Time Capsule Memories

Are you looking for a great activity to kick off the school year? Whether you've already begun another academic year or you're about to start the year soon, here's a great classroom activity for the first week of school: time capsules! A time capsule is a meaningful activity that your students will enjoy making (and opening!) and their parents will find heart-warming. Students can put their time capsule together during the first week, or couple weeks, of school and open it at the end of the school year. The idea is to fill each time capsule with activities and assignments, along with some fun objects, and see how much each student has changed over the course of the school year. It's not only exciting for a child to observe that he or she has a new favorite book or food type, but it is also very rewarding for them to realize how much they have learned this year. Here are a few ideas for your time capsule activity: You'll need a container (time capsule), such as...

• small plastic box
• shoe box
• paper towel tube

You'll need activities and objects to put in each child's time capsule, such as...

• writing prompt activity (check out STW Writing Prompts)
• handwriting activity (check out STW Handwriting)
• "All About Me" coloring activity (check out STW Back to School Activities)
• "Tell Me About Yourself" short response activity (check out STW Back to School Activities)

• copy of favorite book
• sports card
• piece of currency
• recent picture

There are so many ways to do this activity, so be creative! You can have your students take a pretest or general assessment to include in their time capsules (with the same assessment being given at the end of the year). You can tailor your time capsule activities to your first lesson plans. You can even take photos of your students during the first days of school and compare them to photos at the end of the year to see how much they've grown! Time capsules are an extraordinary way to capture meaningful memories and accomplishments of your students. Take it from someone who knows - I still have mine from fifth grade! Please share your feedback in the comments section below.