As the end of the school year approaches, it can be more and more difficult to keep your students engaged in and excited about learning. It’s a chaotic time! You’ve got a million things to do and not much time to do it! But I know that you STILL want to make sure that these days are memorable for your students. Luckily, there are tons of different, fun ways to keep your students learning right until the last day of school! Here are 25 end-of-the-year classroom activities to make the year-end memorable for both you AND your students.

1: Do passion projects. Have students choose a topic that they are passionate about. This can be ANYTHING – soccer, dogs, the environment, or fashion. Have students decide on a topic and guiding questions, and then complete research. Then have students create a PowerPoint presentation, poster, or lapbook in order to present their information.

2: Create a memory book. Reflecting on all the things that have happened over the year is sure to bring pride and laughter to your students. This memory book is created lapbook style, allowing your students to make their books unique.

3: Try a room transformation. Bring a small tent, some checkered tablecloths, and flashlights, and you’ve got yourself a fun camping-themed room transformation! Use this free math project to align your curriculum with the camping theme!

4: Have a bake sale! Have students bring in baking to sell to raise money for a local charity. Use this as an opportunity to work with money in a real-life setting.

5: Do a “Meet the Teacher” day when next year’s class comes to meet the teacher and do an activity together.

6: Have the students write a letter to the upcoming students. Have them include their favorite part of the year as well as tips to be successful. 

7: Plan a picnic lunch! Take your class outside for a special picnic.

8: Hand out classroom awards! Use PowerPoint to make your own awards to suit the students in your class, or try these pre-made classroom awards that focus on positive character traits like optimism, curiosity, persistence, leadership, and kindness!

9: Have a pizza party and let students make their own personal pizzas! Add an ELA and Math component by writing about “How to Make a Pizza” and incorporating fractions. This Pizza Place Math Project might also come in handy!

10: Create a time capsule to open when your class graduates! Include a “Letter to My Future Self” as well as any memorable items from the year. Have students write down memories to include as well.

11: Pass a ‘Graffiti Page’ for each student around the room; all kids write a compliment for each of their classmates. Your students will love reading all the compliments when they get their own graffiti page back!

12: Try an Escape Room! Escape rooms are fun for any time of the year, but are especially wonderful for keeping your students engaged in those last days of school. This Trapped in the School for Summer Escape Room will have students jumping with excitement as they try to overcome the obstacles and get out of the school! See my best tips for doing an escape room with your class here.

13: Have a Writer’s Workshop celebration! Put out all the books your students have written over the year and give them time to read each other’s books. Hand out hot chocolate as they read to make it extra special!

14: Write thank you notes to someone in the school. This could be another teacher, the custodian, the principal, or anyone else who has made an impact on your students over the year!

15. Play games! Salute, Knock off the Clock, and High Low are just a few examples of fun games you can play with minimal prep and materials. Multiplication Bump is another fun one your students will love!

16. Have a ‘secret’ Random Acts of Kindness Day. Without telling anyone that they’re doing it, have your students do random acts of kindness like holding doors open, giving compliments, etc. throughout the day. At the end of the day, have a conversation about how it felt.

17. Invite a local animal shelter to the classroom to talk about what they do and how you can help. There’s no denying that kids love animals, and I’ve heard from a lot of teachers who have had great success with a talk from a local animal shelter after completing this Run a Pet Shelter Math Project.

18. Hand out End of the Year Activity Books to use as early finisher activities, Friday Fun activities, or just in those times between special events at the end of the year. This activity book includes fun activities like jokes, acrostic poetry, math squares, word search, crossword, code cracking, and more!

19. Reinforce growth mindset. When reflecting on the year, don’t just limit it to favorite activities and memorable experiences. Be sure to reflect on how students grew over the year. What did we get better at? What obstacles did we overcome? What did we accomplish as a group?

20. Do a book project. Have students choose the best book they read this year, and use it to create a diorama. Students can do a book talk and present their diorama to the class. Have other students leave a positive comment for each presenter.

21. Do an A-Z Autobiography, where students write something about themselves for each letter of the alphabet. Get a free template for this activity HERE.

22. Make ice cream sundaes! Here’s another great opportunity for a How-To writing piece. If you’d like to incorporate math as well, try this Run an Ice Cream Shop Fraction Project.

23. Get some fresh air! The end of the year is the perfect time to take your students outside to read, have an outdoor class, or even plan an outdoor scavenger hunt! Being outside feels like a “treat” on a beautiful day!

24. Have a snowball fight! Have each student write their favorite memory from the year on a piece of paper, and then crumple it up into a ball. Split the students into two groups, and position the groups at opposite sides of the classroom. Then (when you say “Go!”) have students throw their snowball to the other side. A student should pick it up, read it, and then crumple it up again and throw it for another student to read. This can also be used to review content for any subject!

25. Have a board game afternoon! Have students bring in their favorite board games, and spend the afternoon playing them!

Have ideas to add? Leave them in the comments below!

The post 25 Fun End of the Year Classroom Activities appeared first on Shelley Gray.

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and it is a chaotic time! You’ve got a million things to do and not much time to do it! But I know that you STILL want to make sure that these days are memorable for your students. I asked my awesome community to tell me what they do to keep the end of the year fun and they answered with a TON of amazing ideas! I know that you will find some great ideas in this list that you can implement in your classroom!

Even though there are some ideas that are similar to others, I’ve included all of them. Sometimes there are small variations that may work better in your classroom, and I wanted to give you as many ideas as possible!

CLASSROOM SWITCHES/MEET THE TEACHER/LETTER TO NEXT YEAR’S CLASS:

• We do a “Meet the Teacher” day when next years class comes to meet the teacher and do an activity together.
• I always have the students write a letter to the upcoming students. They include their favorite part of the year as well as tips to be successful. 
• I enjoy having my students write letters to my future students. They practice writing in an authentic way. They discuss rules, routines, expectations, or anything they want. These letters are distributed to new students at the beginning of the next school year. This is a great activity for letter writing with an authentic purpose.
• Our school also does a special class trade on the morning of the last day. Teachers each plan an activity and trade classes every half hour. It’s a lot of fun!
• I enjoy writing letters to the upcoming class and having a summer send-off party where the kids get all kinds of stuff to do with their families. It gets local businesses, etc. involved, too.
• Second grade does room rotations on the last day of school. Each room has a different activity for the class to enjoy. I have bowling, another teacher might have board games, etc.. The kids really enjoy going from class to class. Then after recess we clean the room and the desks with shaving cream. They REALLY like that!
• On the last day, I ask my students to write a letter to a student who will be in my class next year to welcome them and tell them about some of the things they will be doing in my class. They address them to Dear Third Grader, or you can have them leave the name the blank and fill in names once you get your new class list.
• I teach 6th grade. In the last days of school this write two letters. One is to the students in my class next year – these letters are then on the incoming student’s desks when they arrive on the first day of school. The other letter is to their future self, which I will be giving to them on the morning of their high school graduation, filled with their hopes and dreams and interests and hobbies.
• We make a memory book since our school doesn’t do a year book. I also love the escape room you have!
• Favorite Memories of the year Flipgrid activity – students each record their favorite memories and we watch them on the last day after our yearbook signing event.
• We write a letter to our future end of 3rd grade self, seal it in an envelope, give it to Mom or Dad to give us in a year. We write a letter to our 3rd grade teacher that includes what made us successful in 2nd grade. Then we write a letter to the upcoming 2nd graders to tell them what to expect. The last 2 days we have science experiment day and the final experiment includes us cleaning the classroom so it doesn’t look like we were here.

RELATED: 25 more fun end of the year classroom activities

FOOD RELATED:

• We do “Read & Feed” and the kiddos can bring pillows, blankets & snacks while they read.
• I usually have my kids make S’mores. We make our own ovens out of aluminum foil (they have to draw out their design and then shape the aluminum foil into an oven), place a graham cracker, mini-marshmallow, and piece of chocolate inside and loosely wrap it up. Do not put the top half of the graham cracker until after the “cooking”. Place the ovens outside in a sunny spot and let the solar heat cook the S’more. Open and enjoy.
• Picnic lunch– we eat out of the cafe as a class and eat outside. I usually do it on the same day I do beach theme day, so we bring towels and sit outside!
• This year we will be having a “camping day.” We’ll be using the camping math project and students will be able to bring sleeping bags and flashlights. We’ll end the day with real s’mores!
• We always have an end-of-the-year breakfast on the second to last day of school (Our last day is always a 1/2day).
• End of the year picnic lunch and celebration of learning with families.

MEMORIES/KEEPSAKES:

• Compliment Graffiti (we pass a ‘graffiti page’ around the room for all kids to write a compliment for each of their classmates). The students just glow from excitement and warm fuzzies when they get their own graffiti page back!
• We put our scrapbooks together to take home and share with parents.
• We put together journals. Throughout the year we print out pictures at special events or activities. The students write about them during their center time. Then at the end of the year we compile them into a journal to take home as a keepsake.
• End of year Memory Book and Student adjective wordles activity – I put a sheet on each students desk with their name on it. Then we scoot to each desk and add an adjective to describe each other. I take the lists and create a wordle for each student describing them i their classmates own words <3
• Reflections and self portraits 
• I provide pictures I’ve taken and students make a scrapbook sequencing their year. We use reading and writing skills!
• I like to show my students some three words videos (inspiring message, fun memory etc. and then take a picture). I email these back to parents. In celebrating, we close our eyes and think of favorite moments to put on a GoogleDoc. I ask students to raise their hands if they have any and give some guiding questions. I tap students who have not raised their hand to be scribes at first then rotate.

FUN STUFF:

• We make liquid sidewalk chalk paint (1 part cornstarch, 1 part water with a few drops of food colouring) and decorate the sidewalk in front of our school. Chalk paint is way cheaper and if you make lots, goes a lot further than regular chalk!
• I teach a self contained classroom with 7th and 8th graders. For the last 3 years I have had a Tie Dye day (afternoon). I have it labeled as “We are dying for summer!”
• I celebrate by placing a certain number of balloons (filled with fun activities) on a bulletin board. Each day I choose a student to pop the balloon to see what exciting thing we will be doing the next day. Some ideas are lunch with the teacher, sit where you want in class, etc. One of the items that I place into one of the final balloons is to tie-dye t-shirts. These shirts will be worn on our field trip and last day of school. We all sign the shirts too!
• the last week we do something special each day such as one day of bubbles, one day of fun in the sun, (bring a beach towel, sunglasses, and a chapter book) to read and relax outside. Another day is outdoor fun. Kids and Teachers bring in sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, soccer balls, etc. Then there is board game day, (students bring in their favorite board game and students rotate around so they are able to play a variety of games). We sign autographs, some years we do ice cream sundaes. We do a lot of math and reading challenges. They love writing on their desks with Expo markers.
• “Let’s Go Out with a Bang” balloon pop. Instead of putting activities inside, I put each student’s name inside one balloon. When popped, they become my “Student of the Day.” They are our line leader, we make a poster on chart paper about them with each student writing a note, and they get to be my special helper all day long. They love it and it creates excitement for all. I have students from last year that still have their charts about them hanging at their houses.
• Our kids really love the ABC countdown! It keeps them engaged and gives them something to look forward to every day!
• I love to make end of the year snowflakes. It’s hot outside so we crank the air conditioning down and I send a winter themed invitation to a snow party. I say come with jackets, hats and gloves. I borrow several fans and have my room super cold. Then we make snowflakes and have hot chocolate. We write a message to someone on it. It has to be a positive thing they gained from the person that year. The kids LOVE it and so do I.
• We do 10 Days of Fun for the last 10 school days. We pick 10 (mostly free activities) and put one idea per balloon. Then each morning we pop a balloon and see what activity we have in store. Examples include, wear your hat indoors, no shoe day, art in the garden day, freebie with our buddies day.
• Last 26 days, ABC count down. Every day has a different focus. Ex. A – Abracadabra Day (Teach the class a magic trick, and encourage students to be prepared that day with a trick who want to perform.)
• We have a water balloon and popsicle day.
• Our school does a school wide water fight!
• We have an “everybody birthday party” students have to create decorations as well as earn “brownie points” to participate! It helps all those who have birthdays in the summer and those who didn’t get to celebrate with their friends! I also get my room packed up and moved out the way!!!
• A motivational speech and a special gift for each of my grade 7 students. Normally a pen with their names on.
• Elephant slime and Autograph Time

KEEPING IT EDUCATIONAL

• A big decades project! Student driven and presented to parents.
• STEM activities
• Celebrating Cultures. Celebrate the different cultures we have in the US
• Fractured Fairy Tales Readers Theater
• have a book report that has to be a 2-3 minute commercial for the book they read. They need a simple costume (shirt, hat, sunglasses, etc.) and a prop (something they can hold in their hand). These items should be related to their book. Our goal is to give ideas for books for the rest of the class to read over the summer. They have about 3 weeks to prepare and we present the last week of school.
• Wrap up the school year with students taking over the responsibilities of running the school for the remainder of the school year. They will prepare lessons, observe teachers, plan field trips. do all the things that principals, teachers custodians, cafeteria workers, and counselors perform daily. Do this by grade level.
• I am currently tackling a much smaller version of the FutureCity competition project. I have students working in groups to build a model of a town that models sustainability and eco friendly innovations that they brainstorm as a group. It is my first year doing it (I am a first year teacher) so it involved a decent amount of planning initially but I think after one year of experience it will be a breeze to implement next year! I teach 8th grade life science and this is going to conclude our STEM unit. Also, I had guest speakers come in to present which was a great change of pace for both myself as well as my students.
• I usually follow up a probability unit by having the students create their own board game. They have to build the board, write instructions/rules/etc. just like a real board game. They test out their own games to make sure they didn’t miss anything, then we spend the last week playing each others’ games. This is so much fun! Plus I get a math mark, writing mark, media mark, learning skills marks – it’s a win win situation!

CHALLENGES:

 

I also asked teachers what their biggest end of the year challenges are. There was an overwhelming amount of teachers who said, “keeping students focused,” “keeping students engaged,” “keeping students motivated,” or some variation of that.

 

If you are looking for a few fun resources for the end of the year, I’d love to help!

 

This “Trapped in the School for Summer” Escape Room has been getting rave reviews! It’s an easy-to-implement escape room, and focuses more on solving puzzles than specific skills like my other escape rooms do. That makes it perfect for the end of the year – low-prep, easy to implement, and super FUN! I recently added a couple of modified pages (addition/subtraction rather than multiplication) so that this can be used with Grades 2-5. See the end of the year escape room HERE.

Here’s another popular resource for the end of the year – a lapbook style memory book. Here’s what a couple of teachers have had to say about this:

 

“This is great! This not only helps keep students occupied during those last couple of days of school, but gives them a great keepsake to help them remember the highlights of their year. Thanks!”

 

“This was such a great activity for the last week of school! It was easy to put together and kept my students engaged and involved for several days. They loved thinking about their school year and deciding which activities they liked the best. Great idea, great activity!”

 

SEE THE END OF THE YEAR MEMORY BOOK HERE.

Lastly, if you’d like to do classroom awards at the end of this year, but want more than just “cutesy,” you’ll love these ones. I’ve developed these awards with growth mindset and character traits in mind. I wanted these to be meaningful for your students – something that they will cherish. I included space for a handwritten note which makes these extra special. The extra 30 minutes or so that it will take you to write the notes will be so worth it to your students. FIND THE END OF THE YEAR AWARDS HERE.

 

 

I hope you have a fantastic end of the school year and a restful summer!

 

If you have a great end of the year idea that might be inspiring to other teachers, I’d love to hear about it! Leave your comment below!

The post End of the Year Classroom Ideas appeared first on Shelley Gray.

TRAPPED IN THE SCHOOL FOR SUMMER: END OF THE YEAR ESCAPE ROOM

best-suited to Grades 2-5

If you’ve never done an escape room in your classroom before, this is a great one to start with! It’s incredibly easy to prepare (I know that time is scarce right now!) and your students are going to love it! Here’s the lowdown:

Back Story: 

It’s the last day of school and you just have one thing left to do – return your library books. You head to the library, but while you are there, you get sidetracked reading your favorite superhero comic book. “I’ll just read a bit longer,” you say to yourself. Finally you decide to head back to your classroom. But when you open the door, you can’t see a thing. Everything is pitch black and the school is empty. Will you be trapped inside the school all summer long?

Benefits:

• less skill-focused than some of my other escape rooms; more focused on puzzle-solving fun
• includes a modified version (addition/subtraction rather than multiplication) for two of the activities so that younger students can complete it.
• quick to prep
• quick and easy to implement (will take about 30 minutes for students to finish)

FIND IT:

• Trapped in the School Escape Room on TpT
• End of the Year Bundle on TpT (includes this resource and two others)

END OF THE YEAR MEMORY BOOK/LAPBOOK

best-suited to Grades 2-4

Students will reflect on the past year, and write about some of their most unforgettable memories. This lapbook serves as a great keepsake for years to come! Students can infuse their own individual creativity in order to make their own lapbook unique.

Each student will require one letter size file folder and a copy of the printables from this package. There is a balance between foldables and simple cut and paste reflections so that students will remain engaged. The prompts are designed to be open-ended to allow students to individualize their answers.

Benefits:

• makes a fantastic keepsake of the year
• allows for individuality
• simple for students to put together

FIND IT:

• End of the Year Memory Book
• End of the Year Bundle on TpT (includes this resource and two others)

END OF THE YEAR AWARDS

best-suited to Grades 2-4

Benefits:

• space for a handwritten note – this adds a personal touch and is so much more important and memorable than a generic message
• focuses on character traits and growth mindset
• will be a treasured keepsake from the year in your classroom
• simple design – well-suited to many different grade levels
• over 70 different awards available – something for everyone

FIND IT:

• End of the Year Awards
• End of the Year Bundle on TpT (includes this resource and two others)

Thank you for giving everything you have to your students this year. The end of the year is chaotic, but it’s also a reason to celebrate the year’s achievements! Have a fantastic end of the year and a restful summer.

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