End-of-the-Year School Award Ideas for Elementary Educators

End-of-the-Year School Award Ideas for Elementary Educators
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Attendance Awards

By far, the most common end of year award is for attendance. Students can be rewarded for each quarter, semester, or for the entire

school year. This is a popular reward mainly because everyone is in with a chance of winning. Students do not need to have excelled in any kind of academic achievement; they just need to have attended school.

Attending school has obvious benefits for student learning, and so some schools go to some length to ensure that these students receive more than just a certificate at the end of the year. Field trips, gift vouchers, and school parties are often given as rewards.

Character Awards

End of the Year School Awards: Character

End-of-the-year school awards for showing good character are another way you can reward any of your students regardless of academic achievements. Many schools use the Character Counts education program, but even if you don’t, the principles that it endorses are great for any elementary classroom. So, awards for trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship will cover a whole variety of situations. Consider the following awards:

  • Most Trustworthy
  • Best Manners
  • Most Responsible
  • Good Citizen
  • Most Caring
  • Best Friend

Curricular Awards

Academic achievements are important to recognize. After all, students attend school primarily to learn new skills. Recognizing the achievements that they have made in each area with curricular awards is a great way to foster confidence and promote good study habits. The following are examples of popular end of year awards that are often used by elementary school teachers.

  • Straight A Student Award
  • Most Improved Boy/Girl
  • Times Table Titan
  • Star Reader
  • Spelling Bee Champion
  • Science Star
  • Cursive King and Queen
  • Top Reader
  • Writing Wizard
  • Excellent Effort

Fun Awards

Awards can also be fun. Why not turn some award choices over to your students? What do they think should most be rewarded, and who would earn their vote?

Students will likely suggest awards like ‘funniest student’, or ‘most talkative student’ and that is fine, as long as those involved can take a joke and accept it with the insincerity with which it is given, but consider the feelings of parents too, as they may not share your sense of humor. If you decide to give out fun awards at the end of the year, look at the following categories to add to any that your students manage to come up with themselves:

  • Biggest Smiler
  • Best Friend to Everyone
  • Class Bookworm
  • Computer Expert
  • Best Negotiator
  • Most Thoughtful
  • Quietest Worker

Awards for All

All students appreciate some kind of recognition, and the creative teacher will easily be able to find one or more of the above awards for each of the students in their class. So be sure to reward all your students in some way at the end of the year in order to make them feel involved and part of the class. For more end of the year school awards, preschool teachers should see this article on how to make a graduation medal.

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