10 End of the Year Activities for Upper Elementary

Looking for end of the year activities for your science classroom? You’ve come to the right place! Keeping students’ attention at the end of the school year can be tough! These end of the year activities for science will keep students learning and challenging their skills – while also getting them engaged in hands-on activities.

Countdown To End Of School Stem Activities

This 10 Day STEM Countdown has everything you need for a fun and educational STEM activity each day during the last two weeks of school. Using only a few common household items, you’ll be reviewing science skills, practicing collaboration, and having a blast with your students building roller coasters and tin foil boats. Inside this resource, you’ll find materials pages, teacher tips, student recording sheets, and even example pictures of the activities. 

Summer Science Experiments

Science experiments make the perfect end of the year activities because they are super hands-on! These Summer Science Experiments include five different experiments, materials sheets, and recording sheets for students. Students will be running experiments to figure out what will melt an ice cube the fastest and the difference between sunscreen lotion vs. spray.

Summer Solve The Room Activities

One of my favorite end of the year activities is Solve the Room. Students can hardly sit still, so why not get them up and moving while they solve math problems? The summer-themed cards will help your students review essential grade-level math skills, and all you have to do is print the problems, hang them up, and give your students a clipboard. Students will travel from card to card solving the problems and jotting down their responses. I have a set for 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade!

Board Game Templates

What student doesn’t love a board game? Pique student interest this time of year by turning any lesson into a hands-on activity. This resource has ten blank Board Game Templates that you can edit to cover any skill or topic that you want students to practice. 

My favorite way to use these board games is to assign a topic to students and have them create their own game. They will have to create their own questions, write instructions for the game, and of course, come up with a fun theme. Then, have students trade and play each other’s game, which then becomes a review!

Book Review Bulletin Boards

Getting students to read over the summer can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be! With this Summer Themed Book Reviews, you can dedicate one of your end of the year activities to encouraging summer reading. Have students write a recommendation for their favorite book from the school year. Hang the reviews on a bulletin board in your classroom, the library, or the hallway. Then, have students check out the reviews and jot down books they are interested in reading over the summer.

Early Finisher Activities

I love using Early Finisher Activities at the end of the year because they’re filled with enrichment opportunities. This resource is no-prep, so it’s great for those impromptu moments in the classroom. This resource has over 50 challenges and puzzles, as well as answer keys so students can check their own work. This is a good activity to have on hand in case students finish a project early or if you have extra time you need to fill after an end of the year ceremony or party.

Career Day: Science Careers Bulletin Board And Text

One of the best things about teaching is getting to prepare our students for their futures. There are lots of careers out there that our students don’t even know exist, especially in the science realm. Why not introduce these unique careers during your end of the year activities?

With the Science Careers resource, you get access to informational texts for 14 science careers, including marine biologists, neuroscientists, ecologists, and astronomers. It also includes a bulletin board set with labels for each career, an image to match the type of scientist, and bulletin board letters. You can get more ideas for how to incorporate science career activities into your classroom on this blog.

Memorial Day Math and Reading Activities

Honor Memorial Day with a close reading activity to help students understand the importance and history of the holiday. This resource includes a nonfiction text, reading comprehension question, and graphic organizers to help you dig deep into the text.

Then, continue recognizing the holiday with a Memorial Day themed Solve the Room activity. Get students engaged and up and moving while practicing math skills. There are 30 different math skills they can practice!

Study An Inventor

Studying Inventors is a great way to bring together science and reading. This resource covers 10 famous inventors and includes non-fiction articles with question pages, as well as the materials to create an inventors bulletin board. For an end of the year activity, I recommend putting students into partners and having them choose the inventor they’re most curious about. Then, let them present their information to the class.

Silly Close Reading Activities

End of the year activities should be about having fun, so why not enjoy some Engaging and Fun Close Reading passages? This bundle is full of high-interest close reading passages, as well as multiple choice questions for each. Students will laugh at the hilarious topics, like what are boogers and why do we burp. The best part is that the resource no-prep, so you can easily put together this activity – no matter how chaotic the end of the year is.

I hope these end of the year activities bring some fun and excitement to your classroom while also helping you review and brush up on essential skills.