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Congratulations on your purchase of this Really Good Stuff ® Ready-to-Decorate Last Day of School Countdown Letters Poster—a fun and decorative way for you and your students to count down to the last day of school. This Really Good Stuff ® product includes: • Ready-to-Decorate Last Day of School Countdown Letters Poster • This Really Good Stuff ® Activity Guide Preparing the Ready-to-Decorate Last Day of School Countdown Letters Poster Before popping apart the Poster along the perforation lines, make copies of this Really Good Stuff ® Activity Guide, and file the pages for future use. Or, download it from our Web site at www.reallygoodstuff.com. You can have students decorate both the letters/numbers and the backgrounds or you can cut around the letters and numbers themselves and have students decorate them without the backgrounds. Pop apart the Last Day of School Countdown banner, decorate it, and place it in your display area. Or store it until your countdown begins and choose a student or group of students to decorate it. Store the letters/numbers you are not yet using in a zippered plastic bag or simply scatter them randomly around the bottom of the display area you are using for the countdown. Decorating the Letters, Numbers, and Header Explain to students that you are going to create a countdown to the last day of school and that they are going to help. Tell them they will be decorating the letters and numbers for the countdown and you will be displaying their work each day. You can have your students decorate the letters and numbers in a couple of ways: • Have each student decorate a part of the display: There are a total of 31 letters and numbers in this set, plus the banner, so there are most likely enough pieces for each student to decorate at least one portion of the bulletin board. Place all the pieces of the display into a large container and ask students to draw one piece to decorate. Instruct students to decorate their piece during art time or place the decoration materials in a center for students and have them finish their pieces independently before their assigned day. You may consider asking for volunteers to finish any leftover pieces for the display. • Divide your students into 15 pairs or groups and assign them a day, ranging from the 15 th day before the last day to the last day. On the day before their letter and number will be displayed, direct each group to decorate their letter and number and be ready to place them on the display the next day. • Assign an extra pair or group to decorate the header or decorate it yourself. Starting the Countdown On the 15 th day before the end of school, place the header above your display area. Stand near the display and ask your students what letter and number need to be posted first. Have the students with the letter L and the number 15 post their letter and number on the board or you can post them for younger students. Allow the students to tell the class about their decorations and why they chose them. Repeat this process each day, announcing the posted letters and counting down the posted numbers together until you reach the last day of school. Last Days of School Song Encourage young students to sing this song each day after you post the letter and number of the day, changing the number based on the number of the day (sung to the tune of “100 Bottles of Pop on the Wall”): There are 15 days left in school this year. There are 15 days left in school. School’s almost done. We’ve learned and had fun! There are 15 days left in school. Ready-to-Decorate Last Day of School Countdown Letters Helping Teachers Make A Difference ® © 2008 Really Good Stuff ® 1-800-366-1920 www.reallygoodstuff.com #157071 All activity guides can be found online:
