HOW to Use Task Cards to Increase Reading Comprehension
Do you use task cards during your reading instruction? From my very first weeks as an elementary school teacher, I could tell how beneficial task cards were to my reading instruction. Task cards are loaded with benefits, but possibly my favorite is the fact that they are skill specific. This really helps give students the opportunity to reach mastery with a particular reading strategy or skill.
Want to see how task cards can help improve your students reading comprehension too? Let me help!
In this post I’ll share several activities and tips on how to use task cards to increase your 2nd and 3rd grade students’ reading comprehension.
HOw to use task cards
You may have completed a “Task Card Scoot” in your classroom where you printed out a set of task cards, cut them up and placed them around the room. Then students would go through each card and record their answers on an answer sheet. This is one of the most common ways to use task cards in the classroom. But it’s really just the beginning!
Task cards are so versatile! Here are 7 ways you can use reading task cards in your classroom to improve your students’ engagement and increase their overall reading comprehension.
1. Use task cards during guided reading groups
Because task cards normally focus on a specific reading skill, they work perfectly for that little bit of time you have to reinforce reading skills within your guided reading groups. The reading passages on task cards are also short and sweet. This can allow students more time to actually practice the skill they’re learning rather than spending it reading through a long passage.
2. Let task cards help with whole group reading instruction
In order to teach a particular reading strategy you often must read a passage first. Whole group instruction (just like small group) can often fly by, so you want to make sure you aren’t spending the entire time reading that passage. Task cards can solve this problem because they are such quick reads.
Reading task cards address specific skills so you can project one up in front of your students and use it as a model for your lesson.
3. Reading Task Cards as Early Finisher Assignments
If you’ve taught for longer than 8 hours you know having early finisher assignments are key. Print out several sets of task cards each focusing on a few different reading comprehension skills and then have students keep track each time they complete a set. You may even choose to offer a small incentive like a classroom coupon when they do.
4. Use Task Cards as Exit Tickets
Exit tickets are helpful when trying to determine what stuck with students, but making them (often last minute) can be really time consuming. Using a task card for an exit slip works wonderfully because you can just copy or project one onto the white board and you’re done! A set of reading task card pdfs usually come with several inside, so you’ll have plenty to choose from when assigning them as exit tickets! You can read more about how I like to use exit tickets in this blog post!
5. Reading Test Prep
When testing season comes around, reading task cards truly provide more bang for you and your students’ buck. With a set of printable task cards they can get loads of practice on reading skills like summarizing, determining cause and effect, or making inferences. Determine which students need help with which skills and then assign task cards for review accordingly.
Fun Reading Comprehension activities
Incase you haven’t heard the buzz about BOOM Cards yet, I want to quickly introduce you to them. BOOM cards are simply just digital task cards! They make learning so much fun because students feel like they are playing a game. They are also self checking = no tedious grading for you!
See for yourself! You can grab a free set of reading comprehension BOOM Cards at the bottom of this post!
Reading Task Cards for 2nd and 3rd Grade
Are you looking for a way to improve your 2nd or 3rd graders’ reading comprehension? Check out this growing bundle of reading task cards in my TPT store.
Then, choose a few tips above to try out with you students in the next few weeks. Regardless of if you’re using them for guided reading groups, easily finisher activities, exit tickets, or something else – I guarantee you won’t regret including task cards into your reading instruction.
