End-of-year Activities

The end of the year is tough! Spring fever, core testing is finished....

Here are a few things I've done at the end of the year.

1. Make a vocabulary video. You can use school tablets or laptops, or just have the kids use their phones. It's great to go outside too! Here's the inspiration: http://www.vocabvideos.com/ I spend at least half of the first period watching the videos and having the kids choose their words and plan their script. Time: 3-5 class periods.

2. Have the students make a New Student Handbook for kids entering the school the next year. I have my students include the following: a map with important places labeled, a (nice) overview of each teacher with homework expectations for each, information on lockers, how to get school lunch, how to pay fines, where to go if you lose your ID card, how to check out books from the library, and anything else that you think new students need to know. It should be pretty and organized, with headers, pictures, and legible handwriting. Time: 2-5 class periods.

3. Go to Teen Tribute. Have the students read articles they are interested in and make at least three (appropriate) comments on the articles they read. Time: 1-2 class periods.

4. Have the students write a "Year in Review." This can either be a personal activity or a school/class activity. A big piece of butcher paper on the wall with divisions for months/terms works great, or it can be a personal writing or graphic activity. It's more fun when it's collaborative, though. Students can either write on the butcher paper or they can write on sticky notes and put them on the paper in the right place. Time: 1 class period.

5. Do book reviews for the books the students have read. The can write a review of the book and give it a score from -2 to 2. A 2 means they think next year's students should read it, and a -2 means Get Rid Of This Book Now. If you have the luxury of switching books, take the kids' opinions into account. If not, at least you know that the kids weren't really engaged and you can make some changes! Time: 1-2 class periods.

This website and this one have some other ideas. Heck, they have some of THESE ideas!

Writing: Introductions

This is a handout for students when teaching them about introductions. Obviously, the examples are all from the Hunger Games. In my handout, I had the "types of hooks" as a chart.

The assignment would be to create their own example of each type of hook. My suggestion is "The first day of school," but an essay they would actually be assigned to write would be even better.

Introductions
1. Hook
2. Comments and background
3. Thesis sentence

Types of Hooks
Rhetorical Question
What do you think about two children a year being sacrificed for a “crime” that happened 74 years ago?
Sensory Image
The game was played in a deceptively beautiful forest. The aspen trees whispered in the light breeze as the sun rose over the mountains.
Story
I didn’t want to die, but I couldn’t let my sister enter that arena.
Statistic
Since the rebellion 74 years ago, 1702 children had been killed. I had no intention of being one of the next 23.
Quotation
“May the odds be always in your favor!” she said again. Boy was I tired of that phrase.
Figurative language
The children, already turned into wild animals, waited for the gong.
Interesting definition
The arena is a place designed for death.


Comments and Background
This section tells the reader a little about what the essay will say. It gives some background and an overview of the essay.

“Every year each of the twelve districts had to send two tributes - a boy and a girl - to the Capitol for a fight to the death. This year, one of them was me. There would be 23 other children trying to stay alive, and the only way to do that was to kill me.”

Thesis
This is usually the last sentence of the introduction. It is the essay in one sentence.
“I had no intention of dying in that place.”

Assignment: Using the topic “The first day of school,” write seven different hooks, one for each different type of hook.