What: Early on in my teaching career, I used to fear the question, “I’m done. Now what?” from my students because I did not have anything planned beyond the lesson. I quickly realized that I needed independent activities that engaged students while also being educational and on a perfect day linked to what we were studying. I like to think of these activities as extended learning opportunities. I began added extended learning opportunities to every project and students loved it. Then, I began allowing students to complete extended learning activities on a regular basis once they mastered the content for the lesson or we finished the lesson with 20 minutes left until lunch or recess, etc. For example, I allowed students to practice on Duolingo (a language learning app) for 20 minutes while I gave extra help to students that needed it for that particular lesson. Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook just released twenty activities for students to complete with time on their hands and I have listed a few below that I loved using in my class.
Code.org or Codecombat are both wonderful ways to teach coding. Students can learn skills that will aid them in the future. These programs both have self-guided activities and tutorials.
Free Rice is a fantastic program that gives back. Each time a student answers a multiple choice question correctly it generates points. A certain number of points produces money being sent to the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its work around the world. Advertisements are used on this website.
TedED contains curated videos for students on educational yet culturally relevant topics for students. I personally learn so much from TED videos and love that this version is all about education and all for students.
The 5 Clue Challenge allows students to play a guessing game. Michael Soskil has traveled the world and created short videos that present five clues to guess a location, animal, or person. Students can pause the video and research questions in order to guess. What I love most is that students can even create and submit their own videos!.
Google Quick Draw allows students to draw with automated suggestions giving students a brain break while also encouraging problem-solving and creativity.
Next Steps
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References:
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TLDR (too long didn’t read):
Early on in my teaching career, I used to fear the question, “I’m done. Now what?” from my students because I did not have anything planned beyond the lesson. I quickly realized that I needed independent activities that engaged students while also being educational and on a perfect day linked to what we were studying. I like to think of these activities as extended learning opportunities. I began added extended learning opportunities to every project and students loved it. Then, I began allowing students to complete extended learning activities on a regular basis once they mastered the content for the lesson or we finished the lesson with 20 minutes left until lunch or recess, etc. For example, I allowed students to practice on Duolingo (a language learning app) for 20 minutes while I gave extra help to students that needed it for that particular lesson. Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook just released twenty activities for students to complete with time on their hands and I have listed a few below that I loved using in my class.
@hollandkaylah