How to run task cards in centers

1 What task cards are good for in a center

A task card is a small card with one question on it, numbered so a student can record the answer on a sheet by the card's number. A deck is a set of those cards on one skill. In a center, a small group works through the deck while you teach another group, so the deck has to be something students can do alone and finish in the time the center lasts.

Task cards suit centers for three reasons. They break a page of practice into pieces, so a student who stalls on one card can set it aside and pick up the next. They let a group share one set of materials, because each student works a different card at the same moment. And they can be checked card by card, which means a student finds a mistake on card three instead of discovering it on Friday.

They are practice, not teaching. A deck on a skill you introduced this morning will send students to your table with questions, and the point of the center is that they don't need to come. Use task cards for skills the class has already practiced with you, and for review of earlier skills. The What Works Clearinghouse's practice guide on organizing instruction and study rates two ideas behind that kind of review: using quizzes to bring students back to key content, which it marks as backed by strong evidence, and coming back to material after a gap of weeks, which it marks as moderate evidence. A deck of short questions on last month's skill is a small version of both.

2 Choosing and making the deck

A good center deck is one skill, a fixed number of cards, and answers that can be checked quickly. Twelve to sixteen cards is a common size for a center of ten to twenty minutes; younger students or longer cards need fewer. Number the cards, put a short title on each so a stray card finds its way home, and keep the wording as close as you can to the way you teach the skill.

Making one with the task card maker

The free task card maker builds a deck in about a minute. Pick a grade from kindergarten to 8th, then where the questions come from:

• The bank: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts in parts, or word meanings.
• A passage: the questions that go with one of the site's reading passages.
• My list: your own questions, one a line, written as the question, a colon, then the answer. The wrong choices are made from your other answers, so a list of ten or more works best.

Choose 8, 12, 16, 20 or 24 cards and 4 or 8 to a page. Every card has three answer choices, labeled A, B and C. One print gives you the cards with dashed cutting lines, a recording sheet with a numbered box for each card and a name line, and an answer key with the letter and the answer for each card. New cards deals a different deck from the same part, so you can print a practice deck and a second deck for a quick check. Your settings and a pasted list stay in your browser and ride in the link after the # sign; nothing is sent anywhere.

3 Setting up the center

Set the center up so it looks the same every week. Students should be able to walk to it, see what to do, and start, without reading new directions. A small tub or tray holds everything.

• The deck, in number order, held with a binder ring or in a labeled envelope.
• A stack of recording sheets for this deck, one per student.
• Pencils and something to lean on if the center is on the floor.
• A card that says how many to do: "Do cards 1 to 12. Finished? Do 13 to 16."
• The way to check: the key in a folder, a partner rule, or the self-check on a class device.
• A small "stuck" spot where a student puts a card they want to ask about later.

Print the deck on card stock if you can, or on plain paper glued to card stock for a deck you will use again. Laminated cards last for years, but plain paper is fine for a deck you will replace next week.

Decide who gets which cards. In a group of four with a twelve-card deck, each student can start at a different card (one, four, seven and ten) and work around, so nobody waits. Tell students that the number on the card must match the number on the sheet; that one rule prevents most mix-ups.

4 Teaching the routine before the center opens

Teach the task card routine to the whole class before it becomes a center. Put one deck on the board or under a document camera, show a recording sheet, and walk through three cards together. Then let every student do three cards at their desk while you watch. It takes one lesson, and it saves weeks of interruptions.

1. Take a card. One card at a time. Leave the rest in the pile or on the ring.
2. Find the number. Write the answer in the box with the same number on your sheet.
3. Put it back. Return the card before taking the next one.
4. Stuck? Put the card on the stuck spot and take another. Don't wait.
5. Check. When you have done the cards you were given, check them the way this center checks.
6. Clean up. Cards back in number order, sheet in the finished tray.

What to say"At the task card center you never wait for me. If a card is hard, it goes on the stuck spot and you take the next one. I'll look at the stuck cards when I come round."

Practice the clean-up too. A deck put back out of order costs the next group two minutes of sorting. Ask the last student in each group to check the order before the timer ends.

5 Three ways to check answers

A deck that nobody checks turns into a habit of practicing mistakes. Pick one way to check for each center and keep it the same for the year, so students do not have to ask.

The key in a folder

Put the printed key in a folder at the center. Students finish their cards, open the folder, and mark their own sheet with a colored pencil: a check for right, a circle for a fix. They then go back to the circled cards and try again. This is the simplest way, and it works from about 2nd grade up.

Partner check

Two students swap sheets and compare. Where they disagree, they find the card and solve it together. Partner checks lead to good talk about the work, but only if both partners did the cards first. Pair a student who rushes with one who is careful.

The self-check on a screen

Press Self-check on this screen in the task card maker and the same deck appears one card at a time on a class computer or tablet, with three big answer boxes. A right answer says so and moves on; a wrong answer says to try again. A speaker button reads the card and its choices aloud for a student who needs it. At the end it says how many were right on the first try. No name is asked for, nothing is saved, and reloading the page starts over, so the screen can be shared by the whole group without anyone's results left behind.

6 Scoot, early finishers and review days

The same deck that runs a center works three other ways, which is part of why task cards are worth printing.

Scoot

Put one card on each desk. Every student has a recording sheet. On a signal, students answer the card in front of them, then move one seat. Start with about a minute a card and adjust: fact cards go faster, word problems slower. Scoot gets everyone moving and works well for review before a test. It needs as many cards as students, so print a deck of 24 for a class of up to 24.

Early finishers

Keep a ring of cards from earlier in the year in a basket. A student who finishes a task can take the ring and a recording sheet and work at their desk. Because the deck is review, nobody needs help, and because the cards are numbered, a student can stop at any card and pick up there tomorrow.

Quick check

Print a second deck from the same part with New cards and use it as a short check after the center has run for a week. Students do the cards alone, without the key, and you look at the sheets to see who is ready to move on. A quiz or an exit ticket on the same skill does the same job on one page.

7 Fitting task cards into a rotation

Task cards are most often one stop in a rotation of centers, with your teacher table as another. The rotation chart maker lays out who goes where: name your centers ("Task cards" can be one of them), pick how many groups and the minutes at each, and it prints a chart where every group visits every center once. Press Run it on the board and the projector shows where each group is now and chimes when it is time to move. The full routine for the teacher table and the other centers is in the guide to small-group rotations.

Match the deck to the minutes. A center of twelve minutes fits about twelve fact cards or six word problems for most 3rd graders. If groups never finish, cut the number of cards on the "how many" card rather than adding minutes, because every other center would have to stretch too.

Rotate the skill, not the routine. Keep the task card center in the same spot, with the same tub and the same checking rule, and change only the deck each week. Students then spend their center minutes on the questions instead of on working out a new set of directions.

8 Task card centers by grade band

Kindergarten to 2nd grade

Keep decks short, eight cards is plenty, and use 4 to a page so the cards are big. Pictures and numbers do more than words at this age. Recording sheets can be as simple as circling A, B or C. The self-check on a screen suits this age well, because the speaker button reads each card aloud and the boxes are large enough to tap.

3rd to 5th grade

This is where task card centers work best. Fact cards, word meanings and reading passage questions all fit, and students can check their own sheets with a key. Twelve to sixteen cards is a good center size. Add a challenge rule for early finishers: write your own card on the back of the sheet for the next group.

6th to 8th grade

Middle school classes use task cards less as a center and more as stations, review and Scoot. Paste your own questions into the maker's list box: vocabulary from the unit, equations, short answer facts. Students this age can partner-check well, and the talk about disagreements is worth the minutes.

9 Common problems and fixes

• Students come to your table with questions. The deck is new or too hard. Use review skills, and teach the stuck spot rule again.
• Answers go in the wrong boxes. Teach "number on the card, number on the sheet" and have students say the number aloud as they write.
• Cards go missing. Put the title and number on every card, keep decks on rings, and make clean-up part of the center.
• Some students copy from the key. Move the key to a folder they open only when finished, or switch that center to a partner check or the self-check on a screen.
• Nobody finishes. Fewer cards, not more minutes. Put the number to do on a card at the center.
• Fast finishers get loud. Post what finished means: check, fix, then the early finisher ring or a book.

Give any change a week before you judge it. A new center always looks rougher on Monday than it does by Friday.