Digital Task Cards: The Latest & Greatest Addition to TpT

I'm so excited to announce a brand new category of classroom resources that are now available through Teachers Pay Teachers: Boom Cards!

Huh? Boom Cards? What's that? We all know what task cards are and how many ways they can be used in the classroom. Well now your students can use them online, through the Boom Learning app. Boom Cards are interactive task cards that play on any device.

Kids love them because they earn badges and rewards for completing tasks. Teachers love them because...

1. They are self-checking! 
2. No printing!
3. No cutting!
4. No laminating!
5. Access to teacher reports to track student progress!

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, just head on over to my TpT store and download a preview. The preview includes a playable sample. Just click the picture below:

Over the next few weeks, I'll be adding many more sets of Boom Cards to my store! If you've already purchased printable task cards from me, check for updates in your purchases because I'll be adding access to the digital versions to some of those files as well. 

I hope you're as excited as I am about these new and exciting resources!

An InLinkz Link-up

Organizing Task Cards

I use a lot of task cards in my classroom and I've tried many ways to organize them. I found that manila envelopes are cheap but get ruined very quickly. Rubber bands keep them together but aren't something I want the kids to have and they never get put back correctly. Last year I found several plastic organizer boxes that were the right size. I got index card dividers to put between them...

Not bad, right? It worked fairly well but I still had a few problems. One was flipping through the box to find the set I wanted. Even more importantly, I still didn't have anything to keep the cards in when in use, like at centers. 

So I've been on the lookout for something better and I think I may have hit the jackpot...

I found these thick poly-something envelopes on Amazon. They are the perfect size and are gusseted so they expand if you have a really large set of cards. I really love how they are transparent enough to see what's inside. They also have a string closure - the kind where you wind the string around a little round doo-hicky - so they won't be falling out all over the place. 

 

They are kind of pricy (6 assorted colors for $7.98) but plastic poly stuff that they're made of is nice and sturdy. They should stand up to a lot of use and abuse. I think I'll use my handy-dandy label maker and put a label in the top corner of each one. That way I can stand them up in a basket and be able to quickly find the set I need. I think these will work out nicely! 

How do you store and organize your task cards? Leave a comment and let me know!

Stop, Swap, & Roll: Meet Techie Turtle Teacher

I'm so excited to be joining up with Melissa at Jungle Learners for her Stop, Swap, and Roll product review and giveaway! I got to try out an awesome new product and YOU get a chance to win it for your own classroom. So, let's get to it...

I was lucky enough to be paired up with Techie Turtle Teacher. She is an up and coming TpT author with some fantastic resources for the elementary crowd. 

I particularly like all of her math products (because math IS the best subject to teach). For our product swap, I chose Techie's 3-Digit Word Problem Task Cards. I picked the October version, but there are other seasonal themed sets in her store.

These task cards are perfect for second and third graders. The questions are easy to read but require some real mathematical thinking. All types of addition and subtraction problems are included, but I was especially happy to see plenty of comparative problems. Those are the ones my students need the most practice with.

Here is the description from Techie Turtle's store...

Students love task cards! This product is designed for second and third graders who are pros at solving word problems but need larger numbers.

These problems are themed around things that happen in October - Halloween, football, World Series, fire safety.

Product includes
-October word problem answer sheet
-12 3-digit addition/subtraction word problem task cards
-12 3-digit addition/subtraction word problems full page (same problems as task cards)
-answer key for word problems

Perfect to put around the room and have your students walk around to solve problems.

Your students can also play Scoot using these cards.

When you buy this resource, you get 12 individual task cards, a student recording sheet, an answer key, and then a full-page version of each card. I found this to be a very thoughtful addition to the pack because it made it so easy to review with the kids. I was able to project each card with the document camera and go over how to solve.

You can use task cards in a number of ways, Scoot being one of my favorites. But teaching a double class makes Scoot a noisy challenge, so I chose to use these cards as a math center instead. I set them out with a stack of recording sheets and had the kids bring their whiteboards to work on. Here they are in action:

These two girls worked together, taking turns with the pencil, and sharing their strategies. It was so nice to see them working so hard! My whole class really enjoyed these task cards. The story problems were interesting and relevant to them. I can see myself using these year after year!

I hope you've enjoyed this review and will take a few minutes to visit  Techie Turtle Teacher's Blog where you can see her review of one of my resources!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway below to win your own set of awesome task cards and then hop on over to Jungle Learners for more Stop, Swap, and Roll reviews and prizes!

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Teaching with Task Cards

If you could find the perfect teaching tool, what would it be like? Versatile? Ready to use? Engaging? Skill-based? Inexpensive? Sounds amazing, right? Sounds like something every teacher dreams of. Well believe it or not, this wonderful teaching tool actually exists... task cards!

Task cards are my absolute favorite resource for many reasons:

• Versatility - Task cards can be used in a lot of ways... small group centers, independent practice, whole group games of Scoot, quick assessment, test prep. The list is endless! When I need to find out who gets a concept, I pass out a stack of task cards (one to each student) and have them write their answer on a sticky note. Everyone gets a different question, so there's no copying and I can quickly see who understands and who needs more help. Task cards are also a staple in my independent reading and math centers. Students are able to work at their own pace and then check their own answers. They really love it!

• Ready To Use - Task cards require no prep at all. Once they're printed, I put them in a labeled envelope along with recording sheets, the answer key, and pens for checking. Whenever I need an activity, I just go to my task card drawer and pull out an envelope. It's ready to go!

• Engaging - My students love using task cards. There's something about a little card they can hold in their hands and work on just one task at a time. I find the kids to be more focused and engaged than they are with worksheets or other activities. They actually LIKE using them!

• Skill-Based - I love the fact that task cards target a specific skill. If a student has difficulty with main idea, I can send home a pack of main idea task cards for extra practice. Sometimes parents have a hard time helping their child, but task cards are easy to understand and use. They also work great during guided reading or math groups. This past week I had a group of students who weren't getting multi-step word problems. I have a set of task cards just for that concept (You can see them here.), so I pulled them out to use with the group. We worked through the first few together and then I gave each student their own. I was able to watch exactly what they did to solve the problem and see where they went wrong. So easy!

• Inexpensive - For the most part, task cards don't cost very much which is really important when you live on a teacher's salary. There's nothing I hate more than spending $25 plus on a resource only to find that I can't use half of it or the kids don't like it. Task cards generally cost around $3 which is a bargain for any teacher.

One way to use task cards that I mentioned is for playing Scoot. If you don't know how it works, keep reading. Scoot is a way to get your students moving around while practicing important skills. It's so much better than seat work! First, you need a pack of task cards. Ideally, each card will be numbered. If not, you'll need to number them yourself. Place the task cards all around the room. Some teachers put one on each desk. I like to spread them all over... on tables, hanging on the board, taped to the door, etc. Give each student a recording sheet and a pencil. Now you're ready to go. Here's how to play...

• Have each student stand at a different task card. This is their starting point. They will work through all of the cards in number order until they end up back where they started.
• Put on some music (This just makes it more fun).
• When you say "go", the students read their card, complete the task, and record their answer in the box with the SAME number as the card. It's really important to tell them this, repeatedly. You wouldn't believe the number of kids who take absolutely no notice of the numbers. Well yes, you probably would.
• After a minute or so (depending on the tasks), you call out "Scoot" and students move to the next card. Make sure to give enough time that all or most of your kids can complete the card.
• Keep going until everyone has gotten to every card. When you're done, you can go over each card while they check their own answers. Or, use them as an assessment.
• One important rule - no talking during Scoot. You must enforce this. Otherwise, it gets really noisy really fast. The kids need to be able to concentrate on each task. I find that playing music helps them to not talk. If a student insists on talking, he or she has to sit out. That's my mean teacher rule, but it works. 

If you haven't used task cards before and decide to give them a try, I'd love to hear how it goes. Come back and let me know!