Why End of Year Math Should Be Fun

Math and fun. Those words usually aren’t in the same sentence for most students. But why shouldn’t they be? Especially as the school year winds down. We are here to help you understand why end of year math should be fun.

Throughout the school year, you have covered the standards you have needed to. Your students have worked hard on daily assignments, quizzes, and tests. You are down to about a month of school to go, and just have a little bit to finish up out of your textbook or curriculum. You see that there is time on your calendar that hasn’t been filled. Do you drag out your current unit, or do you drill on fact fluency? Do you do that extra, non-required unit? Heck no! It is time for you to teach something fun and engaging to end the year in math.

Listed below are five different math activities that we have used with our students that have helped to end the year in math on a strong note.

1. Math Vacation of a Lifetime

   Are you tired of your math textbook? Then this creative math activity is just for you. This activity will have your students go on “A Vacation of a Lifetime” in your math class. Your students will create their dream vacations! Our students love this project and are engaged in their learning! Click here to start the dream vacation and to learn more about this amazing unit!
   

2. Geometry City

   Your students will create a geometry city! Watch as your students become engaged as they form construction companies and then are asked to design a city based on geometric concepts. Click here to learn more!
   

3. Seven Wonders of the World Vacation

   Students will be broken up into groups and travel to different parts of the world. Wooly, from Wooly World Tour Travel Agency will be there to guide your students. The goal is for students to earn enough reward points to build an airtight vacation vessel to the planet Mars. Students will travel to several exciting and challenging wonders of the world such as the Grand Canyon, Pyramids of Egypt, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Legend of Loch Ness, Amazon Rainforest, Great Wall of China, Great Barrier Reef, and finally the planet Mars. Groups will find it challenging because their cousins Calvin and Clarisse will be joining them on vacation, which will certainly cause for some challenging problems. Start your Seven Wonders project today by clicking here.
   

4. Coordinates City

   Your students will be building a city on a four-quadrant grid based on coordinates! This unit is intended to be a creative math lesson plan that has students create their own city using coordinates, a scale, four quadrants, and x and y axis skills (to name a few). Students get to pick a name and theme for their city that includes: buildings, streets, a park, and an attraction. Click here to start plotting!
   

5. Design a Zoo

   “Congratulations! You and your team of engineers and zoologists have convinced the WZA (World Zoological Association) that your team is the right one to design the next world zoo. Your team is one of five finalists in the entire world who have been asked to design the first phase for a zoo. After your team comes up with the first phase for the Dream Zoo, it will then send the proposal to the WZA for review. Your team will want to make sure that what it chooses for this zoo will be a major attraction for hundreds of thousands of people every year! So, good luck to you and your team.” Click here to start designing!
   

There are so many great ways to do end of year math activities. We hope that you can use one of the end of year math activities mentioned above. Happy Teaching!