End of the year classroom management strategies are important to successfully end the year. The end of the year always sneaks up on me. One moment it’s Christmas time – then suddenly, Daylight Saving Time, warmer days, and May and June emerge out of nowhere. I always tell myself – “This year will be different! I won’t get caught up and not see the end is near.” Yet, here we go again. It’s almost May, and I don’t know where the time went.
Before taking that much-needed time to reflect, we need to survive the chaos that is the last few weeks of the school year. This time of year is full of planned and surprise interruptions. Ten teacher bloggers have taken the time to share their thoughts on making the end of the year more manageable for teachers by sharing their best end of the year classroom management strategies.
This four-part series discusses:
- Week 1: End of the Year Classroom Management Strategies
- Week 2: Favourite End-of-the-Year Lessons, Assignments, and Units
- Week 3: Special End of the Year Activities For Students
- Week 4: End of the Year Teacher Reflections
Use these end of the year classroom management strategies to help successfully end the year.
End of the Year Classroom Management Strategies
What are your best end of the year classroom management strategies or advice for teachers?
1. Routines, routines, and more routines. Do not change things up now. Students like to know things ahead of time- so post your week at a glance for them to see. I noticed that once I started posting a week at a glance for my students – they started to come more prepared for class and ready to learn. Also, don’t forget that at any point in the year, getting in touch with a student’s parents is OK. The last few weeks are not exempt. Kristy from 2 Peas and a Dog
2. Give the students time to reflect on what they’ve accomplished and learned this year. Have a couple of projects ready for this purpose and spread them out over the last few weeks so that when they get too squirrelly, you can get them back on track with a “fun” project that lets them show off their skills. Meghan from Fun Fresh Ideas
3. Keep the expectations high and the interest level higher! Pull out the most engaging projects and tap into the most controversial or exciting topics to keep them wanting to do and learning more! Michele from A Lesson Plan For Teachers
4. Try something new to keep them guessing so they won’t tune you out! I like introducing new ways to up the ante with my reward system, like adding a BINGO board. Lisa from Mrs Spangler in the Middle
5. It is important to keep students focused and to build in some opportunities for fun. This is a great time to use review games, student choice, and hands-on projects to help with engagement. Tara from Science in the City
6. To keep students focused at the end of the school year, it’s important to keep them engaged and busy. Even though we’re all tired, I don’t like to have a lot of “down” time in my classroom. I also try to maintain regular routines through the last few days. Kim from OC Beach Teacher
7. The end of the year can seem to drag on, and students are a mix of hyper-tired-stressed-hyper. My best tip is to create space for them to both expend energy AND calm down (in case they’re dreading exams, etc.). In my classroom, we start each day of the last few weeks with a drama game to help eliminate the hyper. Then, we move into review (games, collaborative quizzes, Kahoot, etc.). In the last ten minutes, however, we do free writing activities or colour as we listen to an audiobook or podcast. Planning around their energy level helps keep students focused at the end of the year. Danielle from Teach Nouvelle
8. Try new, daring, and edgy things! You might think it’s the WORST TIME, but it’s the best. Do a breakout.edu. Try virtual environment gamified instruction (minecraft.edu) to keep them engaged. Mary from Your Smarticles
9. The end of the year is an amazing time to loosen up and bond with students before they leave your room (possibly forever!). If I’m consistent with my expectations throughout the year, my students and I share mutual respect, and I don’t have to do anything differently (other than maybe reminding them that it’s still not okay to go to the bathroom twice in one period.) At the end of the year, I love to have discussions and collaborative activities and even take students outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. These approaches seem to keep behaviour issues at bay. Melissa from The Reading and Writing Haven
10. Make things fun! Randi from 4 The Love of Math
In Addition to Your End of the Year Classroom Management Strategies, Try A Digital Escape Room
The end of the year is a perfect time to use digital escape rooms with your students. They can be a reward after work has been finished or used to have a fun learning class.
Looking for a fun and engaging activity to wrap up the school year? Try our End of the Year Digital Escape Room! Designed for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, this activity challenges students to solve ten summer-themed puzzles and escape from a locked basement storage room. Students can work independently or collaborate with peers, using their reading and listening comprehension skills and general knowledge of summer to complete each challenge.
Not only is this escape room a fun way to build community and social-emotional learning, but it also requires no preparation from teachers or students. With a Google Drive account, teachers can access a customizable Google Form link they can tailor to their classroom needs. From start to finish, this digital escape room should take about 30-60 minutes to complete, depending on the students. Don’t miss out on this exciting end-of-year activity!
Love these tips! Great for new teachers or experienced ones! Thank you!
Great tips! Another great tip is to bring current events into the classroom to create discussion and touch on student interests! Try these free short NPR clips w/curated questions to start discussion: https://listenwise.com/current_events
I love how different teachers gave their ideas on this post! They were all so helpful and easy to implement. I would also add giving the class a chance to earn a whole class reward for good behavior. The reward is dependent upon the teacher’s style and his/her relationship with the students. But during this time of the year, students (and TEACHERS!!) need a lot of motivation to get through the days with peace. So working as a team to earn something helps keep motivation high. This was a great post to read!