7 end of year lesson ideas to engage students

1. Continue giving clear learning intentions

At this time of the year it is imperative that students are given clear learning intentions. Apart from the researched benefits of providing a learning intention for their learning, it also communicates to them that you are serious about teaching and learning in their lessons as per usual. 

2. Plan activities out of your normal repertoire 

If you have a general structure to your lessons and you want to change things up for the end of year – do it! Students will be intrigued when you do something out of the ordinary and so you will capture their attention. Whether this be trying an inquiry lesson or group projects, use of videos or even dressing up!

3. Revise content in new and exciting ways

The end of year is a great time to revise key concepts without the pressure of exams and assessments. So why not make it fun?! My favourite end of year lesson ideas for revising content are digital escape rooms, printable board games and tarsia puzzles. 

Here are some examples below:

These activities are great as they can be used again every year. 

If you want to save yourself a couple of dollars and make them yourself then grab these FREE templates:

• FREE board game template
• FREE tarsia puzzle template

Without being too salesy though, it is worth spending a few dollars to save yourself the hassle! You might like to read my post on 3 best revision activities for the end of year.

4. Take your students outside

Taking students outside, even if the rest of your lesson structure stays the same in terms of teaching and activities, is often enough to make the lesson memorable for students. I always provide strict guidelines for behaviour whilst learning outdoors and make it clear that if I believe they are not acting appropriately or not engaging in the learning that I will have them back in the classroom immediately. This is usually enough to keep them in line during the outdoor lesson.

5. Focus on real-world or tangible examples

Perhaps you have had a term of learning about a concept and haven’t fully explored the real world implications or applications of it. The end of term is a perfect time for this as it helps students connect the learning to its relevance. There are multiple ways you can do this from videos to individual research projects. Best end of year lesson ideas for high student engagement

6. Make learning hands-on

As a science teacher I am always up for adding in extra experiments and hands-on activities. While not all subjects lend themselves towards this type of learning, even adding in board games and tarsia puzzles like mentioned earlier are a good alternative. If you have opportunity to do modelling with playdough, building with cardboard or even designing posters with paint, then the end of the year is a great time to utilise these kinds of activities to continue engagement. 

7. Use technology for student-centred activities

One of the best activities I did with a year 7 science class towards the end of the year was having them in small groups and create a stop motion film for the formation of a landform. Stop motion films are great for students to make while showcasing their understanding of concepts. Stop motion is just one example for how technology could be used. Students could create presentations, online quizzes and animations.

Keeping the technology use as student centred also means less prep for you. In these environments you become more of a facilitator to help them reach their desired outcome.

And don’t fret if you don’t consider yourself to be ‘tech savvy’. The students will work it out and teach you! Best end of year lesson ideas for middle school

Conclusion

The end is near! Keeping students engaged at the end of the year can be the hardest part of the profession. Take a few of these end of year lesson ideas and see if they help!

I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below!

Best end of year lesson ideas for high student engagement

What should you look for in revision activities?

So before we get to the good stuff, what is it that you should look for when selecting revision activities?

You want to ensure that:

1. It covers key concepts and vocabulary
2. It engages students
3. Promotes collaboration
4. Easy for you to prepare/mark
5. Students will feel a sense of accomplishment and achievement 
6. All students can access it or it provides differentiation options

When you read a list like this it is obviously difficult to find resources that tick ALL of the above boxes. But I have some suggestions here that do! 

Best revision activities for middle school and high school students.

3 best revision activities for the end of the year 

Here are my 3 favourite revision activities that your students will love!

1. Digital escape rooms

Digital escape rooms are my all-time favourite revision activity for maximum student engagement. 

What is it?

A digital escape room is an online challenge in which students need to solve various tasks or puzzles in order to reveal the ‘key’ or ‘passcode’ to get to the next challenge. Once all challenges have been solved students have ‘escaped’. 

Why do I love them?

1. It is a fun and engaging way for students to review content.
2. It builds student skills in problem-solving, critical thinking and collaboration.
3. It can be used in a wide range of environments including in the classroom, online learning, homeschooling and distance education.

How can you differentiate it?

The content included in digital escape rooms can’t be easily differentiated. However, you can still ensure it is accessible for all students in the classroom by choosing appropriate groups / pairs, and by the support you offer.

Get more info

See my full blog post on what digital escape rooms are, how they work, and why they are an awesome addition to your classroom. 

Freebie

Grab a free taster digital escape room on scientific method & lab equipment here.

Purchase

Visit this link to see examples of my own digital escape rooms.

2. Printable Board Games

Printable board games are also a favourite as they are naturally highly engaging. 

What is it?

A printable board game is exactly what it sounds like! A board game, cards and instructions that you print to use in your classroom.

Why do I love them?

I used to get so frustrated when I would finally find a cool science board game I could use in class, but then didn’t have the budget to purchase 8 sets so my entire class could play. 

With a printable board game, you can print as many copies as you need so your whole class can play at the same time! All you need to do is grab some dice and something as game pieces (like counters or even just little bits of coloured paper). 

Get more info

Read my full blog post on how to create your own printable board game.

Freebie

Its easy to make your own! Grab a free template to make your own here. Then put together your question cards. Want a quick way to come up with questions? Have each student write two questions (with the answer) as an exit slip for a lesson. Then use these to make up the game board quiz cards.

Purchase

If you want to see examples of mine or purchase one for your classroom, follow this link. Did you know my printable board games come with multiple differentiation options?

Best revision activities for middle school and high school

3. Tarsia Puzzles

These print and go activities are great for reviewing key vocabulary and concepts.

What is it?

The idea is that students match the two sides together so the statement, or the key term and definition match. If you have a glossary of key terms then this is super easy to convert into a tarsia puzzle. Just grab my free template below and substitute your terms and definitions into the corresponding text boxes. 

Conclusion

Revision activities at the end of term or year do not have to be boring. Digital escape rooms, board games, tarsia puzzles and quizzes are fun ways to engage students and keep learning at the same time. 

Please comment below with your favourite revision activities for middle school and high school!

Best revision activities for middle school and high school

What are digital escape rooms?

Digital escape rooms involve the solving of problems to unlock digital locks in an attempt to ‘escape’. 

They usually start with a scenario and an initial task. Once that task is solved it provides the key (usually a code or number) to get to the next task. This continues until the last task or puzzle is solved and students are able to ‘escape’.

Often digital escape rooms are set up in form such as a Google Form. Each task is presented individually and a specific code needs to be entered correctly in order to reveal the next task. 

Why use digital escape rooms?

Student benefits

1. Digital escape rooms promote collaboration

For any teacher, the sound of engaged excitement and chatter is music to the ears. A word of warning – this can get loud during digital escape rooms! Students love to work together so they can get through each challenge. For competitive classes, I also recommend setting up a timer at the front of the room so students can race. 

2. Digital escape rooms promote problem-solving and critical and creative thinking

The tasks provided are usually varied. Some may appear like normal task cards, while others involve a little more problem-solving or critical and creative thinking. 

3. Digital escape rooms are fun and engaging

Digital escape rooms are fun! Students are engaged because they love to be challenged by the scenario. They love the new and different format of the lesson. They enjoy working with their peers as they learn.

Teacher benefits

4. No marking

Why leave the best till last? Any activity that means no marking has my vote! 

In digital escape rooms, students need to enter the correct answer before they can move on. This means it is automatically marked as they go. If they get the answer wrong they know to go back and check their work. 

5. Full teacher answers included 

Just in case students are struggling, teacher answers can be helpful to guide them in the right direction. Make sure if you are purchasing digital escape rooms that teacher answers are provided for this exact situation. Sometimes the difference of a capital letter or space can make all the difference in a digital form. 

6. Cheap 

With no need to buy locks or materials all you need to pay for is the escape room activity itself. Usually around $4 – 8 these are great value!

7. No prep

Any resource that doesn’t require me to do more work or preparation is an absolute win! Digital escape rooms generally only require that you share a link or access to students and the rest is done for you.

8. Can be used each year

Digital escape rooms can be used year after year, or class after class. 

9. It can be used in a wide range of environments

Being digital, these activities are highly versatile and can be used in any learning environment with internet access. This includes the classroom, online learning, homeschooling and distance education.

Digital escape rooms vs normal escape rooms

Normal escape rooms are similar in that they have a scenario, task cards, a way to get out and escape. It is usually the way to get out that is the difference. These are generally some kind of physical lock or key that unlocks a box or clue. 

Students love both kinds of escape rooms. However, I prefer digital ones. Why?

1. They are cheaper

The first time I went about setting up a hands-on digital escape room I severely underestimated the cost involved in buying the different locks and keys and equipment. Even to do one with only 6 task cards, that means 5 different “locks” for each group participating. In a class size of 28+ students that is a lot of materials and a big expense. 

To buy a decent digital escape room you’re looking at around $4 – 8. These escape rooms can be used by every group and can be used again and again each year or class. This is a much more affordable option.

2. They are less preparation

The preparation involved in setting up a hands-on escape room is intense. It isn’t as simple as printing the task cards. You need to think about how each task will be unlocked, set up the materials in the specific order for each group, and think about how each group will move around the classroom. 

Digital escape rooms are (generally) no or little prep. For those I create, a link is shared with the students and away they go!

3. They can be used in a wider variety of situations

Digital escape rooms can be used for online learning, homeschooling, classroom or distance education situations. They are so versatile and don’t require teacher set-up. 

Things to look for when purchasing Digital Escape Rooms:

1. What you need to make it work

Is it just internet required? Do students need to log into a particular program or site? Do you need particular software on your devices? 

2. Full teacher answers 

You want to make sure that full teacher answers are included in case there are any issues with digital technology. This makes troubleshooting easier and also helps you feel prepared for the lesson.

3. Cost

Different teachers will have different budgets. However, it’s important to keep in mind that a digital escape room is just one lesson. An awesome lesson! But still just one. For me, I wouldn’t want to spend over $5 for one lesson. Knowing how many hours of preparation go into creating just one digital escape room I definitely believe up to $8 is very reasonable. But being on the teacher side of this too I also know you will have other lessons and topics you may need to buy resources for. 

4. Content

Make sure the content is suitable for your class topic and grade level. While the product should have this clearly stated in the product description, once purchased you should also go through the answers and tasks and check that you have covered all parts. Don’t fret if there is one term or section you haven’t covered. You can either cover it in a lesson leading up to the digital escape room, or you can choose to provide the students with the answer for that part. 

Where can they be purchased?

A quick Google search brings up a lot of places you can find digital escape rooms. Pinterest is also a great place to look for escape rooms for a particular topic. 

My science digital escape rooms, and other high quality options for various subjects, can be found on Teachers Pay Teachers or Amped Up Learning. 

Conclusion

Digital escape rooms are an excellent tool to use in any learning environment. 

Have you used digital escape rooms before? Let us know what you thought in the comments below!

Why use printable board games?

One of my absolutely favourite revision activities to do with my classes is a printable board game. Students find them engaging, fun and valuable for their learning. 

Board games not only allow students to review key concepts and vocabulary, but also to develop their skills in collaboration.

Printable board games are also excellent to use for differentiation. All of my board games come with 3-5 differentiation options. You can differentiate the actual game board, instructions for the game and the level of difficulty of the questions. I will break these down further below. 

So how do you create your own printable board game?Best time saving hacks for teachers.

1. How to create your own printable board game board

First off, you need to create your board. 

Your printable board game board can be as simple or as complex as you like. 

Here are two game boards for the same topic I use to differentiate. One has more squares and more chances to land on a ‘Q’ to pick up a quiz card.  

The game board should consist of decent sized squares with some simple instructions on select squares such as ‘miss a turn’ or ‘go back 3 spaces’. I use the letter ‘Q’ to represent ‘quiz cards’.  The size or shape of the squares can be flexible but you want them to be big enough to fit at least two ‘counters’ or game pieces.

I always design mine for A3 paper as this is a good size for multiple students to group around and most school printers can print on A3. 

Got limitations on colour printing? No worries! Create one in black and white. 

Grab my FREE printable board game board by entering your email address below! It is suitable for every grade and topic. 

2. How to create your own questions for your printable board game

This is the most time consuming part of the printable board game creation. I find it helpful to start with my topic glossary and form questions around key terms. 

The types of questions that work best for board games are multiple choice or short answers. These allow you to provide answers easily and for students to be able to determine whether they are correct or not. 

I usually focus my questions around key vocabulary related to the topic, and simple recall questions and examples. 

I choose to include the answer on each question card and set up the game so that a peer asks the question to the student who landed on the ‘Q’. This allows the peer to check if the answer is correct or not and more students are involved in each turn. 

I also create three different levels of questions. For students needing differentiation I only provide the easier questions, while those needing more of a challenge I might take out the easier questions. 

These also come into play for how I set up differentiated levels of instructions which you will see in the next section.

3. How to create printable board game instructions

Including different levels of instructions for students is another easy way to differentiate the printable board game. While the boards and the questions themselves are easily differentiated, how they play the game can be too. 

Here is an example of how I have set up some of my options for the instructions:

Level 1: for those needing adjustments I provide basic instructions for moving around the board and answering quiz card questions when they land on the ‘Q’. If they get the answer correct they can roll again.

Level 2: To make it a little more challenging I have students answer a question when they land on a ‘Q’ but if they get it correct, instead of rolling again, they move the number of squares as shown on the question card. The easier question cards are marked with one coloured square, the harder ones are marked with two or three squares. So if a student gets a ‘3 square’ question correct they move forward 3 squares.

Level 3: Students have to start each turn by answering a question before they roll. If they then land on another ‘Q’ square then they get a bonus question. 

Another alternative could be to provide the students with the game board and the quiz cards and have them make up their own instructions! They could decide how each turn plays out and what happens if you get an answer correct or incorrect etc. 

You definitely don’t need to include differentiated instructions if you already have differentiated questions and/or boards. One set of instructions would be enough for most classes.

4. What materials do you need to bring your printable board game to life?

All that is required now is one dice per group and one counter or game piece for each student. The counters do not have to be fancy. They could even just be some torn up paper!

If you don’t have enough dice to use in class you can also find some virtual dice on a device that students could use. 

To save you some time from having to cut out 8 sets of the quiz cards, I recommend you have your students cut them out the first time for you. It is also a good idea to decide how you are going to store your printed board games and quiz cards for next time to save you from having to print and cut it all again. I try to store my game boards flat and I keep the quiz cards in separate envelopes that contain one set each. 

5. Play your printable board game!

Have a practice play of your board game with some staff members or your family to work out any niggles there might be in your instructions or questions.

Then enjoy with your class!

Conclusion

I hope this post has inspired you to try and make of your own printable board game for consolidating key concepts and vocabulary.

A printable board game is a really engaging activity that promotes collaboration and collegiality amongst students. 

Let me know if you give it a go!

Best time saving hacks for teachers.