Using Task Cards for Daily Instruction

Do you love task cards as much as me?
Using Task Cards in the classroom can make planning easy and engagement high. Check this post out for teaching ideas using all the task cards you've collected.

I've always liked the idea of task cards, but for some reason, this year I have really stepped up how I use them. I just transferred schools and I get a ton of support throughout the day. I have an ESOL teacher, reading specialist, reading assistant, and title 1 math teacher all push in throughout the course of the day to support SS, science, math, reading, and writing workshop. It's amazing!

So far, the best way I've found to utilize my co-teachers is guided groups, which means I need to find something meaningful for the students who aren't being pulled into a group at that time....enter task cards!

How I've been using them:

-Small Groups: Sometimes I make (or buy from TPT) a set of task cards that covers what I am doing in math small groups that week. Then, while pulling a group, I just give them their own cards to work on. I love this because since everyone has their own card, no one can cheat. And, since everyone is working at their own pace, the group never has to wait for everyone to finish. As soon as a student finishes, I check their work. If they are right they get a new card. If they aren't right, they get a quick one-on-one teachable moment specific to their need and they get to try again immediately with another card.

-Centers: I have also been creating task cards to review skills already taught for students who aren't being pulled by the title 1 math teacher or myself. I just drop the cards into a center bucket with mini-answer sheets and the students share the cards with their group, but work independently (or with a buddy) to answer the questions.

Using Task Cards in the classroom can make planning easy and engagement high. Check this post out for teaching ideas using all the task cards you've collected.

I store my centers in these pull-out tubs I got for $28.00 each at Big Lots. 
Drawers 1-10 are math centers and drawers 11-20 are reading centers.

-SCOOT: I think by far my student's favorite way to use task cards is by playing SCOOT. Since I am in a "portable classroom", I typically take my kids outside for this. I spread the task cards out all over the blacktop and they roam around with their clipboards solving the problems. If there is bad weather, I just place the cards on desks or take them into the building and tape them on the walls of the hallway.

-Interactive Notebooks: When I find (or make) a great set of problem-solving task cards that I want to use as instruction, I typically print them with 4 pages to one sheet and have the kids glue strips into their notebook.
Using Task Cards in the classroom can make planning easy and engagement high. Check this post out for teaching ideas using all the task cards you've collected.


Since, I've found so many uses for task cards lately, Ive been creating them like crazy.
Here's what I've been up to:

Are you in love yet?
Maybe you already were.

I've created some Halloween Subtraction Task Cards to use at a center during my Fall Fun math centers on October 30th.
Interested?
Grab them for FREE here.

Thanks for reading! 

Stop by and see me at my personal blog: HavingClassInThird.com

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