After Memorial Day passes, it feels like the end of the school year is just around the corner. But in many places in the U.S., there are still 3 or even 4 weeks of school left. It’s hard to keep students engaged, especially when there are lots of fun, special activities going on that interrupt the typical flow of the school day. One way to keep students both engaged and learning is to do an end of year review of what they learned in your class.
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| Graphic created by The ESL Nexus with an image from Canva |
Why Students Should Do an End of Year Review
Reinforce Knowledge
Having students do an end of year review means they continue to use the concepts and skills learned and that will help them retain the information. Using that knowledge in different ways means it is more likely to stick; that is, remember it later on. Reviewing skills and concepts learned earlier in the year can transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory, where it can be retrieved in the future. Research has also shown that new concepts, for example new vocabulary words, need to be used several times before they are “learned” so an end of the year review helps students imprint them in their minds.
Get Ready for Next Year
Reviewing what they learned over the course of the school year builds a foundation for future learning. It ensures students have mastered the necessary skills and knowledge they need to be successful in the following year. An end of year review can also help identify what students haven’t learned so you can focus on reteaching that in the time you have left.
Foster Confidence
When students do end of year activities, that lets them reflect on the progress they’ve made from the beginning of the year to the end. They discover how much they’ve learned and what their strengths are, which boosts motivation to continue learning. Students may also see what their weaknesses are, which lets them know what they need to pay attention to next year. If you used my Student Self-Evaluation Forms, students can refer back to them to analyze their progress over the course of the school year.
How to Make an End of Year Review Fun
One way to make an end of year review appealing to students is to give them a choice of how to demonstrate what they learned. When students can decide for themselves how to show they learning, they are more motivated to do a good job on their work.
My Fun End of Year Choice Board Review Activities does just that. It’s a choice board with 6 options in 2 categories. One row of 3 activities asks students to create something and the other row of 3 options asks them to write something. Each group of activities includes an easy, intermediate, and challenging task to meet the needs of students at various ability and language proficiency levels. After students have completed their projects, they can present them to their classmates if you’d like.
You can have your students select 1 or 2 of the activities to complete, depending on how much time you have available. Complete instructions for every activity are provided and an evaluation checklist for each activity is also included, which saves you time when assessing students’ work.
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| Click HERE to get this resource |
The end of the school year often has lots of interruptions to classroom teaching. Having students do an end of year review is the perfect way to accommodate that. Because students work independently on their activities, those breaks to your regular classroom routine won’t negatively impact their work and students can just pick up from where they left off when they return to your class.
To find out more about this resource and to purchase it, please click HERE.
