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May 2008

END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR: MAKING IT MEMORABLE

When you were a student, do you remember what you did at the end of the school year? Chances are, you remember anything “out of the ordinary.” Schools have a required number of days, and teachers want to use every one of them to teach. Toward the end of the year, students have other ideas. So provide a balance – teach up to the very last day, but incorporate a little extra fun to make the end of the year extraordinary.

Even if you have to turn your grades in before the last day, there’s still time to teach. You can teach new concepts, but that last week is also perfect for review. It’s a great way for students to see how far they’ve come!

No matter what subject you teach, CLASSROOM JEOPARDY!® and GEOSAFARI® QUIZ BOWL are always great options for review, since you can create your own questions.

Have students be the teacher. During the last weeks of school, students choose a subject and topic and give a 10-15 minute lesson on it.

Invite a motivational speaker. For younger students, it can be a book character in costume. For older students, invite a career counselor or local “celebrity.”

Design board games. Have groups of students choose a topic and design their own board game around it.

Language Arts

Play word games. Use vocabulary and spelling words you have learned throughout the year. How about a spelling bee?

Act out books. Have students do a skit or monologue or play charades based on a book or a character. Young students can draw pictures, make clay figures or dioramas, etc. Also great for history review!

Write poems. Students can write a sonnet, ode or other form of poetry on classroom events, books, personal experiences or anything class-related.

Record books on tape. Have your good oral readers record books for nursing homes, blind associations or younger students. With our MP3 PLAYER/RECORDER, you can record, then transfer files to your computer and burn them to a CD.

Have students write a letter to next year’s class. Instruct them to “write to inform” in the proper letter format and relate events that happened throughout the year. It’s a great last-minute lesson that next year’s students will love.

Social Studies

Hold a debate. It can be based on current or historical events.

Create a culture. Give students different map coordinates and have them locate them on a map or GLOBE. Instruct them to research the country or culture (past or present) and give a presentation on it, complete with a craft, food, flag or other visual aid. (Our SOCIAL STUDIES ACTIVITY BOOK PACKS are a great resource.)

Hold Olympics. Make sporting events more than just a field day! If your school can coordinate it, have each homeroom or section choose a country. Students can design flags and t-shirts, research the language and national anthem and more. If school-wide isn’t an option, hold a mini-Olympics in your class and have each student choose a country.

Study summer safety. Have students brainstorm about things they might do during the summer (go to the beach, go camping). Divide the class into groups and assign an activity to each. Students should determine safety hazards (sun/heat exposure, bug bites, fire, riding in a car) and list safety precautions (sunscreen, seatbelt, etc.).

Science

Have a paper-airplane contest. It’s fun and a great lesson in aerodynamics.

Plant a tree on school grounds.

Take a nature walk. Have a quick lesson in local flora and fauna, naming trees, flowers and even birds or other animals along the way.

Conduct experiments. The last week of school is a great time for students to conduct simple science experiments. Our BUILDING BLOCKS OF MATTER and FANTASTIC FORCES books include experiments you can try.

Go orienteering. Divide students into pairs and give each pair a compass. Give them coordinates/directions for a certain secret location inside or outside and see if they can locate it.

Turn cleaning into a lesson on recycling. As students clean out their desks and lockers, have them sort their stuff into four piles: keep, recycle (paper), throw away (full notebooks) and reuse (textbooks, writing instruments). Add a math lesson: have each student weigh his/her pile of recycled paper and add all the weights together. Use our RECYCLE BIN (On sale for $7.95!) for easy collection.

Math

Have a math scavenger hunt. What students look for in the room can vary depending on the grade you teach. Things could include circle, percentage, prime number, time, etc. Have a prize for the first one who finishes.

Have students redesign your room. Provide each student with graph paper and an inventory list, using simple shapes like squares, circles, half-circles and rectangles to represent furniture. Give instructions (must have a reading area, must use all items in the inventory, etc.) and have students go to it! You may find a layout you want to use!

Do math across the alphabet. Have students think of one math term for each letter of the alphabet and give an example in booklet, poster or slideshow form.

Conduct real-life math activities. Teach students to write a check or do their taxes. Our MATHWORKS! and REAL-LIFE MATH series provide easy activities and experiments to help students relate math to the real world.

Make Memories

Create a memory book for graduating students. Have teachers, parents, peers and others write messages or place pictures in the journal and give the journals to the students on graduation day.

Provide time to sign yearbooks. If your school delivers yearbooks during the last week of school, make time in the first or last few minutes of each day for yearbook signing.

Have a dress-up day. Teach your lessons as normal, but have a themed dress-up day, like pajama day (students wear pajamas and slippers), beach day (students wear shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops) or something they vote for, within reason.

Create an end-of-year slideshow. Pass out photos to students beforehand and have them write the captions. This slideshow can then be used at open house the following year to show parents and new students what they can expect. Create memory books for your students using the slideshow printout.

Have a peer awards ceremony. Have each student pick another’s name (or assign one) and create an award to give that student. It could be “Great Speller,” “Math Whiz,” “Nice Person,” etc. Our TEACHER REWARD KIT includes blank certificates.

HOT TIP: Write a thank-you note to each student. Note personal goals they reached. Make each of them feel special.

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