Teacher’s Brain

Host a SPY DAY Themed End of the Year Celebration

Are you looking for a fun and engaging way to end the school year with your students? Look no further than the SPY Day School LAB theme day, available on TeachersPayTeachers! My students love when I add a theme to our end of the year celebrations!

This end-of-the-year theme day is designed to get students excited and engaged as they work together to complete a series of spy-themed challenges. Teachers can structure the day like a spy mission, with each challenge building on the skills and knowledge learned in the previous challenge. You can add some spy themed music while they solve clues.

The SPY Day School LAB includes everything you need to run a successful theme day. It includes detailed instructions, printable worksheets, and engaging activities. I love challenges that are designed to be age-appropriate and can be easily adapted to suit different grade levels and classroom settings.

Benefits

One of the key benefits of the SPY Day School LAB is that it encourages students to work together. The challenges require students to communicate effectively, collaborate, and support each other as they work towards a common goal. This can be a great way to build a sense of community and connection among your students as the school year comes to a close.

Another benefit of the SPY Day School LAB is that it is highly engaging and fun for students. The challenges are designed to be exciting and interactive, which can help to motivate students and keep them focused on their learning. This can be especially important as the school year winds down and students may be feeling restless or distracted.

Overall, the SPY Day School LAB is a great option for teachers who want to end the school year on a high note. It is a fun and engaging way to build teamwork skills. The activities also promote community building, and keep students motivated and focused on their learning. Check it out on TeachersPayTeachers today and get ready for a thrilling end-of-year adventure!

SPY CLASSROOM THEMED DAY

 

It’s the end of the year and you want to make a classroom theme day for your students that will leave a lasting impression. A spy-themed educational day may be just the perfect day for you to plan with your students! You can motivate and reward students while sneaking in some academics. This is a great theme for any elementary grade level.  My kindergarten students said, “This is the best day of my life!” Scroll to the bottom to see ALL the photos from our day.

SPY DAY PROCEDURE

Once they accept the mission, they will make their id badge. Place red or white streamers or yarn across a doorway or other area for them to prove they can make it through the “lasers” without setting off the alarm before their mission begins. They step over the yarn. Then, give them each a Top Secret Journal, a pencil, flashlight and a passport before they start their centers.

Secret Spy ID for Kids

I created all the resources I needed in my classroom and uploaded them the following year to bring you something you can easily use with your students.  I like the idea of having centers with some parent volunteers, so I created six centers for students to complete in any order during the day.  Food is also important to our themed day.  Parents brought in a spy cake, water bottles with truth serum labels, juice packs labeled Adrenaline Pack, and other “classified” munchies!

THE CENTERS

  1. Create Your Own Secret Agent ID Badge
  2. The Secret Agent Fingerprint LAB
  3. Pick Your Alias and Memorization Station
  4. The Photo Booth with Disguises
  5. Write the DARK Room
  6. I SPY Sight Words Using a Magnifying Glass

spy day

SPY DAY PROCEDURE

Students arrive dressed in black or a suit to mimic a spy.  There is James Bond music playing in the background as the enter the room. Lights are dim. I tell the students they will be asked to accept an important mission that is impossible.  They need to recover a stolen item that you know they will miss. They need to work as a team to recover it by creating a new identity, finding clues and being very quiet.

Once they accept the mission, they will make their id badge. Place red or white streamers or yarn across a doorway or other area for them to prove they can make it through the “lasers” without setting off the alarm before their mission begins. They step over the yarn. Then, give them each a Top Secret Journal, a pencil, flashlight and a passport before they start their centers.

Students will travel to the different centers while the spy music plays. Parents assist students in their fingerprint dusting lab, finding words around the room with their flashlight, taking pictures of them in the photo prop booth, picking an alias to memorize and the teacher’s job is quizzing them on their new identity to see if they can memorize their alias. I bought each child their own small flashlight and let them keep it.

Write Around the DARK ROOM

For the Write Around the DARK Room activity, I pick a phase that tells them to come to me and do something silly like jump up and down or tell me a secret code word like BANANA HANDS. Then, they get a clue envelope that they can’t OPEN until everyone finishes their centers.  If student finish early, they can do puzzles while they wait for others to finish. Then, they open their envelopes together and realize they must put the words in order to solve the mystery that tells them where to find the stolen item.

Students who complete all the centers get a Spy Certificate for completing the training. I let students watch a spy video and invite parents to celebrate with the snacks at the end of the day.

Spy Day will be a day students will remember forever!

Looking for MORE fun end-of-the-year themed days? Try a May the Fourth Star Wars Day.

Fingerprint Lab Center Spy Day
Fingerprint Lab
Truth Serum Spy Bottle Labels
I had these made for the class with the extra PTA money I had in my account.
Write the DARK ROOM Activity
SPY Disguise Booth

Write the Dark Room Spy Day
Find Spy Clues in the Classroom
Find CLUES around the room that tell you a secret phrase to get your clue.
Student finds the Missing Item for SPY DAY
They found the missing bunny.

If you like this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video tutorials. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Using Theme Days To Teach In Elementary

Theme days are an excellent way to organize and plan your instruction in the elementary classroom. Integrating lessons in every subject area around a particular topic, or theme, can improve student understanding.

Curiosity about the theme will help them learn more effectively, and more naturally. As they make connections between content areas they will gain even deeper understanding of the topics, and have fun at the same time! An exciting theme that engages students will motivate them to do their best work- making your job easier! 

Choosing which theme days you want to do for your instruction might seem daunting, but there is truly a theme to match every classroom and interest.

For example, seasons are an easy theme to integrate into subject areas. There are a multitude of ways to teach math concepts using seasonal ideas- such as candy in the fall or snowflake patterns in winter. Picture books with seasonal themes are perfect for reading instruction and writing examples.

Seasonal temperatures are an easy way to introduce data collection in science. With just a little imagination, you can create lessons for each season of the year. Other themes that are popular include oceans, springtime hatching, holidays, snow, deserts, and many more. You can easily adapt these themes to your students’ interests. 

If you are ready to start using theme days, but not sure where to begin, you can use one day themes.

A special day full of themed activities will get your students excited and motivated to learn. One of my favorite themed days is Spy Day.

theme days

Students complete many activities and challenges using spy skills, and will not even realize how much they are learning! This download includes all the plans you need and step-by-step instructions. 

Another favorite theme day is Superhero Day. This download includes superhero-themed reading, writing, math, and even craft activities. By the end of the day, your students will have gained new skills and have had a great time! 

theme days

With just a little planning, themes can get your students motivated and engaged in ways you never expected. They can gain deeper understandings of concepts while having fun- it’s a win-win!

theme days

 

For more fun theme day ideas, check out my resources here!

What are your favorite theme days? Let me know in the comments!

theme days

End of the School Year Themed Days in the Classroom

Hopefully, you have all that testing behind you now and are freed up to do some educational activities that are engaging for your students!  I always have a theme-based end-of-the-year celebration with my students.  I also have an end-of-the-year celebration where the parents are invited to share some special moments with their children before the summer heats up!  Here are some theme ideas that I usually let my students choose from:

  1. HawaiianSPY DAY Themed Days - SPY Mystery Thermatic units
  2. Spy Day
  3. Beach or Ocean Day
  4. Pirate Day
  5. Circus
  6. Mad Scientist Day
  7. Craft Day
  8. Super Hero Day

We do activities with items I purchase from Oriental Trading Co. usually.  I also ask parents to donate items for the day.  Superhero Themed Activities - Superhero Themed Day - CentersWe make a t-shirt to go with the theme.  All the activities are educational, but they are theme-based. This is a day just for kids, but I do have a couple volunteers helping me with activities.

When I invite the parents to the room, we have a slideshow showing pictures taken throughout the school year.  Each year, (20 so far) I’ve made individual photo albums for all my students and present them to the parents as a parting gift.  Even though these cost me a lot, they proved to be priceless! Many students return years later with that album in hand. They tell me how meaningful the albums are to them.  One even said, “When I’m down, I can look at it, and it always cheers me up.”  I’m glad I invested in them.  Then, I have parents bring in a dish to share.  They can also bring in footballs to play outside with the kids after we all eat.  It’s a great day!  To make it really special, I also give every child a candy certificate as a keepsake.

The end of the year is a busy time for teachers, but it is also the best time to make memories that will last a lifetime with your students. You can build connections with the community, and celebrate the time you shared together as a class!End of the Year Awards Certificates EDITABLE - Candy Awards - Superlatives