It is getting close to the end of the year and many times we end the year with a reflective activity or project. Here are a few good ideas that might inspire you and give you some resources to make your hectic schedule a little less stressed.
Project Idea-Letters:
Having students write letters to an upcoming class of students is a great way to have them reflect on everything they have learned and what advice they give upcoming students can be very eye-opening for you as their teacher.
Resources:
- Go digital! Have students write letters using Google Docs and they can share the letters with you or classmates for easy peer editing.
- For the younger crowd, http://www.zooburst.com/ is a free website that allows you to make 3-D pop-up storybooks.
- An alternative to a letter is to allow your students to create their own cartoons and comic strips. http://www.powtoon.com/ is a great free resource that will have your students laughing while creating an awesome final project.
Project Idea-Life Skills:
The end of the year can provide some extra flexibility in your curriculum to teach students some extra skills that will help them be productive citizens. Topics such as financial responsibility, cultural experiences, or virtual field trips are all great ideas. One of my favorite end of year projects is to have the students plan a family trip to a location we studied during the year. Figuring out travel costs, passport regulations, and activities opened my students minds to the world around them and gave them a new appreciation for family trips. It was very easy to include multiple subject areas with activities such as a chart for fuel costs based on destinations or meal prices.
Resources:
- For travel planning, http://www.tripadvisor.com/ provides reviews and pictures of destinations. http://www.travelforkids.com/Travel-tips/trip-planner.htm is another great resource with information about passports and information in a more kid friendly format.
- For financial planning for elementary and middle school, http://piggybank.disney.go.com/ is a great interactive resource where students earn "money" and can buy rewards for learning about financial responsibility.
- For teens, have them budget for their dream prom by going to: http://senseanddollars.thinkport.org/games/dreamprom/home.html
Project Idea-Multimedia Project:
Anything from interactive flip-books, to videos, to presentations can be made with a variety of interactive Web 2.0 Tools.
Resources:
- http://animoto.com/ is so simple to create awesome looking videos. If you decide to use Animoto, make sure you register for the free Educator account to unlock unlimited time for videos and a bunch of free video styles.
- http://www.dipity.com/ is a super cool way to create timelines that include pictures and videos.
- http://storybird.com/ allows students to create very cute online storybooks.
- https://present.me allows students to upload a power-point presentation and add annotations and voice narration.