End of Year Activity for Middle or High School: Zombie Apocalypse Survival

End of Year Activity - This is my FAVORITE end of year activity for secondary students! Looking for that one of a kind, secondary level, fun, the class is going to LOOOOVE this activity? You found it! This is the singular BEST end of year activity I've done! It has nothing to do with anything you learned this year, but does require critical thinking skills and will have everyone UP and ENGAGED.

Everything you need is print, cut, and go. Directions for prep and set up, story line, location signs and cards, item cards, and presentation of item rankings included. And not just random- nilly dilly rankings- I researched four articles and made a compilation list based on each items' rank in each of the four articles.

Your activity will look like this:

1. Before students arrive, set up location signs (with item cards) around your room (6 locations).
2. Then with students, place a location card face down on their desks. Begin reading dramatic story (the story is an emergency radio broadcast). Within the story, directions are given to students to flip over their location card, go to location and choose two items.
3. Students will be able to visit two other locations before leaving town forever with a maximum of four items.
4. Their goal: long term survival in the wilderness during the Zombie Apocalypse.
5. After all items are chosen, you will go through the PowerPoint that ranks each item, and gives a point value to each item. Students tally their points.
6. On the final slide, there is a sliding scale of how long each student survives according to the number of points they accumulated.

You'll print out for the activity -

-Story line for YOU to read

-Location cards (one per student) to place on their desk (it tells them where to go/ begin)

-Location signs (6, to place around the room)

-Items at locations (laminate and cut, place at each location)

You'll have ready:

PowerPoint to review rankings and point values (included, of course)

Why is this SO MUCH FUN?

• Everyone is forced to participate, but without having to talk
• Everyone is SURE they know best
• This activity is reminiscent of those teen magazine articles from the 90s where you take a quiz to see how you rank in something - but it's a PHYSICAL out-of-your-seat FUN activity!
• This activity isn't geared toward anyone. Everyone has the same chance of survival.
• The rankings ARE based on actual researched articles. I did, however, take liberties with WHERE certain items are placed. A garage, for instance, could have anything. Some locations, however, will have limited items - so if everyone floods one place - it WILL run out.

This activity takes approximately 25-35 minutes.

Want to make the activity run longer?

• Ask for volunteers to share which items they chose, and defend their choices

What are other educators saying about this activity?

"This was such a fun activity for the first day. Even colleagues and other students stopped to see what we were doing because the students were engaged and having fun. The activity also led to some great class discussions."

- Cynthia H.

"This was a great activity! I used it with all 6 of my ELA classes during the first week of school and it was a hit that I will for sure use in the future!"

- Ann Field

"My students absolutely LOVED this activity! They were so excited to see how many points they earned and see if they survived! Thank you!"

- Kelly C.

"Used this on the last day of class (I'm on a trimester system) with some of my 8th graders and they enjoyed it immensely. I do plan on using it again in June!"

- Margaret M.

"I loved it and so did my students! We had a blast, and class flew by!"

- Darla S.

Will your students survive the Zombie Apocalypse?

Check out the video preview!

CrazyScienceLady