Keeping the classroom engaged for the final weeks of term

With the end of the school term on the horizon and children gearing up for the summer holidays, keeping them focused on learning can be a challenge for teachers.

But there’s plenty of fun and engaging activities out there to help teachers and teaching assistants make the classroom environment an enjoyable one as the term winds down.

Given that lesson planning may be the last thing on teacher’s minds as they consider end of year reports and other essential tasks, here’s a selection of the resources and ideas to assist across both primary and secondary education.

Theme Days

For those looking to do something different for their pupils in primary education, Not So Wimpy Teacher suggests the concept of theme days.

Simply put, each day has its own theme based on a topic, idea or thing, from focusing on sport or art to science, maths or even board games.

Teaching assistants could provide further support with these activities, giving pupils ample opportunity to be creative and use their end of term energy positively.

Riddles

Get your class thinking by setting them a number of riddles and brain teasers, providing a fun way to approach tasks and problems.

Primary teachers can access a range of riddles at The Teacher’s Corner, which allows you to build worksheets for your class with however many problems you choose.

The Whodunnit Mystery

Packed with engaging activities for those in secondary education, Tes has a Whodunnit Mystery lesson to get pupils solving activities and challenges to work out an unidentified murderer.

Both the PowerPoint and tasks can be downloaded for free, providing a complete lesson plan for those looking for something quickly.

The work of Dr Seuss

Based on Oh The Places You’ll Go, the picture book by Dr Seuss, Plazoom has a fun literacy activity for year 6 pupils as they prepare to make the transition from primary to secondary education.

Not only can it harbour a love of reading, but it also gives youngsters a chance to talk about their hopes and ambitions and to consider what they might need to do to achieve them.

The end of year yearbook

As the summer approaches, teachers can turn to Twinkl for an end of year activity with a difference – each pupil can reflect on the year to create a personal year book.

From recognising achievements to overcoming challenges, it can also be used as an inspirational tool in the next academic year to help them strive for success.

This is especially useful for teaching assistants working in SEN education, as it provides a chance for pupils to focus on all the great things they’ve accomplished over the school year.

Reflection Questions

Another option for reflection can be found at TeachersPay Teachers, a free set of question cards which can be used as prompts or as activities.

Although designed for use in the USA, many of the questions are still applicable and can be used by teachers and their assistants to act as conversation starters or within class games.

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