Ideas On Using Task Cards

Looking for a new way on how to utilize task cards? I loved using them in the classroom – at least once a week I was including them. And with so many ways, it never got boring for students! Hopefully these tips will help you in your classroom.

First thing is first – LAMINATE them!!! I regretted not doing it to the ones I had printed, it keeps


kids from writing on them and making marks all over them too. Also, when laminated they can be used with dry erase markers and erased!
(Laminator and I have a love/hate relationship ...sometimes I would get paper overlapping ...drove me nuts!)

**Individually – Have students work through the cards independently. Sometimes we have those days and students need to work alone. I enjoyed days like this when we were working on a more challenging topic. This allowed me to roam and work with students one-on-one.

**Pairs/Groups – Have students work with one another and they can compare answers after so many or after each problem. I like using this way when students can benefit from working with one another – helping the other catch a mistake if there is one or feeling success when they both complete the problem correctly. Team effort :)

**Music Chairs – I space desks out within the classroom where there is enough room to move around such. I then place one card on each desk or more depending on the topic. I set a timer on my phone and then I play music while students work on the problem. When the timer is up, I turn the music off and the students know it is time to rotate. They have so many seconds to get to the next spot (students know what the time limit is already) and the music starts back up again. I have ranged from 45 seconds to 2 minutes on problems, depending on how difficult or not a problem is. (This is my favorite ...students probably too!)

**Up/Down – I place cards on the white boards with magnets and then each student has a blank answer key. They go up to the board, grab a card, come back to their desk, complete problem, take it back up and grab a new card. This process continues until they have answered all the problems! Then I usually have students come check answers with me.

**Station Activities – Place a set of cards at a station (4-6 cards depending on difficulty) and have students rotate cards within their station and when complete or after an allotted amount of time have students rotate stations. I have done where I have two stations of task cards – 10 cards or so each and then other stations have other worksheets, activities or one-on-one time with me. Stay tuned for a blog post regarding Station Activities and how to set up – I utilized these often and found a lot of success with them!

Here are the task cards I currently have in my store. If you are looking for something specific that I do not carry, please feel free to email me and I can add it to my list to create :) 

     

     

      

             

There are MANY more ways to utilize task cards in your classroom, but these were some of my favorites that worked well in our classroom setting. I hope you find them useful and you try one of them out if you have not already.

What are some other ways you use task cards in your classroom? Share your ideas below in the comments or email me at kholland2007@gmail.com. 

Would love to hear! 

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