10 Questions

A lesson starter activity
A volunteer (either a student or class teacher) is given a slip of paper so they know 'what they are'.

The rest of the class can ask up to a maximum of 10 questions to guess what they are. The volunteer can only answer 'yes' or 'no'

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Hot and cold

Starter.

A fun kinaesthetic activity encouraging students to correctly arrange a sentence preparing them for the lesson ahead.

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Mini whiteboards

Starter activity

A great way of quickly assessing which key terms students remember from the previous lesson and where further teaching focus might need to be given

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Post-its

Starter task

A fun kinesthetic activity where students work in teams to solve a puzzle.

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Questions to ask

A starter task

Students are given a list of categories and asked to write down the questions they would like answered from today's lesson

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Scrabble

Starter task

Students are given a blank scrabble type sheet and take it in turns to write down key words related to this topic

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Word chains

Starting with the shaded letter, students find the adjacent letters which spell out a word related to this topic.  Letters can go horizontally, vertically and diagonally in any direction.

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30 seconds

Lesson starter

Students are shown a number of terms for exactly 30 seconds. They need to memorise as many as possible. After 30 seconds, the terms are hidden and they need to write down as many terms as they can remember along with at least one fact about that term.

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3 - 2 - 1

Lesson starter

Display this on the whiteboard as students are walking through the door. They can work individually or in pairs to come up with the answers.

Good for differentiation as all students should be able to get at least one of the six points.

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Acting up

A fun starter activity.

Students are given a character card. They then have to explain a term related to this topic whilst staying in character.

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Consider all reasons

Starter task

Students are given an open ended statement related to the topic.  In pairs, they identify as many reasons as possible in order to provide an answer to the statement

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Countdown

Starter task

Students are given a set of jumbled up words related to this topic. They have to unscramble each of the words within 30 seconds.

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Memorise this

Lesson starter

Students work in pairs or small groups to remember words which have been shown to them.

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Teach me about

Lesson starter

Students become the teacher! One student is tasked with preparing a five minute revision starter about this topic for the beginning of the following lesson.

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What am I thinking

Students are told that the teacher is thinking about three things to do with this topic. They have to write their guesses down onto post-it notes.

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Word tennis

Starter

Students work in groups of three with two 'serving' words related to the topic. The observer monitors for words which are 'out'

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Split the words

A plenary activity.

Students are presented with a condensed paragraph of theory and are asked to make it legible.

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Draw me a picture

Starter or plenary

Students are given a selection of key terms and are asked to illustrate one of them in a diagram.

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Pick me

A starter or plenary task.

This provides a differentiated starter or plenary activity. Students are given a question and work in groups to come up with an answer. The group must ensure that all members are able to articulate the answer

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Pictionary

A starter or plenary task based on the popular game Pictionary

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Talkabout

A starter or plenary task
Students work in pairs with one student talking about the topic and the other monitoring how many of the displayed key words they mention.

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Are they right?

Plenary task

An interactive plenary task testing how well students have taken on the information presented in the lesson

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Chinese whispers

Starter or plenary task. Students write a description of a key term, then pass it through translation filters for a different group to put back together.

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Post it key terms

Starter or plenary

A good activity to encourage teamwork.

Students compete in groups to identify as many key terms as possible

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Three facts

Starter or plenary task

Students are asked to write down three facts that they can remember off the top of their heads about the topic.

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Golden envelopes

Plenary task

An engaging task that has an element of ‘surprise’

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Tweet it

A plenary activity
Students write a ‘Tweet’ message to sum up what they have learned during the lesson

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Word Association

A starter or plenary task.

Students are asked to write down all of the words they associate with this topic. They then work with a partner to categorise them.

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Teacher Talkabout

Starter or plenary task

The class 'test' the teacher on their knowledge of key words related to this topic

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Pass the Buck

An excellent starter or plenary for involving all students and getting them to identify a large number of facts about the current topic

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One, Two, Three

Can be used either as a starter or a plenary task.

Students are given a sheet to complete firstly on their own, then with a partner and then joining up with another pair

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Lucky Dip Questions

Starter or plenary task

Every student is given a number at the start of the activity. This is used to help pick who will ask and answer questions about what has been learned during the lesson.

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Just a minute

Starter or plenary task

Students are asked to talk to a partner about this topic for 60 seconds whilst abiding by a set of rules

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Give me ten

A starter or plenary task

Students work in pairs to come up with ten words related to this project before joining up with another pair to expand their list.

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4-4-2

A plenary activity where students are asked to summarise the lesson and pick out the main key words related to the topic.

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Corkboard

A great plenary idea both for AFL and for getting feedback from every student

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I predict

This task acts as the plenary from one lesson and the starter for the next lesson

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Lesson Summary

This plenary provides students with an opportunity to evaluate the lesson and their learning and an AFL opportunity for the teacher.

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Mastermind

A plenary activity which is loosely based on the game show 'Mastermind'

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New Words

A plenary task

Students have to identify three new words/terms that they learned during this lesson and then explain their meaning

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Pyramid

A plenary activity.

Students are asked to complete a self assessment sheet to indicate what they have learned during this lesson

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Text Me

A plenary task

A plenary activity where students are asked to write a text message to explain what they have learned during the lesson

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100 words

Students have exactly 100 words to summarise the key points about this topic

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Agony aunt

Students are put into the role of an agony aunt who has to answer a set of letters about technology related problems.

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Booklet

Students are asked to research for specific information on this topic. They are then given a set of guidelines and asked to create a booklet from the information they have gathered.

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Construct an answer

Students are given an exam style question to answer. They are also given a set of key words to incorporate into their answer.

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Correct the teacher

Students are given a piece of text written by a ‘teacher’. The text contains a number of mistakes. They are asked to read the text and correct any mistakes they find.

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Crossword

Students are given a crossword to solve with clues relating to key words for this topic.

Answers are provided.

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Fill in the gaps

Students are given a piece of text with a number of key words removed. The key words appear in a table above the text. They need to replace the words correctly back into the text.

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Identify the question

Students are given the answer to a number of questions.  Their task is to identify what the original question might have been.

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In the style of

A fantastic kinaesthetic activity which is bound to produce some amusing results whilst at the same time reinforcing the main concepts of this topic.

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Matching pairs

Students work in pairs to turn over two cards and matchup a keyword with a definition or example.

Full instructions are given in the task sheet. Requires preparation prior to the lesson

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