Hey everyone! I can't tell you how excited I am to see summer!!! It has been a year! Phew! I always say the beginning and the end are the crazy parts of the school year, and I try to stay several steps ahead but things seem to catch up FAST!
I LOVE to wrap the end of the year with a fun unit like pirates. It's not one that we usually learn about but it's fun, interesting, and there are so many things you can do with pirates.
However, our last three days are always half days and the last day is the perfect day to end with our WIN IT IN A MINUTE games!
(FYI...Reagan Tunstall over at Tunstall Tidbits has a great blog post on how she does a Minute to Win It in the classroom. I love her awesome ideas!!
So FUN!!!)
Since we only have half of a day and some of our day is dedicated to lunch, recess, and related arts, we only have about an hour for games.
I set up our games as centers the day before which helps to save on time. I have designated areas for each game complete with supplies, signs, and directions. I explain my rules the morning of the games, and I call my students in pairs to play against each other. They are not allowed to choose.
(It's the law of the name sticks.)
Next, the winners play each other, and we have the champion of that game. It's CUH-RAZY fun! Don't worry... you might think it can get loud but we do discuss rules and behaviors in the beginning of the day. My students who have already taken a turn LOVE to play each other again in an previously played game while they are waiting for the others to WIN IT IN A MINUTE! Sooo cute! :)
Here are a couple of games that I use in our little WIN IT IN A MINUTE set.
I wish I had my WIN IT IN A MINUTE photos to show you but I lost them when my hard drive went to techno heaven and I am still heartbroken over that passing. :( New photos this year!!!
I do want to show you the silicone mitts I am using. I bought my silicone mitts at the Dollar Tree. The mitts are so awkward that my students are using one for each hand. SO funny!!! I am putting an assortment of objects together like pennies, blocks, pencils, crayons, erasers, and plastic figurines for them to pick up. They can only pick items up like pinchers They are not allowed to scoop.
Whoever picks up more objects WINS!
This game is so simple. It reminds me of the carry an egg in a spoon game but not. No eggs! Just beans. Lima beans may work best for the littles and kidney beans may work better for the older kids.
BTW...I actually found (in our grocery's clearance section) CHOPSTICKS!!!
MY CHOPSTICKS ARE JUST LIKE THESE!!
You can find them at Amazon for under stix bucks...I mean six bucks. I really said stix in my head...LOL. (I do need summer.)
Just click on the picture below.
Or you could use the big tweezers from the Dollar Tree! SO FUN!
It takes a lot of hand-eye coordination and focus to carry those little beans!
I am allowing my students to use our word wall words posted on the wall. Hey...they are writing, right? :) I am going to highly encourage them to use their big ol' brains because it's faster to write words they have learned.
An oldie but goodie, and prep is so easy!
(This is always my goal at the end of the year...not a lot of prep and easy to put away.)
Want to play WIN IT IN A MINUTE?
You can find all of these activites in my teeny-tiny gift to you...my WIN IT IN A MINUTE set! Just click on the picture below to download it from my TPT store.
Hoping YOU have a wonderful End of the Year!!!
I am so excited for teachers everywhere!!!
Tell us how many days you have left in the comments below!!!
NINE FOR ME!!! :)
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