What Do Students Do When They’re Finished with Work During the First Weeks?
That is the age old question, isn’t it? My quick answer to that would be to make sure students check their work to make sure they’ve made sure it’s “best quality” (name on paper, added details, colored the best they can, etc.). But there are some littles who are just quick workers, and during the first week or two while you haven’t gotten to explain exact procedures and expectations for all areas of the classroom, you may need something quick, easy, and meaningful for them to work on! Check out a few of my fave things to have printed and on hand below.
These no-prep print and go activities are super easy to set out for students to use to practice appropriately using different school supplies (glue sticks, scissors, dice, spinners, pencils, etc.) It’s never a bad time to practice- plus these are great for fine motor development!
These tangram or pattern block create and count mats are easy to print and set out with bags or bins of pattern blocks. Students create different shapes and count how many of each shape they used- these are great skills to develop and these keep students busy without needing much explanation.
There are tons of fun hands-on print and go pages in this pack! These pages require little to no explanation and you can set them in a “busy bin” for students to visit when they’re done with their activity.
These letter sound fine motor cutting and gluing practice pages are no prep, and they allow students to practice letter sounds, cutting, gluing, and following directions in one activity! The beginning of the year is the best time for first graders to review letters, sounds, and supply practice so these pages are perfect!
These letter sound Playdoh mats are super easy to print, laminate, and have out at each table with containers of playdoh. Students can practice and review letter sounds while also working with Playdoh (a great fine motor activity).
These dot marker activities are no prep as well- just print and go. There are pages that practice upper and lowercase letter identification, and pages that practice beginning letter sounds. You can use them with dot markers, crayons, markers, or you can stick them in a dry erase pocket so they can be re-used over and over.
These letter identification color by codes are another no-prep activity. Each page only requires students to use one color to find all of the letters (ex: use red to color all the letters G and g) and then students can color the rest of the letters any color. This is super helpful to emerging readers. Print these out and set them in a busy bin for students to grab.
Let me know if you end up using any of these activities as fast finishers in your classroom during the first two weeks of school.
I’d love to hear how they worked for you!
