Task cards make it easy to differentiate instruction, engage students and assess important skills. They can be used in a guided small group, in a center or as a whole group scoot activity. I also enjoy using them for fast finishers and morning work. Please enjoy these FREE Place Value task cards. Task cards are great for test prep. Each day you can use a different set of cards and mix up the way the task cards are used. This way, your class can go through a lot of material, in a short period of time.

• Task Card Templates. To make custom task cards, click the 'Customize this Example' button below. Once you're in the Storyboard Creator, click on each of the elements on the template to change them to fit your needs. When you're done, hit save and follow the instructions.
• 22 free social media task cards for grades 6-10. A Set of Task Cards. A set of social media task cards. Free task cards to teach about digital footprints and digital literacy.
• Task Card Corner! I get emails all the time about using task cards in the classroom, so I decided that I would make a live blog about using task cards in the classroom. It's BRAND spanking new, so I hope you will check it out and maybe become a follower.

Task cards have always been a permanent fixture in my class. Learn how to easily incorporate them into your routine with a free editable task card templates.

I was using task cards before I knew they were called task cards. My first year in the classroom, I taught an amazing bunch of third graders who needed to move constantly. I needed to get them up and about to keep their attention. My solution, I enlarged and cut apart practice sheets and posted them around the room for my students to find and solve. NOTE – In 1999, my first classroom didn’t have computers, I didn’t have email, and enlarging something on the copier was about as high tech as I could get. It’s amazing how far we have come in 20 years!

Task Card

I realized that my early version of task cards engaged my students and they were excited to practice new skills. For this reason, I have continued to incorporate task cards into my instruction. I have since stepped up my game and would love to help you create professional looking task cards to use in your classroom in minutes! Instructions for downloading the free task card templates at the end of this post.

Why Use Task Cards?

My students love task cards. Here’s why!

Task cards feel like a game. When the cards are small and colorful, my students automatically assume they are playing a game. They focus their attention and energy on the academic task for a longer amount of time.

Task cards are not as intimidating as a longer activity. Some of my reluctant learners will throw up their hands before starting if given a full page of material to review. Task cards break the content down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Task cards are versatile. You can use task cards for just about any subject area. They can be used for whole group, small group, or individual practice.

How To Use Task Cards!

There are many different ways to use task cards. My favorite include playing Scoot, student created test prep games, and center activities. Looking for more specific information? Kirsten’s Kaboodle has a great post that lists her Top 10 favorite ways to use task cards. Find it here.

Step Up Your Task Cards in Minutes!

I know your time is limited! That is why I have created a digital task card template freebie just for you. Simply download the template from the Free Resource Library, type in your information, and print! You can create professional looking task cards in minutes. The template includes 8 colorful background options. Created using Google Slides so make sure you have a free Google account to access and edit this file. Need more templates? I have created a bunch of other editable templates to save you time. Click here to see the templates available.

Get the editable task card template in the Free Resource Library. This download is only available in the Free Resource Library! Need the password? Sign up to receive my newsletter and the password will be immediately emailed to you. The newsletter is a great way to catch up on ideas and exclusive freebies from Together We Are Smarter!

Using task cards for reading instruction is a great way to introduce, model, and teach reading skills and standards in less-threatening ways (compared to lengthy texts). They are also perfect for targeted re-teaching. But how can you maximize these benefits of task cards during digital reading instruction? Keep reading for some ideas and strategies for using task cards for online reading instruction.

Using Task Cards for Synchronous Digital Reading Instruction

In a live session with students, the short passage in a task card makes a wonderful quick and targeted digital reading lesson.

Simply share your screen with the task card slides you’d like to use and begin your digital reading instruction as if you were face-to-face.

You can help your visual learners by tracking the words on the slide using your pointer on the screen as you read. Reading the text aloud to the students also provides a great opportunity to model fluency and prosody, which is a facet of reading instruction that is often lost when teaching virtually.

Teaching Modeling Strategies

Free Printable Reading Task Cards

One of the best things about using task cards in your whole group digital reading lessons is the opportunity for teacher modeling.

During your digital lessons with task cards, you can model:

• Thinking aloud about the reading and monitoring comprehension using reading strategies to help comprehend (such as predictions, connections, etc)
• Before-during-after reading strategies
• Decoding and context clues strategies for unknown words
• Annotation skills like underlining key details, text coding, or any other annotation strategy you teach
• Even test-taking strategies, such as previewing the question before reading the passage

Student Participation and Conversation

You also want to make sure you bring in conversation and student participation to your lesson. Here are some tips:

1. Plan a few stopping points to have students stop and chat/write/reflect on a question or prompt. The number will depend on the length of the task card, but I try and have a stopping point every 1-3 minutes to keep students’ attention.

2. Have the students respond in a variety of formats. They can:

• • share their thoughts with the class verbally using their microphone (at your signal)
  • share their thoughts using the chat feature
  • record their thoughts on a piece of paper

Answering the Question(s)

When you’ve read and actively discussed the text with your students and you’re ready to move to the question slide, you can read the question aloud and model for students how to break down the key words in the question.

You can also model going back to the text to annotate relevant text evidence (although you might have already done this when annotating earlier).

As far as answering the question(s) for the task card, you have several options depending on your students, time left for your lesson, point of the year, etc.

1. Have students respond to the question on the live lesson using their microphones or a chat feature.

2. “Move” the question over to a discussion board activity using a Google Classroom question, Padlet discussion board, or Flipgrid so the students can respond and then discuss responses with their peers.

3. Assign the question to the students to answer independently (after discussing it and ensuring the students understand the question).

4. Use this as a modeling opportunity and model how to write a response on the task card slide, showing students how to be specific and detailed in their responses. You’d probably want to have your response planned out before your session, but literally typing in on-screen in your live sessions is a great way to model the process for students to see. You could wrap up your lesson by scoring the response according to a rubric or checklist that you show to students during the lesson. This will allow you to show students exactly what you want them to do before they do a similar task on their own.

Using Task Cards for Independent Digital Reading Practice

Once students have seen a task card completed in class with thorough teacher modeling, they are ready to complete additional task cards independently.

(If you don’t have the option to teach synchronously in a live session shared above, you could model how to complete a task card by recording a video through a screen recording tool to walk students through a similar process as the one shared above.)

To use the task card independently, isolate the card or cards you’d like your students to do into a new Google Slides presentation and then assign through Google Classroom. Click here for a detailed post with a free step-by-step guide to help you do this.

You’ll be able to open each student’s work as they work on it through the day (or week) to check on their progress and see if they need help.

Want a FREE Mini-Set of Digital Task Cards?

4th Grade Task Cards

If you want a FREE mini-set of 4 digital reading task cards to try out these strategies, I have just what you need! I created a HUGE (and free) reading resource for reviewing Story Elements and introducing students to digital reading instruction. It includes the two digital task cards shown (plus two more) and lots of other digital reading activities and resources to help you teach reading digitally.

Want MORE Resources for Digital Reading Instruction?

Task Cards Math

If you want even more digital reading resources to help with online or digital reading instruction, I recommend this resource. The freebie shared above is modeled after the resources you will find in this bundle.

Each skill includes (or will include by the end of 2020) BOTH printable and digital versions for digital reading instruction, face-to-face instruction, or hybrid reading instruction. The digital versions are designed for use with Google Slides (and a few with Google Forms).

Task Card Answer Sheet

• Digital Teaching Posters
• Digital Graphic Organizers
• Digital Passages
• Digital Task Cards and Other Reading Activities

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Task Cards For Kids