Elementary School Projects for Reading and Science

It's been a strange school year for many, to say the least. As information technology draws to a shut, spend some time talking about what made it unique, recalling the good memories, and reflecting on all you've learned. These end of yr assignments provide activities for those last days on the school calendar, with both in-person and virtual ideas to fit every kind of classroom. Let the countdown begin!

1. Serve upward a scoop of memories

Here's a sugariness fashion to gloat the end of the year! Make newspaper ice cream sundaes, with a unlike retention on each scoop. You can have kids draw these themselves or buy a printable version at the link below.

Acquire more: True Life I'one thousand A Teacher

two. Post Flipgrid farewell videos

Flipgrid is i of our favorite classroom tools, whether you're teaching in person or online. Post some terminate of year topics, similar "What did you learn this twelvemonth?" or "Share your favorite retentivity from the past yr." Kids mail service their video responses and check out other students' contributions too.

3. Plan a dream vacation

Kids are already dreaming of how they'll fill up the summer hours, and then this last-infinitesimal math activeness volition be pure fun! Give kids a budget (say, $2,500) and so send them off to enquiry whether their dream trip can be accomplished. Make sure they include airfare or gas coin, lodgings, nutrient, spending money, and all the incidentals that add upwards when yous travel.

iv. Compile an end of year playlist

Songs are similar smells—just hearing 1 can bring dorsum all kinds of memories. Ask students (as a class or individually) to compile a list of songs that relate to the past school year and have them write about why each tune has a place on the list. Celebrate the last day of school past listening to songs from the playlist equally you lot reverberate on the year gone past.

Acquire more: Reading and Writing Oasis

5. Fill a memory bag

Give each student a brownish paper bag, so ask them to decorate the front end and add some reflections well-nigh the yr on the other three panels. Then, each student adds 10 items from the twelvemonth to their pocketbook, with notes nearly why each is important. Finish up by having each kid lay out their items on their desk-bound. Take a gallery walk around the room for everyone to see each others' selections.

Learn more: Runde's Room

vi. Research and write a commencement speech

Beginning speeches aren't simply for graduations! Finish out the year by reading or watching other great commencements speeches (the spider web is full of them). Then challenge students to write—and deliver, if y'all like—their own speeches for the year they've merely finished.

Larn more: 2 Peas and a Dog

7. List what y'all've learned from A to Z

What a great way to expect back over what kids have learned! For each letter of the alphabet, have them write and illustrate something they learned or did throughout the year. Hit the link beneath to get a gratis printable template for this projection. Learning well-nigh? Have students create a Google slideshow instead.

Learn more than: Teaching with Jennifer Findley

8. Transport thank y'all notes

This is a skill every kid should learn—writing and sending thank you notes. Have kids write a note to someone who made their school yr special, and so seal them in envelopes, accost them, and deliver past mitt or mail. And while yous're at it, why not write a thanks note to your own class?

Learn more: Cult of Education

nine. Post best-of-the-year snapshots

Ask your students to sum up their favorite schoolhouse-twelvemonth memory (Science Fair? Field Day? Creative class presentations?) in 1 snapshot. Younger kids can draw pictures of the upshot, while older kids are likely to accept a photograph on their phone they'd be willing to share. Assemble them on a bulletin board—real-globe or digital—with a few words from each student most what made that moment then special.

Acquire more: Little Soaring Eagles

ten. Count the days

Instead of counting downward the days until the end, count up the days from the twelvemonth backside you! Get students counting by having them employ a agenda to effigy out how many Mondays yous've had this twelvemonth, how many Fridays, how many P.E. days, and how many Jello-in-the-deli days. Then work together to make a bar graph and hang it on the wall.

11. Let the students go the teachers

Accept a break and let the students lead the class for a change. If you lot're reviewing cloth for finals or an end-of-year test, have each student (or a group) lead the review session on a item topic. Y'all can too have your students create their ain lesson on a topic they're passionate about. And we beloved this idea of having kids in one grade make and nowadays lessons on what students in the course below them can expect to acquire the post-obit yr. There are a lot of options here, and all of them give you fourth dimension to take a breather!

12. Talk backside each other'due south backs (actually!)

Have your students assistance record a slice of lined paper to one another's backs. Have each pupil get out a felt-tipped mark (not a Sharpie—information technology may bleed through). Ready a timer and put on some favorite music. Let the students mix around the room and write a positive message on each student'south paper. For example, The all-time affair almost you is …, What I appreciate most nearly y'all is …, I remember …, etc. After a set corporeality of time, accept students stop, remove their papers from their backs and savor reading the words of dearest from their classmates. (For a socially distanced spin, create a Google slide or Padlet template for each educatee instead.)

13. Coast into summer

These DIY memory coasters are piece of cake to make and give kids an end-of-yr gift to take abode. Get the free printable templates and consummate instructions here.

14. Read a book to get some closure

Little ones particularly have a hard time with the end of a schoolhouse year. Next year lots of things will be dissimilar, and that tin be a sad and even scary thought for some. Endeavor this listing of young reader books similar The Egg by M. P. Robertson to spark conversations nigh what kids have learned and what lies ahead.

15. Dream most the summer ahead

Here's an end of year assignment that includes both art and writing. Accept kids draw a portrait of themselves, then utilise the template at the link below to cut out and decorate an enormous pair of sunglasses. On the glasses, have them write most their summer plans (or the plans they'd like to take).

Learn more: Third Form Love

16. Raise a glass and toast your class

Students get a chance to do public speaking in a very meaningful way at this end of year activeness. Get a few liters of ginger ale and plastic champagne flutes from a political party store, arrange your students in a circle, and have everyone say something—maybe a goal for the adjacent school year, well-wishes for their peers, a favorite memory. After everyone has spoken, lift your glasses with a cheer and celebrate to finish the school year.

17. Author a six-discussion memoir

This project has taken the globe past storm. In vi words, tin y'all capture the essence of your school year? Kids can spend a lilliputian or a lot of fourth dimension on this one, refining their words and even illustrating them. Collect them all into a slide prove (bearding, if kids prefer) to share on the last day.

Learn more: Half-dozen Words Memoir Project

18. Take a field trip to the next grade

Take your class to visit the classrooms they'll be in next year. Arrange to spend some time with the teachers, talk to the students, and hear more about what they'll be learning. This is a good way to allay fears many kids take about moving on from a classroom where they've been comfortable. (Yous can practice this as a Zoom tour and meet-and-greet as well.)

nineteen. Design a school seal

In this fun finish-of-twelvemonth activity that'southward perfect for social studies, have your students design a "Great Seal" for their schoolhouse. First, break them into groups to talk virtually what makes your school special and memorable for them. And then, take each kid (or group) create their own "seal" based on the ones used by states and cities. This project is specially meaningful for kids about to movement on to another school like junior high.

Learn more than: Create Teach Share

20. Determine your "People of the Year"

Time Magazine can't accept all the fun! Help your students to compile of list of the "People of the Twelvemonth" for your grade. Include people important to your classroom (the custodian, the primary, everyone's favorite "lunch lady") forth with classroom visitors and speakers from the year. Add in some people from current events and pop civilisation (the current president, a favorite musician) and fifty-fifty folks they studied throughout the year (Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart). Endeavour to accept or describe portraits of each, and assign each student to write a cursory bio of one of the people included.

21. Write messages or tips for next yr'southward class

Who meliorate to advise next yr'southward class on what they'll need to succeed than the kids who've just finished doing information technology? They can write letters on their own or work together to create a principal listing of what it takes to arrive in the next class.

Learn more: Diary of a Public Schoolhouse Teacher

22. Create science-inspired fine art

Inquire your students to create a wall-worthy piece of art that reflects something they learned in science. Did you report plants? Mayhap a watercolor of flowers. Or if you studied space? A cosmic-inspired number. Transport their piece of work domicile to assist them remember, or collect them to create a bulletin board that will inspire adjacent year'due south class near what they'll be learning.

23. Host an open-mic night

Encourage kids to share the writing they've done in (and out of) class with an open up mic event. Gear up upward a stage complete with microphone and stool—get bully tips for this at the link below—then bring kids upwards to tell a story or recite a poem. Overcome phase fright with a absurd casual vibe and plenty of snacks. Invite friends and family to attend or watch about via Zoom.

Learn more: Educational activity… the Fine art of Possibility

24. Etch an end-of-year standing story

Write several story titles like "The Swell Summertime Risk," "How My Instructor Lost Her Heed," or "My Teacher, My Hero" at the pinnacle of blank pages. And then, have each student start a story and, after five minutes, laissez passer the story to a neighbour who will continue writing. (Do this digitally on Google Docs if y'all're not able to share supplies from person to person.) Go along writing round-robin style until you have several stories to read aloud to the class.

25. Publish a year-end newspaper

Y'all tin practice this i as a group or individually. Create a basic newspaper template and have the class fill in the front page news. Epitomize the twelvemonth, offer advice, illustrate favorite memories, and more than. Then, pass these on to the grade below to requite them an idea of what lies alee.

Learn more than: Teaching With a Mountain View

26. Perform a Loftier (or Center or Simple) Schoolhouse Musical number

Break your students into groups and have them create (and perform) musical numbers commemorating the year. They can write new words to existing tunes, choreograph a lip-sync performance to an inspiring or memorable song, or even come up with something entirely new. Invite parents or other classes to a terminal-day functioning, in person or online.

27. Gather a Volume Hall-of-Fame

Have each student write (or describe) a reflection on the best book they read during the year. Then, save their reflections and mail service them on a bulletin board or Padlet so that next twelvemonth's students tin can glean reading ideas.

Source: Kerri Pierce/Pinterest

28. Play end-of-year charades

Have each student write out one memorable moment from the school year on a skid of paper. Collect all the slips in a bag, hat, etc. Split up kids into teams and have them come upwards 1 squad at a time, choose a skid and act out the retentivity for the group. No need to go along score—the goal is just to relive all the happy memories from the year.

29. Showtime a schoolhouse graffiti wall

Cull a wall in your schoolhouse or classroom and encourage kids to sign their name and date with a quote or other memory. Use permanent markers or small paintbrushes. Each year, photograph the wall and and so pigment over it to starting time anew. If you have enough space, these walls can last longer and only be painted over every so many years, creating much more enduring memories. No wall room? Try a bulletin board or large sheet of paper instead.

Learn more than: The Literacy Leader

thirty. Concur a "Stuff You Should Know" result

Take a day or a calendar week to pass on important things you want your kids to know as they motion on in life without you. Share poems, songs, TED talks, quotes, books, and tips that y'all remember will help them along their style. Don't forget to include elementary life lessons (registering and preparing to vote, protecting yourself online, how to conduct on an elevator) that school normally doesn't teach you. Learn more than well-nigh this finish-of-year activity here.

31. Print up a growing tree

Capture each student'due south fingerprint as a tree leaf! Label them with their names, and then hang them in your room from yr to year then kids can see who's come up before them.

Source: Martin Koprowski/Pinterest

32. Build a portfolio showcase

Throughout the year, have students save their best work in a folder or box. Then, at the end of the year, each student chooses their favorite items to brandish in a portfolio like a binder or display board. Invite parents and friends to come up to view everyone's achievements.

33. Put together time capsules

Students volition have so much fun assembling fourth dimension capsules to be opened someday in the future. These tin can exist as simple as a plastic h2o bottle filled with written memories or a shoebox stuffed with items to represent what they did and learned over the school twelvemonth.

Learn more than: Mrs. Richardson'south Class

34. Draw a school year timeline

Classroom walls tin start to await empty at the finish of the twelvemonth as you take things downward to prepare for summer. Temporarily make full in the space with a long strip of butcher paper, and so have kids create a timeline of the year. Pause it down by calendar month, then enquire kids what they recall. Prompt their memories past having them await over their piece of work (what a fun fashion to review!), and don't forget to include events, speakers, and holiday celebrations.

Learn more: Minds in Bloom

35. Make full out an terminate-of-twelvemonth roundup

Sometimes you just need a quick activity that doesn't accept a lot of prep, and that's where this free printable comes in. Personalize it by taking and printing a photo of each student, or take them draw their own portrait in the space provided.

Learn more: Squarehead Teachers

What are your favorite cease-of-year assignments? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, Students Gifts You Can DIY for a Dollar (or Less)!

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Source: https://www.weareteachers.com/end-of-year-assignments/

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