Five Ways to Create a Strong Finish for the School Year

As the school year draws to a close, we’re all looking for fun ways to keep our middle school students engaged and learning– right up to the last day!

The Middle School Mob has come up with a list of five activities that are sure to help you make the most of these last weeks…and keep you sane at the same time! 

1.  Sharon from Classroom in the Middle uses Summer Practice Cards.  Summer Practice Task Cards are designed to provide a review of language arts skills for middle schoolers or students in upper elementary grades. The 30 half-page cards include five each on six summer topics: At the Beach, Life on the Pond, Low-Tech Fun, The Ball Game, Picnic Time, and Vacation and are perfect to use with a fun classroom game or activity. A coloring page cover and a checklist of assignments completed are also included so that the cards can be sent home for a summer practice booklet.

2.  Shana from Hello, Teacher Lady says that no school year is complete without a little reflection! This End-of-Year Student Reflection & Feedback Google Form encourages students to reflect on their year while providing teachers with valuable student feedback and insight. The responses are automatically stored in a Google Sheet for easy viewing from any device, so no need to worry about collecting paper or wonder where you're going to store all those paper stacks.

Shana says, "I love using this digital form with my students not only because of its ease and convenience, but also because the thoughtful responses have helped me reflect on my year and improve my own teaching for the following year. (Psst - you can download the form for free in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!)"

2.  Lisa shares Mrs. Spangler in the Middle's top 3 ways to finish the year strong! There's an inspirational video, a positive reinforcement system that culminates on the last day of school and even a daily motivator for those tough classes.

4.  Lit with Lyns recommends this Digital End of Year Student Reflection as a great way to give students the opportunity to reflect on their year. It also allows them to provide feedback on what they thought worked well, as well as what they would like to change in specific classes.

"Not only did this help my students to reflect," Lyns says, "it also allowed me to do the same. After reading their suggestions, in addition to what they liked, I was able to implement some of their ideas into different activities and strategies I used the following year. This resource is truly a WIN-WIN for both students AND teachers!!!"  It comes in both digital AND printable format!

5.  Marypat from Just Add Students recommends having your students create a Reading Legacy Project.  This is a fun way for students to reflect on all the great reading they’ve done through the school year.  Students create a resource for next year’s class that includes book reviews, scrapbook pages, “best of…” awards, and signature pages for notes of encouragement to the upcoming class.  Great resource for next year when your students ask, “What should I read?”

Give one of these ideas a try and let us know what you think... or offer an idea of your own that makes the end of the school year a breeze!

College Pennant Activity for Back to School

We've shared this activity in the past with you, but we think it's such a great back to school activity, that we wanted to share it again! This is a fun and really easy way to create a collegiate environment in your middle school classroom. Our students loved doing this activity, and these pennants made for great classroom decor as well!

Using this College Pennant Activity (which you can download for FREE from our Teachers Pay Teachers store), we had our students design a pennant for their dream college. Then, on the back of the pennant, they had to include their dream job and three steps they could take right now to make that dream a closer reality. It was a really fun project and the kids came up with fantastic pennants for us to hang up!

That's it! A very easy, fun, creative, and engaging way to build community and hard work ethic in your classroom! We hope you enjoy using this activity with your students as much as we did :)

Yikes! I Need a Sub! 10 Essentials for your Sub Plan

Choose the "best" answer

1.  You've been up all night
     A.  battling a stomach bug
     B.  comforting a sick child
     C.  petting a neurotic dog during a thunderstorm
     D.  talking your sister down from her latest break up
     E.  all of the above

Yup.  You're gonna need a sub.  Should be easy.  Should be a no-brainer.  But it never is!  How many teachers have you heard say, "It's easier to come to school sick than to plan for a sub"?

Put Down the Glitter Glue

Why is it always so much fun to do anything else besides creating sub plans. You've probably seen the cute "Sub Tubs" on Pinterest.  Am I the only one who would rather decorate the sub tub rather than fill it? 

But this is the time of year to create, plan, amass and finally conquer your sub plans!  You will be so, so happy in a few months when you need them.  But where to get started?

The Essentials for Sub Plans

1.  Make it easy.  Anyone who has had to rely on a long-term sub will tell you that the primary goal of having a sub is keeping her happy!!  It is wonderful to have a sub who loves to teach your classes.  Make your sub's job easier.  

• Provide crystal clear directions.  Your sub may not be an experienced teacher.  Keep that in mind.
• Make sure you provide the sub with everything he or she will need.  Make all the copies, have the teacher key, provide directions for teaching.
• Have your class schedule, class lists, and seating chart clearly labled and available.
• Put all your sub stuff in a binder or folder (or hey, go ahead and make a cute sub tub of your own!).  Make sure it is easy to find.  

2.  Make it clear.  What do you want the sub to do?  Your sub probably won't be able to follow your lesson plans.  Especially if they are as cryptic as mine are!

But if you do want your sub to continue with your plans (an you have time to plan ahead), try "blowing them up." I do this by breaking them down step by step.  I don't include objectives, but I make it clear by using a numbered list.  

If you're in love with checklists like I am (you can read my post about how I use them), provide a checklist next to your plans so the sub can mark what is and isn't completed.  Or use this "What Happened Today" chart. Find it here for free:  "What Happened Today" note from the Sub

Freebie available on my TPT store!

3.  Make it meaningful.    There's a good chance that you don't want your sub to try to continue with the lessons you are currently working on.  If that's the case, consider:  

• using "evergreen" content that your students need extra practice with.  This is an ideal time for them to get in some extra practice using quotation marks, capitalization, or using sentence variety.  The beauty of evergreen content is that it can be used all year -- it's not seasonal.  
• digging around in the supplemental materials that your textbook provides.  
• scouring that bookshelf full of resources. 
• pulling out those task cards! 
• putting those learning games in your closet to use.
• rejecting "busy work"!

4.  Make it count.  If you tie the work the students are completing to an assessment, will they work harder on it? This is the ultimate, "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, does it make a sound" question!  

Do collect and assess what students do with the sub.  Value the sub and students' work.

5.  Use the clock.  Help your sub by providing a timeline.  Again, if your sub isn't a seasoned teacher, he or she may have no idea how much time students should devote to different activities.  Provide an estimate.  For example, how long should the sub allot for journaling, independent reading, or group work?

6.  Change it up.  You probably have your students moving around during class.  They may move in and out of small groups, work with a partner, or turn and talk.  Be sure to include that in your sub plans.  Your students do not have to work in "monk-like silence" (a phrase a fellow teacher likes to use!) when you aren't at school.  If your sub will be following your plans, be sure to build in opportunities for students to talk.  

7.  Plan ahead.  One year, the administration wanted teachers to have two weeks of emergency plans. Whoa!  That was a bit much, but once I created those plans, I reused them for several years!  I don't know if you need two weeks of plans, but having at least one week will give you peace of mind.  

8.  Establishing Routines Helps Everyone.  Your sub will love you forever if you train your students.  How do you quiet your class?  What do students do when they first walk into your class?  How do you dismiss?  Collect papers?  Be sure to let your sub know the routines that you've taught your students. 

I don't know why students feel like they get a free pass to do anything they want when a sub walks in the door, but having firm routines will help.  

9.  No study halls, please!  A sub's job is difficult enough.  You know how hard monitoring study hall can be.  Sure, some kids will love it, but for others, it is play time.  Respect the sub (and your students!) enough to provide meaningful work for the students.

10.  Want more bells and whistles?  My friend tucks a Starbucks gift card into her sub plans as a little extra way to say "thank you."  We all know how difficult the job of a sub can be; there are tons of ideas for adding a special treat for a sub, but making sure you say "thank you" will go a long way!

Get 'er Done!  

Carve out a bit of time soon to put together your sub plans. Remember that the ultimate goal is to make your time away from the classroom restful and less stressful!  Knowing that your class will be taken care of while you're gone will be the best medicine of all!  

Here's to a healthy school year!

Happiness always♥

Year-end Self Assessments

Assess much?!  

Of course you do!  Formative, summative, state testing, completing student progress folders...by this time of year, you are probably feeling rather "assessed out."

However, there is one more assessment you that will provide you with a wealth of information about yourself, your students, and how you can improve your teaching:  self-assessments.

We assess our students, the state or another standardized test assesses our students, but what about allowing them to assess themselves?  Middle school students (as we are so keenly aware) have opinions!  And they appreciate the opportunity to express them.  When you provide your students with a chance to step back and honestly look at what they've accomplished this year, they will discover that they actually did learn something this year!

Looking Back

I set aside a class period to allow students to reflect on what they've accomplished this year.  Begin with a class brainstorming session.  What were the big concepts they learned?  What writing assignments or projects did they complete?  What goals did students work toward?  What special skills did they focus on this year?  What new technology did they learn or use?  What review games or activities did you use?  Encourage students to refer to their planners to jog their memories -- and create a big list on your board.  (It is helpful if you create your own list ahead of time to help them remember!)

If your students kept portfolios or journals, give them time to look through their work.  One year, I had a student hold up a paper that she'd written at the beginning of the year and exclaim, "I can't believe I wrote that!"  She could see that her writing skills had improved!

Once you have your list and students have looked through journals or portfolios, provide them with a list of questions.  You can use the questions I've created in my free year-end resource, or you can create your own list.  I wanted my questions to be positive, so I stayed away from questions like "What did you like the least?" (Why are those the questions that are always so easy to answer?!)

Why This Works

1.  Students respond really well to this.  You think you might get some unkind comments since it's anonymous, but students appreciate the opportunity to give you an opinion.  This is especially nice for the quiet students who may never complain or compliment. This is a way for all students to speak their minds. 

2.  Students can stop and look at how they've grown.  This little activity provides a wealth of self-confidence -- like my student who couldn't believe the difference between her writing at the beginning and end of the year.

3.  This helps me plan for the next year.  We can usually tell when an assignment is a bomb or the students really hate something, but we often don't know what they enjoyed.  

4.  The list you will create during the brainstorming session alone will give you a tremendous boost.  Take a picture of it and send it home to parents in a year-end email!  Your students worked hard this year! Share that picture with your administrators as well, and save it to share for next year's "meet the teacher" night!  

What's Next?

You probably have done your own self-evaluations in preparation of teacher evaluations with your administrator.  Consider completing your own year end self-assessment that is for your eyes only.  You can use the one I have in my free year-end resource if you like, or just take out a sheet of paper and write down what went well this year and what you'd like to change next year.  

Tuck that self-eval in your desk or planning book -- or somewhere else you'll find next fall when you return to your classroom.  It's like sending a message to your future self!!

Plato said, "An unexamined life is not worth living."  And certainly, both students and educators will benefit by taking time to examine what we've done, how we've grown, and where we can improve.   

Enjoy the last few weeks of school, and don't forget to learn from this year!

Happiness always♥

Tackle the Test, and the Text, with Authors' Craft: Looking Beyond the PIE

Ok, so let’s face it, pie is good. Sweet, delicious, cover-me-in-ice-cream pie, is really good. Unfortunately, over the past couple of years, I have found one pie that isn’t so good: the ‘pie’ representing author’s purpose. Beyond persuading, informing, and entertaining, an author writes with deeper meaning and we need our students to understand this.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great place to start. When I taught elementary I used P.I.E. to teach author’s purpose all the time. I wanted my students to identify if an author was writing to persuade, inform, or entertain. We need to acknowledge, however, as students grow as readers, they need to start looking beyond the surface of the text. There is a reason an author writes a certain way and there are clues in the text to help us understand why. We have to help our students unwrap the author’s purpose by examining the author’s craft.

At the beginning of every year, I review specific skills such as theme, point of view, and characterization. My students are able to pinpoint these skills within a text. As the year progresses, I push them to dive deeper into the text. Why is the author using a specific point of view? How does this point of view affect the plot? How did the author use characterization to build the main character? How do you know? In order to truly understand a text, a good reader needs read for deeper meaning by examining the author’s craft. We can no longer ask our students to simply ‘identify’ story elements. We can no longer have our students ‘identify’ the theme of a passage. We can no longer settle with being able to identify P.I.E. We need our readers to dig deeper. What is the text saying? What is the author doing? How do you know? What do you take away from this?

Here are some of the cards I use to encourage my students to dig deeper.

To help me do this regularly, I created generic task cards focused on author’s craft. I can pull from these whenever we read any type of text in order to encourage my students to read for deeper meaning. This doesn’t have to be difficult.

I tell my kiddos, authors are sneaky. They have the ability to make you love or hate a character. They have the ability to create a setting that makes you relate to a story. The author can take you worlds away or make you examine where you are standing. While I encourage and support reading for pleasure in my class (a lot actually), I want my students to have the ability to dissect difficult texts.  Authors speak a secret language within a text and as middle school readers it remains our job to crack the code. Authors truly write beyond the ‘P.I.E.’ 

College Pennant Activity - Student Goal Setting

Hi Everyone! Caitlin from EB Academic Camps here to share a fantastic (and FREE) project with you! 

Last year when I was still in the classroom, I taught my students the documentary Waiting for Superman. After studying the film, I really wanted to create a much more collegiate environment in my classroom that would inspire my students to continuously put their best foot forward. Thus, I devised a little college pennant activity. 

The project is quite simple and allows for considerable creativity for the kiddos. 

Students were to design a pennant for their dream college. Then on the back of the pennant, they had to include their dream job and three steps they could take right now to make that dream a closer reality. It was a really fun project and the kids came up with fantastic pennants for me to hang up!

Kudos to my hubby for coming to school with me on Sunday to hang up the string across my classroom! 

Apparently I have a lot of doctors and directors in my 7th and 8th grades! 

(Some of their goals are pretty broad ... but I figure it's okay since at least they know they need to work hard.)

I think this one is so neat! He couldn't decide between Harvard and Caltech :) 

A view of all the pennants hanging up (sorry the lighting is so poor). I loved walking into my classroom and seeing all of these pennants of inspiration! 

You can download this project for FREE from our EB Academic Camps Teachers Pay Teacher Store. I would love for you to share this project with your students and send me pictures of their creations!

Getting Back on Track After Holiday Break

Hi Everyone!  It's Lyndsey from Lit with Lyns!  Getting back into the swing of things after the holiday break can definitely be a challenge.  I keep counting down the days I have left and can't help but feel a little sad.  The thought of having to send my own kids back to school, wake up to an alarm at the crack of dawn, commute to work in Atlanta traffic...I'm beginning to cringe just thinking about it.

In trying to keep it positive, I decided the best way to deal with the inevitable is to plan activities that I know my students (and myself) will enjoy.  First, I created a New Year's Student Reflection- Video Journal Responses &  Infographic.  This product includes video journal responses where students watch a short video related to the response topic, and then students write a response.  Using the information they include in the journal responses, students will complete a New Year’s Infographic.

Included are:
• 6 video journal responses that address various areas included in the infographic (goal setting, SMART Goals, resolutions, making positive changes, symbolism, etc.).
• 2 page infographic

Another product I use is a New Year's Character Reflection & Infographic.  This activity is a great
way to analyze a character, while also putting the New Year's spin on it.

The activities in this product will require students to:
• Develop a New Year’s resolution for the character
• Determine character’s most cherished memories
• Establish the character’s favorite “things”
• Symbolization- 5 symbols that represent the character
• Goals for the New Year

Similar to the topics discussed in the Infographic are these New Year's Character Reflection Task Cards!  This Common Core aligned product includes 20 task cards that require students to think critically about the character(s) being addressed, as well as to support their answers with evidence.  Approximately half of the cards require students to reflect on the character’s
past year or the year to come; however, the tasks do not have to be used as a New Year’s activity. The other half focuses more on characterization, in general (types of conflict the character has been involved in, internal and external traits, etc.). Therefore, these task cards can be used at any point throughout the year with ANY novel or short story.  Want to try out a free sample of this product?  Download this FREEBIE here!

I'd love to here what you're planning for your students when you return to school.  It would be great to have a variety of activities on hand to be ready to go!