Once Spring Break is over, a glance at the calendar makes it clear that end of the year activities are near. A quick glance around the classroom and it is obvious that students know that the time is approaching as well. What is most needed then is some end of the year activities that bring a little fun, engagement, and rigor to the classroom so we can all be productive and experience some joy during a chaotic time!
Keep reading for 10 No-Sweat End of the Year Activities To Finish The School Year Right!
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How might end of the year activities be different from the norm?
When I select end of the year activities, I try to make them more engaging and interactive than the usual curriculum! Whether it’s adding in movement, looking back on the school year that was, or even including music, there are lots of options to switch up the day-to-day norms for those last weeks and days of the school year.
Plus, with only a bit of time left in the year, keeping students’ attention and focus on coursework becomes even more challenging. Incorporating purposeful end of the year activities can make for some fun last days of school that will keep students’ attention and cover those last bits of the curriculum, too!
10 End of the Year Activities To End The School Year
1. Reflect on the year
Spend some time looking back to the school year that has just happened as a part of end of the year activities! Consider life in and beyond the classroom for this reflective writing activity that asks students how they have changed (and grown) in terms of education, physicality, reading ability, and more. Additionally, it works well as writing practice with paragraph structure guides and teacher rubrics. We could all use a little bit of reflection in our lives every now and then!
2. Create a vision for summer
After your students have looked back on their year, have them look ahead! With summer fast approaching, harness that excitement with this Summer School and End-of-Year Activities Pack. It’s a great media activity where students design a film scene and poster to reflect their vision for an ideal summer.
Although many summer movies idealize the perfect summer, I think we all know the truth. It’s sometimes VERY boring and simply uninteresting being away from our school friends, even for us teachers 😉
3. Set goals for the summer and next year
Have students combine reflection with looking ahead to make some plans with a goal in mind. After considering their successes and challenges of the past year, students can use these final moments for a year-end activity that asks them to write a goal for the summer. This goal can be academic or personal, but its purpose is to provide some structure for students. When we are specific in our goals, it helps us to accomplish them!
Need short stories with questions ready-made? Check out the post below!
4. Create a playlist
Creating a playlist is always a hit with students. Have them create a music playlist that fits with their past year or their hopes for the summer.
Consider using the different units covered in your class this year as a guide for the playlist. For example, if you teach Shakespeare, ask students what song could sum up that unit of study. This process is often insightful as a source of student feedback about the overall course.
5. Read poems JUST for fun
Adding poetry in at any time of year just makes sense because the short texts lend themselves to a more flexible timeline.
This “Song of Myself” Poetry Analysis Pack inspired by Walt Whitman’s poetry is a fun and easy poetry comprehension activity that helps students personally connect with poetry. With aspects of analysis and creativity, this end-of-year activity is a sure bet when you want a break from the norm!
6. Analyze movies
Add more media into class with a film and literature approach. There is an opportunity to have students be more than viewers by including an analysis of film content and techniques.
You can pick any film and use this resource for students to explore film techniques, mood, character, as well as theme in a written assignment (that comes with full teacher instructions and a rubric to save time!).
7. Help students with summer job/activity ideas
Use the end of the year to help students create their first resume or revise one with their new experiences from the school year.
Bring in some examples of job postings and get students to brainstorm how their experiences from the past school year can transfer to such a job. For example, if they played on a sports team, then this shows their time management skills by balancing school, practice, and games. It can also demonstrate teamwork and communication skills. Who couldn’t use a little help finding a first job?
8. Write ideal social media posts for next year
We know students love their social media so tap into that with this activity that focuses on documenting an ideal day.
This is a double-duty activity since it’s fun and engaging but can also start discussions about social media use. Pair the activity with an article such as this one from the Pew Research Center that includes graphs to examine the visual representation of data or this article from the American Psychological Association about benefits and risks.
In fact, it’s a double, double-duty activity because it can be used for the first day of school and then redone as one of your end of the year activities.
9. Read short stories you forgot to teach
This time is the perfect chance to include more short stories that you didn’t get a chance to cover earlier in the class.
There are lots of options that students will love such as “The Cactus” by O. Henry, “Click Clack the Rattle Bag” by Neil Gaiman, and “The Vendetta” by Guy de Maupassant.
This can lead to small group discussions, creative activities such as posters to create character profiles, collages to depict settings, and more. This is a chance to enjoy literature with a side of skill review!
Read more about a wide variety of short stories in this blog post.
10. Explore satire
Give students something playful but skills-focused for fun end of the year activities!
Read or watch some satire examples such as articles from The Onion or The Babylon Bee. Then, let students embark on writing their own satirical essays.
This resource asks students to answer a question about what “qualities” successful students have during the school year. Students will go step-by-step through the process of planning, creating a thesis, and then writing a piece of satire. Trust me; they will have a LOT to say about what to do and NOT to do!
Just a thought about End of the Year Activities…
It is so easy to slide into the end of the year without ANY fanfare as it can sometimes feel like we are simply hoping nothing SUPER CRAZY happens. Well, don’t let the end of the year just fizzle out.
You and your students have worked hard all year long, and the end is in sight! Make it count with end of the year activities like this bundle of options that will keep your momentum going without burning you out.
RESOURCE: END OF THE YEAR ACTIVITIES
This End of the Year Activities BUNDLE is a FUN way to engage your middle and high school students as they close out the year, continue learning at home, or participate in summer school activities! They will write about the following during the last days of school:
MY SUMMER GOALS, MY PERFECT SUMMER, MY SUMMER IN SOCIAL MEDIA, MY SUMMER IN FILM, & MY END OF YEAR REFLECTIONS!
Just PRINT and TEACH!
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