End of the Year Time-Fillers (Psst…they’re still educational)
As the end of the year quickly approaches, the curriculum starts to wind DOWN while students’ energy cranks UP. This makes the end of the school year SO HARD. Take another sip of coffee dear teacher. Let me help you survive these last few weeks with some low-prep “time fillers” that still align with the standards to keep your admin happy, your students busy, and you a little less exhausted. ish.
Have your students write a note to your future students.
My students LOVED this activity every single year. I would tell them to write a note to my next year’s students titled “how to survive 5th grade in Mrs. S.’s class”. I would tell them that if the notes were well-written, I would put them on desks the following year for my students to read on the first day of school. And I actually DID! Some of the my favorite ‘survival’ tactics that previous students wrote about my classroom were:
“Do your homework. Just do it. If you want recess, do your homework.”
“If Mrs. S quietly starts writing at her desk while looking around, she’s making a list of names. Do not get on that list.”
“If you don’t walk in the hallway nicely she will bring the whole class back to the classroom to try again. You’ve been warned.”
Have your students create book reviews about the best book they read that year.
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but my students really enjoyed it! I would compile the book reviews into a booklet, and display it in my classroom library the next year so future students could get some awesome book recs! (Below I have linked a Book Review Freebie that is NOT mind, but that I think would be perfect for this!)
Review some skills from the year, but make it easy on you!
The sooner you start the “fun stuff”, the sooner your class CHECKS OUT. That’s a big no no. So as your curriculum winds down for the year, it can help to continue giving your students activities and work that still align to content standards. Plus admin will love you for that, too. End of the year review packets that focus on specific skills are the perfect way to do that! I’ve got a couple linked below, but feel free to throw your own together using worksheets that you didn’t get to complete earlier in the year!
End of the Year Dictionary Skills is the perfect review for the end of the school year. It is a LITERAL Print-and-Go, and students will practice guide words, interpreting definitions, alphabetical order, parts of speech, and more!
This spring-themed synonyms and antonyms packet is the perfect review synonyms and antonyms. It is also Print-and-Go, and students will keep super busy analyzing, matching, and identifying synonyms and antonyms!
An End of the Year Escape Room!
Make it stand out
Okay, so this would technically fall under “fun stuff”, but I promise it’s not one of those run around the room Escape Rooms. The whole thing can be completed in one seat, with students working independently or with partners. They will unscramble summer-themed words, decode a secret message, solve riddles, and put summer words into alphabetical order!
Wishing you a wonderful end of the school year! May your coffee be STRONG and your students be CALM!
