What to Do with Early Finishers in Middle School Math: Easy Ways to Challenge Advanced Students

Every math teacher knows the moment: a student finishes early, looks around the room, and… zones out.

Not because they’re confused.
Not because they’re frustrated.
But because they’re done—and they have nothing else to do.

These students are capable, curious, and hungry for more. However, they easily get overlooked as you are busy trying to meet the needs of those who are behind. 

The good news? Challenging your advanced learners doesn’t require creating a whole second lesson plan or spending hours prepping enrichment work. With a few simple shifts, you can stretch their thinking, deepen understanding, and keep them meaningfully engaged.

Below are some easy, high-impact strategies you can start using tomorrow.

Ask for Multiple Strategies

When an advanced learner finishes ahead of the class, push their thinking by asking for another way.

• Can you solve this using a model instead of an equation?

• Can you show a visual strategy?

• What’s a second way to justify your answer?

When students compare and evaluate different strategies, they build flexibility and true conceptual understanding—not just speed.

Flip the Task

One of the simplest ways to deepen thinking is to reverse the direction of the work.

Instead of giving them a problem to solve, try:

• “Here’s the answer. What could the question be?”

• “Create a real-world situation that matches this equation.”

• “Write a story problem that results in a slope of –3.”

This approach moves students from answer-finding to problem-formulating, which is a much higher level of reasoning.

Add Constraints

Constraints force creativity.

You might ask:

• “Solve this using only fractions.”

• “Create an equation with a negative slope.”

• “Represent this relationship without using a graph.”

These limitations nudge students to think more intentionally and flexibly about how math works.

Invite Justification and Critique

Advanced students thrive when they’re asked to evaluate thinking—not just produce answers.

Try:

• Asking whether a student’s reasoning is valid

• Having them explain why a misconception is incorrect

This pushes them into mathematical communication, precision, and argumentation—all essential skills for deeper understanding.

Looking for Ready-Made Enrichment? Try What’s the Question?

If flipping the task sounds powerful, but you’d love a ready-to-use option, I have something perfect for you.

What’s the Question? activities start with an answer and challenge students to generate a possible question that leads to it.

It’s ideal for:

• Early finishers

• Enrichment

• Math centers

• Exit tickets

• Whole-class discussions that promote higher-order thinking

Teachers love it because students think creatively and deeply… while you don’t have to prep something extra.

👉 Explore What’s the Question? Activities

You’ll be amazed at the reasoning and originality students show when they work backward through a problem.

Challenging your advanced learners doesn’t need to be complicated. With a few small tweaks, you can keep every student thinking—without adding to your workload.

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Michelle Sigaran

How to Keep Students Engaged in Math During Halloween Week

Halloween week in middle school can be one of the toughest times to keep students focused. The excitement is high, energy levels spike, and attention spans drop fast. But instead of fighting the Halloween hype, you can use it to your advantage. With the right mix of structure and creativity, your students can stay engaged, learn, and even have fun while doing math.

Channel the Halloween Energy

Trying to power through your normal lessons rarely works this week. The key is to lean into the energy and give it a productive direction. Themed math lessons turn distractions into motivation—students are more likely to participate when lessons feel festive and relevant.

Keep Routines Steady

Consistency is your best friend. Start class the same way you always do—with bell ringers, clear expectations, and familiar transitions. Routine provides a sense of stability even during the most exciting weeks of the school year.

Use Short, High-Energy Activities

Avoid long lectures or extended worksheets. Instead, try math stations, task card games, or partner challenges. Short, varied activities give students chances to move and reset their focus. They’ll stay engaged longer, and you’ll get quick formative feedback on who’s mastering the content.

Add a Light Halloween Twist

You don’t need to decorate the entire classroom or plan an elaborate party. Simply changing the context can make math more fun. Try problems involving:

• Candy ratios and percentages

• Pumpkin prices and proportions

• Graphing ghosts or bats on the coordinate plane

These quick tweaks make ordinary review feel exciting and new.

Encourage Reflection

Build in moments for students to connect math to real life. Have them write short reflections like:

“How did you use math in your Halloween prep?”
They might talk about estimating candy bags, dividing treats with friends, or calculating decoration costs. Writing helps strengthen mathematical reasoning and reflection—without adding extra grading.

 

Ready-to-Use Halloween Math Activities

If you’re short on prep time (because, let’s face it, October gets busy!), I’ve created a few classroom-tested resources that make Halloween math both engaging and effective:

🎃 Halloween Activities for Grades 6–8 (Differentiable)
🧡 Halloween Adding and Subtracting Integers Coloring Activity
👻 Halloween Scientific Notation Conversions Coloring Activity
🕸️ Halloween Graphing Linear Equations Mystery Picture

Each activity reinforces key middle school math standards, looks festive, and keeps students learning even when they’re full of Halloween energy.

Final Thoughts

Halloween week doesn’t have to be chaotic—it can be an opportunity to create memorable, meaningful math experiences. With a little planning, a solid routine, and a sprinkle of creativity, you can keep students engaged and excited about math all week long.

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Michelle Sigaran

How to Boost Math Retention with Spiral Review and Writing

If you’ve ever taught a concept in September only to have students stare blankly at you in November when it comes up again… you know the frustration. Retention is one of the biggest challenges in middle school math.

Students don’t just forget formulas or steps—they forget the connections that make math make sense.

So, how can we help our students retain what they’ve learned for the long term?

Let’s talk about one simple, powerful strategy: spiral review with writing.

Why Students Forget So Quickly

Math builds on itself. When students move from one unit to the next without revisiting previous concepts, their understanding fades fast. It’s not that they never learned it—it’s that their brains haven’t had enough chances to use it in meaningful ways.

Spiral review gives students those opportunities by revisiting old topics regularly. But adding a writing component to that review takes it to the next level.

The Power of Writing in Math

Writing helps students process their thinking.
When they explain how they solved a problem—or why one strategy worked better than another—they’re doing more than recalling steps. They’re connecting ideas, using math vocabulary, and reinforcing conceptual understanding.

A few examples of math writing prompts that promote deeper thinking: 

• “Explain how you know if an equation has one solution, no solution, or infinitely many.”

• “Describe a time you made a math mistake and what it taught you.”

• “Compare solving proportions by cross multiplying and by finding unit rate. Which do you prefer and why?”

These types of questions encourage reflection and critical thinking—skills that naturally lead to better retention.

How to Implement Spiral Review with Writing

Here are a few simple ways to make this strategy part of your routine:

1. Warm-Ups: Start class with one or two review problems and a short writing prompt.

2. Weekly Reflection: Have students choose one concept from the week to write about—what they learned, where they struggled, and what strategies helped.

3. Exit Tickets: End class with a quick math writing prompt to reinforce that day’s learning.

You don’t need to overhaul your lesson plans—just sprinkle small, consistent writing opportunities into your existing spiral reviews.

A Ready-to-Use Resource

To save you time, I’ve created a set of Math Writing Prompts designed specifically for middle school spiral review. These prompts cover key math concepts and can be used in warm-ups, journals, or exit tickets.

They’re quick to implement, encourage deeper thinking, and help your students remember what they’ve worked so hard to learn. 

⭐ 6th Grade Math Writing Prompts → Digital version

⭐ 7th Grade Math Writing Prompts → Digital version

⭐ 8th Grade Math Writing Prompts → Digital version

Retention doesn’t have to be a constant struggle. With a little intentional spiral review and purposeful writing, you can help your students strengthen their understanding—and make math stick for good.

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Michelle Sigaran

How to Boost Student Engagement in Middle School Math

If you’ve ever looked out at your class and seen glazed-over eyes, you know how hard student engagement can be in middle school math. You work hard planning a lesson, but if your students aren’t with you, it feels like all that effort goes to waste.

The truth is, engagement doesn’t mean adding more “fun” or gimmicks. It’s about helping students feel involved, active, and successful in the learning process. When students are engaged, they not only enjoy math more, but they also understand it on a deeper level.

Why Engagement Is So Important  

When students are engaged, they:

• Participate in class discussions

• Stay on task longer

• Make stronger connections between concepts

• Build the confidence to keep trying, even when math is hard

But when engagement is low, lessons drag, reteaching becomes constant, and both you and your students end up frustrated.

Simple Shifts to Increase Engagement

Here are a few strategies you can use tomorrow to bring more energy into your math classroom:

• Math Talk – Have students explain their thinking to a partner instead of just giving an answer.

• Whiteboards – Quick write-and-hold-up activities keep everyone accountable.

• Real-Life Connections – Bring in examples from sports, recipes, or money to show why math matters.

• Movement – Get students up and moving with a gallery walk or scavenger hunt.

• Stations – Rotate through different activities so students stay focused and active.

Why I Love Using Stations

Stations are one of my favorite ways to keep students engaged because they: 

• Break lessons into smaller, more manageable parts 
  
  

• Give students a chance to collaborate

• Add variety so students don’t get bored

• Let you check in with small groups instead of the whole class at once

Instead of working through one long worksheet, students move, talk, and solve problems in different ways. This structure gives them choice and variety while keeping the math meaningful.

Try Math Stations in Your Classroom

If you’ve never tried stations before, I encourage you to start small. Even one or two stations can make a big difference.

To make it easier, I’ve created ready-to-use resources that take the prep off your plate. You can check out my Middle School Math Stations Bundle to get everything you need for stations across the year.

Not ready for the full bundle? Start with my FREE Adding and Subtracting Integers Stations to see how stations can transform engagement in your classroom.

Final Thoughts

Engagement doesn’t have to mean adding more work for you. Small changes, like using stations, can make a huge difference in how students experience math.

When students are engaged, they don’t just go through the motions—they actually make sense of math.

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Michelle Sigaran