The end of the school year is near! Do you have your last days’/weeks’ activities planned out for your class? If not, we’re here to help.
While you continue end-of-year schoolwork and reviewing, add some additional excitement to your class with one or more of these 10 fun and easy activities and ideas:
Make a Countdown Bulletin Board
Help your students count down to the end of the year with a fun bulletin board like this one! Each day a different student will get their chance to pop a balloon and reveal how many days are left until Summer Break. This is a fun activity they can look forward to at the end of the day, and it’s an easy way for you to remind them to stay on-task and get their work in.
Fill Up End-of-Year Memory Bags
Have students reflect on their year by having them make memory bags. Here’s how it works: Give students a brown paper bag to decorate. You can choose to put a few of your own memories on the sides and back, and/or have them decorate the bag with their own reflections from the year. Then have students place 10 different items in the bag that represent the school year. Have them fill out a notecard for each item explaining its importance. Finally, each child can present their bag on the last day of school.
Host an Interactive Themed Day or Week
Make your classwork reviews interactive and fun by turning them into a whole day or week of activities! Like camping week, market week, movie day, beach day, popcorn day, or surgery day! Use these themed days to incorporate and review skills that you have learned all year before you go into testing (or just as a general year-end overview). Your students will have so much fun they won’t even realize that they are practicing their new skills!
Write to Next Year’s Class
During the last week of school, have your students get together to write letters or a “Survival Guide” for next year’s class. Have them write what the incoming class will learn, their favorite class activities, and everything they’ll get to do in your classroom. And then save all of the letters, or the guide, and give them to your new class next year.
Make an End-of-Year Backpack Book
These Backpack Books are the perfect year-end activity to wind things up with a bang! The backpack book fosters reflection and goal setting for your kids in science, reading, writing, math, social studies, and more. They can be displayed on a bulletin board in your classroom or door and sent home as a keepsake of their year.
Incorporate a Sweet Treat
Nothing beats an end-of-year lesson that includes some fun, summer-inspired foods or drinks! In the lemonade activity, your students get to compare pink and yellow lemonade and make a graph or chart on everyone’s favorite lemonade. After graphing, the students will brainstorm words to describe their favorite lemonade and then write opinion pieces about which lemonade they like best!
Host an Awards Ceremony
Celebrate each student in your classroom on the last day of school by hosting your own class awards ceremony (you could even decorate your classroom like a stage) and giving them their own special award. You have your students vote on who gets these awards or pass them out! The best part about these is they don’t have to be serious—you can make silly awards to pass them out and the students will still love them. Use these award certificates or make your own!
Play Friend BINGO
Have kids grab something to write with and then pass out an End of the Year Bingo sheet to each student. Make sure everyone knows the rules: children will find a classmate matching each description and write his/her name in the box. Kids can go ahead and fill in blanks they already know or they can wander around asking friends if they fit one of the characteristics. The first person to complete 5 boxes in a row wins. Easy-peasy and a great way to encourage student interactions with their classmates!
Host a “Minute To Win It” Game Day!
Who doesn’t love playing games in class? Here’s a super fun and inexpensive way to host a game day in your classroom on the last day of school. Have your students compete against each other by playing these Minute To Win It games. You could even get prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Host a tournament or just do games that students can move around the room and compete in one at a time.
Give Students a Year-End Surprise
Surprise your students on the last day of class with a “thank you for being in my class” gift. Some easy gift ideas include bubbles, goodbye stars, or slap bracelets. There’s no doubt that students also love snacks! Giving your students a little keepsake or treat at the end of the year will show them you care and will remember them.
Need some more ideas for your hybrid or remote students? Try these fun Zoom games!
Congratulations on completing another school year. Enjoy your summer!
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