Ideas for Independent Practice and Early Finishers

Early Finisher Organization Change it out weekly or monthly…. It allows students to have an extension of previous learning Keeps everyone busy and engaged until others finish their task

Process and Product Photographs, Newspaper/Magazine clippings for identifying cause and effect, making inferences, making a prediction, or creating an appropriate caption

Create a caption___________ What can we infer about this person? (inferences) Prediction: What do you predict she will do next? How could we use this picture for teaching cause and effect?

Writing prompts for journal Jars Writing prompts for journal Task cards: to do Extension of learning Cause and Effect Fact v. Opinion

Class Gratitude Journal/ Pen Pal Project

Word Sorts: Sort by vowel, syllable, genre Sort by prefix, root, suffix Prefix bi bimonthly bicycle biannually Suffix ful colorful beautiful helpful painful

Ways to Classify and Sort Words Words that start the same (beginning blend, consonant cluster or onset) Words that end the same (rime) Words that rhyme Words that contain the same number of syllables (1, 2, or 3) Words that are the same part of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) Words with prefixes, suffixes Long words, short words Words I know, words I think I know and words I don't know at all Words with long or short vowels Words with schwa sound Synonyms, antonyms, compound words Compound words                                   

Extension Projects A drawing (Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone, example) A tangible product like a cereal box guitar (example) A triarama (example) Special foldable like hexagon shaped foldable of bee facts (example) Blank graphic organizers Library books and supplemental texts are great for reading pages you note with post its, just reading captions Compare and contrast two people or things like spiders v. flies or Helen Keller v. Alexander Graham Bell

Fluency! Fluency binder per grade level with Journeys blackline masters www.readnaturally.com has two free fluency passages per grade level Other fluency passage sources for your level

What does fluency look like for you? Phoneme/grapheme level Word level Phrases Sentences Fluency passages Check out: http://www.fcrr.org www.theschoolbell.com www.carlscorner.us.com

Graphic organizers, Story Log, Charts, Lists Big posters with vis a vis pens OR individual charts and lists Can be used as an early finisher activity or as a student product for independent practice during your lesson

Margaret’s Show and Tell Novel study: Sarah Plain and Tall (project) Examples of Student Work products (with Journey’s stories) Want more?! Call/email me Margaret Yoder ESL Peer Coach mamchico@gmail.com 901-921-1967