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end of the year activities for middle school english

End of Year Activities for Middle School English

When it comes to rounding out the end of the school year, an English teacher has a choice to make. They can either drag their rightfully tired selves across the finish line worn and weary. OR they can go out with a bang. If you would like to be the teacher who digs deep, finds his or her energy reserves, and goes out on a high note, this post is for you. Below are some activities you can use at the end of the year to review concepts, celebrate students, and reflect on your year. You’ve made it this far, why not finish the year with a little bit of positivity.

Here’s to finishing strong! 

1. Host an awards ceremony

Who doesn’t love to be recognized? It’s safe to say that almost everyone wants to be seen, heard, and valued, and students are no different. Try hosting an awards ceremony that is sure to end the year on a high note. Whether you do it Oscar style or choose to keep it simple, as long as you have fun with it, everyone will leave smiling. I like to use an end-of-the-year awards bundle that will recognize and celebrate each student’s individuality. You can check out 9 creative award ideas for students by clicking here.

End of the year awards for ELA

2. Have students do a course/self-evaluation

Students are always being marked, assessed, and evaluated. It is how teachers identify strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement. However, why not flip the script on occasion by putting the power in the students’ hands. It’s important to have students thoughtfully reflect on their own learning and behavior in your course, and on the course itself overall. It will allow them to feel valued, and you can also use their feedback to inform your instruction. I always use this FREE End of Year or Semester Course Evaluation.

Course evaluation for ELA

3. Have students create a memory book or wheel

They might not openly admit it—although often they will—but students love self-reflective, thoughtful activities. When time in the English classroom is spent creating something meaningful like an End of the Year Memory Booklet or an End of the Year Memory Wheel, it encourages students to consider various aspects of their personal lives, development, and year. What could middle school students possibly love more than thinking about their own lives? By having students reflect on things like how they have changed, their best moments, personal connections, and favorite things. It will but it will give them a keepsake that they can look back on in the future.
End of the year memory book

4. Review the year with a passport stations activity

One fun way to review content covered in your English course is to give students a passport and send them on a trip around the classroom with an End of the Year Passport Activity. The way it works is students get their own personal passport and ‘travel’ to different stations in the room to complete tasks related to the course content. Once completed, they pass it on to the teacher for it to be stamped or signed, and then move on to the next station. It’s a creative and fun educational activity that allows students to demonstrate what they learned in different ways and reflect on their behavior and performance in class.

end of the year passport activity

5. Have students reflect on the year using pictures

With nearly every cellphone having a camera, students have now become regular photographers capturing their daily lives in photo form. Use this to your advantage at the end of the year by having students reflect on the photos they’ve taken. Have students choose three pictures from their cameras/phones taken during the year, and attach or illustrate the photo to a writing piece where they describe the photo and the memory it relates to. This is a fun exercise in descriptive writing and also gives students an opportunity to be creative by illustrating the photo themselves.

End of the year english activity

6. Host a team-building escape room

One of my favorite ways to end a school year is with team-building escape rooms. Students need to work together as a team and problem-solve to complete tasks and puzzles related to the content you have taught them.

The zombie teacher escape room has students watch a short video where they learn that their teacher has been transformed into a zombie. Together, they must work to solve riddles and puzzles related to ELA concepts in order to bring them back to their human form!

Zombie English Escape Room

Students tend to get excited about this activity. One student even called it: “Anxiety producing in the best possible way!” Teachers love it too. Some have even dressed up as zombies and hid in the closet to scare students. Now that’s commitment.

If you’re brave enough to dress up like a zombie, make sure to send me a picture! That would 100% make my day.

ELA Escape Room

7.  Have students write a letter to future students

If we could go back to speak to ourselves in the past, there is probably lots of advice we would give to our former self. Give your current students this opportunity by having them write a letter to students who will be coming to this class in the next year. What advice would they give students to help them be successful in this course? What things should they look forward to? Which mistakes did they make that they wish they could go back and fix?

End of the Year Letter Writing Activity

This is a super practical and useful exercise because you are able to share them with your class the following year! This kills two birds with one stone because it gives you a lesson to do at the end of the year as well as one to do once back to school arrives.

Click here to grab this assignment for free.

A letter to next years students

 

As an English teacher, it’s important to make time to have some fun at the end of the year while also reviewing and reflecting on the content that students learned. Taking the time to do this will also allow you to reflect on your own teaching practices and make adjustments and improvements for the new school year ahead.

Shop this post

End of the Year Awards Bundle

Memory Booklet

Memory Wheel

Sharing Memories in Images

Zombie Teacher Escape Room

Passport Stations Activity

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