15 Clever Pages and Ideas to Make Your Yearbook a Little Extra
Make your yearbook truly memorable!
Producing a yearbook seems pretty straightforward, right? You include a page for each class, staff pics, organization and club pages, and a few spots for special events. That’s pretty much the standard for most school yearbooks. But sometimes, standard means forgettable. Why not take it up a notch and make a yearbook that really captures the spirit of your school? Here are some fun ideas for creative yearbook pages that will take your yearbook from perfect for the closet shelf to coffee table book material.
1. Get to know your staff with fun facts.
Source: Conversations in Literacy
Students see their teachers every day, yet there are probably plenty of things they don’t know about them. Do they know that their music teacher is in a Prince cover band or that their gym teacher used to be a professional Muay Thai fighter? This yearbook page is meant to bring out interesting and little-known facts about your teachers. Maybe they’ll share their favorite song to rock out to or a fun fact about their own school days.
2. Create a page just for support staff.
Source: Remember Me Yearbooks
You’ll definitely see pictures of teachers in the yearbook, but what about the other staff around the school? Do you feature your custodial staff in the yearbook? How about the lunch workers? These are often people your students see every day (and adore), so give them a page in the yearbook. It’s a great way to acknowledge them and show your appreciation for all of the things they do.
3. Have a favorite quotes page.
Source: Math and Milkshakes
Including quotes—inspirational or otherwise—isn’t just for high school seniors. Sprinkle positive quotes throughout or have a spread dedicated to them. If your yearbook has a theme, you can definitely make your quotes align with it. Or get your students involved in picking inspiring quotes they want in their yearbook. They could even vote on which ones to include.
4. Share the top moments from the year
What was the year’s most popular song? The best movie? Were there any big moments, like space exploration or new records at the Olympics? Did the hottest celebrity couple finally tie the knot? What student represented your school at the district spelling bee? What about the newly minted chess master among your student body? Capture some of these moments, big and small, and feature them on a single page. This will be an awesome page for students to look back on.
5. Include a page for autographs
Source: Remember Me Yearbooks
Autograph pages are a must for any yearbook. You’ll likely have some blank pages at the beginning and end of your yearbook, but creating special autograph pages is even better. These pages are easy to design, and you can have as many as you want.
6. Highlight student trends
You know that dance video that went viral? Or that trend that everyone seemed to be into? The slang that got so popular the principal started using it during morning announcements? Preserve these great moments by including them in the yearbook. Whether the trends stick around for a few months or a few years, kids will love being reminded of them.
7. Create a special area for your upcoming graduates
Source: Remember Me Yearbooks
There’s something special about finally being in the top grade and earning a few special privileges. Yes, this is usually done for high school seniors, but you could also do it for fifth and eighth graders. Give your fifth graders a special section in the elementary school yearbook or your eighth graders one in the middle school book. Make it an honor for students to be featured here, and be sure to trumpet their accomplishments and goals.
8. Leave a spot for special messages from family, friends, or teachers
If you’re looking for a fundraising opportunity, you can sell spots or messages in the yearbook. Family and friends love honoring their students in this way. If this doesn’t work for your school, then just give the platform to teachers instead. Let each teacher include a special message in this section, giving your students something to look forward to and take with them.
9. Create space that is meant to be written in
Source: Remember Me Yearbooks
These pages encourage students to capture fun little details about themselves. They will love looking back when they’re older to do a little “remember when” about their younger years.
10. Share cool facts about your school
When was your school built? What’s the history of the school or the community? It might seem like everyone knows these facts or that they get redundant, but they don’t. It’s great information to have in a yearbook and helps your students really know and appreciate their school.
11. Feature a surveys page using answers from students
Source: Proud to Be Primary
Similar to the quote page, you can feature student responses to surveys. Cats or dogs? Ariana Grande or Demi Lovato? Pizza or tacos? Favorite Crystal Gem? Mountains or beach? You can do surveys throughout the year and gather student responses. This page is great because it allows the entire school to be represented on a single page.
12. Have each class write one thing they learned during the year
This one is fun to do as a class. What’s one thing each class can say they learned this year? Challenge them to write it as a single sentence or fact. “This year we learned _____________.” This page will educate others while highlighting some of the hard work students did during the year.
13. Showcase student art
Source: The Art of Education
There are lots of pictures in the yearbook, but does yours feature any art? If you’re able to give space to great art projects by your students, your yearbook will have some really pretty pages. You could even turn this into an annual contest, where students get the chance to have their art featured prominently in the yearbook.
14. Have a bloopers page
Be careful with this page; you don’t want to embarrass anyone. Done correctly, this page will quickly become one of your most popular. Ask your teachers if they have any good bloopers they’ll share. For instance, maybe they tried a Pinterest project, and it just didn’t turn out. This might take some brave people to submit for this page, but the results will truly be memorable.
15. Ask students to answer a question with only one word
Source: The Teacher with a Ponytail
Imagine a big word-cloud page with one-word answers. This could be a powerful (and beautiful) page for your yearbook. The words can be centered on any theme. You might ask students to sum up their year in a single word. Or you could ask them to share a positive word around a theme, like kindness.
Posted by Stacy Tornio
Stacy Tornio is a freelance writer with a focus on education. She's an author of nearly 20 books, including many educational family titles. Nearly everyone in her family is a teacher. So she decided to be rebellious and write about teachers instead.