5 Tips for Closing Out the Semester
The end of the semester is always known for being exhausting. It’s always a case of “The days are long” and May-cember.
Survival of the fittest is great, but why not find some ways to thrive in your role and make it enjoyable for students too? With proper planning and enlisting the help of your students, it’s sure to be a success.
Here are 5 simple tips for closing out the semester.
1. Cleaning your classroom
Deep cleaning the classroom. It’s a day of chaos, but in a therapeutic way. I have found a thorough list of tasks is best for my students.
It might seem silly and redundant to have each hour clean the same spots and the same tasks. However, your students will be surprised it does take 5-6 hours of students cleaning to make sure the tasks are properly completed.
I also assign points for the day. I have found if there isn’t a point value for their time and effort, it is harder to get buy-in.
However, it’s part of the life skill expectation for using the kitchens. I have strong cleaning expectations after cooking labs, but this is one of those reminders that cleaning could have been better during labs to make cleaning easier now.
Included in cleaning the kitchens is cleaning the classroom side. There are usually paint stains and craft supplies that need cleaned up and organized. Fabric always needs folded.
It is usually a task that takes one day and is the ticket to fun activities throughout the last week of the semester. And thankfully, deep cleaning day hasn’t needed to last more than one day.
While the classroom ends up looking beautiful, it’s not without some grunts and groans from the peanut gallery.
Don’t forget all of the zones in your classroom. This checklist is bound to help keep you focused and improving your classroom.
2. Reflecting on cooking labs
This is the activity that I always eagerly await the feedback.
Not every student provides meaningful feedback. Sometimes there’s an eye roll on my part before moving on to the next page.
With that said, I have gained valuable feedback from some of my 7th and 8th grade students. This feedback form is worth the time.
Who knew my students would want to make pasta? That was a suggestion from last year’s spring semester kids and a well-liked lab by this year’s students.
Before students are given the form, I do like to cover my expectations. Fun doesn’t really help me shape the class. Fun to them is playing Fortnite and well, I’d rather stub my toe.
It make improvements, I need to hear reasonable, affordable, and appropriate type of labs. I accommodate food allergies, skill level, and while I’m willing to push students out of their comfort zone, I still want labs that fit my motto, “Food should look good. Food should taste good. Food should make you feel good”.
3. Celebrating student achievements
Hopefully you’ve experienced some of those moments that really take your breath away. You know the kind, when you realize how impactful teaching life skills are and seeing the growth in your students.
While you could find awards for each student, I find it more meaningful to recognize those students who really grew and went above and beyond.
If, you too, are looking for classroom awards for various content pillars in the Family and Consumer Science umbrella, check out these awards.
They might be just what you need to recognize the growth you’ve noticed this semester.
Of course, some additional ideas might be spray painting a wooden spoon, whisk, or, measuring cup. You could find these items at garage sales, the dollar store, or thrift shops.
4. Engaging activities
If you are looking for engaging activities to finish out the year, my go-to activity is always painting rocks.
Even if you didn’t have craft paint leftover, this activity involves a very minimal investment. It’s likely you can scrounge up paintable rocks from the landscaping outside or on a nature walk.
Acrylic craft paint works well and if you have a clear spray for the final product, it will last longer.
Encourage students to leave the rock in an appropriate public place and maybe even start a hashtag to keep track of those that find them around the community–or even around the country.
You can read more about ways to spread kindness with small, consistent actions if you missed it earlier this semester.
5. Team challenge cooking lab
You might be wondering what to do with those leftover ingredients in the kitchen.
Creating a “Chopped” style cooking challenge is a favorite for lab for my advanced students. This build a meal style challenge usually involves any of the ingredients I need to use up and some other inexpensive options.
Not only does this lab allow students a chance to decide what to make, it requires them to make a shopping list for me, and then I’m simply there for supervision or to talk them through their ideas.
My favorite detail to this lab Is students creating a tablescape and properly setting the table for our visiting guest judges.
Of course, don’t choose to deep clean the kitchen before completing this cooking lab!
The end of the semester is certainly overwhelming and can be draining, but breath in the acknowledgement to roll with it. Allow yourself the grace to know it won’t be perfect. Some days will be more draining than others.
Choosing to implement a few of the suggestions above will surely help you and your students enjoy the last few days together.