When the last month of school starts, it can be very difficult to hold your students' attention. Most of them will be dreaming about their summer vacation or sleeping in every day. If you're looking for ideas to keep your middle school students focused, engaged, and entertained in these last days, we've got 33 ideas for you!
1. Countdown to Summer Bulletin Board
"End the Year with a Bang" with this balloon bulletin board! Fill each balloon with a reward or activity and let one student pop the balloon while they count down to summer break.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers.
2. Classmate Scavenger Hunt
Giving your students a classmate scavenger hunt gives them the opportunity to reflect and laugh about moments that happened. Give them a list of prompts and have them search for a classmate to match the prompt.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers.
3.Scavenger Hunt
If your students enjoyed the classmate scavenger hunt, give them a hunt that causes them to work together as teams.
Mrs.Camps Campground created an Amazing Race Scavenger Hunt that can be used for your class or even for the entire school.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
4. Autograph Books
While we're having students sign things, give them an autograph book so they can collect signatures and notes from their classmates and teachers!
Grab a free book here or check out this memory and autograph book with spots for pictures.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
5. Signature Outfit
If you're looking for an alternative to autograph books, grab a white skirt, dress, or t-shirt and allow your students to sign it. This is a fun activity for them while capturing memories for you.
Learn more: Teach with Baker and That Mama Teacher Life
6. Memories That Stick
A cute way for your students to show off their descriptive writing skills is with this Memories That Stick activity. Students write a memory on each "prickly pear" and then attach them to their cactus!
Learn more: Teach Starter
7. Memory Jar
When we're looking for creative reflection activities for the students, they can be as simple as a memory jar. Students write their favorite memory on a slip of paper then roll each slip and collect them in a glass jar.
Learn more: Cook in the Classroom
8. Class Memory Slide
Another way to collect memories of the students is through digital media. Collect slides that include the student's pictures and one of their favorite memories from the year. You can collect these during the last weeks of school and display them on the last day.
Learn more: Wispy Bush
9. Class Awards
Host an awards ceremony with your students. Give out awards to each student for serious topics like most improved reading scores or silly topics like most bathroom breaks. This teacher even gave an award to the students who were the "most obsessed" with her.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers.
10. #Bestbookever
A cool idea to get your students thinking and talking about books is with the #bestbookever award. Have your students nominate their favorite book of the year and then create a poster for that book. Hang the posters or save them to share with your students the following year as book recommendations.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers.
11. Survival Letters
Have your students write survival letters to your future students. They'll share what they think other students need to know about you, your class, and that grade. This is a fun creative writing exercise good for any grade level.
Learn more: The Teaching Files
12. Letters to Future Self
If you have 8th grade students getting ready to head to high school, have them write a letter to their future selves. They can write about what's happening in their lives, what's relevant at the moment, and what goals they hope to achieve in the future. Then, when they're graduating from high school, you can deliver the letter to them. It's their own personal time capsule.
Learn more: Cook in the Classroom
13. Summer Bucket List
Another awesome writing task is a summer bucket list. Have the students include books they want to read, goals they want to achieve, and something new to learn or try.
Learn more: KOA Blog
14. Thank You Notes
The end of the year is a good time to review or teach the proper format for thank you notes. Have your students write notes to each other or to staff members in the school thanking them for a specific moment of kindness or a lesson they taught.
Learn more: Organized Classroom.
15. ABC Book
A fun activity for the end of the year is compiling an ABC book. Have the students share one thing they learned for each letter of the alphabet and then include a picture or drawing. Students can do this physically with paper or digitally on Google Slides.
Learn more: Write on with Miss G
16. End of the Year Olympics
Want to transform an average school day? It's as easy as hosting your own Olympics! These could just be general Olympic activities or you could do end-of-year review activities.
Ditch That Textbook shares her plan for hosting a Class Olympics packed full of fun review games for the students.
Learn more: Ditch that Textbook
17. End of the Year Tumbling Towers
A fun game to play with your middle school students in the last week of school is Tumbling Towers (also known as Jenga). Assign each block a color and create questions for each color. These can be review or reflective questions.
The Teaching Files has pre-made questions available.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
18. Jeopardy
Jeopardy always ends up being one of my students' favorite activities. You can end the year with a massive review or just host a fun game using trivia and brain teasers.
Tiny Toes created a fun digital version.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
19. Create a Board Game
This is a fun project you can assign in the last few weeks. Students work in pairs or groups to create a board game with an academic topic and then present it to the class. You can pair this with a game day and have the students test out the games.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers.
20. Game Day
If you have the freedom in your schedule, students love game days. Set up tables around the room with board games and card games and let your students choose what they want to play!
Learn more: A Grade Ahead.
21. Reading Day
Plan a themed reading day! Miss G hosts a summer-themed reading day and allows the students to bring in beach towels and pool floaties.
Learn more: Write on with Miss G
22. Movie Day
Another fun idea that middle school students love is a movie day! Showing a movie but pairing it with a lesson is a win for everyone.
Learn more: Building Book Love
23. Teacher for the Day
The end of the year is the perfect time to let your students be teachers for the day. Set up boundaries for their lessons but give them the freedom to choose any topic.
Learn more: My Call to Teach
24. Yes Day
Another fun idea for the end of the school year is a "Yes Day". Students submit ideas in the days leading up to it and then on the "Yes Day", you have to say yes to their requests.
See how this teacher handles the "Yes Day" in her classroom.
Learn more: My Call to Teach
25. Commencement Speeches
A good writing/speaking activity is listening to commencement speeches. Watch or listen to commencement speeches in your class and then discuss what the students do and do not agree with or have them write a review for the speech.
Laura Randazzo shares multiple speeches she uses and how she addresses them with her class.
Learn more: Stanford
26. Pop-Up Toasts
More than likely, we all will or have given a public toast at some point. Give your students an opportunity to publicly address the things they're thankful for and memories from the school year. This is a great public speaking activity and an opportunity for you to present a fun lesson in the last week of school.
Dave Stuart Jr. has an entire lesson plan for toasts.
Learn more: Dave Stuart Jr.
27. Fishbowl Discussion
Host fishbowl discussions in your last days of school. These discussions will stimulate your middle school students and get them thinking about more than the days of summer. Give your students a topic relevant to their recent studies or a popular topic in the news. Have one or two students be the "fish" and the rest of the students sit around facing them (forming the fishbowl). All students will get a chance to speak and give their opinions at their designated time.
Learn more: The Daring English Teacher.
28. Paper Airplane Competition
My students love working on paper airplanes. They like learning new styles and competing to see which plane is the best. In the last weeks of school, host a paper airplane competition!
Learn more: The Thinker Builder.
29. STEM Challenge
Doing STEM challenges in the last week of school is the perfect challenge for the students and provides a valuable learning experience.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
30. Mad Libs
A quick activity that's great for grammar review is Mad Libs. With Mad Libs, your students get the chance to complete stories by filling in different parts of speech.
Miss R's Place created some specifically for the end of the school year.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
31. Escape Rooms
If you're looking for an activity to keep your students engaged but also entertained, give them an escape room! There are so many available that are targeted either towards fun or education!
This art escape room is actually a grammar review!
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
32. Solve a Mystery
Another exciting activity for the students is solving a mystery! Let your students work on team building, problem-solving, and critical thinking with a mystery kit!
Grab one from Cultivating Lifetime Learners.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
33. End of the Year Gift
Not every teacher will have the means or the option to give end-of-the-year gifts, but if you are able to, you can send your students off with one last message from you.
This teacher found a simple and affordable way to remind her students of her daily message to them. Another teacher gave her students a book with a personalized note.
Learn more: My Call to Teach and The Teaching Files
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