“I’m Done” Cups

So, I got this fantastic idea for Pinterest as a way to end the endless question of, “I’m done….what do I do now?” that you get as a teacher.  The teacher who I got the idea from had an “I’m Done” jar, but since I teach first grade and have an accident prone class, a glass mason jar didn’t seem like the best idea. I got my craft sticks, jewels, and stickers from JoAnn’s and I found some great plastic tumbler cups from Target.  For this project, I wrote activities for the kids to do once completed with their work on the stick.  Now, when kids finish they know they can go to the “I’m Done Cup” and pick out an activity to work on. 

I have had this in my classroom for about a month now and I love it! The kids are so much more independent and it’s great too because there doing different activities each time. I used to say, “oh, just go and read a book” which got boring to them after a while, but now they have multiple things that they can do.  Below are some examples of the activities they can choose from.

“I’m Done” Cup Activities

• read a book from the classroom library
• read from my book bag
• read the decodable books
• write a letter
• write a story
• write a list
• practice math flashcards
• practice reading flashcards
• file papers
• practice spelling words
• make a sound/spelling circle map
• make a number of the day circle map

I know this may seem like a lot of activities, but the variety of the choices actually helps with management. Before I’d have all of the kids in one area trying to get books and it typically turned into an issue.  Now, they are doing a variety of tasks in different areas of the room so it gets rid of the congestion.  I also decided to have two cups. Both cups have the same items in them, but this way the kids aren’t all waiting to grab their stick from just one cup. 

See pictures below…