14. Draw a map of Woodcrest's Journey to Bethlehem. Label each station. 
15. Draw and color a scene out of Pilgrim's Progress. Write a sentence to describe it. (They had been listening to Pilgrim's Progress.)
16. Write a memory from when we lived in Africa. Write a complete paragraph, neatly, and in good sentences.
17. Draw a map of Antarctica. Label the windiest spot and the coldest spot. (We were preparing to present Antarctica at a Geography Night.) 
18. Yesterday was our final day of co-op. Write a paragraph about co-op. Why do you like it? What was your favorite class? How did you like singing for the elderly? 
19. Write a poem about co-op.

Bring God and character-building opportunities into your school day

1. Write about a time God answered prayer for you or our family.
2. Write Philippians 4:4 from memory and illustrate it.
3. Write the books of the Old Testament from memory.
4. Wilma badly wanted a LEGO door for the house she was building. Her brother had a house with two doors, but it was already built with tall walls and a roof. Wilma accused him of not being kind, fair, or loving. What advice would you give Wilma?
5. What is one of the most important lessons you ever learned?
6. My friend Marlene Sue has many children. They live in Ukraine as missionaries. Write a prayer for them in this scary time when Russia is invading Ukraine.
7. What are good habits every person should develop?
8. Words are important! Write a list of encouraging phrases you can say to a sibling or a friend. 
9. Make a list of things to be thankful for. Do NOT include common things like food, family, friends, or health. Be creative. 
10. Choose any part of the story of Jesus' death and illustrate it. 

Random ideas

1. (Cut a picture out of a magazine and give it to them. Mine was a fancy birdhouse.) Glue this picture on your page and write a short advertisement to sell it. 
2. Give me a few reasons why granola is healthy.
3. Draw the World's Cutest Reptile and color it in fall colors.
4. Would you be happy to have someone teach you French if you moved to France? Why?
5. Create a recipe for chocolate cake.
6. Draw a picture of your mom dumpster diving.
7. Set a timer and work on a creative story for 8 minutes. 
8. Cut words out of a magazine or newspaper and use them to write a sentence.
9. (Give them a picture of two people or animals.) Glue this picture on the page and write an imaginary conversation they may be having. 
10. Draw the musical scale. Decorate each note.
11. Finish this story: 
    One blazing summer day, the geese laid hardboiled eggs and the old red rooster burned his feet on the wooden fence post. Suddenly...
12. (Cut out a picture from a magazine, one that includes a person.) Write a paragraph about this picture. Pretend you are the woman in the window, so write it in first person using I and my.  
13. Choose a car you see going past our house. Write a paragraph about who they are, where they are going, and what troubles or happiness they might be having. Include names and a conversation. 

Include entries for national holidays and special days

1. Today is National Taco Day! Build a taco by drawing each layer. Leave 1/4" space between each layer. 
2. Native American Day! Using the page of symbols I provided, copy and label them. 
3. Chinese New Year! Draw a map of China. Label its capital. 
4. National Popcorn Day! Look up popcorn in the encyclopedia and write several sentences about its history or any information about popcorn.
5. Letter P all Day. (This was one of our Fun February days in which activities and food started with the Letter P.) Write a short story using as many words starting with P as you can.
6. Robot Day. Draw a robot and write a sentence about him. 
7. Shark Day! On this page, take a chomp out of the edge of the page. You can color or decorate it if you want. 
8. (We do school on Tyler's birthday.) Draw 12 balloons. Inside each balloon, write a memory from your last year. 

Let them give you great ideas

1. Make a list of fun things you would like to do in December. 
2. Make a list of Fun Friday ideas. 
3. Give me ideas for Fun February. 
4. What would you like your summer to include? 
5. List 5 songs we should sing in family devotions. 
6. Where would you like to go on a field trip? 
7. What are some supper ideas you would like to have? Put a star beside the one you want to cook.

Ideas we repeat throughout the year (These are borrowed from Deana Swanson.)

1. What did you learn in Sunday school yesterday? 
2. What was the sermon about on Sunday? 
3. Illustrate a spelling word and use that word in a sentence. 
4. Draw something you are learning about in Science.

"Invisible: This is a giraffe walking past a window."

Count down to the last day of school

The last 10 pages in our journals were a countdown to the summer.

1. Day 10-- Cut a large 10 out of paper. Glue it on your page. All around it, write 10 countries and their capitals you memorized this year.
2. Day 9-- Make a large 9. Write 9 people you learned about this year. 
3. Day 8-- Make a large 8. Write the names of 8 friends you met at co-op.
4. Day 7--Glue on a large 7. List 7 fun places we went or fun things we did this year. 
5. Day 6-- Make a 6 using Roman numerals. Write 6 things that distracted you out our classroom window. 
6. Day 5-- Draw a clock. Set it to 5:00. Write the names of 5 bones you learned. 
7. Day 4-- Make a 4 out of unusual objects. List your 4 favorite subjects. 
8. Day 3-- Glue on a large 3. List 3 occupations that might interest you when you are an adult. 
9. Day 2-- Draw a large colorful 2. Write 2 things you would like to do this summer. 
10. LAST DAY! Write done, the end, and finished in several languages.