10 End of the Year Activities that are Interactive and Fun

As testing ends and the school year winds down, students can get antsy - they are ready for summer and no longer focused in class.

At the end of the year, you’ve covered your curriculum and textbooks need to be collected , so what do you do to keep students focused - and learning? It’s the perfect time to use interactive activities and lessons that have high student engagement.  

I have made a list of my top ten interactive activities to use at the end of the school year.

1. Play Dice & Board Games

Student plays Grammar Yahtzy using a small trashcan for a shaker and a hula hoop to contain the game play.

Games are truly the best way to learn and practice skills. There are many great games out there for math and language arts, and recently there are more for social studies and science. Or even better, create game stations where students rotate through playing specific games - or create their own game! Creating a game on specific content is an excellent way for a student to synthesize what they have learned during the school year.

Some advice:

Teach the rules of each game you provide or find a student who knows the game and put them in charge of teaching the other students. I have assumed students knew how to play common games like Battleship, only to end up with a disaster when they didn't.

To make it even more special, bring in big beach towels or mats and take the games outside on a nice day. 20+ kids playing games at the same time can get very loud.

2. Review

BalloonPop Games are available for 2nd - 6th grades and include both PowerPoint and Google Slides versions.

If you found really fun test prep games before testing and didn't get to use them all, pull them out now. All test prep does is review what students have learned all year, so it fits in perfectly during the last few weeks of school. Keep in mind that not all test prep will work during this time - if it isn't highly engaging, I wouldn't try to use it now. Everyone is ready for summer break, and students are not going to sit and do gobs of worksheets.

3. Make a Book Report

Text Features & Text Structures Pizza Book Report is just one of the craftivity book reports available in my TPT Store.

Adding more reading time at the end of the year is a nice way to transition from loud activities (like games) to a quieter learning activity. You could select a genre for students or just let them read a book of their choice.

Personally, I would allow them to select a book as long as it isn't one they have read before. (Reason being? My reluctant reader used to pull out the same book over and over again to "read.")

To keep students on track with reading during this time, teachers can give them a book report to create. Teachers could offer 1-2 options for their reports to give students more ownership of this project. Use the completed book reports practice their public speaking skills by presenting them to the class.

4. Do a STEM Project

If you struggle to fit in hands-on activities before testing, use them now. STEM is a great way to integrate math and science at the end of the year.

I used Meredith Anderson's STEM activities with my son when we homeschooled, and he really liked them. I liked them because science is definitely my weak subject, and her resources include background information on the science and engineering concepts. That really helped me to explain the learning to my son. Visit her Momgineer blog here and her TPT store here for ideas and resources.

Meredith Anderson, a trained engineer, creates many engaging STEM projects for students.

5. Create Illustrated Timelines

At this time of the year, you want to start cleaning and packing up your room, but empty walls can send the message that learning is over and increase students’ lack of focus.

To review standards and decorate your walls, have students create visual timelines of the history they learned. Start with one chapter and have students identify important dates. You could divide your time period into even chunks and assign them to student groups.

Assign each student or small group to create one event poster to hang up. Their poster should include the date, name of the event, and a drawing or visual that represents the event. Keep doing these until you have a visual timeline of everything they studied in history.

6. Complete a Research Project

If you have wanted to try a Genius Hour, you could do a mini-study at the end of the year. Students can pick any (school-appropriate) topic they want to study and research it in depth. Keep students focused by setting a daily goal for what they should achieve during each research period. Again, students should be creating a presentation on their topic to teach to the rest of the class.

7. Create a Class Yearbook

An engaging activity to do the last week of week is to create a class yearbook. Yearbooks tend to be quite expensive, and many students either can't afford one or some parents just don't want to buy them. Creating a paper yearbook for each student can be a nice keepsake for students. You can create blank templates for topics, such as the subjects they learned or activities like field day.

Pages shown are from my Class Memory Book.

8. Write A Letter to Next Year's Class

Some schools have students visit the next grade level to get a taste of what they will do next year, Another way to prepare your incoming class is to have this year's students write letters to next year's class. (This is also a great excuse to teach students how to write a friendly letter, which I have found most students don't know.)

I would save these letters and leave one on each desk at Meet and Greet in the fall. (I recommend checking the letters to make sure they will be helpful for incoming students - you never know what kids will write!)

9. Plan A Summer Vacation

Pages from my US Regions & State Research Project Unit are shown in the image. A Florida project is also available.

What is everyone thinking about? Summer vacation! Why not capitalize on that interest and have students plan a vacation? It could be a vacation that their families might take or it could be a dream vacation. You can set the requirements of the vacation to meet their grade level and the time available.

For example, students could have to research and plan their budget for lodging, travel, food, and activities in addition to the locations. They could also research the fastest route or least expensive way to travel. They could create itineraries of what they would like to do. This is a really fun research activity that will integrate research, map skills, math, and writing.

Resource Advice:

If you live near a tourism board, stop by and pick up brochures on things to do. This would limit students to in-state trips, but it would give them hands-on research materials when you may not have access to your tablets or computers. If you don't live near one, you can prepare for next year by asking different states to send your tourism information - they will usually send it for free. Additionally, you can ask if anyone's parent is a truck driver. They could easily pick up brochures as they stop at truck stops.

10. Hold a "Drive-In" Movie

This is a really fun way to end the year. That last day of school, have students help you stack the desks and chairs to the side and have a "drive-in" movie. Students could bring a beach towel and/or small pillow from home and sit on the floor to watch the movie. Bonus points if the movie is based on a novel your class read!

Be sure to have lots of grocery bags to make sure students take all of their things home with them. My school didn't allow backpacks those last few days, and the last thing the office wants is a bunch of beach towels sitting around.

I hope you will be able to use some of these interactive activities at the end of your school year! Which ones are you planning to use? Do you have another idea to share that you already use?