Concluding the Project

When children have been working on a project for some time they are often reluctant to bring the work to a conclusion. On the other hand, since not all children are equally interested in every topic, there may be those children who are keen to begin work on a new project. In order to help all the children agree to finish the project at the same time it is often helpful to arrange a special event to celebrate all that has been accomplished.

The teacher can arrange a culminating event to celebrate the achievements of the project through which the children share with others what they have learned. In preparation for such an event the children can be helped to review the highlights of the project and select material which will tell the story of their project to others. The task of selecting highlights to feature for other classes, the principal, or the parents involves the children in reviewing and evaluating the whole project with a sense of purpose. The teacher helps the children not only to select material to share but also discusses ideas for the presentation of the material to the guests. In the case of school age children, invitations have to be written, and a schedule devised for the presentation. Parts of the presentation will need rehearsing, for example songs or skits. Maybe juice and cookies will be made for the visitors by younger children. 

Not all children in the class will be equally interested or involved in the preparations for the culminating event. Among other activities the teacher can offer the children imaginative ways of personalizing their new knowledge through art, stories, and drama. She may read more fantastical children's literature to stimulate the children's imaginations to elaborate on the new knowledge they have acquired in their dramatic play. 

The third phase of a project offers opportunities for individual as well as collaborative review of the work that has been accomplished. Children may individually review the work in their project folders to decide which pieces represented the most important learning and achievement for them. Some pieces of work can be selected for inclusion in their cumulative record or developmental portfolio of work to be collected throughout the school year. One class of kindergarten children were paired up with their Grade 5 buddies to offer a project debriefing opportunity. The kindergartners chose three drawings from their project folder. They then described what the drawings depicted and related it to what they had learned about the project topic. The Grade 5 children had to take notes. They then gave the information to the kindergarten teacher for the children's portfolio record. This was found to be a most meaningful experience for both groups of children.