Enrichment Activities for 3rd Graders

Enrichment is typically something that gets thrown to the side in teaching due to the crazy demands on our time and schedules. Enrichment activities for 3rd graders are not getting used. Intervention usually gets ample time and we let our enrichment kids get bored. But it doesn’t have to be that way! These enrichment activities for 3rd graders can be low prep and highly engaging for our students with these simple tips! 

Who gets enrichment activities in third grade?

You can do this one of two ways in my opinion. You can give enrichment to only the very high level kids (typically there may be 1 or 2 of these kids in your classroom) or you can give it to the group of kids that are higher level and tend to get things done early (typically 3-5 in a classroom). 

I would not give the enrichment we are talking about here to early finishers. I think you need to find something that relates to the content you are teaching for early finishers. These Google Slides are great for that! 

How to run enrichment activities for 3rd graders?

Enrichment by itself can be run by individual students, but here is what it can look like.

• Have a group or small group of students and you meet with them once a week (this can be during your typical center time)
• Together go over their enrichment work, discuss, and even teach a lesson if you need to.
• The teacher can assign them the enrichment work for the next week or have them continue to work on whatever they are working on.

SIMPLE, friends! 

When do you do enrichment?

Students can be doing enrichment when they get done with class work early, in the mornings, or even for homework. If you are doing a very easy review assignment, you could also allow them to do enrichment. 

If you do reading or math centers at all then this is the time when you can naturally meet with that group of students and discuss whatever enrichment activity they are working on at the time! 

A List of Enrichment Activities for 3rd graders

You can complete enrichment in your classroom in so many different ways, but here are some of my favorites!

• Enrichment Menus- These are like BINGO cards for enrichment. The kids can choose what they want to do and all you have to do is print a sheet of paper. They may need to research, but it should be all print-and-go! To make it even more engaging, when they are done with a BINGO you can give them a prize of some sort!
• Enrichment Projects- Things like this travel agent assignment here are great ways for students to work through a long-term enrichment project. They are creating a vacation, planning it, etc. You can do this in several different ways, but the goal is to have them work on a project that is higher level for a long period of time.
• Enrichment Book Clubs- Grab a novel that is higher level and have all the students read that novel. You can even give them these packets to make sure they are thinking through the novel at a higher level, as well!

I hope some of these ideas can help spark some enrichment in your classroom. Have questions or need to brainstorm? Email me at [email protected] to chat!