Take a picture of your entire class outside during a nice day near the end of the year. Make a copy for each student. Then, on or near the last day, provide students with an extra-large piece of construction paper, or glue or staple several pieces together. Give each student a pattern to trace on the paper, and have each attach her picture. Encourage each student to get the autographs of everyone else around the picture. Alternatively, make a booklet for each student with enough blank pages for him to collect the autographs and other comments of his classmates.
Make up some unique awards for your students, and make enough so that each student wins a plaque or certificate. Use such titles as Most Creative Writer, Best Speller, Star Math Student, Most Helpful, Funniest and even Quietest Student. Hand-write the certificates or, if budgets allow, purchase small engraved plaques to give out. For a personal touch, include a photograph of the child on his certificate.
Ask the students to write books titled "How to Survive Fifth Grade" that they can leave for the fall's incoming classes. Use the alphabet system and ask the children to provide a word or sentence that begins with each letter, such as for the letter A: "Ask questions when you don't know the answers." Allow the students to illustrate the books before signing them and leaving them on the classroom desks for the next fifth-graders.
Host a Field Day in which students can show their talents on the athletic field in basketball, volleyball or tennis tournaments. To highlight individual accomplishment, make your own apparatus for a "hammer" throw by filling a paper bag with newspaper or a sealed plastic bag with sand. Tie it off with a 12-inch string and have the students take turns holding the string and spinning three times before throwing it. Record distances and award prizes. Use a Frisbee as a discus; teach the children how an Olympian tosses it and let them see how far they can make it soar.