It’s hard to believe it’s already time to break out my favorite end of year activities, but here it is! This is always a bittersweet time of year. I’m beyond excited for summer vacation. But, we form a little family during the year, and it can be hard to let them go. In this post, I’ve compiled a large collection of my personal favorite end of year activities!

End Of Year Countdown

You can make your end of year countdown part of your daily routine. This countdown starts at 20 days left of school and goes down to one day of school. The questions require creative thinking, and you’ll need to encourage students to slow down and put some thought into their responses. There are two questions on a piece of paper, and you can easily cut them half to use as task cards. They would make an incredibly fun morning work or center end of year activity! The questions could also be placed on a document camera to help save paper and copies! You can click here for a link to the pack in my TpT store.

End of the Year Student Gift

End of Year Escape

Let students complete one last (or their first) escape activity before the end of the school year with this Escape the School activity. In the first challenge, students solve eight rebus or word picture puzzles. Students are given a recording sheet and use the directions on the recording sheet to form the combination to open the first lock (physical or digital).

Once students complete the first challenge, they are able to begin the second activity in the packet, where they help the P.E. coach give ribbons for Field Day. In this activity, students complete a logic puzzle with two different parts. In the logic puzzle, students must determine which classes participated in which event in the school’s Field Day. Students must also discover what place each class was in on Field Day.

In Clue 3, students must turn in their overdue library books. To find the books, students must identify the book’s title from the quote on the library card. I have provided more than five library cards for this activity. This will allow you to select the best quotes for your students. There are also blank library cards included so you can add a quote from the book of your choice.

In the final clue, students match the school supply icons to clean out their desk/locker/cubby. This is a challenging activity that will certain require students to demonstrate their growth mindset. Once students solve the puzzle, they will decipher the code to escape the school. You can see the end of year activity here.

End of Year Lapbook

This end of the year lapbook is the perfect activity to wind down the school year! It’s low prep and lots of fun, and it’s a special keepsake students can keep for years.

You can use a file folder to make the lapbooks. Fold the right and left side of the file folder so the two edges meet in the center of the folder and make a sharp crease. This way the middle section is large and the sides fold in like flaps.

I love a top-ten list, so I included a top-ten list for students to write their ten favorite things about the school year. I had students glue the list on the left-inside flap. On the right-inside flap students glued three “Polaroid” pictures. I printed those on white paper and had students cut the squares out. In each frame, students drew a picture to reflect a special moment from the school year. Students can also write a hashtag or caption at the bottom of the picture.

In the middle section students wrote about what they learned in different subjects. I had students cut out the square and fold the flaps on the solid line. Underneath each subject area, students wrote something they learned during the year. Underneath the square, students added three mini booklets. In the booklets, students complete the sentence stems written on the outside each of the booklets.

The advice letter is my favorite part of the lapbook. There are two options for the advice letter. One option is a shorter template (shown on the picture). Students should complete the advice letter using the included sentence stems. Students will glue this on the outside-left flap. I prefer the longer option (not shown) and have students glue half on the outside-left flap and the other half on the outside-right flap.

Just a little printing in this end of year activity allows your students to create such a precious memory book (with a twist)!

End of Year Activities – Student Awards

Students love this End of Year Awards Literacy Activity. This end of year activity is a great way for students to practice making inferences and supporting their thoughts with evidence from the text. Students must give an end of the year award to ten different students. To determine which award each child gets, students must use the text evidence from each of the reading passages.

Option 1

There are two versions to this resource. On one version students cut-out and glue the certificates on the indicated space. The small certificates are adorable, but if you want to save ink, just print the certificate on colored paper and select the grayscale print option.

Option 2

In the second option students design their own end of the year award for each student. This makes the activity a bit more challenging since students aren’t choosing from a set of given awards. You may want to brainstorm possible awards before having students determine the awards used. Plus, you may also want to discuss awards you don’t want to see. Students who are in a hurry to finish choose the easiest and fastest option, without putting any real thought into the task.

In either version, students must use text evidence to justify the award give to each student. You can set the expectation for how much students must write for each of the awards. As an extension, you can assign awards and have students write the passages for the award. The link to the digital version is in the PDF, which you can find here.

End of Year Activities – Summer Camp

This Summer Camp Math Project is one of my favorite ways to end the school year. Each of the activities has a summer camp theme. While it’s certainly not necessary for students to have read Holes to enjoy this resource, the ones who are familiar with the book will definitely catch several references.

You have several options within this resource. You can print all pages together as a booklet, or you can print full size pages. Another choice is to assign the entire project at one time and let students work at their own pace. Another option is to assign one page at a time. You can use the tasks for early finishers, as an extension project, or as your primary math lesson. Feel free to skip around and use only the pages you want your students to complete. The choice is yours! The pictures below are just a small sample of what’s included.

There is a digital option for each of the activities, so this can be used for distance learning as well as face-to-face instruction. It’s a perfect way to wind down the school year while maintaining an academic focus. You can find the resource here.

End of Year Activities

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This end of the year project is the perfect activity to wind down the school year! It’s low prep and lots of fun!

I’ve felt so guilty the past few days. I know my students want me to be fun, exciting, and playful, but I am SO TIRED. It’s a struggle just to keep my head above water, but at the same time I want to make our last few days together special.

That’s why I am so thankful that I remember my end of the year project. It’s easy to prep, but the kids love it, and it’s a special keepsake students can keep for years.

End of Year Project – Assembly

You can use a file folder to make the “lapbooks”. Fold the right and left side of the file folder so the two edges meet in the center of the folder and make a sharp crease. This way the middle section is large and the sides fold in like flaps.

Have students glue the heading on the top of the center section. I included grades 2nd-5th and a black filled option that is best for printing on colored paper and an option that students can color and decorate.

I love a top-ten list, so I included a top-ten list for students to write their ten favorite things about the school year. I had students glue the list on the left-inside flap. On the right-inside flap students glued three “Polaroid” pictures. I printed those on white paper and had students cut the squares out. In each frame, students drew a picture to reflect a special moment from the school year. Students can also write a hashtag or caption at the bottom of the picture.

In the center section students wrote about what they learned in different subjects. I had students cut out the square and fold the flaps on the solid line. Underneath each subject area, students wrote something they learned during the year. Underneath the square, students added three mini booklets. In the booklets, students complete the sentence stems written on the outside each of the booklets.

The advice letter is my favorite part of the lapbook! There are two options for the advice letter. One option is a shorter template (shown on the picture). Students should complete the advice letter using the included sentence stems. Students will glue this on the outside-left flap. I prefer the longer option (not shown) and have students glue half on the outside-left flap and the other half on the outside-right flap.

I didn’t have room for the Kindness Counts section this year, but it’s an adorable option. Have students write examples of kindness they observed or received during the school year. Students can also use this space to thank people for have made a positive impact on them during the school year. Glue the hearts and title on the outside-right flap of the booklet.

This end of year project lets your students to create such a precious memory book (with a twist)! You can find the Lapbook here! Be sure to check out this post to find a huge collection of end of year activities!

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This Summer Camp Math Project is one of my favorite ways to end the school year. Each of the activities has a summer camp theme. While it’s certainly not necessary for students to have read Holes to enjoy this resource, the ones who are familiar with the book will definitely catch several references.

You have several options within this resource. You can print all pages together as a booklet, or you can print full size pages. Another choice is to assign the entire project at one time and let students work at their own pace. Another option is to assign one page at a time. You can use the tasks for early finishers, as an extension project, or as your primary math lesson. Feel free to skip around and use only the pages you want your students to complete. The choice is yours!

The Cost of Admission

In the first task, students determine the cost per day campers who stay at Camp Green Lake for 1 month, 3 weeks, 2 weeks, and one week. Then, students determine how the revenue Camp Green Lake generates. Since my students haven’t learned how to divide with 2-digit divisors, I’ll let them use a calculator for this activity.

Are We There Yet?

In this activity, students use a road map to determine the distance from various cities to Camp Green Lake. They’ll use a ruler and a map scale to determine the actual distance.

Schedule of Activities

The Schedule of Activities gives students the opportunity to work on elapsed time, as well as the real-life skill of scheduling their day. Of course, the activities to choose from are far more exciting than a typical day!

Opening Night Cookout

This is a great division activity were students need to interpret the remainder to determine how many packages of food need to be ordered for the big cookout. They repeat the task with two different sessions that allow students to see how the dividend impacts the quotient.

Finding Fractions

This is one of my favorite activities in this end of year math project! Students use the Finding Fractions directions page to design the layout of Camp Green Lake. They will need to apply their understanding of equivalent fractions to make their design.

Mess Hall

Since this end of year math project is tied with summer camp, there had a be a mess hall! In this activity, students must determine how many of each type of table is needed seat all of the campers and junior counselors for each of the five different camp sessions. This also requires division where students must interpret the remainder.

Planning the Cabins

There’s a lot of real-life problem solving required in this activity. After students determine how many cabins and bunk beds are needed for each session, they get to draw the layout for Camp Green Lake.

End of Year Math Project – Obstacle Course

This is one of my other favorites! Probably because I love the idea of playing on an obstacle course! In this activity, students design an obstacle course based on given areas and perimeters. I encourage students to complete the essentials first and then to color and add details.

End of Year Treasure Hunt

This is also one of my favorite activities in the end of year math project! (couldn’t narrow it down past a top 3) In this activity, students use the given directions to design a treasure map.This is so much fun for kids, and it’s a great way to get it a little more measurement!

There is a digital option for each of the activities, so this can be used for distance learning as well as face-to-face instruction. It’s a perfect way to wind down the school year while maintaining an academic focus. You can find the resource here. You can also check out a huge collection of end of year activities in this blog post.

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It’s hard to believe it’s already time to begin thinking about end of the year activities. In early spring of 2020, I made several new resources for the end of the year and then……COVID, quarantine, digital learning, etc. All the new resources were unused and forgotten. This year getting to finish the school year in-person feels like a treat, and I think you’ll love some of the new end of year activities! To keep it short, I’ll break the activities into separate posts, and in this I’ll focus on the End of Year Awards Literacy Activity.

This end of year activity is a great way for students to practice making inferences and supporting their thoughts with evidence from the text. Students must give an end of the year award to ten different students. To determine which award each child gets, students must use the text evidence from each of the reading passages.

End of  Year Awards – Option 1

There are two versions to this resource. On one version students cut-out and glue the certificates on the indicated space. The small certificates are adorable, but if you want to save ink, just print the certificate on colored paper and select the grayscale print option.

Option 2

In the second option students design their own end of the year award for each student. This makes the activity a bit more challenging since students aren’t choosing from a set of given awards. You may want to brainstorm possible awards before having students determine the awards used. Plus, you may also want to discuss awards you don’t want to see. Students who are in a hurry to finish choose the easiest and fastest option, without putting any real thought into the task.

In either version, students must use text evidence to justify the award give to each student. You can set the expectation for how much students must write for each of the awards. As an extension, you can assign awards and have students write the passages for the award.

There is a digital version of this end of year awards activity. Students drag and drop the certificate to the correct location and type their response. The link to the digital version is in the PDF, which you can find here.

This is such a fun addition to any end of year lesson plans! I hope you enjoy! Be sure to check out this post for a huge collection of end of year activities!

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I absolutely cannot believe that it’s time to start thinking about the end of the year.  While I am beyond excited about summer vacation, it always makes me so sad to think about the “summer slide” that many of my students will experience. Research shows that students are likely to lose two to three months of grade level skills over summer break. I recently was surprised to learn that summer slide is cumulative, with these learning losses building up each summer. Fortunately, there are some things we can do as educators to avoid the summer slide.

Access to Books

Access to books is a critical step to avoid the summer slide. The public library is an excellent free resource for families to have access to books of a wide range of interests and reading levels. However, I have found that it is often difficult for students in high poverty areas to access to public libraries, because of transportation issues. Fortunately, there are things we can do to get books in our students’ hands.

• Discard old books-At the end of the school year, teachers and our school librarian do a clean sweep of books, and we remove books that are no longer serving their purpose. We let students keep any old books that we would typically discard in a Book Swap, even though students don’t have to bring in a book to receive a book. You can even open it up to families and have families donate books to the Book Swap.
• Scholastic Bonus Points-I use my bonus points at the end of the year to send home a new book with each student. I try my best to select a book I know the student will enjoy. I make a big deal about being excited to talk about the book when we return to school.
• In my district we have a Meals on Wheels program for high poverty students over the summer months. I image local businesses and community members wouldn’t mind donating a book to go along with those meals.
• Magazines-Maybe someone could donate a magazine subscription to a few students. As a child, nothing was cooler than receiving something in the mail, so why not have reading material sent directly to their house. I’ve recently contact several children’s magazines and asked for donations of older copies that I can mail to students over the summer.
• I’m seeing more and more mobile libraries or informal neighborhood libraries. You could use old newspaper bins for mini libraries in your school community. I haven’t done this yet, but I’m excited to give it a shot!

I don’t assign students a reading log or anything that makes reading seem like work over the summer. Why? I want my students to read because they want to, not because they have to. I do have a fun Summer Reading Bingo activity where students can try to complete a BINGO board over the summer. It’s not a quick and easy challenge, because I geared it toward upper elementary students. It’s just another tool to encourage students to read over the summer. You can download it for FREE here!

Avoid the Summer Slide – Review

I know I am only kidding myself if I thought my students would complete a pack of worksheets. They don’t want to do that in class, so I absolutely didn’t want to waste time, paper, and copies on something that would be thrown away the second my students walked out the door-or sooner. I have a review packet that I send home that is a different from traditional review worksheets. I made a little punch card to go along with the activities, so students can punch a hole in their punch card each time they complete something for some type of incentive.

When designing these, I tried to keep all of the activities simple, so that students can read and follow the directions independently. I also kept everything fun, so that there’s a better chance that students will actually do the activities! I made reading, language arts, writing, math, and science activities, so there will be plenty to choose from. You can see examples of a few of the activities below.

I do plan to do a few of the activities in class with my students, because they’ll make a perfect end of the year review.  There are a couple of science projects that I know my students will love, so I want to do a few of them together. The pack is completely flexible and can be used however best fits for you and your classroom! Hopefully, it will help avoid the summer slide, so our students can hit the ground running in fourth grade!

Avoid the Summer Slide-Technology

Most students have access to technology, so I like to offer several ideas for using technology in a productive way. Of course, I recognize that if the game isn’t fun, students are not going to use it. I’ve limited my recommendations to only the resources that I think students will actually enjoy and spend time working with. Both aspects are key to help avoid the summer slide.

Apps:

• Math Doodles-This is an app that promotes mathematical thinking in a creative and dynamic way. It is not a “math fact” app, instead it presents a variety of math puzzles.
• Math Evolve-Math Evolve is a fun and engaging game that children can use to practice using the 4 number operations. It has an arcade-game feel, and it adapts to students’ progress.
• Bookabi-This offers fun and simple interface for younger grades. The app allows students to add images and illustrations to tell a story. Bookabi includes generic illustrations, including backgrounds and people in order for younger students can create stories without importing images.
• Telestory-This takes you behind the scenes to create and broadcast your own TV show! Record a music video, teleport to an alien planet, film a high-speed-chase, or perform on a reality TV show. Students can pick a theme, then mix and match over 30 animated scenes to film your own story.
• Hopscotch Coding-This app lets students make their own games and publish them instantly for anyone to play! Students love working on this app and being able to code gives them a much better understanding of how computers work.

Websites:

• Prodigy Math-there are plenty of math websites out there, but this is hands down my students’ favorite. There are others I like better for instructional purposes, but this is the most student friendly.
• Funbrain-This has free books for students to read online. It has a very child friendly interface.
• Kid Blog-I went back and forth on whether or not to recommend this site. I originally used this when it was a free site. It’s not longer free, BUT you can get a three month free trial, which is enough to get you through the summer. I love the idea of having students blog over the summer. It’s such an authentic way to have students write to a specific audience.

Road Trip Activities

I’m a firm believer that learning doesn’t have to be centered around academics and standards. Travel and novel experiences also play a HUGE role in the development of students emotional and cognitive growth. I recognize that not all families will be able to take summer vacations, but many families take a road trip of some sort over the summer, so I’ve created  a little something you can send home with your students as a going away gift. You can even print it for your own family. It’s a collection of 15 games that can be played on a long, car road trip. Most of them are classics that we’ve all played for years, such as 20 Questions, but there are a few original ones too. My favorites are Travel Bingo and ABC Billboards. You can download the file here! I can’t promise that this will make your road trip fun, but maybe a little more tolerable!

Avoid the Summer Slide – Journaling

 

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I’ve always enjoyed the time of year after testing and before summer vacation, which for me is about six weeks. It’s nice to teach without the stress of the big test hanging over my head. It’s also the time of year when I feel like I have a little more flexibility than usual, because ideally I’ve taught all of my standards, so I don’t feel the need to rush through my curriculum. However, I definitely like to end strong and with purpose, so I do continue teaching right until the end of the year. This post shares five of my favorite ways to keep teaching after testing and moving students forward right until the close of the school year.

Accelerate

One option for teaching after testing is to accelerate your students by giving them a glimpse into the next year’s standards. When I taught third grade, I always asked the fourth grade teachers if there was anything I could do to better prepare my students for fourth grade. There are typically gaps from year to year standards that have to be bridged at the beginning of the year, and the weeks after testing are perfect for bridging those gaps.

Now that I’m teaching fourth grade, I’ve asked our fifth grade math teacher how I can help prepare my students for fifth grade math. For me, it will be me teaching my students the multiplication and division algorithm, which isn’t technically in my standards, but I’m happy to teach those algorithms. I am always careful to ask first, because I don’t want to teach any tricks or lessons that will interfere with students’ conceptual understanding of any concepts.

This could be particularly helpful in social studies and science as well. Many times students are expected to learn about complex topics that they have little to no background information on or little context to relate those topics to. During the last few weeks of school, students could begin developing schema for those topics.

Reteach

While I wish it weren’t the case, I always feel like there is a topic or two that I shortchanged during my instruction. I know I absolutely raced through my geometry and measuring angles lessons in order to “finish” before testing, so I plan to go back and reteach those concepts a bit. I can use the remainder of the year to reteach anything else that I felt like my students didn’t adequately grasp. This is typically fairly easy in reading workshop, because I can focus my reading groups on each group’s specific needs. I like to focus my mini lessons on summer themed books, which you can see a blog post about here.

This remediation can be a bit trickier in math, because there are SO MANY different topics to reteach, which is why I love using math choice boards during this time of reteaching. They provide my students with engaging activities, while I meet with small groups to focus on particular skills and topics. I have a different choice board for all five third grade math domains, which you can find here.

DIY Textbooks

I like to review social studies and science by having students create their own textbooks. I break my students into small groups and assign each group a different unit (habitats, adaptations, rocks, etc.) The groups are responsible for recording the major facts that they learned in the unit, as well as included pictures, diagrams, vocabulary words, and other nonfiction text features. When all of the pages are finished, students add a table of contents and glossary. This class textbook are a great way to reinforce the science concepts my students had learned throughout the year, as well as review nonfiction text skills.

Experiment

The days after testing are a great time to try out new instructional strategies and lessons that you didn’t have time for earlier in the year. This year, I’m going to venture into the world of Breakout Classrooms. I have never done one before, but my request was approved on Donor’s Choose #bestschooldayever and I am so excited to try it out. I know that I have a lot to learn, but if I try a lesson before the end of the school year, I can use the summer to plan and reorganize how I want to use Breakout Classrooms.

One of the reasons I like trying new lessons at the end of the year is that my students already know me, my expectations, and our procedures, so I can focus more on the actual implementation of the lesson than I normally would. You could try to implement a new type of technology that you’d like to use more of next year, such as Flipgrid or Google Classroom. You could also try new STEM projects or discover new ways to integrate science and social studies. I’ll probably attempt one more classroom transformation before the end of the year too. I find that the first time I teach a lesson, I find different parts I can tweak and modify, so my test run allows me to perfect my new lessons and ideas.

I also love finding ways to take learning outdoors. I’ve created an Outdoor Math Scavenger Hunt. There are nine different math activities for students, and they all require just a few extra materials and not a lot of extra prep. I like to have students work with a partner and take a clipboard, pencil, and recording sheet outside for the scavenger hunt.

I printed a colorful label with directions for each of the activities and taped the label to a basket. Inside the basket, I placed any supplies or materials that would be needed for the activity. I placed the baskets in random locations around the playground so students could spread out, but where I could also supervise all students at the same time.

Projects

I never feel like I have enough time for elaborate projects during the year. This is unfortunate, because I love projects. The last few weeks of the year are a great time to engage students in large projects, especially the ones that will keep students motivated and allow them to apply what they’ve learned throughout the year. You could allow students to have extreme flexibility through a time such as Genius Hour. Or, you could assign more specific projects, such as a Museum Wax Project. I’ve always loved incorporating geography and travel into my instruction, because that’s something I personally enjoy, so one of my favorite projects is my “Great Explorations” project.

I have two versions of this project. One with a focus on states and one with a focus on different countries. In this project, students try to earn 100 points by completing activities that have a different point value based on the difficulty of the task. I’ve created 10, 25, 50, and 75 point activities, with 17 total potential projects that students can choose to complete. There is a wide variety of activities to address many different learning styles. I’ve also created thorough direction cards for each of the activities. I’ll print and laminate a few copies of each card, so that I can use them year after year.

Reflect

An essential component to winding down the year is reflection, for both teachers and students. One activity that I always enjoy is having students fill out a report card. This makes students so excited because they get to grade the teacher and/or their school. Since I didn’t want students just quickly writing down grades, they have to explain why they gave the grades they selected. I was initially a little nervous to give my students the opportunity for this feedback, but they’re typically spot-on with their evaluations.

I also like to encourage reflection with my Letters to My Future Self activity. This writing activity gives students the opportunity to write letters to their future self. Students will write a variety of letters on different topics and will seal the letters inside envelopes to be opened on a particular date or event. For this activity, I allowed my students to determine when they can open each envelope in the future. I encouraged them to choose dates such as their 30th birthday, high school graduation, day of first job, and other memorable times and milestones.

I may also incorporate this reflection into my writing workshop. This way, students can reflect on how their mindset has changed or what they have learned over the course of the year.

Of course, I do squeeze in some art and some extra fun activities too, so it’s not only teaching after testing…more about those soon!

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I love the end of year countdown, and the lower the number gets, the more excited I am about summer vacation! I wanted to make something that would incorporate that end of year countdown into our daily routine. Since I already do a Number of the Day, I thought that it would be fun to use the activity as part of my morning work. You can use the questions to use as a final end of the year countdown starting at 20 days left of school and work their way down to one.

There are two questions on a piece of paper, but you could easily cut them half to use as task cards. This end of year countdown would make an incredibly fun station or center activity! They could also be placed on a document camera to help save paper and copies!

End of the Year Countdown – Student Gift

Hang in there, and I hope you have fun with the end of year countdown! You can check out this post for a huge collection of ideas for end of year activities.

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