End of the Year Math Activities

It's hard to believe it's almost the end of the school year! In this post, I want to share a few end of the year math activities to keep students engaged in these last days of school (and also having some fun). 

The first is a new end of the year math escape room that comes in both digital and print form. Students use their logic to solve for the values of summer-themed pictures in equations while celebrating making it to summer break.

End of the School Year Math Escape Room

The digital version of the escape room is an answer-validated GOOGLE Form that eliminates your need to grade. Just check the Responses tab to see which students successfully broke out.

End of the School Year Math Escape Room

Students use their logic and algebraic thinking to unlock 5 locks by finding the values of summer-themed pictures in equations. Questions are grouped 4 per puzzle, resulting in five 4-letter codes that will unlock all 5 locks. All answers are positive whole numbers.

The printable version of the escape room has a NEXT STEP box that lets students know which puzzle to visit next. They can start on any of the 5 puzzles. The download also includes a printable graphic organizer to help students keep track of the pictures' values as they find them, a student answer sheet and an answer key.

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Dear Students, My Advice is Pennant

This last end of the year activity works for students in any grade or subject. This year's students give their best advice to next year's students in this dear students, my advice is pennant activity. As students walk in next year, they can read all of the good advice this year's students left for them.

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As the school year wraps up, I hope you remember all of the wonderful learning experiences and opportunities you gave your students this year. They have been so lucky to have you as their teacher.

End of the Year Math Escape Room

My Advice to Next Year's Students Activity

Free math resource library

Graphing Algebraic Functions with Cut Paper

Algebraic function graphs and their transformations can be challenging at first. Why graphs shift in the coordinate plane the way they do can feel pretty abstract. Vertical transformations shift as expected, but horizontal shifts are "opposite"-- why? With practice, students start to "get it" and can even apply what they know about one function graph to an entirely new function. Our function transformations unit was always one of my favorite units to teach in algebra 2 because of this.

Over the past week or so, I've made 7 function transformation video shorts using cut paper. In each video you'll see familiar algebraic functions—like quadratic, absolute value, and radical functions—transformed visually in the coordinate plane. There's also one for sine.

Free Slope Word Cloud Classroom Poster

There are so many different ways to express slope. From constant of proportionality to rate of change to unit rate. I wanted to make a poster to help students make connections between all of the different ways they will see slope described as they move from middle school to high school.

The poster includes the math vocabulary:

• Slope
• Rise/run
• Rate of change
• Gradient
• Delta Y over delta X
• Constant of proportionality
• Speed
• Unit rate
• m=
• k=

There's a color version (shown above), and also a black and white version, if you'd rather your own color scheme. 

The poster is a free download here in my TPT: Slope Word Cloud Poster

If you'd like to enlarge it or any other PDF on your home or school printer, there are simple directions for enlarging any PDF here.

Fun Slope Activity Ideas

Inverse Operations Classroom Poster

Here's a super simple poster to help students remember inverse operations when solving equations. There are 4 variations of the poster so that you can use the one that matches your notation.

Spring Logic Picture Puzzles Digital Math Escape Room

I just finished working on a new spring math picture puzzles escape room that comes as a no-prep, self-checking Google Form and as a printable PDF. 

This math escape room is a perfect spring-themed math activity that requires no prep and no grading. Students can't move to the next puzzle until successfully entering a puzzle's 4-letter code, so you will know who did -- and who didn't -- break out!

Students add, subtract, multiply and divide to figure out the values of spring pictures. It's a fun brain break, filler activity for after testing, PEMDAS review, or can be left with a sub on a day you won't be at school.

An answer sheet and graphic organizer are included to help students keep track of each picture's value. An answer key is also included. 

Spring Math Picture Puzzles Escape Room

You can find the spring math escape room here:  Spring math picture puzzles escape room 

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Math Content Academy Summit April 2025

Bethany from Math Geek Mama reached out recently to ask if I'd like to be part of a free math summit she was putting together. 

The summit will focus on tips and strategies for teaching middle school math. I have enjoyed being part of Bethany's math bundles in the past, so of course said yes.

Katherine Johnson Color-By-Number Math Activity (free)

Mathematician Katherine Johnson was a trailblazing NASA scientist back in the 1950s and 60s. Her work was so important that after NASA started using computers in the late 1950s, astronaut John Glenn refused to fly on his 1962 orbit around the Earth until Johnson checked the computer's calculations by hand. She was invaluable to NASA and to the US space program for 33 years.

To give students a way to learn learn more about Katherine Johnson's life, I put together a 2-step equations color-by-number activity. The activity is editable if you would like to change any of the equations or facts for your students. You can access the activity for free here.

"We needed to be assertive as women in that days – assertive and aggressive – and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be. In the early days of NASA women were not allowed to put their names on the reports – no woman in my division had had her name on a report. I was working with Ted Skopinski and he wanted to leave and go to Houston, but Henry Pearson, our supervisor – he was not a fan of women – kept pushing him to finish the report we were working on. Finally, Ted told him, "Katherine should finish the report, she's done most of the work anyway." So Ted left Pearson with no choice; I finished the report and my name went on it, and that was the first time a woman in our division had her name on something." 

- Katherine Johnson, Black Women Scientists in the United States, Indiana University Press, 1999

Pi Day Math Worksheets

It was February break here this past week, so I rested a lot and worked on a pack of 16 math worksheets for Pi Day. The worksheets include:

• Pi Day word search (2 levels) 
• Puzzle sheet #1 (2 levels) - number puzzles and maze 
• Puzzle sheet #2 - number puzzles and maze 
• Puzzle sheet #3 - number puzzles and maze 
• Order of operations sheet to solve for missing digits of pi 
• 2-step equations sheet to learn about Albert Einstein 
• Circles sheet for area and circumference (2 versions - 3.14 and pi button)
• Cylinders sheet for volume (2 versions - 3.14 and pi button) 
• Cones sheet for volume (2 versions - 3.14 and pi button) 
• Spheres sheet to solve for radius given volume or surface area 
• Pi Day coloring sheet with Albert Einstein

Details:

The circle, cylinder and cone sheets come in 2 versions-- one for using 3.14 and one for using the calculator's pi button. 

There are 2 versions of the word search, both with 15 Pi Day themed words to find. One word search has a 20x20 letter grid, and the other has a 15x15 letter grid. The words are the same between the two versions.

The puzzle sheets include number puzzles, picture puzzles and mazes. The number puzzles ask students to use the order of operations, arrange given numbers into a grid to make sums, arrange operations around four 4s to make given numbers, and figure out missing numbers in crossword-like puzzles.

Students simplify expressions with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and groupings on the order of operations sheet. Answers fill in missing digits of pi to the 35th digit. 

The 2-step equations sheet asks students to solve equations to figure out the missing numbers in facts about Albert Einstein's life.,

The last page is a Pi Day coloring sheet for all ages featuring Albert Einstein.

You can see all of the worksheets included here:

Pi Day math worksheets