Fall Fun for Fast Finishers!

Now that you have been in school for a few weeks (or in some parts of the country, longer), you have probably figured out who those fast finishers are in your class, and you might be looking for some activities to keep them challenged. Here is a free set of 20 autumn-themed, opened-ended task cards that will do the job quite nicely. Most of the activities are writing-based and will require your students to think creatively and critically. No worries if your school does not celebrate Halloween; these cards are based on autumn and none of the activities are holiday-based.

We all have fast finishers in our classrooms. Why not give them an extra challenge with these autumn-themed ELA task cards? While these cover a range of ELA topics, they are not based on the Common Core State Standards. Rather, they are focused on encouraging your students to think critically and creatively.

These cards were designed to be used for fast finishers, but they would also be great at a center. Another option is to select one card to use with the whole class for a fun bell-work activity. Here are a couple cards from the set.

While some of the activities on these cards do correlate with Common Core Standards (for example, one card require students to write persuasively, and several others deal with figurative language), this particular set was not designed with the Common Core in mind. I am a big believer in the importance of teaching creative and critical thinking, and it was with that goal that I created these cards. If you are looking for an autumn resource based on Common Core Standards, you may want to check out Autumn ELA Task Cards, which focus on a variety of the Language standards.