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4 Fun and Effective End of Year Math Review Activities for Middle School

Whether you are preparing your students for standardized tests, finals, or working to build retention with spiral review, these resources will knock your socks off with their effectiveness and the student engagement they elicit.

BINGO

Collaborative, Hands-On & “Wicked Awesome”

Hands down my favorite way to review, BINGO games encourage collaboration among students. Students work in groups to answer review questions. Watching my students teach each other and witnessing light bulb moments all around the room is my favorite part of this super fun activity. Check out the available games for 7th grade and 8th grade.

Task Cards

Endless Possibilities

Available in 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, and 8th grade, these sets of 60 task cards provide an overall review of the Common Core State Standards for each grade level. My favorite way to use task cards is to leave them in a bin at the front of the room. Each student begins with one. They complete the problem in their workspace, then return to the bin to compare their answer with the answer key. If they are correct, they trade for a new card. If they are incorrect, they return to their seat to determine their mistake. This strategy encourages movement, self-checking, and independence while students review grade level material.

Scavenger Hunts

Incorporating Movement in Your Classroom

Scavenger Hunts are my students’ favorite way to review! Students move at their own pace to complete practice problems in a specific order. Their answers lead them to the next problem. They can work together or independently while they review end of year material. While students are working, I walk around to target students who may require some reteaching. Available in 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, and Algebra 1.

Summer-Themed Practice

Engaging and Self-Checking

These stations are so unique and effective. Students travel in pairs to solve review problems. Each partner solves a different problem but they should arrive at the same answer. Then they use the provided key to acquire 8 letters that can be unscrambled to spell the secret code word. Promotes movement, collaboration, independence, critical thinking, and review. Available in 7th grade and 8th grade.

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Games Organization Review

Testing is Over: Now What?!

Posted by Free to Discover

Testing is over… now what? Get inspired with these 14 end of year ideas for your classroom! Student and teacher tested and approved! J

Review Project

Put your students in the driver’s seat for their learning. Before final exams assign students to groups to review topics from throughout the year. Presentations can include a lecture and an activity to help their classmates practice the skill. So fun!

Extension Project

For your higher-level classes, give them the opportunity to research a topic you did not discuss in class. Allow students to set up projects around the room so their peers can review the research and make notes of interesting facts or connections.

Preview Topics for Next Year

I think I enjoy this more than my students but it’s a goodie! There are definitely times when structure is better at the end of the year. Have students take notes on a topic related to what you’ve been learning but didn’t have time to completely cover or will be covered in the following year. As an Algebra I teacher, I love previewing connections to Geometry or Algebra II.

Chalk Practice

Do you catch your students staring out the window when it’s 80 degrees and sunny? In New England we only get a few of these days before school gets out so I love to bring the practice outside! Give students a list of problems to complete on the pavement with chalk. So much more fun and much less complaining!

Outdoor Class

Or hold the entire class outside! Give students a packet or activity and a clipboard, and let them work independently or in pairs outside in the grass. This is my favorite thing to do after state testing because it gets students fresh air and allows them to work at a casual pace after they’ve already worked hard all day.

Charades

Played just like the regular version, allow students to group up. Have a list of academic topics and/or funny memories from class prepared. Students then select a paper and act it out!

Surveys

Surveys are great way to gather student feedback, especially if you tried something new. One of my favorite things to ask is the rank of their favorite projects. I don’t always realize along the way which projects students loved and which were more of a pain.

Organize Classroom

One of the last few days I put my students to work! They love to help clean and organize shelves and closets. Best of all, it saves me from having to stay late on the last days of school!

Clip Art by Sarah Pecorino Illustration

Test Markers and Other Supplies

Students will enjoy doing other monotonous jobs as well! Have students check markers and pens to see if they’re still working. Throw away or upcycle whatever is dried up.

Watch a Movie
Setting up a content-related movie is a great plan when collecting textbooks or passing back lots of work at the end of year. For 8^th grade math, Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land is always a favorite!

Advice for Next Year’s Students

Have students write down their best advice for incoming students. What inside knowledge do they wish they had starting the school year? Shana of Scaffolded Math and Science has a great resource for this. You may even be getting your bulletin board done for the fall!

Game Day

When all the learning is done but you still want a semi-structured activity, host a Game Day. Students bring in their logic-themed games and sign up to play the games of their choice. Promotes cooperative learning and critical thinking so you can even write some objectives on the board for your administration. J

Letters to Teachers

I inherited this activity from a retired teacher and it is awesome! Give students 20 minutes or so to write a letter of appreciation to an adult in the building who had an impact on them throughout their years at the school. (I teach 8^th grade math so my students have been at the school since 6^th grade and are heading off to high school.) Then sort through the letters by teacher and scan for appropriateness. Deliver this pleasant surprise to teacher mailboxes.

Locker Clean-Out Trick

Have you seen how much stuff gets thrown out on locker clean-out day? I leave out two boxes and stand near the trash. Any pencils or other writing utensils being thrown out go in one and any binders, paper, notebooks, supplies go in the other. Awesome way to start a collection of extra supplies for next year!

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Games Review Teacher Resource

Calming the Year End Chaos Tips for Success

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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 à “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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