Suggested Independent Activities

1. Suggested Independent Activities For Second-Sixth Grade Benchmark/ Advanced Students During Universal Access Time

2. Organize Your Classroom So that All Students Can Work Independently Group students individually, in pairs, or in small groups Teach students how to work with others in groups Introduce, model, and provide practice in how to complete independent activities Evaluate the independence of interactive groups

3. Implementing Independent Work Follow the suggested RUSD Houghton Mifflin Lesson Plan chart Introduce independent activities on days 6/7 Have students work independently on days 1-5 Allow self-selection of independent activities

4. Suggested Ongoing Independent Work Theme Resources Small Group/Independent Reading Fluency Extensions Cross-Curricular Reading/Writing Higher Order Thinking/Writing Skills Work Extensions

5. Theme Resources Challenge Designed for advanced students Activities at higher levels of Bloom’s Activities extend learning beyond the story Classroom Management Designed for benchmark students Activities not at the higher levels of Bloom’s Activities take students back into the story

6. Using Theme Resources Set up a “center” where activities are posted/available with any necessary resources Select the most appropriate activities from both handbooks and make available to both benchmark and advanced students Introduce the activities on day 6 of a story Allow for self-selection of activities Recognize that some activities require more time to complete

7. Small Group/Independent Reading Small Group Provides for intellectual peer opportunity Allows for application of reading comprehension strategies Can be linked to content area reading/research Independent Allows student to pursue genre interests Allows for self-pacing Can be linked to content area reading/research

8. Using Small Group/Independent Reading Options Select materials that are at an appropriate instructional level Allow student choice in determining the reading selection Provide response work and organizers to keep students focused Provide time to read and respond

9. Fluency Extensions Advanced readers do not need to practice speed and accuracy in reading a passage Advanced readers are fluent readers who do benefit from practice in becoming more expressive readers. Develop metacognition of reading fluency through student-created Reader’s Theater

10. Reader’s Theater Provide copies of a story, reading passage, poem, etc. to be transformed into theater Develop symbols for pause, emphasize, whisper Develop abbreviations for narrators, designated parts Edit (by crossing out) extraneous material that would not be read aloud Practice aloud

11. Cross-Curricular Reading/Writing Provide students time to pursue in-depth research of content area studies Allow for independent reading of informational books that are above, at, and below a student’s reading level Encourage students to develop questions related to content area studies Allow for choice in demonstrating research knowledge Emphasize process over product

12. Implementing Research Harcourt Resources Extends social studies learning with Time for Kids or Social Studies in Action Short/Long-term and Writing projects Begins with: Which of these topics would you like to know more about? Response work Final product choices Independent Inquiries Builds research skills Begins with: What questions do you still have about our history/science unit studies? Note-taking to answer the questions Final product choices

13. Higher Order Thinking/Writing Provides opportunity for students’ to think “outside the box” while addressing writing standards Requires students to evaluate and synthesize their thinking through open-ended writing prompts Emphasis is on brainstorming and development of short rough drafts

14. Problem Solving Writing Prompts Provide a roadmap for writing expectations: Genre of writing Length Attach brainstorming Edit for spelling/punctuation Rough draft or full writing process

15. Skills Work Extensions Advanced readers typically demonstrate verbal use of above grade level vocabulary. Pretest weekly vocabulary, compact work to words not known, and extend vocabulary through the following activities: Vocabulary Web Root Word/ Word History Challenges

16. Vocabulary Extensions Extend knowledge of a word by creating a cluster map of synonyms, antonyms, etc. Create new words with definitions using roots, suffixes and prefixes Research the etymology of a word or category of words

17. What NOT To Do During UA Do not assign worksheets such as crosswords or word searches. However, it would be appropriate for students to create a crossword or word search of their vocabulary words. Do not assign Bag Lady projects or plays from the Social Studies in Action resource book. These are enriching activities that ALL students should be doing, not just benchmark and advanced readers.

18. Grading This is not busy work. These activities require depth of thought and real work effort. Students need work guidelines and feedback. Help students recognize that cross-curricular work may earn grades in more than one area.

19. Resources Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom by Susan Winebrenner Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom by Smutny, Walker & Meckstroth Just What I Need! By Bertie Kingore, PhD. Creativity Day-By-Day By Nathan Levy Engine-Uity publishes reading/research centers Tribes provides resources for creating successful cooperative groups www.k12tlc.net for current events/web quests rubistar.com has pre-made rubrics and a teacher-friendly process for creating rubrics.