A Memory Book Students Actually Want to Complete
Selfies, inserting images, digital autographs, and a summer bucket list will keep your students engaged.
I used to use printable memory books back in the day. I’d spend hours copying and stapling the books, printing class photos at CVS and gluing them in each one before giving students their copy. Students would work on them during the last couple days of school, but their interest in completing the book would usually taper off. It was always one of those activities I liked doing, because honestly it was an easy end-of-the-year activity, but it could be way better.
I decided to switch to using a digital memory book a few years ago after having my students create a digital end of the year slideshow for Open House. I saw how excited they were about it and when I gave them the digital memory book, it made a HUGE difference in student engagement. Here are some of the reasons why I love this digital memory book:
- It requires minimal prep (like 3 minutes). All I have to do ahead of time is insert a few class photos from my phone and assign it in Google Classroom.
- Students LOVE inserting images and selfies in Google Slides, so they're instantly engaged.
- The book gets students talking about what they loved and what they didn't like about the year. (This is fun to hear about and to look back at for students.)
- They get to give themselves some self-love by including positive affirmations and compliments on how they've grown.
- We get to have digital autograph signing party that includes friends at-home learning and in-person learning. No one feels left out!
- The book can't get lost at home or shuffled into a pile or box. It's digital and always in their Google Drive to look back at.
BONUS: Digital Autograph Signing Pages
Last year was the first year I used the digital autograph signing pages because of COVID. My students loved it and it was a really fun (and important) community building activity at the end of such a strange year.
I assigned the autograph pages presentation in Google Classroom so that each student had access to all of the autograph pages (Students can edit file). Students each chose a slide by putting their name at the top.
Then they went through and wrote their name or a short message on each of their classmates’ slides. (I encouraged them to write more than their name and they all did! It was really cute.)
If you’re worried about students all being in the same presentation, space it out and have them work throughout the week so that there aren’t so many students working at once. I had second graders last year and we didn’t have any issues.
Last year I printed the completed autograph pages and gave them to students so they could tape them in their yearbooks. This year I’ll give students the option to copy and paste their autograph slide into their memory book, too.
I’m counting down the days until summer! I hope this helps you with your end of the year planning, too!
