You need easy, low-prep ideas for the last days of school and I’ve got some great ones for you! These ideas are also good for those afternoons after standardized testing.
1—Have a read-in for as much of the day as your students can handle! Let them bring pillows, stuffies, and towels to lie down on. Let them stretch out around the room and create comfy reading spots. Everyone should have a good supply of books and magazines. Snacks and drinks are optional. Try reading for 30 minutes, take a 10-minute break, and then repeat! This makes for a great time for you to get paperwork done.
2 – A variation on the read-in: have a camping-style or beach-day read-in.
For camping: let students create “tents” with towels or blankets and use flashlights for reading. You might display a campfire image or video on the board. Make s’mores for snacks! (If you have one nearby, you can make these in a microwave.).
For beach day: set up towels as “beach towels.” Display a beach image on the board. Eat goldfish crackers for snacks. (Yes, I know that goldfish are not ocean animals, but they’ll do as a fun snack!)
3—Create a graffiti wall. Display some butcher paper on the wall and keep markers available for students to write about their favorite memories of the year, compliments for classmates, the best books they read, etc.
4 – Let groups of students rehearse and then present reader’s theater skits. Here is a site with lots of fairy tale-type stories and this site has some picture book and fairy tale-type stories.
5 – Have board game tournaments! Allow students to bring board games from home if you don’t have any in your classroom.
Some good choices: Clue, Monopoly, Sorry, Scrabble, Headbanz, Life, Uno, Checkers, Sequence, Rummikub, Battleship, Trouble, Mouse Trap, Yahtzee.
6 – Show different movies in different classrooms and allow students to choose which movie they want to watch.
7 – Have your students write ABC books on how to survive your class or grade. Then you can share these with next year’s class in the first days of school! Tell your students to include their best advice for how to stay out of trouble, how to stay on your good side, etc.
8 – Make tessellations! This site gives directions.
9 – Write letters! Suggestions: write a letter to themselves reflecting on the past year and setting goals for the future; write thank-you notes to people in school (both adults and students) who have helped them throughout the year; write letters to next year’s students.
10 – Enjoy some fun EOY “would you rather. . . “ questions!
11 – Use these EOY reflection questions and have students use the Quiz-Quiz-Trade protocol to share their answers with each other.
12 – I love this activity from The Responsive Counselor website. It uses the book The Invisible String and is a great reflection activity.
13 – Do your students need a reminder about what they need to do during the last days of the school year? This is a great poster from Mrs. Hall at Home on Instagram.
14 – Another fun graffiti-type option from Teaching with a Mountain View on Instagram.
15 – Have a rock-paper-scissors tournament! I love this idea from Mrs. Smith in 5th on Instagram.
16 – The website We Are Teachers always has great printable activities for any time of year. Here are some for the last day (or days) of school.
17 – Jennifer Findley is another one of my go-to sites for great activities. Here’s a link to her EOY literacy activities.
18 – Go on some virtual field trips! Here are some ideas.
19 – Read some EOY picture books. Here’s a list.
20 – Write collaborative stories! Use Story Cubes or let students just start their own stories and leave them on their desks. Give a signal, then have students rotate to the next desk, read the story and then add to it. Keep rotating as many times as you want. Let students know when it’s the last rotation so they can wrap the story up.
21—Take the reading, writing, math, or whatever lesson outside! Or just take a walk in the sunshine.
22 – Start an engaging read-aloud chapter book. Some ideas:
Wonder
The One & Only Ivan
The BFG
Because of Winn-Dixie
Because of Mr. Terupt
Charlotte’s Web
Wish
Out of My Mind
Restart
23 – Get your students to help with your EOY tasks! Here are some tips.
24 – Teach your students to solve logic puzzles! Here are some sources – this one and here’s another.
25 – Let your students learn to create origami. Here’s a great website.
26 – Art for Kids Hub on YouTube is a great video series for teaching art!
27 – Make a list of places where you can read this summer! Ideas: at the park, by the pool, at the doctor’s office, on a boat, in a fort, on the beach, at the lake, in the mountains, at camp, at a sleepover, on the computer, on the bus, on the couch, in a swing, etc.
28 – Use Kahoot (or any online game site) to play trivia games appropriate for your grade level.
29 – Make sidewalk chalk art. Let kids be creative or have them draw things that reflect some of what you’ve learned this year (state landmarks, different ecosystems, an electrical circuit, etc.)
30 – Pass the plate activity! Get some paper plates and colorful markers. Let students write their name in the middle of the plate, then start passing the plates around! Each student should write complimentary words to describe each classmate, then pass it on to the next student. This makes a great keepsake!
31 – Make ice cream in a bag!
32 – Get some embroidery floss and make friendship bracelets! Here’s a video tutorial.
33 – Build roller coasters with straws and ping-pong balls!
This blog post has some great game suggestions! Here are three of my favorites.
34 – Play the Anteaters game! You’ll need M & M’s, straws, and paper plates.
35 – Play Scoop & Transfer. You’ll need bowls, spoons, and cotton balls.
36 – Play Marshmallow Madness. You’ll need marshmallows, straws, small bowls, and masking tape.
37 – Have a paper airplane competition!
38 – Play Minute to Win it games.
39 -Try some old-fashioned relay races.
40 – Last but not least – here are some more fun STEM challenges!
Need more ideas? Here’s my post from a previous year.
Enjoy the last few days with your students!