First graders have very busy days here at school.  There is so much to learn!  Our students receive a well-rounded education from a variety of experts including specialists in science, music, art, technology, physical education, Spanish, and Library.  This does not include the reading, writing, math, social studies, and social-emotional learning we do in our homeroom.

Though I build quieter times into our day, there is not often a lot of “down time.”  As I plan our lessons, I typically plan slightly more than I think we will be able to accomplish in order to maximize our time together in the classroom.  This also helps keep us moving, and it keeps things exciting. However, as you might imagine, students approach various assignments at different paces.  Right at the beginning of the year, we discuss the value of giving our best effort rather than our quickest effort.  I tell them that I would rather have an unfinished assignment that was given a lot of attention than a completed assignment that contains half-hearted work. We also talk about the difference between needing more time because we were chatting versus running out of time when working with good focus.  Occasionally, our different working speeds leads to some students finishing work “early.”  In order to keep the learning going at all times, we have a helpful system to use in these instances.

When a student finishes all of the given assignments, first he or she needs to double check any written work for his or her name, and then review it for completeness and accuracy.  Once that is done, students pull out their green “Works in Progress” folder.  This is where we can keep any written work that didn’t quite get finished in the time allotted, or that we want to review or re-visit.  Every so often, we take the time to go through our folders together and get rid of papers that we’ve decided not to continue or that aren’t relevant anymore.

If the Works in Progress folder is empty, students visit the Finished Early Activities board.  Each morning, our two “Helping Hands” for the day each select one Finished Early Activity they would like to offer the class that day. (I choose the third, but my “choice” is almost always, “Read a book.”)

If a student has finished their work and their green folder is empty, they then choose an activity from the selections posted on the board that day.

The key to the Finished Early Activities is that they a) extend learning and b) can be done quietly and independently.  As the year progresses, I add more choices that relate to concepts we are learning.  I love that the students have extra opportunities to practice a variety of skills, and the students love the variety and opportunity for choice.  It’s a win-win!