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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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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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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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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Find and sort

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

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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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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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Pick your answer

A great kinaesthetic starter activity.  Students have to move around the room to answer a series of questions

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Post its

A fun kinaesthetic starter task where students work in teams to solve a puzzle.

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Sort a sentence

A great kinaesthetic starter where students work in pairs or small groups to reconstruct a key sentence from this topic.

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What am I thinking

Starter. Students are have to guess what the teacher is thinking about.

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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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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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Pictionary

A starter or plenary task based on the popular game Pictionary

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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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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

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? Why? How?

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

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Talkabout

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

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Call my bluff

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

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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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Word building

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

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Golden envelopes

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

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Vocabulary knowledge

Use as both a starter and plenary task.

Students are given a list of terms related to this topic. They are asked to assess whether they could explain them clearly at the start of the lesson. They then indicate at the end of the lesson whether they would feel confident at providing a definition for them in an exam.

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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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Mastermind

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

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Pass the parcel

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

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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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I predict

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

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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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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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New terms

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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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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Tweet it

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

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