The end of the year is draining for teachers and students alike. It is hard to keep the momentum going when all we want to do is be outside! Five things that you can do to keep your students engaged (and save yourself some time!) is to have student-centered activities that put the learning in the kids’ hands. These five end of the year math activities can be used with or without tech.
Giving students the power of choice allows them to really review the skills they are taught. There are a number of ways you can go about this. One way is to give each student a chapter from the year. Another option you can do is let them work in groups, or individually. You can open it up to let them create any type of activity relating to that math skill.
This year, my students are working in groups to do these end-of-the-year activities. I am giving each group 3-5 skills to choose from, which will be pre-planned based on their level and what I want them to review. I am going to let the groups choose how they want to present the skill to the class.
5 End of the Year Math Activities
1: Let the Kids Teach!
Give students a chance to be the teachers in your math class. At this point, they know the tech you’re using to teach, so why not let them be creators? This year, I am giving my students a choice on how they want to teach a skill. They could use Flipgrid, Google Slides, or even pen and paper to show the class something!
2: Give Students Quizzing Power
Kids have been taking tests and quizzes on Google Forms all year, let them create the quiz now! Just like in the last activity, you can choose to let them choose a topic or choose it for them. This can be a group project too, have each group member create a certain number of questions. Have the groups take each other’s quizzes at the end of the project.
3: Students as Gamemakers
We have been using all the gaming apps this year – Kahoot, Quizziz, Jeopardy and more! Similar to the last two options, let the students create the games. Students don’t even have to use tech to create the games. They can create using physical board games too! If it’s in your budget, head to a local thrift store and pick up some used board games that students can use as a template. Other games you can have them create are two truths and a lie, a bingo game or 21 questions.
4: Flocabulary – Lyric Lab
My students last year loved Flocabulary, so I am definitely bringing back the Lyric Lab. If you’re not familiar with Flocabulary, check out this post that I wrote about it. My kids love watching the videos and are learning so much! I cannot wait to see what they come up with on their own with the Lyric Lab!
5: Mathematician Research
When I taught number patterns and rules earlier in the year, I shared about the Fibonacci sequence and how it is found in nature. My kids were so fascinated with it, they went home, and did some research on their own. As an end of the year option, students can choose a mathematician to research. This would be a great opportunity to tie in the movie Hidden Figures and have students research the amazing women Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan.
There you have it – 5 easy and low prep end of the year math activities to do with your students this year!
I hope your students have fun doing these activities and I can’t wait to see what they come up with! Tag me on Instagram when you do one of these activities so that I can see how awesome it turns out!
Enjoy!
-Alexandra
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