I'm done! Now what?

This year, I find myself with a good deal more of autonomy in my classroom.  With this newfound freedom, I'm more motivated to use data to drive instruction (funny how that changes when it's not forced), and focus on greater differentiation for the huge range of understanding I see in each of my classes.  Some of my fifth graders are ready to move on quickly and need very little instruction and practice to really master a concept.  Others are struggling with automaticity with addition and subtraction, making fraction and decimal operations even more challenging.

Self reflection has led me to realize that I am doing a much better job of assisting struggling students and need to give more attention to those students who are excelling and quickly getting bored.   After talking with colleagues, parents, and students, I've arrived at the following possible ways to further engage and enrich these students:

• An independent research project on the Fibonacci numbers, the Golden Ratio, or something similar.
• Activities from the 6th grade text
• A connected project per unit or standard
• Purchasing a couple of copies of something like this: The Cartoon Guide to Algebra
• A student brought this to my attention.  She's been working out of it with her grandma and asked if she could work out of it when she has finished her work.

I have several things that need to be worked out.  We have limited technology, so an independent research project is somewhat tricky.  Also, while any student could potentially have the opportunity to work on an enrichment or challenge activity, the reality is that some students will likely never get there, and this could cause some resentment (or maybe motivation?).  How is this work assessed?  If it is not for a grade, will students want to do good quality work?  Should it connect directly to the standards or is this a good place for some "extras?"

I really want to avoid giving additional or different practice and would like for the work to be challenging, interesting, engaging, inspiring, and worth while.  It is also important that the work be largely independent or collaborative among students so that I can continue to provide remediation for other students.  It would be wonderful if this work could be ongoing and long term so that students pick up where they left off.  What do you think would be the best way to drive these students forward and facilitate a greater love for math?  What have you tried in you classroom that was effective (or not)?