Well, it is that time of the year when you as a teacher are ready for the school year to end. With just a few weeks left, you are looking for some fun classroom activities for end of year. Last week I shared some of our best math standards games that included one for the end of the year. CLICK HERE to read about the only math solution you will need for the rest of the school year. Spiral math review games are a great way to review those math objectives and keep your kiddos on their toes!

End of year literacy activities that get actual results.

I promised to come back and share some end of year ela activities that I like to do with my students. These end of year literacy activities are fun and engaging for students, while providing essential learning benefits…WIN, WIN! My students have loved this end of the year poem year after year. It is a simple poem about what they accomplished this school year. It also emphasizes that they have learned to be good citizens throughout the year, or quality students as we like to put it. We add songs and poems to a poetry notebook all year, so this is the best poem to complete our folders. Talk about an amazing year-round portfolio of student work!

A comment made by one teacher:

5.0

A cute poem to end the year. Thanks for sharing your talents.

 

Then we added pocket chart cards where my students built the poem. The words that rhyme are in red. One of the end of year activities worksheets I love to use with this is fill in the blanks so the kids complete it after they build the poem in the pocket chart. Great way to keep seeing that amazing growth!

One of the best parts of this end of the year activities for students is the end of the year craft. It is an easy busy bee that goes along with the poem, “Our Busy Year.” My students loved making it and then reciting the end of the year poem. Some of my students even created cute scenery to go along with their bee creations. I just love when they extend my lessons and show me how much they’ve learned on their own.

A couple of comments made about this fun resource:

5.0

“My class and I loved this!! It is a fun activity for all :)”

 

What sight words can do for your tactile learners

These thematic worksheets reinforce our vocabulary words for 1st grade in these emergent readers. There is a book for each theme. These easy readers help my students’ to increase their reading with comprehension. The real pictures of the vocabulary words help them to make great connections, especially for my ESL population. They help my students to understand what literacy means. The teacher guide gives ideas on how to incorporate phonics as well. I have actually used this same thematic vocabulary for teaching esl students writing. It helps all my students to stay on topic and they love writing about real things! See samples HERE.

 

End of year digital activities for focus, fun, and simple solutions!

 

Last week I shared a fun spiral math review digital game which by the way also has that cute bee theme. Can you tell, I love thematic teaching?

This end of the year reader in digital Boom cards is a great way to celebrate your students’ progress, and ensure that they keep growing. I like to use this with my students because I can flash the word with the real picture on the Smartboard and do the literacy activities with them and then they can review the activities in a center on their tablets. I never tire of having students come up to me and point out vocabulary words they find in their books. The smiles on their faces bring such joy to my heart as they speak confidently about the meaning of the words, connections between the words, and connections to their own learning.

Try out a few cards for free!

 

 

 

That’s all for now. Hang in there and end the year strong!