What do 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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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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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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30 Seconds

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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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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10 Questions

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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I have the answer

Students are shown the answer to a set of questions. They have to identify what the question might have been in order to arrive at the given answer.

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Odd One Out

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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Pass the Parcel

Starter or plenary

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

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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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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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Talk about

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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Three Facts

Starter or plenary.

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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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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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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Teacher Talkabout

Starter or plenary.

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

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Lucky Dip Questions (Plenary)

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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Consider all Reasons

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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Give me ten

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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Memorise this

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

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Charades

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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I Predict

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

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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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Call my bluff

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

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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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Word building game

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

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Theory Notes Task

Students read the theory notes on the mini website and then answer the questions on the task sheet.

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Noughts and Crosses

Students work in pairs to take turns at answering questions. If they get the answer correct, they take a turn on the noughts and crosses grid.

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

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Matching pairs

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

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

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Do I belong?

In groups, students sort through a large selection of terms and decide whether the term is related to the current topic.

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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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Tick the Answer (true / false)

Students are given a number of different statements relating to this topic. They have to decide whether the statement is true or false and place a tick in the correct box.

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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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100 words

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

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Case Study: Mistakes in silicon chips to help boost computer power

A useful extension or homework task to help develop students' wider knowledge of this topic

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Case Study: China aims to become supercomputer superpower

This case study asks students to consider the vast processing power of supercomputers and compare it to that of a home computer

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