End of the Day Classroom Routines

There are so many options for end of the day classroom routines. Are you a teacher who likes to have calm, quiet, activities, do you like review work at the end of the day, or some of both? Or something fun, active and engaging? Throughout my years of teaching second grade, I kept fine tuning what I did until I settled on a routine that was right for me and my students. Here are some ideas I think you’d like!

Read Alouds

I love reading aloud, and I am a big proponent of reading aloud even to older students (through middle school!). I read a ton to second graders. Here are some of my all time favorite chapter and picture books. Take a look at your school or town library, or click the image to learn more at Amazon.

Chapter Books

Picture Books

Read to self

There never seems to be enough time for students to work on independent reading! Try it at the end of the day as buses and pick ups are called!

This is My Week

Wrap up your day with a quick write that helps with home school communication! This is a free one page document which students can use to write sentences about their day. It is called This is My Week. At the end of the day, my class wrote 1-3 sentences about what happened. Thy love to read them out loud to their classmates. Then on Friday, students bring them home to share with their parents. If you end up grabbing it, please take a moment and leave feedback. I’d be very grateful!

Mystery Trash

I don’t where I originally got this idea, but did a google search and found a post at Minds in Bloom from Steph ( Forever in Fifth) who explains it very well! I also had a little certificate I gave students if they were the winner! This is a nice way to get the room cleaned and give students some positive encouragement too.

Journal Writing

Using the end of the day as journal writing time may work for some class. Students can work on whatever kind of writing you have been doing. I loved doing Kindness Journals at the end of the day, or the very start of the day. Kindness journals were inspired by the book Wonder, and we discussed, reflected, and wrote about a kindness quote on a weekly basis. Below is an example and click here to read more at my 10 Ways to Help Kids be Kind blog post.

Guided Drawing

The end of the day is a great time for guided drawing. I found a Youtube channel (Art for Kids Hub) that has some fun drawing lessons! Take a look and see if it would be a good fit for you and your class.

Do you have a suggestion for some great end of the day classroom routines? Please comment and let us know! Sharing ideas is so helpful.