5 New Ways To
Bring Closure To A Lesson
That’s a wrap!
Review, summarize, unify key points, link and set-up for next level learning with these cool closure activities.
So you’re coming to the end of a lesson. When you reach this point can you just brush your hands and say, “well that’s that” and walk away? No way! It is essential to put closure on the unit before moving on to something else.
Students need the ends tied up together all nicely like a bow. That’s what closing a lesson is all about. Reviewing the main points and going over key take-aways help students remember the lesson and its purpose. Repetition is the mother of all learning, right? Plus it preps them for the next lesson or to anticipate future opportunities for further study.
You don’t want to summarize things reading a bulleted list though, that’s boring! Here are some new closure activities that let you say, “that’s a wrap!” in a fresh way.
Closure Idea 1: Blind Bag Review
Blind bags are popular with kids these days. You can find them in the toy section, there’s a mystery character for almost any toy brand hidden inside a bag. Kids love the anticipation of the reveal, “what toy is inside the wrapper?!?!” Bring that element of fun with this closure activity!
* On strips of paper write out the key points of the lesson for review.
* Place the paper in the bags.
* To review the lesson make the class guess what fact is in the blind bag.
* Select a student to draw out a strip of paper and read what’s on it.
* Once all the bags have been revealed, instruct the class to arrange the strips of paper in the correct order that the lesson was taught to help them review the main concepts.
Closure Idea 2: 3-2-1 Blast-off Summary
There is something fascinating about outer space and rocket ships. Mention the word “blast-off” and you have a kiddo’s attention. Engage your students with this closure activity that helps summarize the lesson.
* Either cut out a large rocket ship out of butcher block paper or draw a rocket ship on the board.
* Explain to the class that the rocketship is going to outer space to share the lesson with the astronauts at the international space station in outer space and needs a summary of the lesson to share with them.
* To help organize the summary and to help the rocket ship to blast off instruct the class to come up with the following details
* 3 important or main facts of the lesson
* 2 interesting or cool facts about the lesson
* 1 question to ask about the lesson for further investigation.
* As the class comes up with 3-2-1 details, write them on the rocketship.
Closure Idea 3: Building Blocks
Some lessons have ideas and concepts that might not always be obvious with how they work together. However when brought together students can see how the details go into building something. It helps them see the big picture.
This closure activity is perfect for these types of ideas as it provides a visual to unifying the main points.
* Put out a pile of blocks in the middle of the floor and have class sit around them.
* Explain to your students that you will review the main points of the lesson to help build a structure with the blocks.
* Instruct the students to start with building a foundation. Review the foundational or main points of the lesson. For every point made a block will be laid down flat, like building a floor. Example (if there are 4 foundational points lay out 4 blocks next to each other for the foundation.)
* Then move onto walls. For this part read sub points of the lesson, or points that build off the main points. As you read each point, select a student to place a block on top of the foundation to form a wall.
* Last move on to the roof. This portion of the lesson is for the finer details that builds off the subpoints from the wall. Repeat the process by having students build the roof for each point you read.
* Reiterate how the many details of the lesson, when unified, work together to build something greater.
Closure Idea 4: Chain-Link Loops
Other lessons you teach may have a lot of connecting pieces. To help students connect the dots to the concepts they learned, this closure activity lets kids explore how to link the parts of the lesson together.
* Cut out strips of paper big enough to make a paper chain.
* One the strips of paper write out the main points or connecting points. Recommended to have at least 10 strips of paper to make a paper chain.
* There are a few options to making the paper chain.
* In a large group read what is on the strips of paper to the class. Then have the class instruct what order to paste the strips of paper in.
* Pass out strips of paper to random students. Have each student read what is on their paper. Instruct the rest of class to tell their classmates what order to glue the strips of paper to make a chain.
* Create enough strips of paper for the entire class to have several pieces. Pass out paper and split the class up into smaller groups. Instruct groups to come up with their own main points and write on the strips then glue the strips of paper in the order they think they should be connected.
Closure Idea 5: What’s Next
Cliffhangers are exciting when we watch them in movies or TV shows. We’re left wondering, what’s next?!? Recreate that same idea and set students up for future learning with this closure activity. You will be creating a Venn diagram for this.
* On the board write “What’s Next” inside a bubble and draw several lines coming out of it.
* Begin a class discussion to review what was already taught. Create a list of main points or ideas on the board.
* Bring the discussion back to the idea of “what’s next” and ask the class to come up with ideas of what comes after the lesson was taught.
* Give them prompts like, what more can they learn about it or how will this help them learn other things.
* Tack their ideas onto the lines coming out of the “What’s Next” bubble.
* Feel free to make the Venn diagram as large as you wish by adding more bubbles form the offshoots of the student’s ideas.
* Conclude the activity by reinforcing the idea of all the things that come from learning the lesson or introducing the next lesson.
Closing out a lesson helps put what was taught to rest before moving on to something new. To keep it engaging and fun try one of these 5 new ways to bring closure to your lessons!
