I'm Finished, Now What??

One of the biggest headaches of teachers (or at least this one!) is that not everyone works at the same pace. So what do you do for those early finishers? Fortunately, fourth graders are old enough that you can tell them to read a book or work on homework, but what about those kids who ALWAYS finish early no matter how much work they have? You don't want them to spend half their day waiting on the other students to finish. Plus, do they really need to be reading a book during core math time? Shouldn't they be doing math??

I'm Finished Folders

This is why I am now using I'm Finished Folders in my room. The folders are kept in hanging file folders in a crate and kept on a back table (see picture at top). I got the idea for organizing them from Mrs. G, a kindergarten teacher in our building. I saw her kiddos filing their morning work away and thought, hey, if her kids can do that, mine sure can! Anyway, whenever a student is finished with their work (including checking back over it!), they may go to the back and pick out their I'm Finished Folder. They take the whole folder back to their seat and keep it until the end of class. The two sides of the folder are labeled "Finished" and "To Do." I love using these because it reinforces to the kids that at school we have fun, but we cannot afford to waste even one minute of time!

What Goes in the Folder

Each students folder is different. It is full of worksheets providing practice of skills we have already covered in class. There are some papers that most every student gets, some that go just in my more advanced students' folders, and some that go only in the folders of my students who need more help on a certain skill. Each student also has some papers that only go in their folder. For example, I will print a worksheet from FasttMath that allows them to practice their Focus Facts. They may also have a paper they have already turned in that needs to be corrected. This is also a great tool for my English Language Learners. Their folders are filled with math that is right on their level and can be done independently or with the help of a study buddy.

Possible Problems

• I do have some students that will rush through their work just so they can work on their I'm Finished Folder. For these students, they must ask my permission before getting their folder. I will only let them get their folder if I can tell they took their time and checked their work.


• I make sure that at least once a week, I allow about 10-20 minutes for all the students to work out of their folders. That way my slower workers get to use them too.


• I periodically have them clean out their Finished side for me to look over. I spot check their work and hand it back with a SOAR ticket or a piece of candy. This keeps them motivated to actually do the work in their folders instead of socializing when their work is finished.


• I keep a three ring binder in the back of the crate that helps me keep track of the papers I have stocked in the folders as well as answer keys. We have an awesome instructional assistant at our school who will grade papers for you while she is sitting with kids in the ABC room. : )