End of the Semester Ideas
Uncategorized Tagged lesson plans, teaching ideas No Comments »Every year, finding ideas to fill the class periods during and after testing is tricky – I don’t want to plan anything too similar to the demanding format of the SOLs because students have been studying for tests and are tired. I want to plan activities that will help students reflect on the time they have spent in my class and inspire students to apply what they have learned in the future.
Searching for “end of the school year ideas” online brings up a lot of elementary school appropriate activities, but good middle school activities are harder to come by. Here are some activities I’ve done in the past, some I have found online, and some I’d like to try in the future.
- Writing poetry in different styles than the ones studied in class (ex. found poetry, shape poetry, sensory poems).
- Creating a class literary magazine and giving each student a copy to take home.
- Writing a letter to future students about “how to survive” the class.
- Creating a video introduction to the class for future students.
- Writing questions for and holding a class Jeopardy tournament.
- Newspaper scavenger hunt – external text structures.
- Textbook scavenger hunt – literary terms.
- Summer reading book talks – students sign up in advance for a time slot, the teacher makes a list of titles. During the book talks, students circle the titles that sound interesting and end up with a customized reading list.
- Students trace their footprint and write about a goal – “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.” – Henry David Thoreau



