The last 4-6 weeks of the school year are tough…

By this time of the year, my students were tired of textbook assignments, direct instruction, and the typical tools we used on a regular basis (Google Docs, Classroom, Slides, etc).

I was tired of the same old thing too!

To shake things up, I would schedule a project at the end of the year.

Here are five project ideas you can use to end the school year strong! 💪

🏔️ Mt. Rushmore Project

The Mt. Rushmore project is a critical thinking exercise that requires students to select the 5 most important elements of a topic and justify their choices.

(BONUS: evaluating information is one of the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.)

This might include the “5 most important events of the Civil War,” the “5 most astounding quotes from Fahrenheit 451” or the “5 most important cell organelles.”

This project can be done very simply by creating a graphic using Google Slides or Canva.

If you have more time, students can create a video or a simple “podcast” to justify the selection of their five most important elements.

⛵ Google Earth Voyage

Google Earth contains a nifty feature called “voyages” that you can use to create a virtual journey across the globe.

Challenging students to design a voyage is a unique activity for history, literature, science or any topic that takes place in a geographic location.

Start by sending your students on one of the pre-made voyages available in Google Earth.

Next, have them map out their own voyage. When they are done, voyages can be shared just like a Google Doc!

Here’s a voyage that my family created on our family trip to Chicago.

Related Podcast Episode: Bring the World to your Classroom

🔄 Collaborative Review Guide

As you approach the end of the school year it’s a good idea to plan some review activities to prepare students for their final tests and exams.

This review guide was created using Google Docs and takes advantage of smart chips to assign topics to students and link related resources in one central location.

You can also use Jamboard as a review guide. The results will be a little messy, but the process will help students organize their learning.

Related post: 5 Jamboard activities for any classroom (with templates!)

If you want to design a more multimedia friendly review guide, consider Google Sites! This WWII study guide has space for every student to contribute text, images, video, and related resources to the key questions for the unit.

(click here if you want to make a copy of my Google Site!)

⏰ 60 second video

Video projects can consume a LOT of class time. I recommend that you limit student videos to 60 seconds. This limitation will force them to consider how to communicate their key ideas creatively and succinctly.

Adobe Express is a good option for biography reports, book reports, and science experiments.

Canva is a new option to consider for video editing. The Canva video editor is easy to use and students have access to a library of thousands of free videos and images they can use in their project.

Related Post: The best multimedia apps for Chromebooks

Here is a sample project I created with Canva in about 30 minutes.

🎨 Portfolio Project

The last few weeks of school provide a great opportunity to reflect on how students have grown academically. Building a small portfolio is a great way for students to observe their own growth and share their learning with family members.

Ask your elementary students to select their five favorite projects from the year and record a short audio reflection on their learning.

The example below was created with Google Slides.

Older students can create a more advanced portfolio using Google Sites like this example from a high school math classroom. Teachers can create a portfolio template that students can fill with their learning artifacts.

Inspiration for the final weeks of school!

I hope you found something in this post that will inspire the final few weeks of the school year. I would love to know what unique twist you added to any of the ideas and templates listed above.

Leave me a comment and share what you created!