Your grades are in, your students are super excited, and you’re looking for some end-of-year English activities to keep them academically engaged for those last few days of school. I got you! I’ve been where you are, surfing the Internet, reviewing old lesson plans, remembering what worked and didn’t, and today I’m sharing seventeen ideas that you’ll return to year after year.
End-of-Year English Activities for Socializing
A Review with Pictures, an End-of-the-Year Game
For this Pictionary-like game, students work in small groups with two teams each to illustrate ELA academic vocabulary (e.g., alliteration, bandwagon, comma, etc.) on a dry-erase board while team members try to guess the word. They can use symbols and words but cannot write a word that’s on the card. Each correct response earns a point, and the team with the most points wins.
Materials
- Cards with academic vocabulary (Write topics you’ve studied this year on index cards or type them on a document. If you’re feeling braindead at this time of year, visit your state curriculum for topic ideas (e.g., TEKS in Texas).
- Classroom dry-erase board (or small dry-erase boards or paper)
- Dry-erase markers
- One-minute timers
- To show an example of the game in action, show this clip from The Big Bang Theory. (Stop at 2:43 if you don’t want your students to hear “Casper the alcoholic ghost.”)
Find a Friend, an End-of-Year Activity
Talk about summer plans by asking students to find a friend who will read a book, play with pets, visit the beach, etc. Engage students further with a Bingo-like contest to see who can get the most signatures across or black out the card first.
Materials
Insert a 5 x 5 table onto a document or slide, stretch it so that it fills up the page, and type one summer activity (e.g., watch TV every day, play with pets, learn something new) into each box.
Memory Book for End of School Year
Students love signing yearbooks, but many of them don’t have one to share, so I give them a class period to make and sign memory books. Have them fold a few sheets of colorful paper in half hamburger-style, staple the pages together at the fold, and personalize their covers.
Materials
- Colorful paper
- Markers
- Stapler
Throw a Book-Themed Party
I’ve thrown a few class parties over the years, but my favorite is the one that ties into Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, a novel my seventh graders study. I arrange desks into one long table and cover them with tablecloths or butcher paper, and my students bring in book-related snacks. You’ll never see so much blue food! During class, students explain how their snacks connect to the novel, and we watch clips from the movie.
This can be done with any novel because specific foods don’t need to be mentioned. For example, with Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, students bring in candy canes to represent Tiny Tim’s cane, chocolate coins for Scrooge’s greed, and snowball cookies for the setting.
Materials
- Butcher paper or tablecloths
- Paper plates
- Napkins
- Novel-related snacks
End-of-the-Year Student Awards
Present each student with a certificate and a cool sticker. The certificates can range from serious (highest GPA in English) to silly (e.g., class clown). I personalize the stickers for each student by thinking of their likes and the topics they researched during the school year.
Materials
- Certificates (as shown above)
- Certificates (from Amazon)
- Stickers
Educational Board Games
Ask students to bring in educational board games, like chess or Scrabble, and host a game day.
Materials (Suggested Games)
End-of-Year English Activities for Review
What I Learned in ELA this Year from A to Z
Students write topic(s) they learned about for each letter of the alphabet. Add engagement to this activity by hosting a contest to see who can list the most or who can think of a topic for each letter.
Materials
Create A to Z charts for students by inserting a 5 x 5 table onto a document or slide, stretching it to fit the page, and typing a letter into each cell. (X and Y can share a box.) Or have students write one letter of the alphabet on each line of a sheet of notebook paper.
ELA Reflections
Create a worksheet or task cards that ask students to reflect on the school year. This allows reflection for both you and your students because their responses will tell you what lessons worked and didn’t work.
Materials
Create a document with questions that ask students to explain which reading strategies were the most valuable, what writing they are most proud of, and what resources helped them learn best, for example.
End-of-Year English Activities that Take Students Outside
Haiku Writing
Review haiku with students, and then take them outside to observe and write about nature. It’s amazing what a simple change in atmosphere can do! Even the most reluctant writers get a kick out of this.
Materials
- Paper or writers’ notebooks
- Clipboards (if using paper)
- Pens
Sidewalk Sentences
For this activity, assign students specific clauses and phrases you’ve studied during the year (e.g., adjective clauses, adverb clauses, participial phrases, appositive phrases, etc.), and have them write sentences that include these phrases on sidewalks with chalk. Close the lesson with a group discussion on each sentence.
Materials
End-of-Year English Activities to Keep Students Writing
Letters to Future Selves
Gmail has a neat feature: the ability to select the date you want to send an email. I use this feature for students to send a letter to themselves (and a copy to me). Eighth graders send this to their senior selves for graduation; sixth and seventh graders select a date for the beginning of the next school year. They like it!
Here’s how you do this:
- In Gmail, click compose,
- click on the drop-down arrow next to send,
- click schedule send,
- click pick date and time,
- choose the date, and
- click on schedule send.
If your students don’t use Gmail accounts, then have them write letters (instead of typing). You can mail them out at a future date or ask them to pick them up from you next year.
Materials
- Gmail accounts and computers or
- Pen, paper,
- Stamps and envelopes (if mailing)
End-of-School-Year Thank You Letter to Teachers
What teacher doesn’t love reading notes that tell them how amazing they are?! Students simply write letters to their favorite teachers, thanking them, telling them what they liked about their class, explaining why they’re a favorite, etc. After they’re finished writing and you’ve reviewed the letters, place them in teachers’ boxes.
Materials
- Pen
- Paper
Letters to Incoming Students
Another type of letter writing I like to assign at the end of the school year is a letter to my future students. Current students give them advice, tell them what to expect in class, warn them about pet peeves, etc. They then record themselves reading their letters on Flip. (A partner can hold the letter behind the camera so it doesn’t look like they’re reading.) Save the letters or the videos for your new students on one of the first days of school next year.
Materials
- Pen
- Paper
Crafty End-of-Year English Activities
Mosaics for Literature
For this end-of-year craft, students use construction paper to create mosaics of places, symbols, objects, characters, etc. that connect to something we read in class and explain that connection on the back of the art. Students amaze me with their creativity; I even had one young lady who designed a Cerberus who looked like Cerberus. So impressive!
Materials
- “Easy Paper Mosaic” how-to video
- Glue
- Scissors
- Pens/pencils
- Construction paper
Character Hats
This activity works well for myths and fantasies. Students create hats for various characters they read about during the school year.
Suggested Materials
- Yarn
- Feathers
- Markers
- Sequins
- 12” x 18” construction paper
- 24” x 36” construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
End-of-Year English Activities to Keep Students Smiling
Picture Book Readings
Secondary-level students aren’t too old to gather around you for a picture book reading. I promise!
Suggested Picture Books for the Last Day of School
Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg
When I read this one to students, I substitute my name for Mrs. Hartwell’s and my students’ names for Mrs. Hartwell’s students. I don’t tell them what I’m up to, and it takes them a second to realize. 🙂
I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
This is a sweet book to let students know that you always wish the best for every one of them. As with Last Day Blues, add every student’s name to the text as you read to them for extra smiles.
End-of-Year English Activities Just for Fun
Give Students a Brain Break with ELA and Summer Word Searches
When students finish work early or need a brain break, give them a word search with academic vocabulary or summer-related words.
Materials
Type thirty-five (more or less, depending on desired difficulty) ELA or summer-related words in a column on an 11” x 8 ½” slide, insert a 17 x 17 table to the right of the words, stretch the table to fill the page, print this sheet, and write a letter into each box to spell the words from your list. Fill in the empty spaces with random letters, and type the letters into the table.
Related End-of-Year English Activities
For handouts of the resources I discussed visit “Fun End-of-School Year Activities Bundle.”
Visit “A Wanted Lesson Plan for “The Tell-Tale Heart” for a four-period lesson that I usually use around Halloween but is also fun for the end of the school year.
TCEA’s “Activities for the End of the School Year” shares seven social-emotional activities, along with links to additional end-of-the-school-year resources.
End-of-Year English Activities in a Nutshell
Whether you’re reading, writing, gaming, filming, creating, partying, awarding, or socializing, I hope you and your students love these end-of-year English activities!
