How to keep fast workers busy in a constructive way

by Amorie van Straaten
(South Africa, near Johannesburg)

I laminate about 10 coloring pictures. When learners have completed a task they are allowed to take a laminated picture and trace it with a white board marker. It is especially useful when a learner's fine motor skills are poorly developed.

I also laminate 'frame sentences' for learners to practice. Kids love writing with white board markers and I find this useful where English Second Language learners have to learn how to make sentences. E.g. The learners copy: I can see a dog. (A picture of a dog added to the sentence) Then: I can see a ____. Next: I can see __ dog; I can ___ a dog; and so on.

On Fridays we have a 'test day' and learners will have to write some of these sentences as part of their dictation and spelling tests.

When we do punctuation marks in class, I laminate big printed sentences and leave out the punctuation marks and full stops. Learners have to fill it in with white board markers, write their names on the cards and put it in a special box, where I can scan their efforts when I have time.