What in the world do you do with early finishers? This is a big question for teachers! I think it is important to teach your students to check their work when finished. Teaching students to improve their work when they think they are finished is a valuable lesson. But, after that, there are always going to be a handful of students who will finish their work sooner than the rest of the class. So, back to the question … What do you do? Sitting and waiting for the rest of the class to finish or doing busy work can be very boring and is not giving these students a chance to continue learning. Here are some of my favorite ideas for early finishers!
Set up a system for students so they can find out what to do without disrupting the class or asking you while you are helping other students. I love this display that can be set up at the front of the room. The signs can be switched out depending on what you want the students to do each day.
Make sure your students know your expectations so they are not off task or disruptive. This poster is a great example and it is free! You could also make an anchor chart.
Have a place to organize the materials and supplies the students need for the activities to minimize questions such as “where do I get paper for _____ …. ?”
Extension menus are great for independent work. I like this reading menu, but you could make a menu for any subject. For example, if you are working on place value you could have a menu with place value activities for students to choose from.
Bulletin boards such as Boggle or Noggle can be fun! You can change the numbers or letters out every week or two. You could even put some students in charge of updating the board and making the answer key!
Stem Bins are a great hands on activity. Lots of fun while building reasoning skills.
Partner games and centers are a way to let your students interact with others while practicing skills.
Computer games and websites can be great learning tools. Make sure you set procedures up for how to get online and which sites students will go. Here are some of my favorites!
For more great ideas check out my early finishers board on Pinterest!
learningwithmrskirk.com 
Great ideas for early finishers! Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks Amanda!
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What a fabulous collection of ideas. I *love* the idea of the Boggle board with changeable letters. When I was teaching, I remember struggling with a way to ensure that my early finishers had actually completed their work with a high degree of quality, rather than just speed. I know you mention ideas for this up top, too. The thing that worked for me best, was instituting a new plan that as kids arrived each morning, they would be responsible for correcting the work they had done sloppily or poorly the day before. It helped me to catch the ones who were missing a concept, and it made them much more careful to do the work right the first time. But that is also easier to do in an elementary class…I would imagine much more difficult in a middle school, where the time is more limited.
Anyway, these are super ideas! I love them!
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