For many of us, the end of the school year is coming to a close. There are feelings of excitement, stress, and desire to play hooky to enjoy the nice weather – the students feel it, too. ;)
To help keep students on track, I try to maintain structure through the end of the year. Here are some ideas that have worked well in my middle school math classes:
1
– Review material for the year in a fun,
engaging way.
During May and early June, whether
your students have a standardized test or final exam to prepare for or not,
take time to review major topics from the year.
The reinforcement will benefit them moving forward, and they will also
see how much they have really learned throughout the school year. I have played BINGO and Jeopardy with
students. I’ve had my accelerated groups
create a review guide to be shared with the class. My favorite way to review, however, is using
task cards. There are tons of ways to
use them, but my favorite is to pair students up, place the cards and answer
key at the front of the room, and ask the pairs to get one card at a time. Students talk it out with one another, try
the problem, and then check their own answers.
This way they know whether they have a question or have the topic
mastered. I have ready to use middle school
math task cards for grades 5-8 available in my store.2
– Provide logic puzzles to keep them
thinking.
As we approach the final few days
and the final exam is over, I have always given students some type of logic
puzzles to work through. I love the ones
that ask students to decipher the common phrase given an image. For example: AallLL Ã “All in all.”
3
– Play charades.
Students loved this time-filler
activity! I made up a bunch of charades
topics that had to do with our class throughout the year and students had to
act them out it. I included specific
routines, funny events, memorable lessons, and more. It was a great interactive way to reminisce
on the year.
4 – Write a thank you letter to a favorite teacher.
As an eighth grade teacher, every
year I host this activity where students take time to write a thank you letter
to their favorite teacher throughout middle school. They take time to reflect on their journey at
the school and thank a teacher who had a big impact on their experience, citing
specific reasons or examples. I collect
the letters, skim through to make sure they’re appropriate, and then sort them
into envelopes for each teacher, and put them in their mailbox a couple days
before the end of the school. Teachers
love this little surprise! It’s such a
great pick-me-up at the end of the year when many of us are feeling so drained.
5
– Ask students to write a note to you.
I’m including this here as an end of
year idea, but I actually do this throughout the year. Give students 5 minutes or so at the end of a
class to write you a letter. I call them
“Letters to Mrs. Nix,” inspired my good friend and colleague who called hers “Letters
to Ms. Campbell.” Students can write
about anything they want: weekend plans, exciting news, how things are
going. Math jokes and drawings are
always welcome, too. It’s a great way to
learn a little bit about your students and to connect with students who might
typically be quiet in your class. It
will also make you smile!
6
– At the very end, put them to work!
The last day of class, I put my
students to work. No hanging around for
hours after the school year has ended for me.
Preplan ahead of time what needs to be done to close up your room. Write the jobs on small pieces of paper and
ask each student to choose one.
Voila! The jobs will be done in
no time. By the way, I do this periodically
throughout the year with room cleaning. “Good
morning homeroom! Pick a job.” Your room will be sanitized and organized in
10 minutes or less!
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