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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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

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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Post-its

Starter task

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

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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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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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Word tennis

Starter task

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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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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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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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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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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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. The group must ensure that all members are able to articulate the 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

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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What's 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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442

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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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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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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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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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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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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Corkboard

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

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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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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 given a scenario and asked to research for specific information. 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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Task

Answers

Fill in the gaps

Task

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

Task

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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Key terms

Students are asked to provide a definition and example for key terms related to 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.

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Task

Answers

Mind map

Students are given the basic structure of a mind map for this topic. They are asked to complete the mind map by adding extra branches.

Mind maps are a useful tool to use as a revision aid.

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News bulletin

Task

Students work in groups to prepare a news bulletin about this topic.

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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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Noughts and Crosses

Task

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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Task

Answers

Podcast

Students are given instructions about creating a revision podcast based on this topic

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Presentation task

Students can take forever to set up a presentation often wasting valuable lesson time choosing their background colours and font styles.

This resource provides students with a template for this topic with the aim on them spending time on the content rather than the 'pretty stuff'.

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QR codes

A good kinaesthetic activity.

Students have to find, decode and answer questions stored in the form of QR codes

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Task

Answers

Researching terms

A great task to encourage students to undertake independent research in order to define a set of given terms.

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Reduce it

Students are given a section of theory. They pick out the 20 most important words. They are then asked to reduce these to the 8 they consider to be the most important.

A great task for really getting them to concentrate and think about the text in front of them.

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Word cloud

Students write a set of notes about this topic and then use them as the basis to create a word cloud. Their work can be used to create a classroom display.

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You are the teacher

Students work in small groups to prepare a lesson on this topic. They are provided with information and tips about the tasks they need to prepare.

Because all students will be working on this task there is no real need for them to actually teach it the following lesson

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