I came home from school yesterday and cried.
And not because the end of the year is so overwhelming, busy, and exhausting…{although that may be where part of the tears are coming from. JK! #AmIJustKiddingThough??}
But because I’m going to miss my kids SO much.
For 180 school days, 23 of my third grade students and I have laughed, cried, worked hard, learned so many new things together, and have built some really amazing relationships with one another.
I’ve watched them grow not only as readers and mathematicians, but in their growth mindset, their confidence and in their character.
We became a family.
And this is why the end of the school year is HANDS DOWN my favorite part of the year. We get to have more fun together this time of year, especially with the classroom/family culture that we built. #RelationshipsFirst
And not that we don’t have fun all year long through different classroom transformations, math games, math puzzles, centers, book clubs, group projects, and such…BUT NOW we can really have fun, enjoy each other’s company so much more, relax a bit more because IT IS the end of the year.
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End of the Year Activities
So what activities do you do with your students at the end of the school year?! I’m going to share a list of 21 end of the school year activities that I’ve done with my students. I would love to hear if you have done any of these end of the year activities/themes or if you plan on trying one or more of them! Definitely comment and let me know below!
1. End of the Year Activities: STEM Day
STEM Day is one of my student’s favorite end of the year themed days. During the school year, we have STEM Fridays—where my students will work in table groups to complete a STEM challenge. I literally NEVER have any absent kiddos on Friday because they don’t want to miss the Friday STEM challenge. So, having a STEM Day during the last week of school was a no brainer. These free summer STEM projects are perfect!
2. End of the Year Camping Day
Okay, this day is super fun and might be one of my favorites for sure, for sure. I turn our classroom into a mini campsite and my students engage in various Math and ELA camping themed activities. I use the end of the year review activities from this unit. I wrote a detailed blog post about my camping room transformation. You can read all about my Camping Themed Day here.
3. End of the Year Game Day
Game Day is super, super easy to implement and you don’t have to do anything. YES and YES. Students bring in their favorite board game or card game, then I give them time to play! Easy. You can choose their groups for them if you want to, or you can have them choose their own groups.
4. Peer Compliments Paper Bag Activity {Class Culture}
I saw this idea on instagram from @hello3rdgrade and instantly became obsessed with it! So how it all works….each student gets a gift bag, which is taped to the whiteboard. Each student also gets a ziploc bag with an index card for each of their classmates.
Then across the span of a the last few weeks of school or so, each student writes a fun memory, a nice message, or a favorite thing about that person. Then, they drop the index card into that person’s giftbag. On the last day of school, each kiddo gets to read all of their notes and take their baggie home.
5. End of the Year Math Review Puzzles
Have you heard of Unravel the Fact math puzzles?
Dude. If you haven’t..YOU ARE MISSING OUT {in my opinion, of course *winkie face emoji hehe}
Before I get into how these math puzzles actually work, just know these math puzzles are perfect for end of the year math review and keeping your students engaged while their minds are thinking about ALL THINGS summer!
How do these math puzzles work?
The MAY/End of the Year EDITION of these cross-curricular Unlock the Fact Math Puzzles reveal facts themed around holidays in May. Your students will answer the 9 math problems, put the puzzle strips in order from LEAST to GREATEST. If they have answered the problems correctly and have placed the numbers in order correctly, an interesting fact will be revealed. They will have “unlocked a fact”. Cool, right?!!
Content Integration + Self-Correcting Math Puzzles = Happy Teacher and Engaged Students. BOOM.
What themes/facts are featured this month?
Each set of Unravel the Fact Math puzzles include themed facts around that month. The following are included in the May/End of the Year unit:
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, National Space Day (facts about Planets), National Astronaut Day (facts about Astronauts), National Tuna Day (facts about tuna), National Shrimp Day (facts about shrimp), National Bike Day (facts about history of bikes), National Train Day (facts about history of trains), Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Kentucky Derby, National Egg Month, National Love a Tree Day (facts about trees)
If you’re interested in these puzzles, the 3rd grade version is available here and the 2nd grade version is available here.
6. A-Z Reflection Book for End of the Year Reflection {Freebie}
So basically, this A-Z end of the year reflection book is an activity for students to….well…reflect on their school year haha and write down their favorite things, favorite memories, things they learned, etc.
For example, they could write “A is for arrays. In math, I learned to use arrays to figure out the answer to multiplication equations.” Then, students would draw a picture of an array.
The A-Z end of the year booklet can be done individually or as a class.
If you want to grab the free download of this printable book and try it out with your class, just click HERE.
7. Art Day
Art Day is also another really fun day because sadly, I don’t often have time to do many art projects or crafts throughout the year. For Art Day, I ask our fabulous art teacher to borrow some paint, watercolors, pastels….I bring out my construction paper, markers, all the works and have my kids GO TO TOWN.
Have you done Shaving Cream art in your classroom before?! That’s also a fun art activity!
Speaking of shaving cream, have you used shaving cream in your classroom to clean student desks?! Oh boy! Check it out here.
8. Beach Day/Pool Day
Another amazing idea from the GRAM! I saw this on Insta a few weeks ago from Juan (@teaching3rdwithmrg), a third grade teacher, and thought it was pure genius because it’s so simple yet such a memorable & fun day for the kids.
How does this work? Invite your students to bring in small pool floats, beach towels, snacks and reading material, of course. You can move all of your desks and tables to the perimeter of the room so that you have a big open space in your classroom for “the beach” or “pool area”. You can give your students time to laugh and chit chat for a bit while they “relax” by the pool, then get settled in to begin reading by the pool. So fun! I love it!
9. Beach Ball Summer Keepsake
I gave each of my students a beach ball and we used sharpies to sign each other’s beach balls. I’ve seen other teachers use frisbees and hats, too!
10. Animal Research Project
My students worked on their animal research project until the very last day of school! This was the perfect project for keeping my kids busy and engaged. My students chose an animal to research {I didn’t let anyone research the same animal}. They used books and sites like World Book Online and PebbleGo to research their animal. They had a choice of making posters or a brochure. The templates for both the poster and brochure are from this unit.
Here’s an example of a poster one of my third graders made. This is the front of her poster. On the back, she talks about the Life Cycle, Adaptations, and other Fun Facts about her animal.
11. Make S’Mores with Solar Ovens {So freaking fun!}
I did this with my third graders and we seriously had THEEE BEST time. You can check out this blog post to read about our Solar Ovens.
12. Create a Graffiti Wall
I actually haven’t done this one yet but it looked way cool so I had to include it in this end of the year must-do list! I really feel like creating a Graffiti wall in your classroom is perfect for when your bulletin boards become bare as we are closing out the school year. I always feel so bad taking everything off of the walls because the classroom becomes so sad looking. THIS IS THE SOLUTION.
Instead of having the walls totally bare {and slightly depressing}, you can put up some white or light-colored butcher paper on the wall, and have markers available to your students. They can then write shout-outs for their peers, write about fun school memories, write what they loved about third grade or whatever grade level you teach, what they loved learning this school year…the list goes on!!
13. Chalk It Up, YO!
Dude. This one is so easy and so fun. Who doesn’t love playing with chalk? I grab tons of chalk and take my students outside. My students write nice messages or shout-outs to their friends or other teachers in the building, draw or write about memories from the school year, they write out math problems and have each other solve them, and some kids just free draw. We literally just had fun with chalk!
14. End of the Year Letter to Future Students
In the past, I’ve had my students write a letter to next year’s class by giving them advice about 3rd grade, their favorite things about 3rd grade, some things they learned this year, what to expect, their FAVORITE things about Mrs. Morie {that’s me hehe} or what you should know about Mrs. Morie {she doesn’t tolerate messy desks, so keep your desk clean! 🙂 }
Here’s a great post about End of the Year Letters and a free template.
15. Sandcastle Craft and Writing Activity
This one is really cute. Students will solve the math problems in order to build a sandcastle. Then, will complete the a writing activity that ties into the craft. Check it out here – differentiated options available, too, like basic addition and subtraction within 20, two digit addition and subtraction with regrouping, three digit addition and subtraction, two by two multiplication, & basic multiplication and division!
16. Telling Time PBL Craft and Writing Project
As students read or listen to the story about Rudy’s trip through Europe, they will follow the directions and times for her train rides in order to build the train and her itinerary. Check it out here.
17. “Teach” the Teacher
The student and teacher SWITCH roles. The student will now become the teacher and teach a lesson. The student will have 15 minutes to teach the class and you, the teacher, something. They will plan the lesson prior to their assigned day and teach the class how to do something or make something. Some examples include: how to make slime, how to jump rope, how to make a paper airplane, how to do a magic trick, origami, teach words in another language, teach a card trick, etc…
18. Free End of the Year Partner Math Games
Review all those math standards from the school year in this Tic-Tac-Toe style math game. I have free sets for 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and 4th grade. Grab them here.
19. More Math Review Activities – Around the Room Math Hunt
I am obsessed with these. These task cards are so unique and so much fun. As they students solve the math problems, they will generate a silly story, sort of like a mad lib. Check out 2nd grade here, 3rd grade here and 4th grade here.
20. Fraction Friend for End of the Year Review
Want a creative and fun way to review fractions? Check out this little cutie of a fraction friend! You can check it out here in more detail.
21. Word Problem Crafts – Build a Butterfly
Ooooh! This is a fun, yet rigorous one! So, your students will solve the word problems in order to build an adorable butterfly craft! They will find their answers on the butterfly pieces sheet (this is naturally a self-checking activity because if problems were answered correctly, they’ll see their answers on the pieces).
Then, they will be able color, cut out the pieces, and build their butterfly! You can find the 1st grade set here, 2nd grade here, 3rd grade here and 4th grade here.
22. Passion Research Project
Have your students choose a topic. Once you approve the topic, they can begin researching their topic and create a Google Slides presentation. Then, students will take turns presenting. Kids always LOVE doing this!
23. Paper Airplane Challenge
Have students participate in a paper airplane building STEM challenge! Students can work in partners or a small group. They will plan how they’re going to build their paper airplane, they may plan to build 4-6 different types of paper airplanes. Then, they’ll build and test out their paper airplane. You can choose to have different challenges: farthest, longest hang time, etc. Here’s an article you may find helpful about this challenge.
24. Build a Mancala Board
I LOVE playing mancala! Have you played before? It’s a great strategy game and perfect for kids to learn how to play and extend their critical thinking.
You can start by reading an article about the history of Mancala (you could even just project this article onto the screen). If you wanted, you could have students take out a piece of notebook paper, draw a bubble map and record some of the main ideas and main points from the article. Then you can show them this video on how to play Mancala.
Here’s a read aloud on YouTube that goes hand in hand with this activity. The author even shares her time growing up in Ethiopia.
Lastly, students can build their own Mancala game using egg cartons! You can ask families to send in egg cartons. Here’s an article that explains how to make the game out of egg cartons. Once students have finished making their Mancala boards (this may take a day or two), they can begin playing. You could even have a tournament if you’d like!
25. Make Ice Cream!
Okay, this end of the year activity is always a hit for sure. Have your students make ice cream as a STEM activity. Here’s an article that shows you how to make ice cream in a bag.
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Well. All good things must come to an end. That’s the end of my 25 Must-Do End of the School Year activities! I hope you found this post helpful and were able to get a few ideas for how to end your school year!
I’d love to hear what kinds of things you do in your classroom at the end of the year OR if you tried any of the ideas from this list!
Sending hugs and good vibes your way🧡
Nesli
