Are you constantly looking for ways to challenge students needing enrichment? Providing quality enrichment activities to students that need it is absolutely part of a teacher’s job. If a student has met the standard, it does not mean that we quit teaching. I have 5 ideas for ways that you can challenge students who need “more.”
Providing enrichment activities or finding resources for early finishers should typically follow some key guidelines. Don’t stress about providing enrichment opportunities to those that need it. You may want to read 3 Ways to Make Enrichment Easy for You and Your Students.
Here are 5 ways to challenge students who need enrichment:
1. COMPLEXITY
First, find activities that are on the higher end of complexity in reading level, information, and math skills for your students. This could look like reading on the next grade level or assigning some higher-level word problems in math.
2. PROCESS
Second, the process of enrichment should promote choice and flexibility for the student.
Try these ideas:
- Choice boards: Try Digital Early Finisher Activities for Upper Elementary Students. They are themed monthly activities that are ready to go for students to CHOOSE from. They include- logic puzzlers, word scrambles, mystery squares, number grids, fluency pixels and read & learn passages. Plus, they are NO-PREP, auto-graded and interactive with moveable pieces that are already built in. Your students will hopefully find these tasks to be full of hands-on fun!
- Technology-infused activities: We live in a technological world and must embrace all of it.
- Auto-graded activities: Did you know that a lot of digital activities can give students immediate feedback on how they performed? One of these is Digital Early Finisher Activities for Upper Elementary Students.
- Built-in Moveable Pieces: These are great at helping students stay engaged by keeping their hands busy. Plus, the Digital Early Finisher Activities for Upper Elementary Students have built-in movable pieces too!
- Themed activities: Students typically enjoy a good themed unit or resource. The reasons being that it’s visually appealing and there is more buy-in for them. Check out these Themed Enrichment Kits for your students who finish early and need more opportunity for learning.
3. PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES
Next, activities that involve deductive reasoning and are high-interest topics for students will absolutely engage them more.
4. ACCELERATION
These students can probably handle bumping the complexity up to the next grade level. Work with teachers at the next grade level to find opportunities for students to push-in to their math block.
5. TECHNOLOGY
Finally, kids LOVE interactive digital resources, and there are a lot of great options right now. Try Prodigy or Buzz Math for enhancing math skills.
Prodigy is FREE for teachers! It works on over 1200 crucial math skills in fun and engaging ways. Its geared for grades 1-8 and can be set at a higher grade level for the students that need it.
Buzz Math focuses on middle school math. It’s perfect for 4th and 5th-graders who are up for a challenge. It contains high-quality problems, gives immediate feedback, and lets students progress at their own pace. In addition, Buzz Math gives teachers detailed feedback about students’ progress.
Programming is now a VITAL skill for all ages to learn and understand. Many opportunities will open for students who understand basic programming and coding.
More about programming:
- It boosts creativity through the process of trial and error
- Let’s students develop their problem-solving skills on a deeper level
- enhances written language
- helps students use math skills in real-life situations
*Try these 10 FREE coding programs for kids*
REMINDER-DON’T LET STUDENTS BE “BORED”
Remember, challenging students who academically can handle more is absolutely part of every teacher’s job. Please don’t “settle” and just let students meet the standard and stop learning. Students should always be engaged and thinking!
In what ways do you challenge your students that need it?
