If you’re looking up end of the year reading projects, then that means something amazing – summer is approaching! This time of year always re-energizes me because state testing is behind us, summer is ahead of us, and we get to have some fun in the moment.

One of my favorite ways to end the school year is with some sort of reading project. Throughout the years, I have tried out several different reading projects and even created some of my own along the way. I want to share some of the projects I have used with students that always get a student vote of approval!

Fun Fest End of the Year Reading Project

This project reviews reading, writing, and grammar skills at the end of the year while your students dive into planning the perfect ‘Fun Fest’ in an activity that is both rigorous and FUN! With 17 pages, I have included a wide variety of tasks for your students to complete with one goal in mind: to plan the best Fun Fest the school has ever seen!

Inferencing Reading Project

For this inferencing project, I take my students on an (imaginary) trip to Camp Conundrum! This is always a class favorite. While on this camping trip, students will make inferences using pictures, snippets of conversations that they have heard, clues about a missing camp bag and more. Inferencing is always a tough skill, so I love having this end of year review for students.

Book Jacket

This one is a classic! If your students have recently read a novel in class or independently, then this book report is perfect. A book jacket is the cover that wraps around a hardback book. You can put a mix of different items on the book jacket, such as a summary, review of the book, suggested other books, and more! This blog gives you some templates and ideas for using book jackets in your classroom.

Context Clues Reading Project

I absolutely love using this in my classroom. With this project, students take a transcontinental trek while practicing different context values skills! One thing I like most about this project is that it allows students to practice context clues in different ways. They will practice with nonsense words, dictionary definitions, multiple meaning words, fill in the blank, and more. It really stretches my students thinking beyond a multiple choice question.

Susan Ledford Guilfoyle shared, “Today my 4th graders were world travelers.   We traveled to Peru, and visited Machu Picchu, then Germany were we toured the Brandenburg Gate.  We then flew to Kenya and went on Safari, next was New Zeland and finally Ireland where we explored The Giant’s Causeway before flying back to America.  Students had to complete activities at each stop that challenged their ability to use context clues to figure out word meanings within a text, such as postcards to friends, hotel reviews, safari brochures and tourists reviews of sights.  The kids worked hard loved flying in our airplane.”

Storyboard Project

Anytime I use storyboards in my classroom, my students ask to use it more! Storyboards can be used in several ways, but here are two that are great for an end of the year activity: you can have students recreate a pivotal element from a recent book (climax or conflict) or students can create their own story following the plot map. You can do storyboards on paper or digitally. I like using this website for digital storyboards.

Sequencing Reading Project

Sequencing is a great end of year skill to review. My students enjoy this sequencing project where they tag along to a pool party bash. They will practice sequencing and sequence of events using activities like following a recipe, creating goodie bags, and arranging the events of the party. This is a great activity for small groups, so students can get interactive with this project.

Point of View Reading Project

Lots of time point of view can be really surface level, such as simply identifying. This project, however, challenges students to think critically about point of view. In this project, students will be planning the concert of the year using point of view. They will describe what it’s like to be at a concert, determine the point of view in song lyrics, analyze different concert attendees’ perspectives, and more! This is great for all the music lovers in your classroom.

Reading Bingo

This is a really fun end of the year goal setting activity. Give students a piece of paper with a blank grid on it (ex. 5×5 grid). Then, have some fun! One way is have students fill in the grid with their personal book goals. Alternatively, have students walk around the class swapping papers. Other students in the room will write down a book goal on the grid. A book goal can be a specific book (Harry Potter), genre (fiction), or challenge (pink book, book with over 200 pages) to read. Then, students will try to make a Bingo on their board by the end of the year. Bonus tip: As the teacher, add the center spot with your reading goal of choice.

Text Structures Reading Project

Get ready to race in this text structures project! This end of the year reading project is a perfect way to review a tricky concept. This project challenges students to answer comprehension questions based on text structures, complete graphic organizers, generate summaries, and much more. Best part: it’s all racing themed which adds in a layer of fun!

Susan’s students enjoyed this one too! She said, “My 4th graders raced into text structure today. They read articles about different kinds of races, race cars, tracks and gear to figure out the main idea, the author’s main point and what text structure it was written in as well as why the author chose that text structure.”

Reader’s Theater

While this technically isn’t a project, it’s a great end of the year activity to mix in with your reading projects. Fluency and comprehension are at the heart of upper grades reading instruction, and these reader’s theater plays for the end of the year have been carefully designed to review both! My students absolutely LOVE reader’s theater, and I love all the benefits they provide. Your students will practice their reading comprehension skills, have plenty of opportunity for oral reading fluency practice, and be held accountable as both readers and audience members.

More End of the Year Ideas

Hopefully you found a few end of the reading projects that will work for your students! I have another blog post that covers end of the year activities for other subjects, such as math and science. You can check out that blog post here!