Math Madness Wednesday: Task Cards!

Kim Miller here from For the Love of Teaching, and I'm thrilled to be guest blogging for Krista here at Teaching Momster today!  I'm here to share a few tips on how I use my math task cards in the classroom for early finishers, cooperative learning, and progressing monitoring. 

Task cards are becoming more and more popular in the classroom, and they are an excellent way to target a specific skill, standard, or subject area. Task cards can be used in a variety of ways and if laminated, they will last for years!   Today, I'm going to share with you my Solve It! Task Cards for 4th Grade Math and how I use them in my classroom.  

Before I created these task cards I knew I wanted a way to reinforce the standards I taught during the year, as well as, assess students by each domain before end of year testing.  By domain, I mean the category a cluster of standards falls under.  For example: Numbers and Operations in Base Ten (NBT), Operations & Algebraic Thinking (OA),  Numbers & Operations: Fractions (NF), Measurement & Data (MD), and Geometry (G).  Each set includes 60 task cards and includes questions for all standards in that particular domain.   I wanted to make sure I was asking and wording the problems correctly, so I spent A LOT of time analyzing Common Core testing questions.  I wanted to make sure students were being exposed to the same types of questions/problems they would encounter at the end of the year during testing.

For a closer look at these task cards click here, or click on the picture for a direct link to the bundle.

I love organization, and I love EASY organization!  Not only are each set of task cards separated by each math domain.  Each task card is labeled with the appropriate standard and numbered. This makes for each easy sorting!

Once I created the task cards, I added recording sheets for students.  There are 2 types of recording sheets to choose from.

1 recording sheet with all task cards listed 1-60.

This recording sheet allows students to recorded their answers to all 60 task cards for the entire domain.  This is an example of the recording sheet for NBT.  

I typically use this type of recording sheet at the end of the year for review before testing.

Answer sheets are included! 

Or, you can choose to use recording sheets broken down by standard.

This recording sheet allows students to record their answers to one specific standard.  This recording sheet is for 4.NBT.1.

I would use this recording sheet if I only wanted to reinforce or quickly assess one particular math standard.

All answers keys are included for each type of recording sheet.

Now that I've shared with you how these task cards work, let me tell you a little bit about how I use them with my students!

Here's 3 easy ways I use these task cards in my classroom:

#1  EARLY FINISHERS - "I'm done, now what?"  How many times have we heard that?  I love being able to grab a set of these task cards to hand to my early finishers to use as an enrichment activity.  They can give them a little more practice in an area they may be weaker in. Plus, it gives me quick and easy feedback!   Another way to do this is to place these task cards in a math center - set up and ready to go for students who finish an assignment early.

#2  COOPERATIVE LEARNING - There are several ways you can use these task cards in groups.  I like to spread them out in stations all over the room.  I pair students up and allow them time to move from station to station while working out problems and comparing answers.  I've also used small white boards to record answers as whole group.  They can still brainstorm together, record their answers on their white board, and then hold up the boards for me to check their answers.  You can also play the famous "Scoot" game with these cards!  I only use these last two methods when I'm assessing one particular standard.  If I'm using the whole set of task cards I typically pair students up and move around the room from one station to another.

#3  PROGRESS MONITORING - These task cards are an excellent way to assess students' knowledge of a particular standard or domain.  The recording sheets are easy to use for students and easy to grade quickly.  They are extremely helpful at the end of the year when assessing students before end of grade testing.  I can easily check for understanding, and then I can decide what students need to review or what I need to reteach before testing. 

I would love to hear how you manage task cards in your classroom.  The possibilities are endless!

You can grab my task cards from Educents by clicking here.  You can get the ENTIRE year's worth of task cards for only $9.00!  That is 50% off their normal price.

This resource is a wonderful compliment to these 4th grade task cards.  These assessments are just another quick and easy way to keep track of student progress.  These are designed for a binder and includes a variety of data recording sheets, data grouping sheets, math standards, and quick assessments for each domain.  Binder cover sheets and dividers are included - along with answer keys! Check them out here, or click on the picture for a direct link to this product.  Also sold separately in my store.

For a GREAT deal, check out the Common Core Club!  Krista and I have teamed together with some other All-Star Teacher/Authors to create a year's worth of everything you need to teach the Common Core Standards for 4th grade.  Both of my products from above as well as some of Krista's WILD card games are included.  The first quarter and is available NOW.  If you buy now, you will pay for the 1st quarter and get the rest of the year for FREE!!  We have 2 separate clubs, one for Math and one for ELA.  Check them out!  

There are more task cards to check out below as well. Until next time,

An InLinkz Link-up