Why Upper Elementary Students Need You to Be Predictable and Engaging

If you’re new to upper elementary grades or just want to know what to expect, here are eight generalizations I have found helpful to know. (By the way, this is the second post in a series where I will discuss each of these eight topics in more depth, along with some tips for how to address upper elementary students’ needs. You can read the first post in the series HERE.)

1 – They want to know the rules and expectations & they expect the teacher to be “the boss”.

2 – They thrive on routine with occasional changes to liven things up – they want you to be predictable, but engaging & fun.

3 – They want to be part of a supportive community. They don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their peers or to feel “stupid”. They worry about bullies.

4 – They want to be more independent & to be asked for their input. They still want to please their teachers (even though some may not show it).

5 – They still love to help and to feel useful.

6 – They want to know their teacher likes them & respects them.

7 – They want to learn more about the world and about topics they care about. They do question things and want to know the “why.” They are starting to understand different viewpoints besides their own, which makes for some thoughtful classroom discussions. They still get excited about learning! That being said, they will be at very different achievement levels (similar to lower grades), but they are better at hiding their lack of understanding. The curriculum is more difficult, but they are capable of rising to the challenge. Most of them love to work together and find that to be more engaging.

8 – They still want their grownups/families to be proud of them.

In this post, we’ll focus on the second observation: Upper elementary students thrive on routine with occasional changes to liven things up. They want you to be predictable, but engaging & fun.

1 – Establishing routines and procedures at the beginning of the year is very important. This is your chance to show your students what you expect and how you want them to behave and interact with others.

How to do this?

~Have a procedure (or create one) for everything. Teach those procedures during the first week of school and expect to review them (and practice) frequently during the first six weeks. (By the way – it’s always a good idea to revisit any routines and procedures after school breaks as well.)

Even though you might feel “they should know this by now, they’ve been in school for several years now, etc.,” trust me. They need to know what YOU expect and how YOU want them to follow procedures.

2 – Show your students that you are here to teach them and keep them safe, and that you want to get to know them and hear what they think.

How to do this?

~Provide lots of opportunities to talk in all subjects. (See links to some of my posts about engagement strategies below.)

~Be a presence in your classroom & show your students that you really see them. Look them in the eye when they’re talking. Circulate around the classroom and make comments about the good things you are seeing.

(By the way, circulating frequently helps you stay in close proximity to your students, keeping them focused and engaged and helping to prevent many behavior issues. Listen to your students during turn and talks or other partner or small group discussions. You will find yourself getting to know them and anticipating needs. This knowledge will pay off for you over and over.)

~Be firm and fair. Set fair rules and fair consequences for breaking the rules. Enforce the rules fairly. If you’re new to your school, check with your PLC or teaching team about your school’s expectations. Smart Classroom Management is an excellent website with specific tips for setting up your own classroom management system.

~Listen to your students. Admit when you are wrong or don’t know the answer to something. Tell them you will work on improving something or that you will work on finding the answer for them. This models your willingness to learn, whether that is learning from mistakes or finding answers to questions.

~Consider creating classroom goals for students to achieve. If your class has a particular procedure or issue that is challenging for them, work on earning tally marks for every time they are doing it correctly. When they meet the goal, give them some kind of “prize”, such as five minutes of extra recess or free time in the classroom. (This works well for issues like blurting out or talking when they’re supposed to be listening.)

~Stay in control of yourself! YOU are the adult. Focus on what you CAN control (your response, for example).

~Remember that calm is contagious. Take deep breaths and think before you speak. Be respectful to your students and expect the same from them. Even if you have to implement a disciplinary procedure such as a write-up, you can do so in a calm, respectful manner.

~Do not be afraid to ask for help with any problematic classroom routines or behaviors.

3 – At the beginning of the year – don’t worry about over-decorating your classroom. Focus more on making sure it is organized and clutter-free. This sends the message to students that we’re here to learn and everything in the room has a purpose.

How to do this?

~Leave some (or all) of your bulletin boards bare. Maybe cover them with paper and add a border, but leave them blank. Create charts WITH your students (instead of buying charts). This helps students see that this is their classroom, not just a teacher-decorated classroom.

~Take pictures of your students and post them in your classroom. (Check your district guidelines before sharing photos on social media.)

~Know that classroom organization is one of those things you will always be tweaking as you notice areas or systems that need help. Get your students’ input (and thus their buy-in) for getting/keeping things organized.

~Responsive Classroom website has some good tips for classroom set-up HERE.

4 – When you see energy flagging or you feel that your students need a break, take a brain break or movement break.

There are lots of great ideas for movement breaks (yoga poses, Go Noodle, etc.,), but here’s a simple one: just give them a few minutes to talk amongst themselves. They love having the opportunity to chat and it gives you a moment to prepare yourself for the next part of the day. (Sometimes they are “over” doing teacher-led movement breaks by this age. But free time to chat or just do their own thing is always welcome.)

If you have an area right outside your classroom that is safe for walking or running laps, consider doing that as well.

5 – Teach growth mindset.

How to do this?

Here are some of my favorite resources:

~a poster with phrases that nurture a growth mindset

~making a chart together of phrases that students might say, and how they can be re-phrased

~YouCubed has outstanding lessons and videos related to growth mindset and math:

“Mistakes are Beautiful Things” lesson

“When You Believe, Amazing Things Happen” lesson

“Brains Grow & Change” video

“Speed is Not Important” video

“The Importance of Struggle” video

~This is one of my favorite resources on Teachers Pay Teachers: Angela Watson’s Growth Mindset lesson on TPT

6 – Simplify as many of your classroom routines as possible.

How to do this?

~Don’t ask me why, but kids this age forget to write their names on their papers. It can drive you crazy if you let it, but here’s a tip: Have them highlight their name on their paper before turning it in. For whatever reason, that helps a lot!

~You don’t have to grade everything! If you need some tips on how to do that (and how to manage paper flow in general), here are some tips that can help!

~Some teachers love classroom jobs and some teachers find them a pain to manage. If you find them a pain, try assigning two students as your “student assistants” for the day. They can handle all the tasks that need to be done that day. Change the student assistants daily. (Your student assistants can even be the ones to change the names of the next student assistants on the board for you!)

~Specify a time to clean out desks and supply caddies and cubbies. Once a week helps keep things from getting too far out of control.

~For daily classroom cleaning, create something called “magic trash.” Secretly select some piece of trash (which could be anything – a pencil, paper, whatever). When your students clean up at the end of the day, the student who cleans up the “magic trash” gets a shout-out (or a small prize, if you want to do that).

~Consider keeping a suggestion box for students to leave notes for you about anything they think you should know. This helps prevent unnecessary drama and tattling that pulls everyone off track.

Some of my posts about focusing and motivating your students:

How to Re-Focus Your Students

How to Motivate Your Students to Work Harder Than You’re Working

Motivating Students When They’re Tired of the Routine

Some of my posts about classroom engagement strategies:

Four Classroom Engagement Strategies for Group Work

Five Classroom Engagement Strategies for Content Area Reading

How to Keep Your Students Motivated & Engaged at the End of the Year

How to Engage Students’ Brains When Everyone is Ready for a Break

Brain-Friendly Strategies to Engage Students When Everyone is Ready for a Break

End of Year Activities to Keep Your Students Busy & Engaged

Engaging Activities for the First Two Weeks of School

For my upper elementary veteran readers, what would you add to this list?

I hope this helps you think about how you can support your students’ need for predictable routines and engagement! Remember to subscribe so you don’t miss my next posts about upper elementary students!

New to Teaching Upper Elementary Grades? Here’s What You Need to Know!

I’ll never forget receiving my student teaching placement: fifth grade. Ugh. I had completed several hours of classroom work at lower grade levels and did not feel at all prepared to teach students who were nearly as tall as I was. I was worried that I wouldn’t know how to deal with behaviors or bad attitudes. What if they just ignored everything I said? And the content they learn is not easy!

Thankfully – most of my fears went away as I worked with my cooperating teacher and my awesome class of fifth graders. I had a wonderful experience (with a few bumps in the road, of course), and that cemented my love for upper elementary students. I have been teaching or instructional coaching in upper elementary grades for more than 30 years now!

If you’re new to upper elementary grades, or just want to know what to expect, here are eight observations that are helpful to know.

1 – They want to know the rules and expectations & they expect the teacher to be “the boss”.

2 – They thrive on routine with occasional changes to liven things up. They want you to be predictable, but engaging and fun.

3 – They want to be part of a supportive community. They don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their peers or to feel “stupid”. They worry about bullies.

4 – They want to be more independent & to be asked for their input. They still want to please their teachers (even though some may not show it).

5 – They love to help and to feel useful.

6 – They want to know their teacher likes them & respects them

7 – They want to learn more about the world and about topics they care about. They question things and want to know the “why.” They are starting to understand different viewpoints besides their own, which makes for some thoughtful classroom discussions.

They still get excited about learning! That being said, they will be at very different achievement levels (similar to lower grades), but they are better at hiding their lack of understanding. The curriculum is more difficult, but they are capable of rising to the challenge. Most of them love to work together and find that to be very engaging.

8 – They still want their grownups/families to be proud of them.

This is the first post in a series where I will discuss each of these eight topics in more depth, along with some tips for how to address upper elementary students’ needs.

First observation: they want to know the rules and expectations and they expect the teacher to be “the boss.” They want to feel safe.

Here are some ways to support them.

1 – Set your classroom expectations early (on the first day of school) and enforce them consistently. (This is not just about going over “the rules.” This is a more global expectation of how you want your students to think and act.)

How to do this?

~Create a list of no more than three values you want or expect to see in your classroom. Examples might be kindness, respect for everyone, and consideration. Tell them that this is what you expect, all day, every day.

~When a student violates one of those expectations (for example by speaking disrespectfully or saying something unkind), stop them right away. Tell them that what they did/said was not kind or respectful. Ask them to think about how they can “fix it” (by apologizing or rephrasing what they said or using a different tone, for instance), and then ask them to do the fixing. Remind them that you expect kindness or respect at all times.

This does not need to be done in a loud or threatening or mean way. You can say that very calmly, modeling how you want them to speak to others. Although I recommend that most disciplinary actions need to be kept private, stating your expectation to the student and the entire class sets the tone.

~When YOU violate one of those expectations (it happens!), stop right away. Tell the class what you did/said that was not respectful or kind, then apologize. Tell them you will do better going forward. This is so powerful for modeling the expectation, but also showing that we all mess up sometimes. The goal is to recognize the mistake, take ownership and apologize, fix it, then move forward.

~Don’t be afraid of being a little “strict” as the school year begins. You can always loosen up later, but you can’t usually tighten up later. Try very hard to say what you mean and show them that you mean what you say.

~Be firm, but fair. They expect you to be the “boss,” but they respect you more when they see that rules and expectations are fair to everyone.

~As much as possible – incorporate a sense of humor into your directions and your teaching. Find the joy and humor in classroom experiences together. Humor goes a long way in helping release stress (for you and for students) and helps students feel more connected to you and to each other.

~They still love stickers and small rewards! Consider using these as occasional rewards or appreciation for upholding the class values or working especially hard on something.

~Consider using tips from the Responsive Classroom. One of my favorite teacher books of all time is Teaching Children to Care by Ruth Sidney Charney, one of the founders of the Responsive Classroom framework. I reread chapter two in that book every single year at back to school time.

2 – Spend time thinking about your classroom procedures before the school year begins.

How to do this?

~Use the list below to think about how you want students to do things in your classroom. You will start teaching these procedures on the first day of school (and will continue reinforcing throughout the first six weeks. Yes, I did say six weeks! It often takes that long to get everyone “trained.”).

~Be consistent in expecting the procedure to be followed correctly. Have them practice as often as they need to get it right.

~If a particular procedure isn’t working for you for whatever reason, it’s okay to change it! Acknowledge to your students that it is not working, ask for their suggestions for making it better (or share what you are thinking might work better), and try it out. Again – you are modeling learning from mistakes and making continuous improvements and those are powerful lessons to teach.

3 – At the beginning of the year (and throughout the year), spend more time organizing your classroom and worry less about decorating.

How to do this?

~Keeping your classroom uncluttered and marking off clear areas for your class (meeting area, small group instruction area, math manipulatives, classroom library, where to turn in finished work, etc.) is far more important than whether or not your classroom is completely decorated. You can always add decor items throughout the year as needed.

~It’s fine to keep walls and bulletin boards bare at the beginning of the year! You can always create charts with your class and post those as you make them. They have more meaning for students than teacher-created or purchased posters.

4 – They will be very talkative, and you need to have a plan for that.

How to do this?

~Think about ways to channel their need to talk into productive discussions. Use turn & talk with a partner or small group, use these five Kagan strategies, have students explain or repeat something to partners, let them share what they’ve learned with partners or small groups.

~Here are more tips for channeling the talking!

~Be very clear about when students should talk and when they need to stop talking and allow for quiet work time or think time.

~Think about good attention-getting signals such as a wireless doorbell, using music, using a timer, call-backs like these, or clap-back rhythms.

5 – They will question and push boundaries, and you need to have a plan for that.

How to do this?

~Understand that questioning why certain rules or procedures have to be followed (not talking in the halls, for example) or even questioning adults’ authority is part of their development at this age. Most of the time, they genuinely want to know and it’s not meant to be personal or challenging.

~That being said, they are still children and they need to learn the difference between questioning in appropriate ways and being argumentative or disrespectful. Asking them to re-state their question or comment in a more positive, respectful way often helps. Then give them a respectful answer.

~Do not be afraid of them but avoid power struggles. A quiet, private conversation when both of you are calm is a much more effective strategy for teaching appropriate behavior and respectful interactions.

Some of my posts about specific behavior issues and how to respond:

How to Deal with Difficult Students

When the Back-to-School Honeymoon is Over

How to Re-focus Your Students

How to Get Your Students to Follow Your Directions the First Time

How to Motivate Your Students to Work Harder Than You’re Working

How to Motivate Students When They’re Tired of the Routine

Irritating Student Behaviors & How to Respond

For my upper elementary veteran readers, what would you add to this list?

I hope this helps you think about how you can support your students’ need for a safe and predictable learning environment! Remember to subscribe so you don’t miss my next posts about teaching upper elementary students!

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All the Best Teacher Deals for Amazon Prime Days 2025!

It’s almost time!

This year, Amazon Prime Days begin at 3 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, July 8, and continues until midnight Pacific time on Friday, July 11!

First things first: if you are not an Amazon Prime member, NOW is the time to sign up! You can sign up for Amazon Prime here.

Amazon Prime is one of those deals that keeps on giving. You get all kinds of special deals on Prime days, but you also get other great benefits throughout the year. Here are some of those benefits.

Believe me, Amazon Prime pays for itself very quickly.

But if you’re still on the fence about purchasing a Prime membership, you can try out one week of Amazon Prime for only $1.99 and see what you think! Just remember to cancel after your trial is up, or you’ll get charged.

Download the free Amazon app so you can find the top deals during Prime Day. Throughout the year, you can also get notifications for the Deal of the Day, Lightning deals (short-term deals), and other sales. (To get notifications: go to the Prime Day page and set up your alerts.)

Here are some great teacher options for Prime Days. If you’re allowed to turn in receipts for reimbursement (to your school or your parent-teacher organization), this is a great time to stretch your dollars and get some supplies that will make you happy. 🙂

MY FAVORITE DEAL

*You can get 50% off select children’s books! Just search for your favorite titles and look for the “limited time deal” banner. (If you need some suggestions for upper elementary picture books, see my list HERE. And THIS is my list with some great titles for upper elementary chapter books.)

CLASSROOM DECOR & SUPPLIES

*area rugs for the classroom. Here is one of my favorites.

*wobble stools for flexible seating

*wooden stools for flexible seating

*metal stacking stools for small group instruction

*doughnut ball chairs (I like these because they’re smaller than large balance balls)

*portable lap desks for flexible seating

*classroom pillows

*classroom decor options

*classroom posters

*Echo Dot

*Expo markers

*Magnetic white board erasers

*Flair pens

*small dry erase whiteboards

*pencils!

*This pencil dispenser holder is awesome!

*my favorite electric pencil sharpener

*pencil sharpener for colored pencils

*Student clipboards

*Clipboard holder for storage

*Scotch laminator

*laminating pouches

*Post-it notes

*other sizes of Post-it notes

*Label maker

*sticky note chart paper pads This is expensive, but worth it for anchor charts.

*Sharpie chart paper markers

*Astrobrights card stock paper

*Wireless doorbell – great for getting student attention!

*Clorox wipes

*Purell hand sanitizer

*Supply caddies

*Stackable trays

*Stacking storage bins

*5-drawer hanging file cart

*Acrylic book display stands

*Magnetic shelves for whiteboard – good for book displays

*Magnetic hooks for whiteboard

*Magnetic dots for whiteboard

*This magnetic curtain rod is great for storing anchor charts!

*Velcro dots – great for wall and whiteboard displays

*Laptop stand

*Wireless presenter – you can circulate around the room and still advance your slides, click on links, etc.

*Privacy boards for student desks

ESSENTIAL TEACHER SUPPLIES

*Erin Condren teacher planner

*Scout bag – the BEST teacher bags! These last forever and all the pockets are super useful.

*Scout lunch bag

*If you like to take salads to lunch, you need this salad container!

*If you like coffee or tea, you need a thermos that actually keeps those beverages hot.

*Staying hydrated is a must!

FUN THINGS FOR YOU! (nice to have, but not essential)

*Apple AirPods Pro

*Charging station for your devices

*Mini fridge (if you’re allowed to have one)

*Microwave (if allowed)

*Keurig coffee maker

*Apple watch

*Apple iPad

AND FINALLY . . .

Check out Amazon Prime deals on Amazon Try Before You Buy!

Amazon Outlet is another great part to check frequently!

Happy shopping!

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How to Build Valuable Background Knowledge to Boost Your Students’ Reading Comprehension

I recently updated a 2019 post about The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of American’s Broken Education System — and How to Fix it by Natalie Wexler. You can read that post HERE.

In this post, I am offering suggestions for how to incorporate more knowledge-building activities into your teaching. This will be especially helpful to you if your school or district does not use a knowledge-building ELA curriculum.

There is a LOT here. Please don’t let it overwhelm you! Just choose one or two tips to start and add on other tips when you feel ready.

Building Knowledge in Literacy Instruction

*Use one of these 18 strategies from the New York Times before reading a fiction OR nonfiction text. (While the New York Times lists these strategies as being warmups for nonfiction text, there are many fiction texts that include information as well. These strategies work well for both types of text.)

These strategies will help build the necessary background knowledge for understanding the text and will help “prime” students for the learning to come from the book.

*If you do not have an educator’s guide for the particular text you are using for instruction, search for one online. There are many free resources available. But if this is a text that you will re-use every year, it might also be worth it to invest in a purchased guide.

*Use text sets to go more in-depth on a topic. For example: if you are reading a novel such as Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (an awesome book, by the way), you might also read the nonfiction book Everybody’s Revolution by Thomas Fleming or Spies in the American Revolution for Kids by Carla Killough McClafferty.

*Consider using biographies as read-alouds. Sticking with the American Revolution topic, you might read:
American’s Black Founders: Revolutionary Heroes & Early Leaders by Nancy I. Sanders
Sybil Ludington Rides to the Rescue by Jessica Gunderson
Benjamin Franklin, American Genius: His Life & Ideas by Brandon Marie Miller
George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen From Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer
or American Revolution Heroes for Kids by Christine T. Chaffee.

*Keep in mind before using any text for instruction that you want to give kids “just enough” background knowledge. What do they absolutely need to be told or taught in order to understand the text? Don’t tell them everything that’s already in the text, leaving them no reason to even read it. (And please tell me I am not the only teacher who has ever been guilty of doing that!)

*Before reading a text, consider asking students the following questions to rate their amount of prior knowledge.

I have never heard of it.
I have heard of it, but don’t know what it is.
I have some idea of what it is, but it’s not very clear.
I know what it is and could explain what it’s used for.
I know what it is and when to use it, and I could teach a class on it myself.

*One of the most useful literacy question frameworks I have ever used comes from Kylene Beers and Robert Probst’s books Disrupting Thinking and Forged by Reading.

A photo of my anchor chart is below. (As you can see, I am not an artist.)

The question “what changed, challenged, or confirmed your thinking?” is especially important, especially for those students who believe themselves to be “experts” on a topic already. This question encourages them to keep themselves open to new information that may not fit with what they thought they knew.

*I can’t say it enough: read aloud, read aloud, read aloud. Every chance you get. See my post about incorporating Jillian Heise’s #classroombookaday in my classroom HERE.

*Whenever possible, teach the meaning of idioms, multiple-meaning words, and homophones. The book Idioms for Kids and Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones are fun and engaging ways to learn.

Another helpful book is Teaching Vocabulary Words with Multiple Meanings (grades 2-4) and the same title for grades 4-6. (These books are out of print but can sometimes be found in online used bookstores.)

*Have you heard of Reading Rev? I found this website and immediately bought the intermediate phonics/spelling/morphology program. Here’s the link if you want to check it out. Bri Luna, the creator, also shares lots of free resources and has several helpful YouTube videos as well.

*One of my very favorite literacy gurus is Jen Jones. Her website is Hello Literacy. Jen has created all kinds of resources based on the Science of Reading and offers professional development (both in person and online) as well. One of my favorite products is her Shades of Meaning which gets kids so engaged in learning the exact meanings of various verbs or adjectives, before placing them on a continuum according to their meaning.

*Some tried and true strategies to use in reading instruction:

~teaching nonfiction text features and using them when reading

~teaching students to activate their own background knowledge before reading. Good questions to ask are: “what do you already know?” and “how does this connect to something else we’ve learned?” It’s also good to find out when your students know very little or absolutely nothing about a topic!

~teaching vocabulary as you read together. Model for students your own word curiosity and word learning. Stop and use Google to show students how to find the exact definition of unknown words.

~when assessing a standard or a reading strategy, consider including questions such as “what are the big ideas about ______?” or “what is important to remember about _______?”

~having students write about what they’ve read. One of my favorite strategies for this is using The Writing Revolution’s three conjunctions “because, but, so.” There are lots of great resources on their website HERE. If you want a more step-by-step guide for how to implement many of their strategies, TPT has a great resource HERE.

*“Perspectives on Language & Literacy” is an excellent online research article resource.

*One of my favorite podcasts is Melissa & Lori Love Literacy.

Building Knowledge in Content Area Instruction

*Take your students on field trips (the best option), or on virtual field trips (a great back-up option)! Here’s a list of some virtual possibilities.

*Wonderopolis is one of my favorite websites. You and your class can search for specific wonders related to a unit of study, or you can ask students to find and read about one wonder of the day that interests them. Either activity will build knowledge.

*Street View Treks lets you and your students explore places around the world, using Google Maps.

*5 Clue Challenge – here is the site description from Michael Soskil, who created the site and the challenge: “Below you’ll find short videos where you will get 5 clues to guess a location, animal, or person. Some videos were created by me as I traveled. Others were submitted to me by teachers and children from around the globe. Your mission is to do research and figure out the answer to each challenge in as few clues as possible. Have fun!”

*Watch videos on topics of interest on TeachFlix.

*Where possible, align your literacy instruction with social studies topics. This post from We Are Teachers suggests some great ways to do that.

*Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud. When you read informational picture books, make sure to share the extra information which is often included at the front or the back of the book.

*Teach the vocabulary words your students will need to access the content. Keep a list or chart of the words you are learning. (This chart also helps you remember to review those words with your students from time to time.)

*Similar to the tip in the Literacy section above: when you are assessing a standard or a topic of study, consider including questions such as “what are the big ideas about ______?” or “what is important to remember about _______?”

*Another tip from the Literacy section that applies to content area topics: have your students summarize what they have learned (or what’s important about the topic) as a way to solidify their learning.

*Use videos from BrainPop (subscription site) or EdPuzzle (free).

*Stanford University’s Read Like a Historian lessons and Beyond the Bubble history assessments are great ways to extend the learning in Social Studies.

*Use some of the free Core Knowledge curriculum for your grade level. Even if it doesn’t align to the standards you are mandated to teach, you can choose some topics to extend your students’ learning or use some of the reading selections for small group instruction.

What about math instruction?

*Read picture books about mathematicians and stories about great moments in math.

Here are some suggestions:

~On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne

~Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese

~The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman

~The Girl With a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague by Julia Finley Mosca

~Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker

~Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed

~Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women & the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

~The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan by Amy Alznauer

~Emmy Noether: The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard of by Helaine Becker

~Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani by Megan Reid

~Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain by Cheryl Bardoe

~The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

~On Beyond a Million: An Amazing Math Journey by David M. Schwartz

Building knowledge is critically important for building our students’ language comprehension, leading to stronger reading comprehension. I hope that these strategies are helpful to you. Please share your own strategies!

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How to Get Your End of Year Classroom Tasks Done Quickly & Efficiently (with Student Help!)

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If you are still wrapping up your school year, you might be looking around, watching your students enjoy the engaging and independent activities you’re giving them (see this post for some ideas!). They’re excited for summer. You’re excited for summer.

But ugh – then you start thinking about that end of the year checklist and all of the things you need to do to pack up your classroom after the students leave. You feel exhausted before you’ve even started.

Wouldn’t it be nice to actually get started packing up before they leave AND get them to help at the same time?

Here’s how to do that.

In this post, I’ll share some lists of what you need to do to pack up, and what your students can do to help. The work will get done, everything will get cleaned out and organized, and you will start your summer feeling accomplished and ready to relax.

2-4 Weeks Before School Ends:

*Begin cleaning out cabinets, drawers, and your closet, if you’re lucky enough to have one.

Be ruthless when it comes to purging things you know you won’t use again.

For everything that’s a maybe: store these things together. If you need them, you’ll know where to find them. If not – they should be tossed early in the next school year.

Since this task can be pretty overwhelming, I find it helps to work on it for 5-10 minutes every day. If I get in a groove with it and want to keep going, fine, but even 5-10 minutes will eventually get the job done.

*Clean out your desk. I mean – REALLY clean it out. Throw away or recycle everything you know you will never use, wipe out those drawers, and organize everything that goes back inside.

*Plan activities for your students to do during the last week of school. See my post for some fun, free activities they can do (mostly) independently!

*Take pictures of your classroom so you will remember how you might want to set things up next year. You think you’ll remember, but you won’t! Email the photos to yourself or just save them on your phone.

Before State Testing:

*Remove all posters and anchor charts from your classroom walls. (Sometimes students can help with this, depending on where charts are located.)

Last Week of School:

*Finish up report cards and any other end-of-year paperwork for student files.

*Organize/file necessary documents in student cumulative folders.

*Start returning everything that does not belong to you or that needs to be returned to the library, the science lab, other teachers, the office, wherever. (Some of your students may be able to return some items for you.)

*Go through any piles of paper and get rid of them. Either grade and return papers, or recycle them.

*Have students take home any workbooks or other personal items.

*Remove posters, anchor charts, and everything that your school requires you to remove from walls and the door. (This might be a job that students can do.)

*Make a list of possible office supplies you will need to order early in the next school year.

*Shred student IEP’s or health information (or return it to the appropriate person for shredding).

*Turn in any order forms or other paperwork for next year.

*Turn in any furniture inventory or damaged items needing repair lists.

*Make a pile of books or items you want to take home for the summer. My school district is currently doing the LETRS professional development and I want to finish one unit over the summer. So I’m taking that book home.

Take home any professional texts or other professional development books you might want to read or refer to during the summer.

*If you have any personal items that you don’t want to leave at school over the summer, start taking these home.

*Optional: make a list (or pull out your files) of back-to-school activities or lists of tasks to do.

*Another optional task but it’s a nice one: write thank you notes to teacher friends who are leaving, to mentors or other school friends who have supported you this year, to supportive parents.

*Delete unnecessary emails! (If there are emails you need to save, either save them in an email folder marked “Important Emails,” print them, or save as PDF’s and save to a file on your desktop.

*If your technology set-up is complicated (with a Smartboard, document camera, etc.), take a picture of that set-up! Future You will thank you.

Get Your Students to Help!

The following are tasks that students can do. I usually save all of these tasks for the last week of school. Hopefully, you have planned some independent activities for your students.

One of the end of year activities I offer is “help with classroom pack-up.” I list the jobs on the board and put a number beside the job to indicate how many people can work on this particular task. (The number depends on the size of your space and how many items you need organized.) I then let students sign up for the jobs they want to do.

(A caveat here: if there are students who might not be able to work well together or who might interrupt you constantly to get help with the task, I reserve the right to move people around or find something else for them to do.)

Typically we don’t do all of the jobs at one time. I might get the more time-intensive jobs groups working first, then allow other groups to start at other times. This keeps everyone from bumping into each other and causing more stress.

Here are the jobs I use, in the order that we do them.

*Organize classroom library bins. (This one starts first.)

*Clean out school supply bins. Throw away broken crayons, dried-up markers, glue sticks, etc. Organize the remaining items in the appropriate storage bins.

*Re-organize math manipulatives, science equipment, etc.

*Take down bulletin board displays and paper.

*Take down any remaining posters & student work.

*Remove classroom door display.

*Label all furniture with your room number on masking tape. When the floors get waxed over the summer, everything gets mixed up. Having your classroom stuff labeled is a big help.

*Label any personal items or furniture with your name on masking tape.

*Remove name tags from cubbies, mailboxes, etc.

*Once students have removed all personal items, clean the cubbies.

*Store classroom library bins in cubbies (or cover the bookshelves with bulletin board paper or newspaper).

*Clean tables, desks, chairs, and other furniture.

*Clean the whiteboards (and put away the markers and erasers for good).

Last day of school:

*Students stack chairs.

You may still have a few more tasks to do after students leave, but if you get started early and enlist your students to help, you’ll be ready to leave for summer knowing that your classroom is organized and ready for the next year!

Enjoy your summer!

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End of Year Activities to Keep Your Students Busy and Engaged

Yes, we’re tired at the end of another school year. Yes, our students think school is basically “done.” Yes, we have billions of things to do to wrap up the year.

But we also want to enjoy the last days with our students while keeping them busy and engaged.

What we need are some easy, low-prep activities.

None of these are especially new or never-before-seen, but I have tried to curate some of the best ideas out there that will take the least teacher time and energy. So here we go!

Daily Activities

1 – Hang up bulletin board paper along one wall or bulletin board. Give students markers and let them write messages, memories, shout-outs of appreciation, etc. They can draw pictures or add whatever other creative (and appropriate) touches you want them to add. Leave this up for several days and let students continue to add to it.

2 – Read a picture book daily. Here is a list of some of my favorites.

3 – Make an end of year playlist. Here are some songs to consider including from We Are Teachers website.

Writing Activities

4 – Write a letter to next year’s students. Give them some prompt ideas such as these:

*here’s what to expect in _____ grade
*here are the best parts about _____ grade
*here’s what you need to know about your teacher . . .
*one of my favorite things we did was . . .
*a favorite field trip was . . .
*some of my favorite books we read were . . .
*some books you should read in _____ grade are . . .

5 – Write a letter to their next year’s teacher if they are continuing in a grade at your school. Give them some prompt ideas such as these:

*my name is ________ and I prefer to be called ________.
*I am looking forward to ______ grade because . . . (OR I am worried about _______ grade because . . .) or write about both!
*some things I especially like at school are . . . and here’s why . . .
*some things that are more challenging for me are . . . and here’s why . . .
*some goals I have for _______ grade are . . .
*I’m hoping you can help me with . . .
*some things I enjoy doing outside of school are . . .
*some things I want you to know about me are . . .

6 – Write an EOY reflection. Here are some ideas to spark their thinking:

*what was their favorite thing to learn this year?
*what were some favorite books we read this year?
*what was a favorite field trip and why?
*what were some of your favorite class traditions or rituals?
*what are some of your favorite memories of our class?
*if you could change anything about this year, what would you change?
*what is one of your favorite accomplishments of the year?
*what is one of your favorite memories of your teacher(s)?
*what is one of your favorite memories of your classmates?
*what will you miss most about this school year and why?
*what advice would you give to yourself, if you could return to the first day of school?

7 – create a class yearbook or memory book. Here’s a link to one that my team uses.

Here is another version from Curriculum Corner (one of my favorite resource websites, by the way).

8 – Write thank you notes to other teachers or adults within the school.

9 – Jennifer Findley has some awesome end of year writing prompts HERE! She also has some great ideas about prepping students for the next grade’s content in this post. (And her website is another great resource site for all kinds of topics.)

10 – Make a Padlet wall for each student with the focus question “What do you like about . . . ?”. Send one Padlet wall link to your students daily (through email or post in Google Classroom). Then each student can add brief notes or stories about the focus student. You can print these Padlets or email them to your students and families.

11 – Have your students write a six-word memoir! Here are our directions for writing the memoirs.

12 – Consider giving your students a Google form with feedback for you from the year. (“EOG” stands for “End of Grade,” which is the name of our state test.)

13 – Mary at Teaching with a Mountain View has a great activity called Three Words. To do this, have each of your students (or small groups of students) come up with a creative three-word phrase to describe the school year. Then, have them come up with a creative way to display their three words. You can read more about it HERE.

14 – Another great idea from Mary at Teaching with a Mountain View: make an ABC book about the school year. You can read more HERE. Jennifer Findley has a great template for this activity.

15 – Make a ME – THEN & NOW poster. Have students look back at books they were reading at the beginning of the year compared to now, compare writing samples, and think about math and content areas that they know much more about now. Also include skills such as friendship or work habits skills they have learned or have improved throughout the year.

16 – Paper plate keepsakes – Pick up a pack of paper plates and give out some colorful markers. Have each student write their name in the middle of the plate, then start passing! Each student writes complimentary words to describe their classmate, then passes it to the next kid. They’ll each end up with a sweet keepsake for the school year! (Another option – if you’re concerned about what some students might write: have them write these separately, then you do the writing on the paper plate.)

17 – choose some quotes from this list. Have your students write what the quote means to them.

Activities about Books/Reading

18 – Have your students make a class “summer reading list.” What are some books that they recommend kids should read over the summer? You can google lists if you want to give your students something to choose from (or to inspire their own ideas).

19 – Make a list of “Books You Should Read in ______ Grade” for next year’s students. Or add these suggestions to a chart paper for next year’s beginning of year display.

20 – Does your school or local library or local bookstore offer any kind of summer reading program? Consider inviting a librarian or bookstore representative to visit your class and talk about the program. If that won’t work, you can still visit the website (or share the link with your students) and have them learn about what the program entails.

21 – Take your reading outside if it is safe to do so! Allow students to bring towels or blankets, set up a comfy reading spot, and do some independent reading (or read aloud) outside.

22 – Read a book together, then watch the movie. To make this activity more rigorous (and standards-aligned), have your students answer and discuss the following questions:

*Which did you enjoy more – the book or the movie? Why?
*Did the main characters look and act like you expected? Why or why not?
•What scenes were different in the movie? Were these differences good or bad, and why?
*What parts were better in the book, and why?
*What are some other differences between the book and the movie?

Some movies that are great for this activity:
*A Wrinkle in Time
*Because of Winn-Dixie
*The BFG
*Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
*Charlotte’s Web
*Hidden Figures
*Holes
*Hoot
*Matilda
*The One & Only Ivan
*Shiloh
*The Tale of Despereaux
*Wonder

23 – Allow students to do some readers’ theater! This is a fun way to work on fluency, learn some content (depending on the script), collaborate, and have a good time.

Here are some links to free scripts:
~Readers’ Theater Scripts & Plays
~The Best Class scripts
~Weebly scripts
~Readers’ Theater All Year
~T. P. Jagger scripts
~scripts on Education.com

24 – Have students create their own poetry anthologies. Collect some books of poetry. They can be from your classroom collection, your school library (if you’re still able to check out books), or your public library.

Here are some favorite poetry titles:
~Random House Book of Poetry for Children
~Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
~Summer Vacation, Here I Come! by D. J. Steinberg
~Poetry for Young People series
~No More Homework! No More Tests! Kids’ Favorite Funny School Poems by Bruce Lansky

Give students blank paper. Their job is to find poems that they love (for whatever reason), and copy the poem in their best handwriting/cursive (including the title and author), one poem per page.

Then they can illustrate the poem or create a design for the page.

When they finish, they can put the pages together along with a cover page with their name, the words “Poetry Anthology”, and the year.

STEM Activities

25 – STEM challenges from We Are Teachers

Fun Websites for Kids to Explore

26 – Go on a virtual field trip! Here are some of my favorites. We Are Teachers posted a free virtual space career tour that looks interesting. Here’s the link.

27 – Boost your students’ vocabularies by letting them play Free Rice. (It also benefits the United Nations World Food Programme.)

28 – Wonderopolis is another great site for exploring and learning.

29 – Street View Treks is a fun site for exploring places around the world.

30 – 5 Clue Challenge is fun for watching short videos and using clues to guess the animal, location, or person!

31 – Watch videos on TeachFlix (one of my new favorite sites!).

Games, Puzzles, & Art

32 – Allow students to play card games or board games! You may have a set of games but you can also find inexpensive ones at thrift stores. Here are some favorites:

Uno
Crazy Eights
Go Fish
Clue
Yahtzee
Monopoly
Battleship
Checkers
Chess
Chinese Checkers
Backgammon
Pictionary
Hedbanz
Race Across the USA
Sorry!
Trouble
Connect 4

If you want to allow students to play games together, but on devices, take a look at this site: Buddy Board Games.

33 – If your students enjoy puzzles, here is a site with printable puzzles.

34 – If your students enjoy coloring sheets, here is a site with printable coloring pages.

35 – This is a great origami website!

36 – This is my favorite art website that kids can enjoy on their own.

37 – Allow your students to create board games about a math concept for next year’s students. Show them examples such as the games on this site (click your grade level, then scroll down the left side of the page to the Game File). Let them work as partners or in teams to create the games.

38 – Play math games! Our North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website (same site as linked in #37 above) has some awesome games to print and play. Here is the link.

39 – We Are Teachers always has such fun activities that are grab and go. Here is this year’s Last Day of School bundle of activities.

40 – Curriculum Corner’s “Have a Groovy Summer” has some fun activities, all with a tie-dye theme.

41 – Minds in Bloom is another favorite resource site. Here is a link to some fun games for the end of the year.

42 – Enjoy a paper airplane contest!

I hope you found some fun ideas here! Enjoy the last few days with your students. Summer will be here soon!

All of my content is intended to save teachers time and energy. Making good teaching sustainable – while also having a life outside of teaching – is my goal. Let me know how I can help YOU with this quick form!

Need more teacher encouragement? Join our Sustainable Teaching community!

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