It was the first day of school, and then you BLINKED. The end of the year is here and now you are scrambling to find engaging resources that review curriculum and keep your students busy for the remaining days of school. I have tested out many end of the year activities, but I have narrowed my list down to ten based on student feedback and my observations. Each one of these activities meets the review needs while bringing fun to my classroom. It’s the best of both worlds.

Here are ten end of the year activities to get you thru the rest of the school year:

Digital Classroom Escapes

Digital Classroom Escapes are interactive activities that promote peer collaboration and problem-solving. Cryptic messages, challenges, and puzzlers combine to create the perfect blend of learning and fun! My students GO BONKERS for digital breakouts. I can’t give them enough!

With no prep, a dose of fun and a little review, escapes are a great end of the year resource!

HERE IS A FREE END-OF-YEAR DIGITAL ESCAPE FOR YOU TO USE IN YOUR CLASSROOM. Sign up for our newsletter to receive your FREE escape NOW!

If your students love the Great End of The Year Scavenger Hunt, we have another awesome Summer Break Escape available and pictured below.

Math Projects and Activities

I love anything that reviews key math skills I have taught throughout the year. I also love a math activity with real world applications. This first PBL activity requires students to decide how and where to install security cameras in a new housing development. Students will have to select, budget, and install the cameras based on pricing, features, and angle dimensions.

My students have also completed the Fraction PBL activity below where they designed a 3-tiered cake to review fractions, decimals, converting measurement and volume!

Play Dough Fraction Project

My students loved this activity! It was a chance for them to tangibly make something and apply math skills they learned throughout the year. At this stage of the year a project that is equal parts creativity, independent practice for students, and academic is a surefire winner!

ABC Countdown to Summer

This resource contains 26 different activities with little to no supplies required! The activities included are aligned to curriculum standards such as sequencing, persuasive writing, and poetry! These activities were fun and required VERY LITTLE prep- perfect for the end of the year chaos! To learn more about this resource check out the video HERE!

Packing My Bags Activity

If you’re looking for a great “take a stroll down memory lane” activity, this is it! With all the things YOU have to get done at the end of the year, this is a great activity students can complete on their own and reminisce about the great year they had! My students loved this activity because they were able to take home a keepsake that encompassed the school year!

Beach Ball Boogie STEM Challenge

STEM challenges are PERFECT for the end of the year. You take all that student energy and channel it into a project that requires collaboration and problem solving! I have used several of Kerry Tracy’s STEM challenges in my classroom. They are meaningful and aligned to curriculum. In this challenge students are asked to design a contraption that must hold a beach ball as they compete in a relay race. WHAT FUN! For more information click here for a video of the challenge!

Coordinate Grid Activity

A coordinate grid challenge is an engaging activity your students will want to complete the last few weeks of school. In the activity below students must plot points and connect the dots to create a mystery picture. Come on…look at that adorable picture. #yourkidswillloveit

End Of The Year Writing Pennant – Advice to Next Year’s Students

My students LOVED leaving advice for incoming students with this interactive activity! They felt like the true experts. The templates are so beautiful and all ready for printing…easy prep! This activity can also serve as a PREFECT bulletin board for back to school time. Hang the pennants for meet the teacher- your new students and their families will love getting to know you thru the eyes of your previous students.

Early Finisher Kits

These kits of activities have a special theme for each month of the year! They include challenges, puzzlers and brainteasers with fun eye catching graphics to get your students excited! I prep this kit in advance and place everything in a storage bin so it is ready to go for use as a gap filler or for students that complete assessments early.

The post 10 Academic Activities To Get You Thru The End Of The Year appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

1.) Spaghetti Towers

I always do this STEM challenge the first week of school. It’s a fantastic team-building activity and allows me the opportunity to observe my students in groups. I watch to see who holds back and doesn’t contribute much, who tries to control the situation, and everything else in between. It’s also not an easy challenge, so I observe which groups persevere and which shutdown. I use this data to arrange groups for future challenges.

2.) Rollercoaster Building

These Rollercoaster STEM Kits from Lakeshore Learning are one of the most diverse materials I use in class. My absolute favorite labs included in these kits are the ones for potential and kinetic energy. We start with evaluating how slope effects momentum with the rollercoaster pieces. Next, I introduce a WONDERFUL website where students can digitally create rollercoasters. The website is highly interactive and I have to bribe students to log off the site. For the finale, we spend an afternoon creating rollercoasters with the Lakeshore STEM kits. These kits are a little pricey but I was fortunate enough to receive funding for them from a DonorsChoose grant.

3.) Paper Airplanes

I use this activity after testing. It’s perfect for reviewing converting measurement and I’m usually covering force and motion at this time of the year. I purchased this activity from Lisa Taylor. There are 3 different challenges that include discussion questions and data tracking logs. One of my favorite aspects of this STEM challenge is the small list of materials that are needed; easy prep for me!

STEM education can cover so many standards and critical thinking skills for your students. When my students come back and visit me after they move on to 5th grade they always reminisce about the STEM challenges we did in 4th grade. What’s your favorite STEM challenge to do with your students? Comment below.

The post 3 AWESOME STEM Challenges To Do In Your Classroom appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

Info

The Merge Cube is designed by the company Merge Virtual Reality. Their mission is to create virtual reality toys that are creative and offer educational value. The Merge Cube is a small holographic object that you can hold. Depending on what apps you download on your phone the cube will project 3D images that you can view thru your phone’s camera. This toy can be purchased online via Amazon (for $9.99), but I found my Merge Cube at my local Wal-Mart for $1.00.

The Apps

There are a lot of apps that are compatible with Merge Cube, but most do not carry a HUGE educational component to it. There is a fantastic app for viewing the solar system and parts of the human body such as the heart and brain, but most do not contain an educational component. These two apps provide enough value to justify the $1.00 I spent on the cube, but I would be lying if I didn’t say I wish there were more educational resources for the Merge Cube. Click the link below to view a demo video.

Merge Demo

If you want to use the Merge Cube in your classroom beyond curriculum purposes, there are apps that have logic and maze puzzles that would be perfect for behavior rewards. Merge Cubes are fun and your students will love the technology component. There are paid apps, and a lot of free ones too. If you choose to purchase a paid app you can link multiple devices to one account.

Bottom Line

If you’re lucky enough to find these cubes at Wal-Mart for a dollar each, pick up a few for your classroom. It sounds like this product is in its early stages, so I’m excited to see what apps will be launching in the future.

The post The New Merge Cube…Worth the Hype? appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

1.) Drops on a Penny – I was expecting my 4th grade gifted students to think this was a lame experiment, but they loved it. It was easy prep for me, and I was able to target every step of the scientific method with my class.

2.) Transfer of Energy Experiment – This lab is easy to implement and covers potential and kinetic energy. Anything related to force and motion is a surefire hit with students. Check out Frugal Fun 4 Boys’ blog post on how to conduct this lab in your classroom. She has an archive of great science labs!

3.) Marble Rollercoasters – In this experiment we use the testable question of “How does increasing the slope of a ramp affect the marble’s speed?” Like the other two activities, this lab requires easy to find materials. I use cut up pool noodles to make my ramps, which I reuse throughout the year for other force and motion labs. If you want to conduct this experiment with your students I have a freebie that can be found in my TpT store.

What are your go to experiments for teaching the scientific method?

The post 3 Easy Science Labs for Reviewing the Scientific Method appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.