Are Your Early Finishers Making the Most of Their Time?

In my experience, nothing can be more disruptive in a classroom than a student with nothing to do, and each year I have a group of students who tend to complete the assigned work with time to spare. What is really necessary in every classroom is a set of activities designed with those early finishers in mind.

Early finishers can be a disruption in the classroom if you are not prepared with engaging activities. Take a look at the free early finishers activity in this post, grab a freebie, and leave with some additional resource ideas for the early finishers in your classroom!

I have had a BOGGLE board in my class for years now, and it is usually a hit, but at some point in the year, nobody really bothers with it anymore. I came across a cool idea on Pinterest for Number BOGGLE, or Noggle, that is the perfect way to give the BOGGLE board a facelift and some new life! It was originally posted by Katie at Rock & Teach. You can check it out by clicking here:

Early finishers can be a disruption in the classroom if you are not prepared with engaging activities. Take a look at the free early finishers activity in this post, grab a freebie, and leave with some additional resource ideas for the early finishers in your classroom!

You can see in the photo above how I "tweaked" my Boggle board to accommodate Katie's ideas. I even got the numbers through a link she has in her blog post!

The game's goal is to get as close to a "Target" number as possible using adjacent numbers and any combination of operations. Here's an example:

Early finishers can be a disruption in the classroom if you are not prepared with engaging activities. Take a look at the free early finishers activity in this post, grab a freebie, and leave with some additional resource ideas for the early finishers in your classroom!

I created a NOGGLE sheet for my students to use when playing, and it is available as a FREEBIE in my exclusive Freebie Library. Click the image to download it now.


Something else my early finishers just love are my editable Math Morning Work bins! You can check those out here:

Early finishers can be a disruption in the classroom if you are not prepared with engaging activities. Take a look at the free early finishers activity in this post, grab a freebie, and leave with some additional resource ideas for the early finishers in your classroom!


You might also be interested in this blog post:

Early finishers can be a disruption in the classroom if you are not prepared with engaging activities. Take a look at the free early finishers activity in this post, grab a freebie, and leave with some additional resource ideas for the early finishers in your classroom!

Pin this post:

Early finishers can be a disruption in the classroom if you are not prepared with engaging activities. Take a look at the free early finishers activity in this post, grab a freebie, and leave with some additional resource ideas for the early finishers in your classroom!

Want more great ideas like this one to use in your classroom?

34 comments

  1. :Looks so good! So excited to see Noggle in other classrooms! :)

    Katie
    Rock and Teach

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  2. That looks engaging! I wonder if I can think of a way to change it to work with Kindergarten...

    My Kinder-Garden

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    Replies
    1. I'm sure you could come up with something, Crystal! :) Good luck!!

      Erin

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  3. Sounds like fun! Thanks for sharing at Manic Monday!

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  4. Well, sorry, I saw this at Manic Monday again, but seriously, it looks like fun! I will forward it to my teacher daughter to use! Thanks again!☺

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    1. Haha! Thanks for leaving another comment, Debbie! :) I appreciate any sharing!

      ~Erin

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  5. I love this wonderful freebie! I currently use Boggle in my classroom and its a student favorite. Can't wait to add this!

    I found your blog through the Maniac Monday linky. Check out my blog if you have a chance.

    Thanks again for the great freebie!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for leaving a comment, Breanne! I will certainly check out your blog! Where can I find it?

      ~Erin

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  6. Cool idea! I feel your pain with early finishers. It can be hard to challenge them and monitor them while helping other kids along. Thanks for posting this freebie!

    Kate

    http://katesclassroomcafe.blogspot.com/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, Kate! I'm heading over to check out your blog now! ;)

      ~Erin

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  7. Great idea for early finishers! Fun and meaningful.

    Amy
    Eclectic Educating

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  8. Cute idea! Love it!
    Jennifer
    The Extra Energetic Educator
    extraenergeticeducator@yahoo.com

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  9. Love this idea. Such a great way to incorporate math during times other then math time and easily able to modify it to be usable at all levels. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to add this to my list of things to incorporate in my class.

    Stephanie
    PolkaDotPalace

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Stephanie! It is great! I am using it currently with 5th graders, but fully intend to modify for my 2/3 class next year. Easily done, I think!

      Enjoy!
      ~Erin

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  10. The Noggle game looks like fun. I may use it with students I tutor. I'd love to adapt it for my algebra classes!

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    1. Oh, I'm sure you could come up with something! I used it with my fifth grade class this year, and am planning on taking it with me to 2/3 next year!

      Thanks for stopping by!

      ~Erin

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  11. Could you please explain to me how to play Noggle? Also, how do you come up with more numbers for your Noggle board and the target number? Please email me at lsadler1@gmail.com Thank you!!

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    1. If you follow the link above to Rock and Teach you will see the original post about Noggle. I randomly added numbers, ensuring that I had a mix of two-digit and one-digit numbers to ensure all of my students could access the fun. They could use any combination of operations with neighboring numbers, but just like in Boggle, could only use each number once in a turn. The target number is random. I chose 100. You could use whatever you like.

      ~Erin

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  12. Thanks for the freebie! Love your blog design.
    Chris

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  13. What an awesomely adoreable idea! I need to bring the NOGGLE idea down a few notches in skill for my kids thank you so much for the cool ideas.
    Mary Ann
    http://www.superteachsspecialedspot.blogspot.com/

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  14. Hey Erin
    LOVE THIS! What is on your bulletin board under the sheets for the kids to take? Do you keep points? Jacquie

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    1. Pop down and see me at school and I'll fill you in! :)

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    2. LOL I would love to but I teach in Rye NH! LOL

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    3. LOL!! I figured this out today! I was so sure that you were one of my coworkers! You even spell your name the same way. (I've never seen anyone else spell it this way!)

      So... The students use adjacent numbers with any operation. Depending on the grade level you can have them add, subtract, multiply and/or divide and their goal is to get as close to the target number as possible. I have a free tracking sheet available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store - just click the image above and it will take you right there!

      What you see in the photo is the rule card for our Boggle games. I switched it up to Noggle mid-year to keep the kids engaged. :)

      Hope this helps!
      ~Erin

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  15. Erin
    How funny is that!! OMG I was cracking up! Ok....I actually started it today and the kids love it! Thanks for sharing it! I thought maybe it was a point system you posted under sheet! Have a great week and tell Jacquie I said hello! LOL

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    Replies
    1. Haha! So funny! Glad your students are having fun with it! :)

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