Are you looking for some year end tips to help the last month in middle school go smoothly? The last weeks of school don’t have to be chaotic; with some helpful ideas to end the school year, you can make these days efficient, but still memorable.
Fantastic Ideas to End the School Year
Final Exam Tip
Give students time in class to review for the exam. I turn exam prep questions into a race, challenges, and stations where students get to review with different people each time. If you are looking for ways to help your students prepare for their final exams, check out these posts:
Classroom Tip to Remember
Students enjoy when you use their names or your pet’s names as examples on quizzes and tests. My students always liked to see what my cat or dog was buying or building on our math tests. This is a way to help build relationships with your students and can be done throughout the year. For more strategies on building classroom relationships, check out these posts:
- Building Classroom Relationships Through Conversation Part 1
- Building Classroom Relationships Through Conversation Part 2
It can also be fun to incorporate games into your students’ learning. Here are some great posts on how to use games for the last few minutes of a lesson, or how to incorporate games into a lesson:
- 6 Easy Classroom Games for Those Last Few Minutes
- Using Puzzles and Games in the Classroom to Engage Students
- Level Up: Incorporating Fun Games into Your Classroom for Interactive Learning
If you haven’t started using attendance questions in your classroom yet, this can be an opportunity to try them out. Learn more about them in this blog post: 22 Interesting Ways to Use Daily Attendance Questions.
One fantastic way to help students build relationships and classroom community can be through digital escape rooms. These are great to to pull out during the last few weeks of school. You can see all 2 Peas and a Dog digital escape rooms on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
Classroom Thing to Change for Next Year
The end of the year is a great time to reflect on what worked and didn’t work in your classroom, or to think about implementing new ideas in the coming year. For example, one year I decided to have and assign classroom jobs. It was something to give students more ownership of their classroom if they know exactly who is accountable for what task.
End of year reflections are excellent for both students and teachers. For teachers, you can check out this blog post: The Importance of End of the Year Teacher Reflections. In it, teachers share their own reflections after a year of teaching, which can help you start thinking about your own.
Students can use this time to reflect on the past year and come up with their own 6 word memoirs. What 6 words can they use to sum up their year? You can get this activity free when you sign up for the 2 Peas and a Dog email list.
Year End Gift Idea
If you’re a teacher looking to give a gift to support staff or colleagues, or a parent wondering what to give a teacher at the end of the year, here are some gift ideas to check out:
The first link might be geared more toward Christmas or holiday gift-giving but the sentiment still stands for the end of the year.
People love tumblers with built in straws to hold their water or summer drinks. You could also put a roll of lifesavers or other cute candy in the tumbler to thank people for being a “lifesaver” or a “smarty.” Pinterest is a great place to look for cute teacher gift ideas.
If you are looking to give your students a gift at the end of the year, a tumbler or reusable water bottle is a great idea. You could even throw in a bookmark or a small journal they can use over the summer. Year end gifts don’t have to be lavish and expensive; remember that it’s the thought that counts and even the smallest thing might make an impact on someone, even if it’s just a thank you.
Classroom Organization Tip
For some teachers, the beginning of a new school year does not mean they’ll be in the same classroom as the previous year. That is why classroom organization is so important. Label everything. I mean everything. When my classroom items migrate to other parts of the building, they always return home! It also makes putting things away easy if students know exactly where the papers, textbooks, and extra pens are housed.
For even more classroom organization tips, check out these posts:
- Classroom Organization Hacks
- Classroom Organization Ideas
- Classroom Organization Tips For New Teachers
- Helpful Middle and High School Classroom Organization and Setup Ideas
- Professional Development Organization: Managing the Overwhelming Paper Load
The end of the year is an exciting time for both students and teachers and by following some of these tips, it can stay more exciting and less stressful. Having a plan is the first step toward ending the year successfully and being on your way to enjoying your summer. I hope you found some ideas to end the school year. Have a great summer!
For more ideas to end the school year, advice, resources, and more, check out these posts:
- Tips for Surviving the End of the Year
- Amazing End of the Year Tips and Tricks
- Special Activities for the End of the Year
- Creative End of the Year Middle School Activities
- 3 Highly Engaging Digital End of the Year Activities
- Engaging & Fun Middle School End of the Year Lessons
- 21 Fun Non-Academic Middle School End of the Year Activities
- 15 Exciting End of The Year Activities for Middle School Students to Enjoy
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I'm doing the same with jobs! No more rotating for this teacher.
I love your cute blog!
I so agree with labeling everything! Not adequately labeling my own boxes has cost me soooo much time searching!
-Lisa
Mrs. Spangler in the Middle
I'm a labeler too! Pieces of classrooms always end up all over the school, somehow.
I love your tip to include pet names on worksheets and quizzes! I always talk about my dog Buster, and even high school students would enjoy seeing sentences about him. Thanks!
Add me to the list of labelers. I ordered address labels from vista print that say "Please Return to Mrs. Soeltz in room 114" and stuck them on EVERYTHING. I always get my things back, too, which makes the small investment in labels well worth it.