End of School: Surivivor Science

This week, I'm going to deviate a bit from my normal science activities and share some ideas for filling in that last week or two of school.  You know, those weeks when you're still responsible for educating your students, but they are so far done with being educated. 

ETA: As I'm putting together this series of posts, I've been looking up the original sources for some of my favorite end-of-the-school-year science activities and I'm noticing a common theme: The Science Spot.  I didn't set out to highlight everything Tracy's done - I just wanted to share things that have worked for me.  That so many of them come from the same spot is a testament to Tracy's great ideas and her willingness to share freely with everyone.  If you haven't already, please go explore The Science Spot. 

The first series of activities I want to share with you is Survivor Science, from The Science Spot. 

I found this to be a wonderful collection of activities that keep my students reviewing science concepts, and a brilliant theme that inspires competition and thus motivates the students to participate. 

There are very few supplies needed - perfect, as no one wants to be getting out all kinds of things while they're trying to pack up their classroom for the summer. 

I found that it could be very flexible, which was of great importance to me.  The last week or two of school were marked with crazy schedules, such that I rarely saw every class every day.  I scheduled the Survivor Science challenges in my plan book and then whichever classes I saw on a given day completed that day's challenge.  The other classes missed out on that challenge, but had their chances with other challenges.  All of my classes were participating, but I didn't have to worry about which class was on which challenge.  They weren't competing amongst classes, just amongst the teams within their own class, so it made no difference if one class had completed more challenges than another.