Fast finishers are one of the most challenging aspects of classroom management. In a typical classroom of 20-30 students, how do you deal with those students who finish way ahead of the rest? How do you ensure that the early finishers are not simply doing busy work and are engaged in a task that is relevant and fun? How do you ensure that those fast finishers do not become a classroom management issue that distracts your other students?
This is how the Early Finisher Board was born.
The Early Finisher Board is a choice board that includes a variety of relevant, interesting activities for your students who finish their work early. You can set it up on a tri-fold board, a bulletin board, or even an empty piece of wall space or the side of a cabinet. Some teachers even use folders to put the activities in.
How exactly does The Early Finisher Board work?
There are seven sections: Read It, Write It, Solve It, Draw It, Make It, Do It, and Journal It. Each section contains a fun, curriculum-related activity to engage your fast finishers. The tasks are switched out every two weeks so that your students always have new tasks to choose from!
The most important aspect of The Early Finisher Board is that students get to choose which activities they do. Some of your students will always choose from the Make It, Do It, or Draw It sections. And that’s okay! Other students will want to try all the activities.
Students use an Early Finisher notebook to store all of their tasks. It is important to note that you do not need to mark all of these tasks! That would mean an increased work load for you, with very little benefit for the students – definitely NOT the objective of The Early Finisher Board! The tasks are meant solely as extra pracice – NOT assessment.
Would you like 2 weeks of FREE fast finisher activities?
- the Getting Started Guide with ALL the labels you need to create your very own Early Finisher Board
- 2-weeks of activities so you can test it out in your classroom before deciding if you’d like the full 40-week package!
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11 Comments
Very interested in using this in my fifth grade classroom.
Looking forward to using this!
This looks like a great idea!
I have a 3rd grade self contained classroom with abilities ranging from K-3.
Some are non readers. How can I use this?
Hi Barbara! I recommend taking a few minutes to introduce the activities each time you switch them out. Then kids will know what is expected for each one in case the instructions are difficult to read.
Great resource! Looking forward to using this.
Looks great and will be easy to implement.
I teach a combo 3/4 class. This looks amazing
This looks great!
I teach grade 4 and this looks really helpful.
I teach Kinder. I’m looking forward to using these.