May and June in middle school…although wonderful for many reasons (great weather, summer’s coming, etc.), they can be tough for teachers. With some planning, it can not only be doable, but fun and meaningful as well.
End of the Year Activities: Special Days in May and June
First, there are a lot of important holidays in a short period. If you are a social studies teacher, you will want to address:
If you are a language arts teacher, you may want to address:
Keep End of the Year Activities but Meaningful
You might also want some of your end of the year activities to be cumulative games. Jeopardy-style games not only engage students and promote teamwork and healthy competition but bonus…there’s no grading. They are a little tricky to make but very doable.
Lastly, it is important to end the year with a good closure. The last two years certainly have not been instrumental in doing this, so I plan on making this year count. Digital memory books are fun, meaningful, and they are super easy.
When student devices are collected and you can’t rely on computer-based activities, you will need some printable projects to get through those last days, but again, in a meaningful way.
Plan Ahead to Avoid Stress at the End of the Year
One thing that I would highly recommend is keeping a good routine. One way to do this is to always have a “bell ringer” (AKA a “do now” or “anticipatory set”) so that the tone of the class period will be established from the moment kids walk in. Try these bell ringers to get class started:
Finally, whatever you choose to do, make a plan. This can be as easy as creating a Word doc with the dates, any special events, and what you will do that day both in class and planning/grading-wise. I have a free resource for this; check it out here!
If you are feeling burnt out, you can check out my store; there are plenty of products for May and June to help you manage this busy time of year.
Best of luck to all of you! Let the countdown begin!
Linda A. – “All in One Middle School”
Helpful Links
Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
Full list of end-of-year products
One-on-One Coaching for Observations and Lessons
Teaching Writing Workshop Course
Click here to join the Middle School Language Arts Facebook Group
