Activities for the Last Week of School

 

So you've finished the curriculum, the reports are done and dusted and finally you have the chance to do some nice, relaxing activities in the last week of school. Here are lots of ideas for nice activities to do (some that I shared last year and some that I added this year!)

For the little ones:
Have a teddy bears' picnic. It doesn't have to involve too much organisation. They could just eat their normal school lunch and do it at a different time and with their favourite teddy bears in tow. If it's dry, it could be a treat to eat their snack on blankets on the grass. If not (for my Irish teacher followers, this is the more likely option once the Leaving Cert weather is over!), you could just clear a space in the classroom and put down the blankets there. They could read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and sing "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and the horrifically catchy, "Yogi Bear Song" - WARNING: Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES show any video entitled "Yogi Bear Song" on YouTube without listening it to yourself first. There is a very non-child-friendly version out there!

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For the older children:

End of year memory book:

If your students have access to digital devices, why not share this editable memory book with them. Click here or in the image below to make your own template on Google Slides.

If you prefer to create a memory on paper, you could use this free template from Ms. Forde's Classroom.

3-D hand drawing: This one is pretty easy to do and the results are really striking.

Create their own Harry Potter-inspired plant:
Read and respond to some descriptions of magical plants from the Harry Potter series. This article from Garden Design magazine could be useful to jog students' memories. There's lots more information available on the Harry Potter Wikia. The children could then create their own plant(s), draw them and write about them - an art and literacy activity all in one!

image source: Wayne Dorrington

Simile poem:

This is a fun one we did recently to lift everyone's spirits in the classroom. Give each student a blank sheet. They write their name on top of the page. Revise what similes are. Have a brainstorming session with the students about adjectives to describe their friends. Every student goes around to every page to write a simile about their classmate e.g. Claire is as cool as an ice cube, Denis is as enthusiastic as a puppy, Sarah is as sweet as a banana split!

My students insisted on writing one about me. Here it is:

Find someone who:

This end of year scavanger hunt from SuperTeacherWorksheets is a lovely "find someone who" activity.

Here's another free one from  Jonathan Pearson You might need to modify this a little to make it suitable for your class.

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Introduce your children to these inspirational quotes (from Jason's Online Classroom). They can then design a poster to write them beautifully and illustrate accordingly. They could be used as a writing prompt so that their story uses the quote as its core.

Image source: Jason's Online Classroom

A table quiz. I'm a self-confessed quiz nerd and am quite happy to ramble off table quiz questions off the top of my head. If you need a bit more guidance, look at this one from The Telegraph (answers are here).

For younger and older students:

Fidget spinner stations: If your school hasn't already banned them, why not use this latest craze for some maths, English, P.E. and art stations? Download my free station cards and worksheet pack for this by clicking here or on the image below.

A "field trip" to the next grade. Your children think of questions they would like to ask to children in the class above them. Then they go to that classroom and find out the answers from the "experts." What a fantastic idea from Melissa at Inspire Me ASAP.

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Minute to Win It games. Maybe you're familiar with the gameshow "Minute to Win It." Tonya's Treats for Teachers has some fun class challenges to complete within a minute. Here's her blog post showing these games in action.

Orienteering around the school grounds. I've created a resource pack with instructions on how to set it up and carry it out and the resources needed. All you have to do is make a map of your school grounds, stick the clues around and hand out the students' sheets. Click here to download it for free from Google Drive.

Superlative Olympics. This is a game I have used to teach comparatives and superlatives to children with English as a second language in summer camps. I made my own cards to go with the game. Click here to read my blog post about how to play. It's suitable for primary school children of all ages and it's loads of fun! Click here or on the image below to download the resources for free from Google Drive.

Create a wordsearch with all of your children's names in it. Thanks to Jordon at The Half Full Cronicles for this idea.

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One of my favourites is to create a maths table quiz to revise the topics you have covered in the year. I put different maths questions on a PowerPoint/Slides presentation, split the children into teams of 3 or 4. They love working together to solve the problems. Just make sure you put in a few really tricky ones to get them fully engaged!

Have an end of year compliments box. All you need is a box/basket, small pieces of paper and an envelope for each child. Obviously, it would be better to do it a day before they take them home so that you can read them and make sure there is nothing bad in there. Here's a ready-made compliment kit to get you started.Thanks to Blair Turner for creating it.

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Create an alpha-autobiography. The children choose words that mean something to them and explain why, for example: A is for Adam, my brother's name, B is for Belfast, where I was born; C is for cycling, my favourite sport... I've made two free-to-download versions, one with lines, one without. Click here or on the image below to download from Google Drive. I'm going to enlarge mine to A3 to give them more space to write/draw.

*The clip art in main image is from My Cute Graphics