The end of the school year is a special time. It’s all about getting closure to the year that your students have spent at your school. It’s just as important at the end of the year to provide closure to the year as it was to build relationships at the beginning of the year. The good news is you can find many ways to finish off the school year in ways that give students that closure, but also maintain your sanity! In my opinion these types of activities aren’t fluff. They really help students feel safe during this transition period of the last week of school. So, let’s dig into some simple, engaging ways to close out the school year in the math classroom.
Planning for the Last Week of Math Class
I’ve used a wide range of activities over the years during the last week of school. One things I’ve learned is that to make the week run more smoothly you need to have some activities from your regular schedule. You want to maintain as many structures and continuity through the end. This helps so much with behavior and maintaining your overall expectations. In my class, we still started each day with a math maze. Choosing a review maze of some sort kept students doing and math, and they still know what to expect when they walk in the room
Another important part of having a successful last week of school is to have a plan. If you don’t have a plan it will make the class periods drag on and on. Plus, as a teacher it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed with all the things you need to do between changing school schedules for special events and classroom close-out tasks. A plan helps make sure students keep moving and that your to-do list gets checked off. As part of the plan I also like to have a few sponge activities on hand. It seems like during the last week of school something always happens that throws my schedule off. So, I like to be prepared.
Let’s get to it! Here’s the break down some activities and strategies that will make the last week of school in our math classrooms both enjoyable and productive!
Activities for the Last Week of School
As we break down some of our favorite activities and activity types remember- you don’t have to do all of them. It’s great to have a variety of activities that will help students reflect on the year, say goodbye to you and their classmates, and have some fun one last time. Have some that are planned for each day, and maybe keep one or two in your back pocket for sponge time.
Awards Ceremony
If you’ve never given out class awards, you should definitely give it a try. Students don’t get recognized very often and giving out awards makes them feel seen. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but of course you can jazz it up with a home-made microphone, or a butcher paper red carpet.
I love to give students a little prize with their award like a small candy bar, a sticker, or a marker. My favorite award that I ever did was when I gave every student a “One Smart Cookie” award. It came with an individualized message for each student and a cookie. It was so memorable, and I’ve had students tell me that they still have their “One Smart Cookie” award years later.
Writing Thank You Notes
The first time I had students write thank you notes for teachers and staff it was out of desperation. During one of the last days of school I needed something for my students to do, and one of the kids suggested writing thank you notes to other teachers. Well, it turns out that this activity works perfectly as a closure activity for the year and it lets teachers and staff know that students really do care.
You can have a list of all of the teachers and staff on campus and assign different people to different students. The kids love writing a special note and then hand delivering their thank you card to the teacher, cafeteria worker, secretary, or custodian that they wrote to. This activity leaves everyone feeling happy.
Burning Questions Paper Chain
The Burning Questions Paper Chain activity feels a lot like a quiz from Buzzfeed. Students answer a whole bunch of questions about themselves, creating a type of time-capsule for where they are in their life. Questions include reflecting on students’ experiences this school year, as well as their own personal favorites.
Students really enjoy answering these types of questions and then they get to make a paper chain from their answers. At the end they have a craft related to themself and a lot of conversations happen during this activity. We also have a digital version of the activity in Google Slides as well.
Surveys
You’ve probably completed end of course surveys for a class before. Sometimes you may wonder if the teacher or professor even reads it. Well, if you have students complete a survey and you’re willing to listen to what they have to say, this can be a very beneficial activity for helping you improve the teaching and learning in the classroom.
Of course, it’s important to frame the survey so that students understand the purpose. To help students respond mor thoughtfully, take time to explain why you’re doing a survey. Tell them how you’ll use their responses. Also, you can assure them that you will be reading it. I wouldn’t have students do this activity anonymously. You may also want to explain that this is not a time to be rude or disrespectful. Remind students that you’re sincerely trying to improve the class for next time and their perspective can help.
Keeping a Routine
It really helps to keep some part of your routine all the way through the last day of school. My favorite way to do this is with math mazes. They’re how I typically start class every day, so I keep doing them through the last day of school. The last week of school includes a lot of change, but that doesn’t mean you have to let go of your teaching routine completely. So, find class routines and activities that you can hang onto, even with the unique interruptions of the last week.
Review Growth Mindset
If you’ve focused on Growth Mindset at all during the year, then the last week of school is a great time to reinforce it with students. They’ll be moving on to a new school year, but understanding a growth mindset is something that can be taken with them. You can use a whole class review game like this Growth Mindset Knockout Game to have some fun while reviewing. (if you want to learn more about using Knockout Games in your classroom, check out this article.)
Math Trivia Game
Having a fun whole class game to play during the last week of school works really well. One game that I like to use during this time is based on a board game called Wits and Wagers. I call it Guesses and Wagers. Basically, it’s a combination of estimating, trivia, and luck. Students play in teams and they get to come up with answers to various questions. Then, they evaluate the answers of the other teams, laying wagers on the answers they think are most reasonable. You might have previously seen the Christmas version or the Pi Day version. The theme we have for the last week of school is Summer. Your students will love this!
Choice Boards
If there’s a lot going on during the last week of school and your schedule doesn’t look like normal, you might want to consider a choice board. With choice boards students are given a variety of activities to complete. Then they complete them at their own pace and in their own order. You can have a list of math and closure-related activities on your choice board for the last week of school.
You could take many of the activities presented in this blog post and put them on a choice board. This is a great opportunity for students to work with partners and stay engaged during a crazy time of year. Plus, it’s a simple strategy to keep students on track, even if class time is being interrupted with end-of-the-year events.
Find Someone Who…
One of my favorite ice breakers is called Find Someone Who. We typically think about using ice breaker activities at the beginning of the year, but they work great at the end of the year as well. Students know each other better at this point in the year and seem more willing to participate.
To complete the Find Someone Who activity, students start with a grid on a piece of paper that has a whole bunch of characteristics or traits. Then, they have get up and find people in the class to fulfill each of their squares. Each person can only sign one square for any other person. Students mix and mingle throughout the classroom trying to complete their grid. Depending on how much time you have, you can have students play bingo style to get 4 in a row or blackout where they try to get every square filled in.
Have Students Help Close Down the Classroom
Of all the things going on during the last week, the task of closing down the classroom can feel most daunting. We all know that once the posters come off the classroom walls, students find it impossible to focus on any classwork. However, closing out a classroom by yourself takes so long. It makes sense to want to get a jump on it.
A few years ago we heard a podcast episode from Angela Watson. She talked about using the students to help you get your classroom ready for the summer in an organized way. And the best part of all is that having your students help makes it possible to completely close out the classroom and leave it ready for the next school year in the last 1-2 school days. Students love helping organize things, taking borrowed things back to other teachers, and removing posters off the wall. So, let’s take advantage of that! This approach helped simplify my classroom close out, and reduced some of the stress of the end of the year. Plus, my students loved doing this work.
To get ready for classroom close out, we created a set of editable task cards that you can have student use to get the classroom packed and cleaned. Using these task cards, you can pace out the tasks. Then, have students start working in partners on tasks during the last week of school while others are completing a different class activity.
You can do it all in just 1-2 days- all it takes is a little planning ahead. Think about each section in your classroom, and customize your task cards with specific directions for students. Then, simply pass cards out to a few students during the last few days of school while other students are working on something else. You won’t believe how much time it will save you!
These classroom close out task cards are available as a free bonus in the End of the Year Activity Bundle. Completely editable, this approach will revolutionize your classroom close out process.
Advice for Future Students
Another way for you to get feedback on your class is to have students write a letter to future students. I would be really specific with what you want in the letter. Have students make a list of what a future students should do to be successful in your class. You’ll learn some things that you didn’t know about yourself as a teacher and your class. These letters are awesome to have on a bulletin board at the beginning of the next school year. You can pick and choose the letters that are encouraging and have your future students read them to get some tips on how to be successful in your class.
Giving additional structure to this task can improve the quality of students responses. Some options include asking students to create an acrostic poem to give advice, using a word like “success” or “excellence”. Or, you may challenge students to write their Top 5 List of ways to be successful in your math class.
Famous Mathematicians Escape Room
Students love escape rooms! That’s the most common thing I hear teachers saying about escape rooms. The Famous Mathematicians Escape Room doesn’t involve solving problems, but it does revolve around math. To solve these 3 puzzles, students will have to research and find facts about famous, and not so famous, mathematicians. This digital activity is a fun way for students to learn a little history about math and complete an escape room at the same time.
Have you tried a digital math escape room yet? Teachers & students rave about them! To see what all the fuss is about, click the link below, drop your email, and we’ll send you this FREE digital math escape room!
This escape room is built in Google Slides and has 3 puzzles- one for combining like terms, one for distributive property, and the final one for solving 2-step equations. Grab yours today!
The Last Week of School in a Box
If you’re looking for the last week of school all planned for you in a nice “box” then look no further. We have a collection of activities, a lesson plan, bonus math mazes, and task cards for closing out your classroom all together in this bundle in the Math Idea Galaxy store on TPT. You won’t have to keep looking for activities for the last week of school when you have so many other things going on. You can just download, print or digitally assign, and go.
This bundle of resources includes a wide variety of independent, partner, and whole class activities. Your students will be engaged and will be getting the closure that they need as they move from one grade level to the next. Good luck out there! You’ve got this 🙂
