End of year review feels weird to talk about after a year like this one, doesn’t it? I mean…it’s March and some teachers JUST met their kids in person for the first time!

And yet, because teachers are rockstars, y’all have all been teaching all year, despite the chaos. And now, as the standards wind down, we have to think ahead to what on earth we’re going to do with these kids for the next couple of months!

Let me introduce the idea of writing projects to your teacher world! I recently wrote about why you should ditch centers for writing projects. Today, I’m going to share with you an easy routine for using writing projects as part of your end-of-year-review!

Why Writing Projects?

Writing projects lend themselves so well to practicing both writing AND literacy standards! You’ve been teaching about main idea, cause and effect, etc. all year long…now is your students’ chance to write a story that includes those literary elements. And, other students can use text evidence to identify those reading skills after reading or listening to their peers’ writing!

On top of the literary elements, a writing project is the perfect way for students to apply everything they’ve learned about grammar, mechanics, etc. A lot of end of year review tasks involve task cards, worksheets, etc. for students to review skills they’ve learned. There’s nothing wrong with that! But, when our students can apply what they’ve learned through writing, it’s more likely to stick! So, I think sprinkling a project in here and there is ideal!

Using Projects for EOY Review

First, choose a project. I think it’s fun if the project has an ‘end of year’ theme, but any project will work!
Decide if you will be using the project during a whole group time, or if it will be put in one center area for a few weeks. Many of my writing projects come with teacher guides, so you can teach mini-lessons alongside student writing. But, the student packets are scaffolded enough that you also can just let students loose on their writing!
Before starting the project, carve out one mini-lesson time to host a class-wide discussion. Introduce the project, and make a quick anchor chart reviewing all of the things students will see in this project, and review what they are.
- Example: “I want each of you to create one problem with a solution in your movie scripts. What is problem and solution?”
- Example 2: “In your writing, you will need to make sure each sentence has a complete subject and predicate. Let’s review what those are.”
After listing out all of the things your students will encounter in their writing, hang the anchor chart somewhere that is easy for students to access!
After the project, revisit the anchor chart, and have students take turns sharing examples of these skills in their writing!