I can’t believe we are nearing the last week of school, but I’m already finalizing my end of the school year plans. We have put state testing behind us (yay!), so I love to incorporate several super engaging but educational activities into my last week of school lesson plans. I’ve shared many of my End of the Year Activity Ideas before, but now you have them all in one place, plus a few exclusive end of the year freebies! I also make sure to include this end of the year 3 words activity and several end of the year reading projects in my last week of school lesson plans too.

End of the Year Lesson Plans

Although my last week of school doesn’t always look exactly the same from year to year, there are some activities that I consistently put into my lesson plans for Math, Literacy, STEM, and Classroom Community. Some come from my TpT store, but many are free and almost all are low-prep!

A new addition this year is the FREE math picture. We have been doing these all year (I have a ton of other math picture freebies), so this year I have added an end of the year math picture to the mix. It reviews several grade-level skills and creates a fun little keepsake, too. It’s a free part of the download and includes options for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade!

End of the Year Morning Meeting Ideas

I tend to keep my morning meeting routines largely the same as the rest of the year, but I like to have a basic plan of our last week of school morning meeting activities. I’ve included a morning meeting greeting, share, and brief activity idea for each of the last days of school in the download.

Last Week of School Activities

Most of the ideas I’ve included here can easily be completed during the last week of school. Some, however, might be better suited to have an extra week or two, particularly the passion project and/or Stop Motion activities. 

I’ve included individual links to all of the ideas in the document, but you can find most of them in my End of the Year Activity Bundle.

End of the Year Picture Books

I like to read a special picture book each day during the last week of school. Since I don’t want to start a new novel during the time, it’s the perfect read aloud opportunity. Here are my favorite last week of school picture books to read (each link is an Amazon affiliate link). 

• Ten Beautiful Things
• And Then Comes Summer
• A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee
• The Year We Learned to Fly
• A Letter from your Teacher

Other Last Week of School Ideas

There are so many other end of the year lesson ideas that I wasn’t able to include in just one week, so if you’re on the hunt for even more activities, check out some of these!

We use themed fluency task cards all year long in small groups, centers, and whole class warm ups. These end of the year fluency task cards are perfect for May! You can have each student read each card three times (repeated readings) in an independent reading center. Students can also read the cards to each other, taking turns, in an independent center. I also like to use them for a quick reading warm up by giving each student a card and having him or her read it out loud to the entire class. If you’re interested in learning more ways to practice fluency, visit this oral reading fluency post!

This end of the year context clues activity requires NO prep, just print and go. Use the context clues activities as literacy centers, or break them up into several engaging reading lessons that align to Common Core Standards!

This end of the year inference mystery detectives center set is so engaging! Students will become investigators tasked with solving the ‘Case of the Mystery Pen Pal’ – finding clues and making inferences along the way!

Have fun while covering key reading and literacy skills with this set of May reading skills task cards with reading activities for third, fourth, and fifth grades. This language arts activity includes 56 different task cards that cover a variety of reading and literacy skills and enrichment activities!

Last Week of School Ideas From Other Teachers

I also asked members of my teacher Facebook Group to share their favorite end of the school year ideas. Here are a few of their favorite ways to end the year!

I teach 5th grade and I have them write a letter to their graduating selves and keep it until their graduation year. We also include the fads and their current things. – Meghan E.

I do an end of the year ABC countdown. Each day we do an activity that starts with each letter of the alphabet (Art Day, Bubble Day, Career Day, etc.). The kids love it and look forward to each day every year! – Michele J.

I’ve started having a “Teacher of the Day” for our last days and that student runs our morning meeting! I think In the future they would do a mini show & tell or teach us about something. The kids have been loving it! – Rachel S.

I do your Road Trip Math and students complete independent research in a state in the United States. – Jessica B.

We have our fifth graders work in pairs to create a math board game based on math standards we’ve already learned. After all of the games are created, they play each other’s games. It is great review and the kids love it! – Rachel V.

We tie dye tshirts with the kids and wear them at our end of year picnic! – Allie M.

You are the teacher! Kids can teach anything from how to bake cookies to how to play basketball. I’ve had so many different topics. I give three students in the audience a basic rubric on public speaking. It’s a great way to spend the last weeks of school. – Halley R.

Not my idea, but one teacher on my team does “Wish Week” at the end of the year. Students wish to do activities/lessons that they enjoy. It could be a favorite game they played earlier in the year, or learning about a topic that is interesting, having a DEAR day, etc. The teacher spends the week granting their wishes. – Megan K.

I love reading The Math Curse (Amazon affiliate link), have them solve the math problems in the book, then they create their own Math Curse style book. My kids love this every year. – Kari L.

Looking Forward

I know it may be the last thing on your mind right now, but if you’re looking forward to the beginning of the school year, be sure to hop over to my First Week of School Lesson Plans and grab those to stash away for next year. It is even more extensive than this list of last week of school activities and includes a ton of freebies!

I hope you have an amazing end of the school year!

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