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'

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)

Memorise this

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

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)

Give me ten

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

(subscription only)

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

(subscription only)

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

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)

Teacher talkabout

Starter or plenary task. The class 'test' the teacher on their knowledge of key words related to this topic

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)

What? Why? How?

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

(subscription only)

Call My Bluff

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

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)

Mastermind

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

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)

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.

(subscription only)