4 Ways to Help Struggling Students at the End of the Year

As the year comes to an end, you might be worried about some students who are struggling with concepts they need. With time ticking away, we know we don’t have too much time to help those students make that extra push. To help struggling students at the end of the year

Use Station Activities to Help Struggling Students at the End of the Year

As the end of the year approaches, you might find yourself reviewing more than learning new ideas. One way to help struggling students at the end of the year is to use your station activities. Because station activities are used throughout the year, you already have differentiated work. You can use activities that are at whatever level each of your students are at easily because all you need to do is find the right level activity. Even if students have already done that activity, it is always good practice to reinforce those skills.

Create Summer Take Home Activities

Another way to help struggling students at the end of the year is to start sending some fun activities home. When you send supplemental activities home with students for the summer, you don’t want to send anything that is going to resemble homework. Finding fun, educational games to play is one way to keep students learning while not doing traditional homework. There are several summer activities in my store to choose from that focus on math, fine motor skills, and even building sentences.

When you send activities home to help struggling students at the end of the year, make sure you leave a note for parents or contact the parents so they know what is going on as well. You can also make suggestions as to how and when to use the activities so they are fun and light.

Help Struggling Students at the End of the Year by Making Connections

Sometimes students are struggling with an idea or concept and they just need that extra twist to turn the lightbulb on. Instead of staying inside when the sun is shining, challenge your students to do more hands-on or real life activities. These should correlate with your areas that are more difficult.

For example, you can go outside and write about what you see to reinforce sentence writing. You can also task students with writing directions for the next group of students who are going to be in their grade.  For examples, students might right down the steps to turn in an assignment on Google Classroom, See Saw, or any other educational platform you use. Students could also write about how to get your lunch tray and how to put it away. Having students write directions or letters to younger students can be a fun way to practice writing and sequencing skills. The best part is, this can be in done in groups or as an individual activity.

Break out Task Cards to Help Struggling Students at the End of the Year

When we think about activities to do at the end of the year, it all seems a bit daunting. Students are ready to be done. And, let’s be honest, we are ready to be done. Using task cards that are easily differentiated and can be fun is a great way to give each student what he or she needs. Task cards are great because the differentiation is so easy. If you have one student who struggles with sequencing and one who can put things in order but struggles to write a sentence, give them each a task card that correlates with their struggle. This will make it easier for you to help struggling students at the end of the year.

The end of the year is a crazy, busy time for everyone. However, it can be made fun by doing various activities with students and sending them home. These activities should seem less like homework and more like fun! When students feel like they get to do something instead of like they have to do something, they tend to get more out of it. Plus, you don’t have to fight them. So, find a way to bring fun into the classroom to help struggling students at the end of the school year.