The Countdown is On! 5 End-of-the-Year Activities to Keep Your Students Engaged (EP 40)

5 End-of-The-Year Activities to Keep Students Engaged

Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of Elementary Math Chat. If your month of May is anything like mine used to be, normalcy and consistency pretty much goes out the door because you’ve got events like Field Day, Kickball Day, grade-level celebrations; you name it, it’s happening at the end of the year.

What usually happens on those days is you have these weird pockets of time where you’re just really not sure what to plan for, and that’s exactly what I’m going to help you with today. Today, I’m going to share five of my favorite end-of-the-year activities, some of which are ideal for five to 10 minutes, others will work well with 20 to 30 minutes, and some of them you can plan for your entire math block.

My first idea for an end-of-the-year activity is called Mystery Person Bingo. This was a game that I played with my class on the very last day of school. It was a half day, so at that point, almost our entire room was packed up. Our tables and our chairs were all stacked in a corner, so there wasn’t really much that we could do. But we could play BINGO.

This will take you about 10 minutes I would say to get ready, but you won’t do this ahead of time. You just have to give them a blank BINGO board, and I will link a free one in the show notes that actually has the title Mystery Person BINGO on it if you want to use that one.

And then you’ll also need to show them a class list either on your screen or on your board somehow, and they will write the names of each person in their class on their BINGO board. So, not only do they create their own BINGO board, but they’re also going to create the cards that you use to play the game with.

So, you’ll have each one of your students write a fun fact about themselves. And that way at the end, if you have 24 students, you’ll have 24 game cards to play with. Now, the reason it’s called Mystery Person BINGO, if you haven’t figured it out yet, is because you’re going to be reading these clues, and they’re going to try to figure out who the mystery person is by covering the name on their game board.

This is also a really fun way to get to know your kids. I know it’s the end of the year and you probably feel like you know them, but you might learn that they hit the winning run in last week’s softball tournament or their family got a new puppy.

Whatever it may be, just have them write this on the front side of either a note card, or you can just cut up a couple of pieces of paper and do it that way, and then they’ll write their name on the backside. After that, you are ready to play Mystery Person BINGO.

This game really is a lot of fun because not only do they love it when their card is called, you know when they’re the mystery person, they love to guess who the other mystery persons are. The other great thing about BINGO is it can be a 10-minute activity, it can be a 20-minute activity. You can play as many rounds as you need to.

My second idea for an end-of-the-year activity is probably my favorite. I remember doing these as a kid and I remember loving them. So, if you have about 20 to 30 minutes of time and you want to have a little fun with your class, you need to hold long division board races.

There is something about long division that makes kids want to race. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the fact that it goes from top to bottom? I don’t know, but it is so much fun to race, and even if they don’t choose to participate, they will still really enjoy this because they get to cheer their friends on as they race. So, it really is fun for everyone to do these races.

I feel like board races are kind of self-explanatory, so I won’t go into too many details. But I’ll give you a couple of tips that were helpful for me. First of all, I had anyone who was not participating (because I didn’t make them if they didn’t want to), but if they were not participating, they had to be in the back. So, everyone who was participating was in the front.

And then the second helpful tip is that my kids had to wait for me to say go before they started solving their problem. The look on their faces as they wait for you to say go is pretty priceless, by the way. Sometimes I would kind of milk it, like I wait like five seconds. I honestly wish I could just take a snapshot of that and put it in a frame.

But anyway, once you say go, they solve the problem as quickly as they can, and I also had them duck when they were finished so I could see their answer. And the first person who ducked with the correct answer was the winner of that round. And that also meant that they went to the winner’s pool.

This continued until we got down to one winner, but it wasn’t over quite yet for them, because then they got to race the teacher. They tried to beat me in a long division board race, and I’m happy to say that my streak is still alive. I have never been beaten by a student.

Some of them were a little bummed when they didn’t beat me. But I had to help them put this in perspective. You know, I’ve been doing long division for over 30 years. You just learned it six months ago. They’re like, yeah, Miss Krejci. That doesn’t make sense. So, I never felt bad for not letting them win.

All right, let’s move on to my third idea for an end-of-the-year activity. This relates to something that I mentioned back in episode 22, and this is to let them present their Google Slides projects. These projects were an early finisher idea I mentioned in that episode, and typically, I would have them present during science, like if I had three to five minutes left. But by the end of the year, I usually had probably 10 to 20 that hadn’t gotten to present.

So, I always blocked off about 30 minutes for us to get through all of the presentations. And the good thing about this is you can do five minutes here and there, you can do 10 minutes here and there, you can do them like I did, and just do them all at once. So, if your kids have been doing these as an early finisher activity, don’t stress about getting their presentations in your math block or in your science block. Just save it for that last week.

My fourth idea for an end-of-the-year activity is to give them a choice of activities to choose from, and this is going to serve two purposes. Number one, none of these activities are teacher-led. So, they’ll be able to do all of these activities on their own, and you’ll be able to work on your end-of-the-year checklist.

And number two, this is really good if you have a large block of time. I did this on the last day that I saw both of my math classes, and that was hard to plan for because I had already finished my last lesson. Our projects were wrapped up, and I needed something to keep them busy for a long period of time where they would not need me to lead it. I wanted everything to be student-led and student-directed. So, giving them several options was a great way to do so.

The first activity they could choose from was to play a math game, but this wasn’t just any old math game. They got to play one of the games that another student had made as part of an early finisher activity, and I had a lot of kids do this. So by the end of the year, I probably had 10 board games ready to play.

So, they could either play the one that they created, or they could play the ones that other people created. These math games take a little time to create because you know, they have to come up with the whole idea from start to finish. They have to come up with the questions. So, you could have them work on it throughout the week, and then they could play it on that final day if you want to do that.

It is really fun for them to get to play their own game and it’s something different. You know, my kids were used to playing games the entire year. So, being able to play the game that they created was really special. So, if you’re interested in that, I will put the link to the free resource that I found on TPT, and it teaches them how to create their board game from start to finish. It is a fabulous resource.

Another choice was a classroom project where they could redesign my classroom for the next year. I have seen some projects on TPT about this, but I didn’t give them any handouts. I just told them to look around the room and design my classroom for the next year. They didn’t really need any instructions beyond that.

Another activity they could choose from was to create a math poster. This poster could be over any skill that they had learned in fourth grade, and they would kind of create an anchor chart I guess you could say. I always told them if it was good enough, then I would hang it up when I was teaching that concept the following year.

The fourth activity they could choose from was the only digital activity for the day, and this was a Google Sites breakout. Now, this is like a digital escape game, but it’s a little bit different than the ones that you might be used to. There are hidden clues within the Google site. They have to find these clues and then it leads them to a different page. It’s really neat.

So, really any type of digital breakout, escape game, anything that’s digital. A math mystery, my kids loved those as well. These are great because all you have to do is send them a link and then they can take care of it themselves.

The final activity they could choose from was a line plot project. This is a free project that I found on TPT. So, I will have that linked in the show notes for you, and you would think that no one’s going to pick an activity about line plots on the last day of school. But you would be surprised how many of my students chose this.

The project itself is really simple. They get to go around the room and survey their classmates to gather their data, and they also get to choose their own topic. So, that makes it pretty flexible for what grade level you can use it with. 

So, for my fourth graders, I made sure that their topic incorporated fractions somehow or measurement because fractions were a big part of our line plots.

I remember one group doing the size of everyone’s shoes. So, they went around and asked everyone what they wore. And I remember another group doing the width of our hands. So, they had to go around with a ruler, and they measured from the pinky to the thumb. That one took a little more time because it wasn’t just a quick question, but they had fun with that one as well.

And then when they finished their project, if they had time, some of them didn’t get to this. But if they had time, they could make a poster with their line plot data, and then they could show it to the class. And that was neat because then the class could see how their data compared to everyone else’s.

So, this day had a little bit for everybody. There were math games, there were projects, there were digital breakouts, and that was perfect for our final math block.

My fifth and final idea for an end-of-the-year activity is to record your students giving advice to your next year’s class. Now, the only thing with this one is it does take some time. And I will admit, I did not do this the last few years because I just did not have the time for it.

I instead had them write letters to my next year’s class. But I will admit, and I feel bad for saying this, I actually never gave those letters to my next year’s class. 

I always had good intentions, but the thought of passing them out and then allowing time for them to read them. And then what do they do with the letters? A lot of times they get thrown away, or they leave them behind. So, I think that’s why I ended up not passing them out.

But when I recorded them, I always ended up showing them to my next year’s class, and here’s the thing.

When you have it in video form, you have a lot more flexibility of when you can show it. You can show it for a morning meeting. You can use it as a time-filler throughout the day, or you can show it at the end of the day.

So, if you plan on doing this, I found it helpful to brainstorm a few ideas together first, because some of them have a hard time coming up with appropriate advice. They like to be funny and say, “My advice to next year’s class is to not throw pencils across the room.” Well, how was that helpful? That’s obvious.

So, I gave them three topics to stick to. They could be organizational tips, like keeping your binder organized. They could be academic tips, like making sure you prepare for tests a few days in advance. Or it could be along the lines of making friends and friendship tips. Like if they see someone playing alone at recess, go up to them and ask them if they want to play tag or if they want to go on the swings.

So again, this one does take a little time because you have to brainstorm with them, they’ll need a little time to practice, and then you have to record them. And by the way, when you do record them, I would record them in the hallway where it’s quiet. And then the rest of your class can be working on something inside, maybe those final day activities I just mentioned.

But this one is worth the time that it takes. It is a really fun activity. They will enjoy doing it, and you’ll look back that next year and think oh my goodness, I missed my class already! Or maybe you won’t…we all have those years, don’t we?

Just a reminder, everything that I talked about today from the Line Plot Project to the Mystery Person BINGO, all of those links will be in the show notes if you want to take a look. And remember, you can find that in the show description, or there’s a link in the show description that will take you to my website that also has these links.

All right, well, that’s gonna take us to today’s teaching Tip of the Week. Today, I want to tell you about one of my favorite end-of-the-year gifts that I gave my students. 

Now you certainly don’t have to give your kids a gift. I mean, there were years when I just gave them a bag of goldfish, they all loved goldfish, and on it was a little tag that said “It’s o-fish-ally summer!”, and they loved it. They were fine with that. I really don’t think they expect you to give them anything. I think summer break is a gift in and of itself.

But if you want to give them something special, then I have the perfect idea for you. 

Now this is going to take you a little time to put together because what you’re going to do is you’re going to combine all the pictures that you’ve taken throughout the entire year and turn them into an end-of-the-year slideshow that you’ll eventually send your students.

So, if you haven’t taken pictures throughout the year, then you can just save this idea for next year. But if you have been taking photos, then this will be a pretty easy process. 

So, I would start with the big events first like any field trips or performances or school assemblies, and then go through and see if you have any pictures from maybe a crazy hair day or a dress-up day. Those are really fun to put in there as well because a lot of times they forget about those days.

And then the final thing that I suggest putting in this slideshow is just regular pictures. If you have pictures of your kids working on their choice board or presenting projects or doing an escape game. For me, I really wanted them to remember not only the big events and the special events, but I also wanted them to remember the small things.

You know, what was life like in fourth grade? What was it like to be a part of Miss Krejci’s class? And so, by putting those regular everyday pictures in there, that will give them a feel for that.

Again, this takes a little time to put together. But I promise you, it will be so worth it when you see the look on their faces when they realize that you have been taking pictures the entire year, and they are going to get to take these pictures home with them. 

Also, a lot of them will go home and show their families because you know, families only get to see so much. They don’t get to see the everyday things that we do, and so they really appreciate that as well.

All right. Well, that is all for this week. I really hope to see you back here next week because next week is the final episode of season one. I’ll be doing a little reflecting on the season, and I will also share my plans for the future of Elementary Math Chat. So, I hope to see you back here next week.