Ten 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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topics

Instructions

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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characters

starter

Compare and contrast

A starter activity in which students are given two items and asked to consider the differences and similarities between them

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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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Double Puzzle

Starter. Students are presented with a list of scrambled keywords to unscramble, and are then asked to discover and unscramble a hidden keyword from their answers

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task

answers

Odd one out

Lesson starter. Students are shown a number of key terms.   They have to decide which of the terms is the ‘odd one out’ and give a reason for their choice

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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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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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Memorise this

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

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Post-its

A fun kinaesthetic starter task 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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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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Wordsearch

Students are given a wordsearch and asked to circle a list of keywords. A low-effort filler task.

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task

answers

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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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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Give me ten

A starter or plenary task. Students work in pairs before joining up with another pair to expand their list.

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Haiku

Starter or plenary task. Students are asked to write a description in the form of a haiku poem for one of a handful of key terms.

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Just a minute

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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Pick me

This provides a differentiated starter or plenary activity. Students are given a question and work in groups to come up with an answer.

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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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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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Pictionary

A starter or plenary task based on the popular game Pictionary

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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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Sort and answer

Students work to reconstruct a scrambled question about this topic, and then provide an answer.

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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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Three facts

A starter or plenary task in which 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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Turn it down

Starter or plenary task. This follows the traditional game of writing a statement, folding or turning the paper down to hide what has been written and then passing it to the next student.

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What do I know?

Starter and plenary. Students fill in a sheet at the start of the lesson to indicate their level of knowledge for this topic. At the end of the lesson they revisit the sheet and update it to show what they have learned.

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What? Why? How?

Starter or plenary task. Students are asked three questions framed as “What?” “Why” and “How?”

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Whats your opinion?

Starter and plenary task. Students are given a statement about this topic and asked to discuss their opinion in pairs. At the end of the lesson they can reassess whether their original opinion has changed

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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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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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task

answers

I predict

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

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Across the curriculum

A plenary activity. Students are asked to consider how they could apply what they have learned today in other school subjects and at home

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Are they right?

Testing the class’s knowledge on the topic by asking them to judge whether a single student’s answers are right or wrong

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Call My Bluff

A plenary activity based on the popular game show, ‘Call My Bluff’

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Charades

Probably best as a plenary task. This ever popular acting game is an excellent activity to engage students at the start of a lesson or to add a fun element to the end of a lesson. Rules and list of words are provided.

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Create a wordsearch

Students are given step by step instructions about creating their own wordsearch which they can then give to fellow students to solve.

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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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Golden envelopes

Plenary task. An engaging task that has an element of ‘surprise’

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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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Lesson self assessment

Students assess what they have achieved during this lesson and identify how they could improve.

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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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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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Mastermind

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

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Mnemonic

Students often find it hard to remember long lists of items. A mnemonic is a rhyme or acronym that they can create to help them recall such a list.

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New words

A plenary task in which students have to identify three new words/terms that they learned during this lesson and then explain their meaning

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Once upon a time

Students are given a set of words related to this topic and asked to make up a story incorporating as many of the terms as possible.

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One word

A plenary task. Students have to sum up today's lesson in just one sentence. They must include a given word within that sentence.

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Pass the box

This starter or plenary task follows the traditional party game, with questions instead of gifts.

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PNI

Students are asked to identify the positive, negative and interesting points relating to this topic

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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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Stand up, sit down

A kinaesthetic plenary that gets students to think about the main terms related to this topic

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Taboo

A plenary activity. This task follows the traditional Taboo game. Students work in teams with one student from each team having their back to the board. A word is displayed on the board and teams take it in turns to describe the word to the student without actually mentioning the word itself.

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Talk about

A 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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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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Text me

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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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 building

Plenary task. Students work in groups to construct a sentence about today’s lesson

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