It’s hard to believe that it’s time to look for end-of-year activities for your students! I can’t believe it!

When spring break is over, state testing is complete, and you followed the scope and sequence of your academic plan. Your students are anxiously waiting for the last day of school and so are you.

In the student mindset, they’re thinking there’s nothing to do, but little do they know, you still have a folder of learning tricks that you haven’t even touched. If you’re like me, you have pulled out your end-of-the-year folder the morning of spring break for review and planning.

After spring break you are in the downhill stretch to the last day of school. It’s is a difficult time to keep students engaged-especially 8^th graders who have one foot out the door to high school. So I started to look into more end of the year school activities.

This year I updated my end of the year folder with activities to begin 35 school days before the last day of school. I wanted to start my first activity (class novel) the week before our state testing sessions. This way, I can build and weave assignments that were still high with rigor and discussion to apply to possible testing scenarios.

Each activity, in my year-end folder, will blend effortlessly like the classroom novel. Especially with the end of the year assemblies, field day fun, and/or field trips. So if your class time gets cut to only half an hour, it’s easy to start and stop a lesson and continue any day where you left off.

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11 End-of-Year Activities

1. Class Novel- I usually gather 5 books and give students a little synopsis on each. Then the class will vote on the book we will read as a class. I usually find novels I can pair with a movie (The Outsiders, City of Ember, Tale of Despereaux).

During those long testing days, we can then listen to an audio of a novel and discuss and reflect on perspective and analysis. Then I can add a compare/contrast lesson between the novel and the film and can lead to discussion. I really like to read class novels during our state testing assessments.

2. Autobiography Project/Life Map/Timeline– Have students investigate themselves and write an autobiography. I will also show a few, “Draw my Life” videos on YouTube. The students love to share about themselves so you can also add a day for presentations.

3. Time Capsule Reflection– We use a day of reflection to open our Time Capsules that we created back on the First day of school.

4. Class Comic Book– The class develops a comic book based on a scenario that happened in the school year. Each student will draw out a comic book page and I will make copies and compile in a book. Everyone will have one to take home.

5. Film as Literature- I usually do a film as literature unit around the holidays but I think it would work well for the end of the school year. I try to focus on the topic of character perspective, dialogue, and overall literature analysis through film.

6. Write letters to incoming students– I give my students a template to fill out that is foldable, like a brochure for incoming students in my class. They write to future students, what they can or can’t expect and any tidbits they should know about me or the classroom environment. I then pass out these brochures the first day of school for my students to read.

7. Chalk Talk– As we analyze lyrics as poetry, I have students pick out their favorite quote from their lyrics and as a class, we will go outside with chalk and write their favorite quote on the sidewalks all around our school.

8. Write letters in Futureme.org– I discovered furtureme.org a couple of years ago and use it with my time capsule lesson plan. Students can write a letter to themselves that will be emailed to them at a future date in life. I tell them to get creative and write about whatever they want because I won’t read it.

My goal for them is to set 3 goals, one for the beginning of the school year, one for the end of the school year, and one later in life in the future (they can choose the date). This activity can be done at the beginning of the school year, around new years or at the end-of-the-year.

9. Make autograph books/yearbooks- We have yearbooks at our school but in reality, most students cannot afford yearbooks. I decided to make an autograph book for our classroom that students can use as their own personal yearbook.

I print out a roster with pictures of each student in the class and compile them into booklets with autograph pages. Students can decorate and make their own, and we have them ready to sign on the last day of school.

10. Personal Roundtable Discussion- The last week of school, I reserve the last 10 minutes of each class period for a roundtable discussion. Throughout the school year, I gather questions my students might have. I put them in a bowl and the last 2 weeks of the school year, I take 10 minutes to pull out a question and answer it. I then will give a question out to the class to answer as well. For example: What do they think it will be like next school year? or What was their favorite/least favorite lesson this school year?

11. Write a letter to a former teacher– I give my students a form where they can write a letter to their teacher. They can choose any teacher they want, and I will deliver the letter to the teacher. I always get a thank you from the teacher that received the letter.

Although it feels like we as teachers are just trying to get done, we really know the last month of school is such a rewarding time.

We spend the year with students that we didn’t know the year before and now they will always be a part of our lives and careers. It’s fun to reward them with some exhilarating end-of-the-year activities they will love.

If you have an end of the year activity to share, please leave it in the comments below, I would love to add it to the list!