Class Activities for the Last Week of School

The last week of school is a time when excitement is high and students are thinking about vacation. Teachers, however, are thinking about cleaning up their classrooms, collecting materials, and getting organized for the next year. At some schools, textbooks and other materials might be collected a week or two early, making it impossible for teachers to continue with the regular curriculum. Instead of looking at this time as hours to fill, teachers can use it for fun and interesting activities.

Make a Class Yearbook Using Left Over Materials

Students can make their own yearbooks by using pictures taken throughout the year, and decorating their books with things left over from class projects. This is a good time to have students use the feathers, cotton balls, or other materials you have laying around. By giving students a chance to make a book however they want, you can make sure that they truly enjoy the project. Here are some suggestions.

• Ask parents to supplement your store of class photos for use in the yearbooks.
• Make photocopies of the photos.
• Give students construction paper, glitter, glue and other supplies that they can use to decorate their books.
• Ask student to write captions or descriptions on each page of their yearbook.
• Have students share their yearbooks.

Have Students Create a Summer Rap

One way to give students something fun to do during the last week of school is to have them create a song or rap. Share some examples of songs you like with students. Make sure you go over the song identifying the literary devices, like the imagery and examples of rhyme.

• Once students have some ideas, ask them to write a song about summer. They can work in groups or individually.
• Have students practice their songs with partners.
• Invite students to share their songs with the group.

Invite a Guest Speaker

The last week of school might be a great time to bring in a speaker to talk about their job or specialty. For example, you could ask an engineer who works in robotics to visit and discuss their job. While students don’t have to follow up with a written assignment, you could have students engage in a class discussion afterwards.

• Tell students about the speaker before hand and ask them to come up with questions.
• Have students discuss what they thought about the speaker’s presentation afterwards. Ask them if they think this might be something they would like to do.
• Ask students to share what else they would like to learn about this job.

Play a Game

While there is not a lot of time to play games during the school year, the end of the year is a good time to engage in some educational play. Although not all games have an educational bent, here are a few suggestions.

• Bring in Scrabble and have students play in groups. Make sure to give them a dictionary.
• Have students play a game like Trivia Pursuit. Make sure the questions are ones your students can answer.
• Go over the rules for chess and have students play.
• Ask students to bring in their favorite game.

What follows are some more some suggestions for end of the year activities.

End of the Year Activities:

Do You Remember When

Students reflect on the academic year and create a yearbook.

Let’s Write a Song

In this lesson students learn about song writing and create their own song.

Listening to a Class Speaker

Students learn about the skills necessary to listen effectively to a class speaker.