If you have any gifted learners in your classroom, then you might be used to asking yourself, “How can I challenge this student?” You don’t want to throw more busy work at them. You want the work to be meaningful and deepen their learning and understanding. But, you aren’t quite sure how. The good news is that planning enrichment activities doesn’t have to consume your conference period or be a waste of time for students.
I want to share some enrichment activities that can help get you started. Just remember that like any lesson or activity, there may be some trial and error involved. If something flops, pick a new strategy and try again.
Enrichment Activities for Gifted Learners
#1 Be the Expert
This enrichment activity can be as broad or narrow as you want it to be. Essentially, students will research a topic of their choice, and then write a paper about what they learned. If you are working specifically on research skills, leaving this open to a wide variety of topics can work, but you can easily create a more focused enrichment activity by giving students parameters.
For instance, if you’re studying the Constitution in social studies, a student can pick a topic that fits underneath that umbrella. This still allows them to pick their topic, but also deepen their knowledge of a specific skill or piece of content.
You can also have students present their topic or create a project board to go along with the paper and present it to the class. There are lots of possibilities! My Be the Expert resource makes assigning this enrichment activity simple. Just print the planning pages that students will need, and then set the expectations with the project requirements page. Then you’re all set!
#2 Be the Test Maker
Students are often test takers. But what if they also get a chance to be the test maker? This idea always excites students because they get to play teacher! Having students make a test is actually a high-level enrichment activity. Students have to be able to understand a skill, find examples of that skill, and then create a question around it. Definitely easier said than done (as any teacher would agree).
The Be the Test Maker resource works with any fiction or nonfiction ELA passage. On the editable standards chart, copy and paste 1-4 standards that you know apply to the text. Then, have students use those standards and create questions using the text.
You may need to look over the test and make revisions with students, but then I highly recommend giving that test to the rest of the class (even if it’s just for fun). The test doesn’t need to be a grade. You can make it a group activity or even turn it into a Kahoot!
#3 Choice Board
Student choice boards make for simple enrichment activities that can be used time and time again. We know that gifted students are often the first to finish their assignments. Instead of giving them busy work, have them dig deeper into the content by filling the choice board with quick strategies.
I have a free choice board template called I’m Done, Now What? that you can grab for free in my Free Resource Library! It’s completely editable, so you can change the activities and categories to fit your student’s needs. You could even create unique boards for each student!
#4 Provide Research Opportunities
If you’re looking for enrichment activities in social studies and ELA specifically, the Influential Person Research Project can be a good fit. This project works well for units of study where influential people are involved. For example, studying the Civil Rights Movement in social studies or reading a nonfiction text about an activist, athlete, and more.
During their research, gift students will dig deeper into that person’s life and their influence. Inside the Influential Person Research Project resource, I included pages to help guide students’ research and organize the information.
If you want to take this a step further, you can host an in-person or digital “Wax Museum”. The students dress like their influential person and make a speech about their life! It’s really fun when you can get the whole class involved.
#5 Book Club
While everyone in your class can participate in a book club, gifted learners really benefit from this enrichment activity. I like to group the gifted learners together and let them take a bit more ownership over their book, how they run their book club meetings, and what they discuss.
While I let students have lots of control over their book clubs, I also provide them with critical thinking questions and opportunities to deepen their understanding. This might be through a hands-on project or discussion questions.
If you want more enrichment activity resources and ideas, check out PAGE and Davidson for lesson plans, ideas, and more. These websites are full of resources, and I used their ideas often when planning for my own students. I hope the ideas I shared here are beneficial and remember to try one thing at a time and see how it goes!
