When you’re getting to the end of the school year, you might be trying to scrape together meaningful activities to do. I know for me, I assess throughout the year, so by the last week of school, I am always struggling to do something that doesn’t need to be assessed or reported but is still meaningful. That’s why I came up with a Fairy Tale STEM last week of school activity to engage my students while still helping them learn and grow.
Why Use Fairy Tale STEM?
I love using my Fairy Tale STEM activity because it combines reading with STEM which can be so hard to do! Because it has reading and STEM, my students are getting more practice not only with the obvious topic, but with reading as well. Therefore, they are going into the summer getting all of that extra practice the last week of school. Beyond all of that, my STUDENTS LOVE Fairy Tale STEM as a last week of school activity.
How to Set Up My Fairy Tale STEM Last Week of School Activity
Not only do teachers and students love this last week of school activity, it is also super easy for you to do and it is perfect for the amount of time you have left. All you need to do is follow these three simple steps.
#1: Choose a Fairy Tale
The first thing you want to do is choose a fairy tale that you want to read to the students. When you choose your fairy tale, make sure you choose one you love. I have six different units you can choose from. These include the classic stories like: The Three Little Pigs, The Little Red Hen, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
I love using these classic stories because most of the time students are familiar with them. Plus, they are very accessible. You can find these stories online and you can often find videos that tell the stories as well.
#2: Read the Story with Your Students
Now, I love reading to students because not all of them have people reading to them at home. This is one of the reasons I love using my Picture Book Pals throughout the school year. Once you read the story to your students and maybe had them watch a video of the story, you’ll want to show the Slideshow that comes with the Fairy Tale Stem activity.
In each slideshow, your students will have three problems that need to be solved. I recommend choosing one problem your students need to solve for this last week of school activity. However, if you have a little more time or if your students get done early, you can always have students work on the other questions available in the slideshow.
#3: Get Your Detective Hats Out!
Once the question is presented, your students can start working on investigating. How you want your students to investigate is completely up to you. You can have students work individually, in pairs, or in small groups. I personally liked having students at least work with a partner so they could practice collaborating.
Now your students can start solving the problem. I always have students start by sketching out what their solution will look like. Then, depending on your students’ age, you can have them fill out the budget sheet to tell you how much they are going to “spend” on the materials they need.
When the materials are assembled, they can get to the testing process. This is where students can test their solutions and see what happens. While they are doing their testing, students should take careful notes and write what went well and what they could have done better. After all the testing is done, students need to fill in the self-evaluation to see what they learned from this last week of school activity.
Wrapping Up Your Last Week of School Activity
There are so many ways to make this great last week of school activity work for all grade levels. With kindergarten students, I do everything as a group project. However, older students can work in pairs or in groups. No matter what, if your students are struggling with this, you can always try another problem, bring it back to the whole group, or you can try a whole new story. You can find all of the Fairy Tale STEM activities in this easy-to-use bundle.
If you’d like to try a sampler of my Fairy Tale STEM activities, just fill in the form below and I’ll send one straight to your inbox.
