It's that time of the year where motivation is running low for both students and teachers! Here are a few of the things I did with my students the last two weeks of school. My main criteria was that we still had to be using Spanish, they were fun, and they weren't too complicated to set up or explain.
1. Secret Words Watercolor Painting
This one was actually almost too much for the end of the year because it took awhile to get it ready and it was a mess to clean up BUT it makes the list because the kids had an absolute blast and everyone was totally engaged and shouting out the words they found on their papers.
Take large sheets of white butcher paper and write whatever vocabulary words or even sentences that you are working on in class in white crayon. Give students paint brushes and watercolor paints and let them paint the paper to discover the words.
Pro tip - I did this with three third grade classes. The first had multiple spills with their water cups so the next two classes I used a spray bottle and walked around and sprayed their paint palettes. Much easier and less mess!
2. Spinners
This activity is perfect for any age. I did this activity with my loudest fourth grade class on the very last day of school and they all had a blast. The spinner page had Quiero (activity) en (place around town) con mi (people.) Students used a pencil and a paper clip to spin each part of their sentence and wrote it down on their whiteboard. Then they would show it to their table partners who could respond with our interpersonal phrases like ¿En serio? No me gusta or ¡Yo también! Quiero...
You can get these particular spinners in my Places in the City posters!
For younger students you can use spin and draw activities like my Spin and Draw How Are You? Spin and Draw a Monster, Spin and Draw How's the Weather, or Spin and Draw Clothing.
3. Playdough Mats
We used these playdough mats back in January when we were learning emotions in kindergarten. I brought them back and added some new weather ones as part of a choice board the last few classes of the year. It was hands on, fun, and a great review!
Really any activity like this that students enjoyed earlier in the year is a good bet for the end of the year as well. You already have the supplies, they already know what to do, so you can sit back and relax while they have fun and practice their Spanish. I also put out our pattern block pet puzzles and some other puzzles as options.
4. Puzzles!
These are super simple to make and my students love them. Simply create a picture in powerpoint or google slides with the vocabulary you are studying, print, laminate, and then cut into pieces.
5. Lotería
I used to think that Bingo wasn't the best use of instructional time since we were only working on the word level but it makes a great end of the year activity and the number of times I heard students shouting out the words and helping their friends find them on their bingo cards has made me rethink my position on Lotería. Everyone from first grade to fifth grade loved playing the last week of school.
I love to use the website Bingo Baker to make cards because you can play it virtually or print out paper cards. It's also super simple to make cards with pictures. You can hide the call list so students have to really listen or you can project it up on the board with the history.
If you want to increase the difficulty try using the word in a sentence if you want to take it beyond just the word level. Or give students some writing practice by having them create their own bingo cards. Just provide them with the list and blank cards to fill in.
