I’m so excited to share end of the year activities for you to use with your readers. But, every time I go to write an end of the year blog post, I just can’t believe another year has flown by. I know this year hasn’t been easy on many teachers. Even so, I hope you’re able to reflect on the year, especially with regard to the amazing progress your students have made since the fall. The end of the year activities I’m about to share will help you recognize the gains your students have made. They will also make the last few weeks enjoyable and allow you to slide right into summer!
End of the Year Phonics and Fluency Activities
Perhaps one of my most favorite new resources this year is my Summer/End of the Year Phonics and Fluency Activities! People just can’t seem to get enough of this awesome resource. That’s probably because it covers so many different phonics skills and in four different ways.
These activities include a variety of phonics patterns:
- CVC words
- digraphs
- beginning blends
- ending blends
- added endings
- CVCe words
- r-controlled vowels
- vowel teams
- diphthongs
Each skill has students practicing words in isolation, in context, in short stories, and then in a super fun game board at the end where they can challenge their partner! One of the best aspects of this resource is how easy it is to differentiate when using it. You can work on these activities based upon skill in small groups, as a whole class, or with partner work. If you decide to use it as a literacy center, students can choose the phonics skill they need to work on and slip it into a pocket protector. The game boards are the perfect way to review a phonics skill in an engaging way.
There are so many ways to use this resources as one of your end of the year activities. The fun summer images included on each page will have everyone in the class dreaming of ice cream trucks and hot summer days!
Close Reading Passages for the End of the Year
The end of the year is a great time to practice and focus on close reading, so my End of the Year Close Reading Passages are a must. It’s so important to focus on close reading because it encourages students to search for specific evidence when answering a question. Later on in their writing journey, close reading helps immensely in forming an opinion or argument. Close reading allows the reader to dig deeper into the story and bring their own experiences to the text.
When you grab this resource, you’ll receive five end-of-the-year themed close reading passages (2 fiction, 1 nonfiction, and 2 poetry), lesson plans for each passage, comprehension questions, graphic organizers, anchor charts on how to set up close reading in your classroom, teacher format of each page, and sample coded text passages for reference. Whew! Though these passages work best in small groups, they can always be done in whole groups so that everyone is exposed to that important grade level content. In this way, they can be used as read alouds and can be modeled to students. Each passage comes with a different focus for the 1st read, 2nd read, and 3rd read.
Close reading truly enhances a text, and this resource is a great way to ensure that your students become close readers. This is another one of those end of the year activities that will keep your readers engaged till the very end!
Read more about this end of the year close reading resource!
Summer Themed I am a Reader Passages
Another favorite resource to add to your end of the year activities is my summer themed I am a Reader Passages. I have Summer-Themed I am a Reader Passages, too! The reason why this product has such a special place in my heart is because of the confidence it gives readers. If you’re a teacher who’s ever seen the light in a child’s eyes when he or she identifies themselves as a reader then, well, you know the special moment I’m talking about. These passages instill that special and essential reading confidence that every student needs. This pack includes 30 summer-themed passages for early readers who are developing their reading abilities. They are perfect for emergent readers in kindergarten. They can also be used at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade levels with your struggling readers.
Students will follow these steps when completing this activity:
- read the focus words at the top
- read the passage and apply decoding skills
- answer comprehension questions
- highlight the focus words within the text
They’re perfect for your small group table, as you can go through these passages and work on specific skills with certain groups. These also work well with whole group instruction and as a literacy center. You can place students in pairs who need to work on the same phonics skill and students can work their way through the same passage side-by-side while they help each other. And if you’re already prepping for next year, you can check out my I Am a Reader Passages for any occasion or season!
Read more about these summer themed I am a Reader passages!
How about a free sample?
Feeling like you need to see it to believe it first? Check out a sample of them for FREE!
A Summer Themed Book
And last but certainly never least, we have a summer themed book that will make all your students daydream about those long summer days. Tom Brenner’s And Then Comes Summer from Scholastic is the perfect book to read at the end of the school year. Its language presents readers with vivid, you-can-almost-touch-it summer sensations and memories. This summer read is packed with colorful imagery and alliteration. Each page has a WHEN and a THEN following it, which creates great conversation for how writers connect ideas within a story. If you decide to project this story, point out the digraphs in each word – the repetition of these words and digraphs on each page will give great repetitive exposure to your students.
One of the best parts about this book is that on every page, students will find connections to their own lives and their experiences with summer as they discover examples of figurative language. There are plenty of new words to learn in the book (dew, flit, and bunting to start) so students have many opportunities to enhance their vocabulary and practice using context clues.
The end of the school year brings a slew of emotions for teachers and students alike. By year’s end, everyone is exhausted from all of the hard work, proud of what has been accomplished, sad about the year ending, and happy at the prospect of summer. You can make your final weeks memorable with any of these summer and end of the year activities. It is my hope that these activities will allow you to spend less time planning. Rather, you’ll be able to spend more time enjoying your students during these last days!
