The Best End of the Year Activities for the Middle School English Classroom

Hi Teacher Friends!

I know some of you are lucky enough to be rounding out the end of the school year in the next few weeks and days.  My school finishes at the end of June, as most Northeast school districts do.

I have been trying to plan out my last five weeks of the school year, and this year, my school is doing finals differently.  We are actually not going to have a “finals week”, and the kids are going to be in for regular periods for the last two weeks. In the past, we have always had half days where the kids would come in for the test and then leave.  We will be actually giving our finals during the school day, rather than holding half days! This now leads me to have to plan for an extra two weeks of school.

I thought I would put a list of items together that are some of my favorite activities to do the last few weeks. I am definitely going to be utilizing these, and they will be in full effect!

1. Escape Rooms

Have you checked out Educational Escape Rooms or Digital Breakouts yet?  THEY ARE THE BEST, and the kids absolutely love them. Education escape rooms ask your students to complete a variety of tasks (usually reviewing a skill, terms or other information associated with the subject) while solving clues and puzzles.  Normally, the students have a certain amount of time to complete the escape room.  There are a variety of escape rooms, including paper and digital.  The digital escape rooms require a computer and often a Google account.  Students rave about these activities because they are engaged in teamwork, and well, they are just FUN!

Check out my End of the Year Digital Escape Room and other escape rooms!

2. Song Playlist of My School Year:

If your students could make a playlist of songs for their year, what songs would they use to outline their year? This engaging writing assignment asks students to reflect on their year, and use songs to outline their year while explaining their choices in songs.

Check out Reading and Writing Haven’s Product, “Playlist of My School Year”.

3.  Short Story Pass It On:

This is a very easy activity, and my students love to participate in this activity.  Break your students up into groups, and each group has a different short story writing prompt.  When the timer begins, one of the group members adds/writes onto the short story prompt, and passes it to the next person in the group to continue the writing.  The story continues to get passed until the timer ends.  Here, you can either have your students read their stories, or you can have the students switch groups, and do another round of Short Story Pass It On, with the new groups adding onto the original short stories.

4.  Color By Number Review:

Reviewing for finals? Are the flashcards getting old? Have you tried any of the color-by-number review activities? Let your students review a variety of skills by answering questions and coloring in the correct answer in a certain color.  Check out some of my Color-By-Number Review Products!

Want more color-by-number activities?  Check them out HERE in my store.

5. Motivational/Inspiring Videos:

Let’s face it.  Kids LOVE watching videos.  Why not engage your students with some motivational, engaging videos they can responds and discuss?  Here are some of my favorite TED talks-

TED Talks:


1.  Looks Aren’t Everything. Believe Me. I’m a Model.


2.  What Adults Can Learn from Kids

3.  The Shared Experience of Absurdity


4.  I have 99 Problems…Palsy is Just One

Check out Laura Randazzo’s Ted Talk Worksheet! How perfect is this for the TED Talks?