How Can I Prepare for the Last Weeks of School?

What do we really need to do during those last few weeks of school?

Hopefully, by this point in the year, you are done with testing, and pretty much finished with all the "have tos."  Even if you're not quite done teaching everything, I hope you have some time for some end-of-the-year fun!

 

Here are some things you can put into your plans for the last few weeks of school:

 

1. Deepen Learned Skills

 

 

Brain research tells us that we need to review skills in order to maintain them and to deepen them. That means fun activities and games to practice those important skills you've built all year! 

 

This bundle has several fun options for reviewing and deepening skills!

 

2. Prepare for summer habits

 

We want our students to continue some important habits they've developed through the school year. This is a great time to introduce some fun games!

 

Here are the links to a few posts that tell about classroom games that can be played at home:

 

Ten Easy Learning Games

Ten Reasons My Students Play Lots of Games 

 

Plus, here's one to encourage them to enjoy reading! (This is one you can work on all year!)

Relax and Read

3. Make the Last Days Special

 

 

It's time for using those skills they've worked on all year for some fun projects!

It's a perfect time of year for putting on a play or performance of some sort. These activities build important reading skills as well as building community and teamwork.  Here's a post with more information on Dramatics in the Classroom. 

I absolutely LOVE Boom Learning Digital Task Cards! These are easy to assign, and the students love them! Check out this bundle: Science and Social Studies Vocabulary Building Bundle

These are a great way to develop vocabulary for Science and Social Studies. They use brain-researched strategies such as Retrieval Practice, which is explained here:

Here are a few more resources that follow this strategy that are perfect for end-of-the-year review!

Fun and Engaging Digital Science Topics Practice and Review cards Deck #1

Fun and Engaging Digital Science Topics Practice and Review cards Deck #2

Fun and Engaging Digital Social Studies Topics Practice and Review cards Deck #1

Fun and Engaging Digital Social Studies Topics Practice and Review cards Deck #2

4. Share Memories

This is a great time of year to sit back and enjoy the special memories the group has made this year. 

 

It's easy to make a memory book, or a slide show with photos from the year. I've always had the children write down their favorite memories from the year a few weeks before the end of the school year. This gives me time to type things up into a nice book. I've also found parents are quite helpful in donating photos from school events.

These are special memories for them (and you) to cherish forever. I still have memory books from many years past, and I love remembering my former students!

5. Enjoy them

My favorite thing to do at the end of the school year is to take the time to enjoy these special children. I know, it's not easy! Between end-of-year testing, packing up the classroom, and report cards, there's little time left. But these kids are totally worth it, aren't they?  Here's a blog post that suggests some fun ways to enjoy the students. Take time to Enjoy them!
 

Enjoy these last few weeks with your students!