25 Ideas for End-of-the-Day Classroom Routines to Keep Your Students Calm

What do the last 15 minutes of your school day look like?  Are they jam-packed with teaching up to the last minute or do you have an end-of-the-day classroom routine in place that keeps students calm and your classroom free of chaos? Establishing a good end of the day classroom procedure is especially important for classroom management at the end of the year.

Some teachers want time at the end of the day for closure and community-building activities, giving themselves about 20-30 minutes for a closing routine.  Other teachers need to teach right up until the end of the day and have 5-10 minutes to help students gather all of their things. 

Which way do you lean in your classroom?

There’s no right answer, but consistency and clear expectations are key! Are you ready for some end-of-the-day classroom routines that you can use with your students?

Routines are one of the most important strategies for classroom management. If you’re building your full system, start here.

Keep Students Calm with these End-of-the-Day Classroom Routines

Choose a couple of ideas to try out at the beginning of the year and as your classroom management at the end of the year struggles, change up the routine to fit the needs of your students.

Here are 25 end-of-the-day routines that will help you plan the last minutes of your school day!

1. Read a story to students
2. Read poetry to students
3. Do silent reading time
4. Have students write a reflection on the day or reflect on how they met their learning or behavior goals
5. Listen to a podcast. There are a few ideas in this post about audiobooks, but one I keep seeing over and over is this Six Minutes Podcast. Kids Listen is an app with many kid-friendly podcasts and would make a great resource for your listening center, too! The app is a paid app, but I was able to find the podcast on Spotify. 
6. Speaking of which . . . listen to an audiobook.
7. Or a book read aloud on YouTube
8. Vooks has become popular, too. It is a paid resource, though, and animated. 
9. Give students time to get a head start on their homework or to finish classwork from the day.
10. Watch a video, like National Geographic, BrainPop, Bill Nye, Magic School Bus or Mystery Science.  GoNoodle may also be a good resource, but it can be more chaotic.
11. Assign a daily student to help keep other students accountable and to receive something special, whether it’s holding something, choosing the next day’s student, or a special certificate.  Search YouTube for End of the Day routines.
12. Reward the quiet kids.  Even a simple reward, like letting quiet kids sit on top of their desks or lining up first can make a difference. 
13. Play Mystery Trash.  This also helps with classroom cleanup!
14. Play a class game, like board races, hangman, guess a number, silent seat ball, or rhyme out.
15. Write tomorrow’s agenda and introduce students to what you’re teaching tomorrow
16. Closing Circle – This post as a ton of questions you can ask during your community circle.  These are great for those who follow a Responsive Classroom model. 
17. Gratitude or Praise Phrases – Have students tell about something they are thankful for during the day.  This is a great idea during the month of November and goes along well with my Thankful Tree Craftivity.
18. Randomly give out a treat to the quietest students.  The key here is “randomly”.  You don’t want to make it an expected reward, but keep students on their toes (and quiet)!
19. Create a family journal where students write about their day and share it with their parents.  Parents can jot a quick note back to their child to read at school the next morning!
20. Practice printing or cursive and play calm music
21. Have students complete an exit ticket for something they learned that day.  Sometimes having a little time between the instruction and the reflection helps students know if they understand the concept!
22. Pack up earlier in the day when students are calmer to avoid the end-of-the-day chaos.
23. Assign two students to look for acts of kindness during the week.  Have them report their observations at the end of the day. 
24. Do a different activity each day.  Make Monday watch a video, Tuesday community circle, etc. This adds variety and predictability. 
25. Guided drawing activities, like Art Hub.

If you chose to use an online resource, like a podcast or video, be sure to preview it before using it with students. 

Sponge Activities Fill Extra Time

How do you hold students accountable at the end of the day? 

I suggest you use the same classroom management strategies that you use during the rest of your school day.  This blog post about procedures and routines will give you a ton of ideas that you can use in your end-of-the-day classroom routines. 

Here are a few ideas:

• Some teachers have clear routines and expectations that they practice over and over again.  When students aren’t meeting those expectations, practice it again.  Students will get the idea. 
• Use a point system.  Set an expectation of calm and when students aren’t meeting that expectation, use the point system.