8 end of term activity ideas

Danielle Bayes

Danielle Bayes is an IMS expert and writes regular articles about supporting learning with technology.

Danielle is an experienced teacher, having worked with pupils of all ages both in schools and as the eLearning teacher at one of the country’s City Learning Centres. Her expertise with using technology to support learning led her to work for Crick Software, where she is now the Curriculum Support Consultant, leading school INSET training with their software and creating print and video online support materials.

Crick Software’s aim is to help every pupil to achieve success by providing inclusive educational software for all ages and abilities, including struggling readers and writers, and those with special needs. Their flagship product Clicker is the innovative reading and writing tool which has enjoyed tremendous success in helping pupils to achieve rapid and permanent gains in their levels of literacy. For older students WriteOnline offers more support than any other word processor and has already made a huge impact on the education industry. They are also the creators of a range of acclaimed Powered by Clicker learning resources.

Follow @cricksoftdani

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cricksoft

Website: www.cricksoft.com Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

When it comes to the final days of the last term before summer, it’s good to have fun activities in mind. Instead of sticking on Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, consider what different websites might offer. Cricksoft’s Danielle Bayes gives her top resources on making enjoyable end-of-term activities.

From previous experience, the last week or two of the school term is when the timetable can become a little looser than usual, and teachers can easily find themselves with the odd 30 minutes in the day with nothing planned.

So I’ve gathered together what I think is a useful list of a few online tools that you might want to have up your sleeve for any such instances. Just make sure you can access the ICT suite or have commandeered the laptops or other mobile devices for your classroom!

  • WeeWorld is a fun way for children to create a cartoon version of themselves. The finished illustration would be a perfect avatar to use online. If you have access to your school’s mobile devices then you may prefer to use the WeeMee avatar creator app.
  • Panoramas DK contains a huge range of interactive, panoramic views from around the world. Take the children to see places like the Pyramids of Giza or the Grand Canyon, or even visit the Moon or Mars, all from the comfort of your classroom. Each panorama would make a great starting point for a speaking and listening activity, or inspire some creative writing when describing a story setting.
  • Africam has a choice of live webcams located in different destinations in the African wild, They are a great way of letting children see a variety of animals in their natural habitat, and can be useful to use as the focus of a writing session, or just to have on the interactive whiteboard in the background while the children are coming into the classroom for the start of a lesson.
  • Tilt Shift Maker creates miniature style scenes from photographs. You can either upload your own pictures or link to an existing one already online. To get the best tilt-shift effect, try to choose an image that is taken from high above your scene, so you are looking over it but not directly above it; this will make people believe they are looking down on a little model. Images of railways, roads and cities work really well, and your completed picture can be easily downloaded to display in your own tilt-shift gallery.
  • Word Search Maker can be fabulous for getting children to create word searches of tricky words or spelling lists for other pupils in the class. Any word searches that you create can be copied onto your school website or class blog, or of course they could be printed out!
  • Write Rhymes is a fabulous tool for supporting the writing of anything you need to rhyme! Simply type your text into the box and then alt and click on a word to see suggestions for rhymes.
  • Flight Radar 24 tracks flights around the word, with lots of information for each plane shown, such as departure point and destination, which are great for links to Geography, or use it with a Mathematical slant and work with the data information about the flight. There are also Flight Radar apps for mobile devices available.
  • History Cats is a fun website which lets you find your cat’s ancestor! A really great way to read about different historical events from a cat’s point of view.

Image Credit: Flickr

Do you use any apps at the end of term? If so why don't you let us know in the comments.

Read More

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Innovate My School, straight to your inbox.

What are you interested in?

By signing up you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

1,300+ guest writers.
2,500+
ideas & stories. 
Share yours.

In order to make our website better for you, we use cookies!

Some firefox users may experience missing content, to fix this, click the shield in the top left and "disable tracking protection"