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Collaborative and Inspiring Year End Student Projects
(The Unique Me and Show What You Know)

Adapted from Edutopia and Scholastic Year End Project
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/end-of-year-engaging-projects-rebecca-alber

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/grades-6-8-collaborative-year-end-projects

#1) Show What You Know
Give students an opportunity to teach the rest of the class something, like origami, Foldify app, Robives, programming with Scratch, showcasing a new app and it can be used in the classroom, or a martial arts self-defense move (design, construct, apply).

#2) On-Campus Field Trips
• Take them outside to write observational notes on what they see through the eyes of a scientist, historical figure, artist, a character from a book or film
(discover, examine, report)

• Journey to the library for a Scavenger Hunt. There's many online that you can revise to fit your content and/or interests of your students, or through a Class Tools QR Scavenger Hunt (locate, investigate, compile)

• Join another class and have a Poetry Slam, Science or Math Mini Fare. This gives students a chance to share a project or product with a different audience. Consider doing this in a neutral zone like the cafeteria or library or online through Skype or a Google Hangout (discover, demonstrate, evaluate)

#3) Own a: Planet, Song, Decade, Career, Author, Country, Scientist, or a Medical Breakthrough
With this activity, the student becomes an expert on whatever she/he chooses and then presents it to the class or in small groups. The product can be, for example, a mini-book, PowerPoint, or iMovie, Podcast, a radio show through Spreaker or bringing in a Skype expert (select, prepare, research, design).

#4) Craft a New Ending
Students take their favorite book, speech, short story, poem, or historical event and write a new ending. Ask them to also include rationale for their ending. They can also illustrate, design and publish through Book Creator app or a Google Doc or Lucid Press Chrome app (infer, devise, conclude, reflect).

#5) Create a Commercial
Host a class competition where students cast a vote, and give an award to the team that produces the most clever, creative 30-second PSA (Personal Service Announcement) advertisement. Decide first as a class on the product to be pitched and review the Rock Your World resource. Tools/resources utilized: Movenote, ScreenCastOmatic, EdPuzzle iMovie or Movie Maker 2, or Magisto Chrome App (plan, design, critique).

#6) Portfolio Showcase
Students compile a collection of their best work from the school year or last semester, and include explanations for their choices. This could be done in hard copy or digitally through Google Sites and Google Docs, and Easy Portfolio Site Builder Chrome App can include illustrations and photos (select, assess, categorize, prepare).

#7) Stage a TV Contest
Engage your students by letting them participate in a TV-like competition, similar to American Idol. Together, brainstorm a list of concepts or ideas your class has learned during the year. Write each idea on a slip of paper and put all the slips in a hat. Divide students into groups of three or four and have each group draw a slip of paper. Then, instruct them to create a skit or song based on their topic.
After two or three days’ practice, ask each group to perform in front of the class. To make it more fun, see if you can get two other teachers or parents to serve on the panel of “judges,” minus the TV-host. (plan, design, categorize, prepare).

#8) Survive and Thrive
Ask students to think about the things they wish they’d known or that they loved experiencing in their current grade. Individually or in groups, have them create a “middle school or high school survival guide” for rising middle and high schoolers.
The end product could be a top 10 list of advice for incoming middle school or incoming high school students, a guidebook of do’s and don’ts, or a TouchCast video app of a newscast that offers advice. For example, the students in Naomi Harm’s ninth-grade English class in Lacrosse, WI wrote letters and created a Snap Guide or Google Docs tutorial for incoming ninth graders, including such information- as says the exercise was also great for current students’ practice in written expression. (plan, design, critique, conclude, reflect).

#9) Stage a Service Project
Enlist your students in supporting a local cause that is important to them, whether it’s collecting canned goods for a food pantry, pet food for an animal shelter, or books for a library or school in need. Make contact with the charity recipient of choice, and then let students do the work—they can publicize the service project, make online marketing presentation to other classes, count and organize donations through a Google Spreadsheet, and present the results to the recipient and the rest of the school. (plan, design, critique).

#10) Create a Time Capsule
Students love the idea of leaving a part of themselves behind for posterity. Have your current students prepare a time capsule for your future students. Students can leave examples of completed projects that show off their brilliant minds by writing stories of “a day in the life” of students in your class, drawing a comic strip, shooting a video, or creating a presentation. Two simple time capsule creators include the Chrome App of The Little Memory and the online website of My Time Capsule. The time capsule can include a class picture and students’ writings about what they expect to be doing five or 10 years from now. If you do wait five or 10 years before opening the capsule, try to track down your former students so they can see how much they’ve changed. (select, prepare, research,
design, reflect).

#11) Go On the Hunt
For a modern twist on the traditional scavenger hunt, send your students on an Internet scavenger hunt. This is a quick and easy project for your students to work on individually or in pairs or groups. I recommend choosing a topic you want your students to research, then creating questions for them to answer. Give the scavenger hunt a test-run first so that you can recommend sites when students are stumped and utilize QR Codes creator sites of the Class Tools QR Scavenger Hunt site, to add mobile learning to the adventure. Establish guidelines for the types of sites that are authoritative and appropriate. If you want to add a little excitement, have the students compete to be the first to find all the necessary information and document their findings through a Google Form. (design, construct, apply).

#12) Build a Board Game
In groups, have students create a board game based on a unit covered during the year. As an example, Literary Pursuit, modeled after Trivial Pursuit— and used it as a test review tool. Have students use poster board or cover dollar-store checkerboards with paper to design game boards. They used typed questions and answers and printed them on card stock to create game cards. Many students can design Trivial Pursuit or Gameopoly –type games, drawing
questions from novels they’d read over the year, some may want to create Candy Land–like path where players had to answer questions to reach the end. Each group was encouraged to make up their own rules, and some students even found online templates to fashion a large die or a spinner. (select, prepare, research, design, reflect). (Additional resources for building and designing games can be tapped into the onlinewebiste of Instructables and DIY)
Collaborative and Inspiring Year End Student Projects (The Unique Me and Show What You Know) Adapted from Edutopia and Scholastic Year End Project http://www.edutopia.org/blog/end-of-year-engaging-projects-rebecca-alber http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/grades-6-8-collaborative-year-end-projects #1) Show What You Know Give students an opportunity to teach the rest of the class something, like origami, Foldify app, Robives, programming with Scratch, showcasing a new app and it can be used in the classroom, or a martial arts self-defense move (design, construct, apply). #2) On-Campus Field Trips • Take them outside to write observational notes on what they see through the eyes of a scientist, historical figure, artist, a character from a book or film (discover, examine, report) • Journey to the library for a Scavenger Hunt. There's many online that you can revise to fit your content and/or interests of your students, or through a Class Tools QR Scavenger Hunt (locate, investigate, compile) • Join another class and have a Poetry Slam, Science or Math Mini Fare. This gives students a chance to share a project or product with a different audience. Consider doing this in a neutral zone like the cafeteria or library or online through Skype or a Google Hangout (discover, demonstrate, evaluate) #3) Own a: Planet, Song, Decade, Career, Author, Country, Scientist, or a Medical Breakthrough With this activity, the student becomes an expert on whatever she/he chooses and then presents it to the class or in small groups. The product can be, for example, a mini-book, PowerPoint, or iMovie, Podcast, a radio show through Spreaker or bringing in a Skype expert (select, prepare, research, design). #4) Craft a New Ending Students take their favorite book, speech, short story, poem, or historical event and write a new ending. Ask them to also include rationale for their ending. They can also illustrate, design and publish through Book Creator app or a Google Doc or Lucid Press Chrome app (infer, devise, conclude, reflect). #5) Create a Commercial Host a class competition where students cast a vote, and give an award to the team that produces the most clever, creative 30-second PSA (Personal Service Announcement) advertisement. Decide first as a class on the product to be pitched and review the Rock Your World resource. Tools/resources utilized: Movenote, ScreenCastOmatic, EdPuzzle iMovie or Movie Maker 2, or Magisto Chrome App (plan, design, critique). #6) Portfolio Showcase Students compile a collection of their best work from the school year or last semester, and include explanations for their choices. This could be done in hard copy or digitally through Google Sites and Google Docs, and Easy Portfolio Site Builder Chrome App can include illustrations and photos (select, assess, categorize, prepare). #7) Stage a TV Contest Engage your students by letting them participate in a TV-like competition, similar to American Idol. Together, brainstorm a list of concepts or ideas your class has learned during the year. Write each idea on a slip of paper and put all the slips in a hat. Divide students into groups of three or four and have each group draw a slip of paper. Then, instruct them to create a skit or song based on their topic. After two or three days’ practice, ask each group to perform in front of the class. To make it more fun, see if you can get two other teachers or parents to serve on the panel of “judges,” minus the TV-host. (plan, design, categorize, prepare). #8) Survive and Thrive Ask students to think about the things they wish they’d known or that they loved experiencing in their current grade. Individually or in groups, have them create a “middle school or high school survival guide” for rising middle and high schoolers. The end product could be a top 10 list of advice for incoming middle school or incoming high school students, a guidebook of do’s and don’ts, or a TouchCast video app of a newscast that offers advice. For example, the students in Naomi Harm’s ninth-grade English class in Lacrosse, WI wrote letters and created a Snap Guide or Google Docs tutorial for incoming ninth graders, including such information- as says the exercise was also great for current students’ practice in written expression. (plan, design, critique, conclude, reflect). #9) Stage a Service Project Enlist your students in supporting a local cause that is important to them, whether it’s collecting canned goods for a food pantry, pet food for an animal shelter, or books for a library or school in need. Make contact with the charity recipient of choice, and then let students do the work—they can publicize the service project, make online marketing presentation to other classes, count and organize donations through a Google Spreadsheet, and present the results to the recipient and the rest of the school. (plan, design, critique). #10) Create a Time Capsule Students love the idea of leaving a part of themselves behind for posterity. Have your current students prepare a time capsule for your future students. Students can leave examples of completed projects that show off their brilliant minds by writing stories of “a day in the life” of students in your class, drawing a comic strip, shooting a video, or creating a presentation. Two simple time capsule creators include the Chrome App of The Little Memory and the online website of My Time Capsule. The time capsule can include a class picture and students’ writings about what they expect to be doing five or 10 years from now. If you do wait five or 10 years before opening the capsule, try to track down your former students so they can see how much they’ve changed. (select, prepare, research, design, reflect). #11) Go On the Hunt For a modern twist on the traditional scavenger hunt, send your students on an Internet scavenger hunt. This is a quick and easy project for your students to work on individually or in pairs or groups. I recommend choosing a topic you want your students to research, then creating questions for them to answer. Give the scavenger hunt a test-run first so that you can recommend sites when students are stumped and utilize QR Codes creator sites of the Class Tools QR Scavenger Hunt site, to add mobile learning to the adventure. Establish guidelines for the types of sites that are authoritative and appropriate. If you want to add a little excitement, have the students compete to be the first to find all the necessary information and document their findings through a Google Form. (design, construct, apply). #12) Build a Board Game In groups, have students create a board game based on a unit covered during the year. As an example, Literary Pursuit, modeled after Trivial Pursuit— and used it as a test review tool. Have students use poster board or cover dollar-store checkerboards with paper to design game boards. They used typed questions and answers and printed them on card stock to create game cards. Many students can design Trivial Pursuit or Gameopoly –type games, drawing questions from novels they’d read over the year, some may want to create Candy Land–like path where players had to answer questions to reach the end. Each group was encouraged to make up their own rules, and some students even found online templates to fashion a large die or a spinner. (select, prepare, research, design, reflect). (Additional resources for building and designing games can be tapped into the onlinewebiste of Instructables and DIY) read more read less

9 years ago #nharm, #student_projects, #teachersengage