Looking for fun, low-prep end of year activities after testing that will keep your students engaged and excited? In this episode, we’re sharing our five favorite ideas that will bring energy and creativity back to the classroom. From creative passion projects to student-led lessons and classroom transformations, these high-impact activities will help you wrap up the year on a high note.

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and all resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/end-of-year-activities-after-testing/

Resources:

• Freebie: End of Year Road Map
• Camping Theme Day Activities
• Space Theme Day Activities
• Looking Back Bulletin Board
• Episode 188, Ending the School Year Strong: 3 Steps to Help Teachers Thrive in Term 4
• Episode 7, The Secret to End of Year Survival 
• The Holiday Headstart Episode 27, Do These 5 Easy Things in March to Get Ahead for Christmas
• Cost Plus Drugs
• Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow.
• Shop our teacher-approved resources.
• Join our Facebook group, Teacher Approved
• Leave your review on Apple Podcasts!

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

• Episode 129, End-of-Year Reflection for Teachers: 18 Questions to Ask Yourself
• Episode 127, 10 Ways to Motivate Students at the End of the Year
• Episode 125, Why Theme Days Will Save You at the End of the School Year
• Episode 74, Teacher Approved Tips: Read to Your Class Before the First Day and End of Year Decluttering
• Episode 63, Celebrating the End of the School Year With Your Class: 10 Creative Ideas
• Episode 62, End of Year Awards: 5 Reasons You Should Rethink This Classroom Tradition

Mentioned in this episode:

The July Secret: How Smart Teachers Use Summer to Start Strong, Not Stressed. Join us for a free training where we'll show you how to use July strategically so you can feel prepared for back-to-school without the guilt or overwhelm. Sign up at https://secondstorywindow.net/july

This is episode 189 of Teacher Approved.

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping

educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm

Heidi.

And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story

Window, where we give research based and teacher approved

strategies that make teaching less stressful and more

effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from

each episode at secondstorywindow.net.

We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to

the show.

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's

episode, we're sharing some tried and true ideas for keeping

your students engaged after testing season, and we're

sharing a teacher approved tip for some end of the school year

self care.

We are starting today's episode with a morning message,

just like we used to do at morning meeting in our

classrooms. This week's morning message is, you are getting a

new student tomorrow, and they're named after your

favorite font. Who are you welcoming to your class? Emily,

what's your new student's name?

Well, Poppins is a really interesting name for a child,

but here we are.

I think that could work. I could kind of see some like

young, hipstery parents having a little Poppins.

Young Poppins. Yes, I could see it. It could be cute.

Could be far worse. What's your new student's name, Heidi?

Well, we make all of our products in Neutraface, so I

have to say Neutraface.

We love Neutraface.

Which is a terrible name for a child. That would be the

worst.

Well, we got some fun responses from our teacher

approved Facebook community. April is welcoming the

unfortunately named Happy Paragraphs.

Oh, okay.

Brianne has the ideal new student in Perfect Penmanship.

That's also a mouthful, but I bet that's teacher's pet.

Yeah. Tanya and Evelyn are both getting a Times New

Roman. Abby's new little darling has a lot to live up to as

Inimitable Original

And get like fitting that in a name tag too.

Yeah, that's a long one. Cheryl has Coming Soon, coming

to her class soon.

That's like a Who's on First problem right there.

And of course, we had to have a Comic Sans and Amy claims

that one, and Ardena's student gets off lucky being named

Ariel.

Oh, that is a lucky break. We would love to hear

about your favorite fonts, or, I guess, students named after

fonts in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.

One of the biggest challenges for teachers this time of year

is keeping students engaged, you know, especially once testing

season wraps up.

Yeah, and let's be honest, the energy in your

classroom after testing season is not the same as it was back

in August. You've all been working hard, and now that the

high stakes pressure is off, it can feel a little like you're

just coasting to the finish line.

Or maybe it's more like you're dragging yourself to the

finish line. Let's be real. Depends on the day.

True story. But just because testing is behind you

doesn't mean the learning has to stop. There are plenty of ways

to keep your students motivated, focused and even excited to come

to school each day, yes, even in May.

So we've got five teacher approved ideas that you can try

out to make these post testing days meaningful, manageable and

maybe even a little magical.

All right, let's get to it. Five ways to keep students

engaged in class after testing is over. Number one is to try

out passion projects.

The end of the year is the perfect time for letting

students explore something that they care about. Passion

Projects are great because they give students choice, autonomy

and a purpose for learning, and they are surprisingly easy to

implement, even in your lower elementary classes.

I love the idea of using passion projects at the end of

the year. So what's the best way to approach passion projects

with your students, Heidi?

Well, the idea is simple. Just have your students choose a

topic that they are interested in, animal sports, a favorite

country, how roller coasters work, and guide them through the

process of researching, organizing and presenting their

learning.

My team used to do animal reports at the end of the year,

and the kids loved it so much, and we always had a zoo field

trip at the end of the year. So that's sort of how we tied it

all together. So you could choose the category for them, or

you could just let them pick from several categories,

whatever they're excited to do a project about.

I think the key is having enough child friendly resources

so that they can do the research, so that might limit

the options that you can give to your students.

For sure.

And listener, Margaret suggests doing book studies. She

says students get to choose between Wonder, The Sea of

Monsters, My Louisiana Sky, or I Survived Hurricane Katrina.

Whatever they choose, they do a book study with the others in

the class who also chose the same book. Once they're finished

with the book study, they have to come up with a presentation

to convince the others to read the book of their choice over

the summer.

I love this idea so much because it has automatic buy in

and it's got the built in choice. It gets them excited

about reading, and they're getting their classmates excited

about reading books too. I think it's such a clever idea.

You have that student choice, and then also having

them work in groups, are great strategies for maintaining

engagement at, you know, the time of the year when students

focus is probably at its lowest. Now, of course, your students

will need you to guide them through the process, but you can

scaffold the steps with simple graphic organizers or

checklists. There are tons of resources out there.

And then you let the students present their final

project. You could assign a method of presentation or let

them choose to present it however they'd like—a poster, a

slideshow, a podcast. Wouldn't that be fun? Or even a diorama?

Oh, yes.

This could be as simple or as elaborate as your students

are ready for and as you want to deal with as the teacher.

Yeah, yeah. You decide what you want to deal with and

then work backwards from that point. Yes, really this is such

a win win idea. We're adding structure to the classroom by

doing a scaffolded project, and because students are choosing

what they want to learn about, the novelty factor is really

high, balancing structure and novelty. Of course, that means

that the engagement piece often takes care of itself.

On to idea number two, which is to create classroom

challenges.

Now, after testing, your students might be mentally

checked out, but kids can rarely say no to a competition. Use

that to your advantage by setting up some classroom

challenges.

You could do academic based ones like a math fact

fluency challenge, or reading minutes challenge, or even a

math escape room.

Or you can keep it light hearted with team building

challenges like building a spaghetti tower, a classic, or

creating a Rube Goldberg machine.

We got a fun suggestion from Betsy to set up 100 piece

puzzles on the floor in different corners of the room.

That could be a fun fast finisher or a challenge project

one afternoon, just be sure to talk to the custodian about not

vacuuming your room for a few days.

That's a hassle that is better to head off from the

beginning. Don't want to make the custodian mad, especially at

the end of the year.

Now, I always love an opportunity to work in poetry,

and after testing, you could challenge kids to work on

memorizing a poem or two.

And it's always a good idea to try a behavior

challenge. You can have your students working cooperatively

as a class or in tables to earn rewards with their good

behavior. That means coming up with a prize. But it doesn't

have to be complicated.

Really, rewards can be simple—extra recess, a popsicle

party or lunch with a teacher. But you know, honestly, we're

not going to blame you if you don't want to spend your lunch

time break with your students.

No, that would probably not be my first choice for

rewards. So all you got to do is start a challenge, choose a

simple reward, and watch that motivation come flying back to

your classroom.

Now for idea number three, theme days or weeks.

Theme days are our secret weapon for thriving after

testing. There's really something magical about them.

They kind of like flip a switch in kids brains. Suddenly,

everything you do feel special, even if it is just, you know,

your regular math lesson with a twist.

You could try a camp read a lot week, stem Olympics,

animal week, or even travel around the world days where each

day focuses on a different country, and we always love

doing quiet as a mouse day.

Yeah, that was the best day of the year. And the best

part is that most of these ideas can be woven into your usual

content. That means you don't have to adjust your schedule.

Just add a theme to what you normally do during the day to

spice things up. Fractions suddenly becomes way more fun

when you are "baking" in your classroom bakery.

Add in a few decorations and a theme to read aloud or

two, and you've got a classroom full of engaged learners who

aren't even thinking about the countdown to summer.

If you want more ideas for using theme days, head way

back to episode seven, where we share all of our best tips and

tricks for making theme days work for you.

And make sure you check out the links in the show notes

where we will link our two already done for you theme day

sets, one for a Camping Day and one for a Space Day. Each set

includes themed work packets, craftivities, book

recommendations, review activities, so much more. We

often hear from people that there's so much more in there

than they can even use.

Yeah, theme days can be a lot of work to set up, but the

nice thing is that when you figure it out once, it is so

easy to reuse each year. I want to shout this for teachers,

because this saved me so many years.

Okay, let's take a look at idea four, and I'm excited about this

one, let students become the teachers.

I know, this is such a cute idea. You can let students

teach a mini lesson to the class on something they're good at, or

something they love. This gives them ownership, and it builds

their confidence, and it lets them share something with their

classmates that they are truly skilled at.

That's such a gift for your kids that maybe have felt

overshadowed academically all year to let them have a minute

in the spotlight. You can guide them to plan a short

presentation, a demo or activity. It could be anything

from teaching how to draw a cartoon character, how to fold

origami, how to do a cartwheel, or explaining the rules of their

favorite game.

Yeah, and you'll be surprised how serious they take

this and how much the rest of the class loves learning from

each other, plus it is a sneaky way to reinforce speaking and

listening skills.

Those are really important life skills that can

be hard to find a time to work on much during the school year.

But just a tip that if you want to keep parents on your side, do

the work on this during class. Zero parents, I can guarantee,

want to be facilitating a big project at the end of the school

year.

Yeah, that is true for all of these, their passion

projects that they're doing, the book recommendations, work on

that in class. Do the research for things in class. Do not make

this a parent problem in May, they will not be happy.

And that brings us to idea number five, do creative

projects with a purpose. The end of the year is a great time for

project based learning. Work doesn't have to be standards

driven to still be meaningful. You could plan a future me

project where students create vision boards or write letters

to their future selves.

Or you could make a classroom memory book, an end of

year time capsule, or a class museum where they display

artifacts and memories from your year together.

And we also have an awesome resource for this, which

is to make a looking back bulletin board where your

students look back at the school year and highlight something

that was a wonderful memory for them in this school year.

So once the kids have illustrated their memory, and

you could put up your sign, you know, looking back at third

grade or second grade or whatever, whatever grade you

happen to be in. Now the magic of this comes that you're gonna

get double duty out of it, and you can either leave it up over

the summer or put it up again at back to school and change out

the title to be looking forward to whatever grade you're in as a

way to get kids excited about all the fun things they'll get

to do in their new grade.

I know, it's so fun. And then your students from this

year, when they come by your class next year, they will see

their memories still up. So it's a fun way to connect with them,

too. I mean, this is like, win, win, win, win. This idea. I love

it so much. These kinds of projects are not only fun and

engaging, they help students process the end of the year and

reflect on their growth.

And honestly, they give you some really special

keepsakes to remember the magic of this class. So make sure you

check out the show notes for a link to our looking back

bulletin board project.

So let's quickly recap our five ideas to keep students

engaged after testing is over. One, try passion projects. Two,

create classroom challenges. Three, use theme days or weeks.

Four, let students be the teacher. And five, plan creative

projects with a purpose

No matter what you choose, just remember this time

of year does not have to be about coasting. It can still be

rich and meaningful, even without test prep hanging over

your head.

You and your students deserve to finish strong and

have some fun. You've worked so hard all year. Make the most of

these last few weeks together.

And make sure you head to the show notes. We've got all

the links there today, where you can find a link for our free end

of year roadmap digital planner. This will help you figure out

your schedule for the next few months, reflect on what you want

to maintain and change in the coming weeks and help you break

down tasks so that you can get things done without stress.

We talked all about the roadmap in last week's episode,

so make sure to check out Episode 188 if you want the

details.

We would love to hear what you are looking forward to

in term four. Come join the conversation in our Teacher

Approved Facebook group.

Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip.

Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip that you

can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher

approved tip is to stock a personal recovery kit. Tell us

about this one, Heidi.

I love this idea so much. Now if you join us over on the

Holiday Headstart podcast, you have heard us talk about this

already, but this is such a handy tip for teachers that we

didn't want to limit it to holiday headaches. The idea is

that in advance of a stressful event, such as, you know, the

end of the school year, you can create a recovery kit for

yourself. The idea is to get, you know, a box or basket that

you can fill with little things to help you pamper yourself as

you recuperate from what you've just been through.

Think how great it would be to have this on hand after

the last day of school, or even just after a particularly

stressful day of school at any time of the year.

I think for women, and especially women with children,

talking about pampering and taking time to rest and recover

can truly feel impossible. But even though it might not be easy

to make it happen, finding a way to rest is really essential for

your health.

And if you're someone who struggles with guilt over taking

time for yourself, remember that if you want to be able to give

your best to the people you love, you have to be a little

selfish sometimes.

Gretchen Rubin from the Happier Podcast, which is a

podcast that we really love, she has a great saying that applies

here. When we give more to ourselves, we can ask more from

ourselves. If you want to be able to show up as the best

version of yourself, you have to make your well being a priority

sometimes.

And this is especially important after a draining event

like the last few weeks of school. You hear people talk all

the time about how you can't pour from an empty cup, and

making a recovery kit is a tangible way to help refill that

empty cup.

Think how great it will feel to come home after a long

day and pull out your recovery kit with some fuzzy socks or a

head massager or a magazine that you love but don't normally buy.

If socks and head massages and magazines don't

interest you, stock your recovery kit with things that

do. Maybe a new notebook, a craft kit or art supplies would

be more restorative for you. Or maybe you want to stock up on

some DoorDash gift cards so you don't have to think about meals

for a few days.

If you aren't sure where to start with a project like

this, try thinking about your five senses. What are some

soothing sounds or scents? What textures do you find comforting?

What is something relaxing that you can read or watch? And of

course, you know you can't go wrong with a few treats.

You can get started by finding a box or bin to use and

then start adding to it over the next few weeks. You can even ask

friends or family to donate supplies. I'd love it if someone

I care about reached out with something like this. Being told

about a tangible way to help a loved one survive a stressful

time is a gift. I'd be so happy to help.

We all know that we need some downtime to recover before

we can bounce back. A recovery kit is a way to make sure that

that needed downtime is actually restorative, and, you know, not

just passing out on the couch.

And keep adding to your recovery kit over the summer.

Those DoorDash gift cards can be a real lifesaver the first few

weeks of school. By spending just a little bit every week or

so, you're supporting your future self without placing a

huge burden on your budget.

To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving

extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra

credit?

I'm giving extra credit to the TV show Running Point on

Netflix. And despite this being a Mindy Kaling project, I have

to say I was a little skeptical of the premise and even the

previews, I just didn't think it was going to be that funny. But

it really has been very funny to watch. So the premise is that

Kate Hudson plays a reformed party girl who has to prove

herself as a business woman when she's unexpectedly put in charge

of her family's pro basketball team. It does have some

language, so heads up on that if you're sensitive.

I have not heard of the show at all.

Really? They talked about it on The Popcast, because

they'd been making fun of it leading up to it, and then Knox

watched it and he loved it.

Oh, well, I'm a little bit behind there, so I'll have

to catch up there too.

My other extra credit is that I love The Popcast, that's

my favorite podcast.

That is a fun one.

What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?

This is not nearly as fun. My extra credit goes to

cost plus drug company, which is the mail order pharmacy started

by Mark Cuban. Now I have only used it one whole time so far,

but they offered the prescription that I usually have

to pay more than $80 for, they offered it to me for $21. So

even with the added $5 for shipping, I am still saving 70%

so I would say it's definitely worth checking out if you have

any expensive prescriptions.

So this is the thing where you pay out of pocket

instead of using your insurance, but then it's actually cheaper,

right? Isn't that the way it works?

Yes, so they do take some insurance. They don't take ours,

but what I was paying out of pocket, like the $80 was what I

was paying out of pocket. So even if they don't take

insurance, I'm still saving 60 bucks.

Yeah, I think that happens more and more in medical

care, where cash pay is actually cheaper than what you pay with

your co pay for insurance that you're paying a lot of money

for. I mean, it's crazy. So that is definitely worth looking

into. I'll have to go see if anything I need is cheaper over

there.

And they break down the cost, so you see exactly what

the pills cost them, how much they're taking, and then, like,

how much of it goes to the pharmacist. So, like, it's all

transparent. It's such a change when you know you've dealt with,

you know, medical bills, where you're just told, like, yep,

here's $300 you owe us. And you're like, I will have to

trust that that's accurate.

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm gonna check that out.

That's it for today's episode. Remember our five ideas

for how to keep students engaged after testing is over, and don't

forget to start stocking that self care recovery kit.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.

And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow

or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an

episode.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.

Bye, for now.

Bye.