5 End of Year Science Activities
Get through the madness of the end of the school year while maintaining meaningful learning.
Let’s face it: we're all in the same boat. The end of the school year brings a whirlwind of endless testing schedules, absent students, final standards to teach, and the daunting task of packing up our classrooms. And yet, we strive to show that these final weeks and days are still important despite the exhaustion.
As a high school physics and chemistry teacher, I feel there’s never enough time to cover all the content and prepare students for their next step. At this point, I stopped giving my chemistry students unit exams and have just been leading “end-of-unit reviews.” This has allowed me some time to get all the content to them, give them experience with it, and begin prepping them for their final.
When did the school year get so short but feel so long???
Over my many end-of-year experiences, I’ve gathered a few survival strategies. Yes, survival. That’s the gaming mode I’m in currently. Think of these strategies as getting the Super Star in a video game…you can’t touch me! I’m invincible!
Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but these strategies have been a lifesaver on countless occasions.
Download my FREE Science Revolution Flip Book to use with your students today!
Mind Maps
Talk about a versatile resource to employ on the fly. This is that resource! The premise of Mind Maps follows the same theory as the dual-coding theory of Doodle Notes. You can assign Mind Maps for any topic or research prompt. Need a quick “filler” assignment that still keeps kids learning? Assign a research topic or lesson review topic for students to research, study, and display visually in a Mind Map. Make it even simpler and have students create a reflection page highlighting triumphs, challenges, what they found most interesting about the course, and a goal for the following year.
CER Activity
This writing format is the foundation of scientific writing: Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning. This method can be applied to any scientific question or current controversial topic in the news. Students research in their textbooks or online to gather evidence and data to support their claim—answer the question. Students will always and forever need practice with scientific writing, especially those heading into a science or medical major. I love this resource because the template is easy for students to follow and well-organized. Bonus: This is a perfect writing assignment to include with any lab activity!
Essential Question Writing Workshop
I’ve used this writing workshop to help students prepare for quizzes or unit tests in class, but it would be a fantastic way to review for a final exam! Pick the most relevant standards for the exam, write up an essential question(s) for the chosen standards, and assign this workshop. It’s an easy-to-set-up activity with an essential questions worksheet that can be typed in or printed blank for students to fill out. A PowerPoint presentation guides students through the writing process. They are provided independent work time for their pre-write and draft before forming groups for the peer conference. Each group’s work is presented at the end. Everyone studies and benefits by learning from one another.
Peer Review
This little activity is not to be minimized; it is a highly effective learning tool. Hosting a peer review gets everyone involved and promotes higher-quality work. Students go that extra mile when they know their work will be displayed to their peers. This sticky note peer review can be applied to ANY assignment! Print the template, add the sticky notes, follow the instructions to print the rubric on the sticky notes, and you’re ready to go.
Collaborative Sharing Techniques
This is a quick way to check student work or knowledge. This resource includes 15 strategies! Each strategy is easy to prepare and applies to countless assignments. I use them year-round, especially the Explore 4 Activity. Organize students into groups of 3-4. Print and laminate the Explore 4 placemat and supply each group with a pad of sticky notes. Present the class with a question to reflect on knowledge or check for gaps in learning. Allow students about 10 minutes to individually answer the question, write their response on a sticky note, and add it to the placemat. After everyone has placed their answers on the placemat, instruct groups to discuss their answers and create a group answer. Have a group speaker share the group answer for the class.
And there you have it! This is a round-up of my top 5 go-to solutions for those crazy end-of-year days. Keep yourself ready for anything with powerful learning tools that promote and maintain learning until the last day of school. Click the thumbnail to find ALL the resources mentioned in this post and all the resources you could need for back-to-school, too!
FREE Scientific Revolution Flip Book
Get your copy of this ready-to-use resource and keep the learning going while juggling all the end-of-year madness.
This resource isn’t just for the end of the school year; no way, I wouldn’t give you a one-trick pony. This resource can be used for…
gaps in your lesson schedule
activity schedules
extra credit
sub plans
Find me on Teachers Pay Teachers for more upper-level science resources. While you’re there, be sure to follow my store for more high school science resources, weekly newsletters with my Weekly Wow deals, and my biweekly Coffee Break Academy, which offers tips, tricks, and advice to get you through your year.
Leave a comment below and let me know what your favorite go-to science activity is for the end of the year.
