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End of the Year Tips Part Two: Some Things That Worked

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The end of the year is tough! In my last post, I shared some of the things I did wrong.

You can read those here.

But it wasn’t all bad. There are some great things about the end of the year. Testing is over, for one.

By this time in the year, students have a lot of excess energy, so I’ve always tried to keep us as busy as possible. Not with worksheets and busywork, though. I love using projects, hands on learning experiences, and STEM engineering challenges for this.

STEM

First, they were literally BEGGING to do more STEM engineering challenges. And who am I to refuse that.

In our Time For Kids magazine, there was a really cool article about water slides with a STEM challenge for students to build a water slide. So we started with that.

Water Slide STEM activity

Water Slide STEM--perfect for the end of the year

 

At my school we take a fifth grade field trip to Busch Gardens, home of lots of gigantic roller coasters, so it seemed only appropriate to do roller coaster STEM next. We explored the physics of roller coasters and reviewed some concepts of energy and motion. Then, we made paper roller coasters.

Roller Coaster STEM activity Paper roller coasters--perfect for the end of the year

 

Math Project

My students had just finished up a country research project, so I decided to work in my Travel Agent Math Project. It is so much fun to plan travel. I demonstrated for them on the SmartBoard and showed them my thinking for planning a trip. I used Nashville since that’s where the TpT Conference is this summer!

Math Project Travel Agent

Then, I let them plan their own trip. It’s such a fun use of real-word math. We ran out of time and didn’t get to the extensions this year, but in the past, kids have loved that too.

Read aloud & read to self

We continued read aloud, which was a daily occurrence all year and one habit I refused to let go of even at the end of the year. I cut it super close with my last read aloud of the year. We read Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks {affiliate link}. Amazing book, I can’t recommend it highly enough. It explores bullying, assumptions, immigration, and peer relationships in a relatable and relevant way. My fifth graders loved it and groaned when I stopped reading each day. We actually finished it on the last day. I hated to cut it that close, but you know how hectic the end of the year gets.

Save Me a Seat (Favorite Fifth Grade Read Alouds)

I had several students ask if after testing we could spend more time doing read to self. Well read to self is a fixture in my classroom. No matter what, we do it. Every day. No excuses. It is one of their favorite times of the day. (It wasn’t always that way for many of them, so that’s a win in my eyes.) So I gave into the request, added more minutes, and I also decided to start it first thing in the morning. This got our days off on the right start.

Candy Bar Awards

I love using candy bar awards, and I had a set that I bought B.T.P.T. (before TeachersPayTeachers) if you can even imagine a time. Well this year has to be my most unique, original, fun-loving, creative group of personalities, and my old set just didn’t match up with my students. And I searched TpT to find the perfect set and couldn’t so I ended up making my own.

My fifth graders loved the Dot Dudes, and the award ceremony was so fun.

End of the Year Candy Bar Awards

Teach the Teacher Day

This is always one of my favorites, and this year did not disappoint. I had one student make bath bombs. One student demonstrated how to play the saxophone. One student presented factual information about the history of unicorns. We had a lesson in Swedish, some dance lessons, and facts about BTS. There were lots of drawing demonstrations, too. One student even used construction paper as a red carpet and taught us how to walk like a model.

My favorite part is seeing students in their element teaching about something that matters to them. I was dabbing away the tears, full of pride, reflecting on how far they have come this year.

End of the Year Teach the Teacher Day

 

 

While there were many things I could have done better on the management side to make my end of the year run more smoothly, I think I balanced it out with some creative, fun, and engaging activities.

So long story short, here are my tips for making the most of the end of the year:

  1. Embrace the crazy-ness of it all.
  2. Channel the energy into something that makes them think.
  3. Try to enjoy the unique individuals while they are still in your class.

 

Happy June!

 


The post End of the Year Tips Part Two: Some Things That Worked appeared first on More Than a Worksheet.


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