Word Tennis

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.

Two differentiated versions of the task are supplied.

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version 1

version 2

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What Do I Know?

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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Memorise this!

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

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3-2-1

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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Teach me about ...

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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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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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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character cards

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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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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When I went on holiday

A starter task

Based on the old childhood game of ‘when I went on holiday I took a ...’

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Pass the Parcel

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

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Three Facts

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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Teacher Talkabout

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

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Talkabout

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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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 to come up with ten words related to this project 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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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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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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Taboo

This plenary follows the theme of 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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Call My Bluff

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

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Mastermind

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

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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 game

Plenary task

Students work in groups to construct a sentence about today’s 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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Corkboard

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

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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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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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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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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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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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Crossword Clues

Students are given a completed crossword and asked to write the clues.  This task is an excellent way to help students really understand the meaning of each term.
Differentiation is achieved through the complexity of the clues written.

Students can swop clues and provide feedback on their clarity.

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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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Key terms

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

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Network hardware

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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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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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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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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100 words

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

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Create your own crossword

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

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Pick me

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.

This lesson task incorporates differentiation in terms of the support given or received by individual members within the group.

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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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Playdough

A wonderfully fun kinaesthetic activity which will help students to think creatively.

Warning: this can be fairly messy

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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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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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