Try some of these fun, no-prep games to help your teach English to young or beginner level students.
Explore different materials and their properties with this engaging unit. Activities and printables for the Foundation and Prep Year chemistry strand.
Check out these test review ideas and activities to keep your students engaged during state testing season!
Upper elementary classroom tips and ideas with a focus on classroom management, student engagement, & cooperative learning.
Traditionally, curriculum maps are developed based on one, golden goal: meeting standards. In my experience and research, standards are not only different in different parts of the world, but oftentimes are limiting or inaccurate representations of the big picture of what students need to learn in a
Check out these 5 No-Prep Reviews Games for any classroom or any subject! Click to see what no-prep review games you can add to your teacher toolbox!
Use these low-prep spontaneous speaking activities in your classroom to allow your students to speak in your French, Spanish, German and English in lessons!
Not long before I made the move from a local Club to BGCA, I started playing a game with my middle grades members that they LOVED. I adapted it from something I heard on a podcast and called it Dum…
There’s no shortage of great student engagement ideas out there, I know. So am I just going to share one more idea that you’ll never use? Hopefully not! Here’s the problem I have with most “engaging” teaching ideas… they take FOREVER to plan and implement. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken hours
Homemade English Muffins are one of my favorite go-to breakfast breads. They're made with an easy yeast dough, excellent when toasted on the griddle, and full of all the nooks and crannies you crave! These easy English Muffins from scratch are the perfect way to start off your day!
Looking for fun Weather Activities for Preschool? This set is packed with weather charts, activities, and weather worksheets you'll love.
By The Daring English Teacher When teaching a novel, I love to mix things up and throw in a fun, creative, or collaborative activity that engages students as they analyze and interpret the novel’s theme, characters, symbols, or conflict. This allows me to enhance my students’ understanding of the novel, and it gives them a break from the day-to-day routine of reading and reviewing that often accompanies novel studies. Providing students with fun and engaging, yet still rigorous, activities enhances their understanding and fosters a love of reading. Here are three fun activities that you can easily incorporate into any novel study. This is one of my favorite, go-to collaborative activities. Collaborative posters are a great way to review key concepts, analyze symbols and motifs, and brainstorm for essays, and they require little planning. Before class starts, write one character, symbol, setting, motif, or element from the novel in pencil in the corner of each paper. When class begins, have students form groups of 2-4 students, and provide each group with one of the pieces of paper. Then, instruct your students to record the item, information, and quotes from the book on the poster. For this assignment, you can focus on the author’s use of symbols within the novel. You will select a variety of symbols in the novel and assign the symbols to different groups. It is okay if multiple groups are assigned the same symbol. Instruct each group to title their poster with the symbol, write as many details about the symbol as they can think about (this includes what it stands for), and record up to two different quotes illustrating how the author uses the symbol in the novel. I recently did this activity with my Romeo and Juliet unit, and it was a hit. The students were prepared for their essays, and they developed a deeper understanding for the play. Once students are done with the posters, display them throughout the classroom and have the students complete a gallery walk recording the information. This activity is great because it requires students to analyze their assigned topic, while at the same time reinforcing the importance of collaborative work. Even better, this activity gets students up and moving! As an alternative to making posters, this assignment also works very well with post-it notes. Simply provide your student groups with multiple post-it notes, and have the groups write information on the post-its. Then, have students post the notes on the board for the gallery walk. This option is especially beneficial when you want to have a gallery walk, but do not have the time for making posters in the classroom. You can also read about collaborative brainstorming ideas in this blog post. A fun and creative character analysis project you can complete in your classroom is a mock job fair in your classroom. To prepare for this activity, students either select or are assigned a character from the novel. They assume the role of this character and create a resume for this character listing strengths, accomplishments, and skills. To prepare for this activity, I usually teach students about resume writing, provide them with a list of power verbs, and give them a resume template. After students create their resumes, I host a mock job fair in my classroom for one day. During the mock job fair students are assigned to one of two groups, and the groups rotate between interviewer and interviewee. The students assigned to the interview role are given a set of interview questions to ask their candidate. As the candidate responds, the interviewer records the responses. After the interview is over, the students switch roles. This is one of my favorite activities for my Of Mice and Men unit because the students get to explore the characters on a deeper level. Once the activity is over, students write a brief argument piece about whether they would hire that character for the job. After I read an essential chapter with my students, I like to take a day or two to reflect on the reading, analyze what happened, and make sure that my students understand the importance of what they just read, and a creative comic strip assignment is ideal for this. One of the best times to assign this activity is right after a major conflict or at the peak of the story so that students can really analyze the novel's conflict. I like doing this activity with my students when we read Fahrenheit 451 because it helps them understand the conflict more. When assigning a comic strip assignment, make sure students focus on more than just drawing pictures by requiring them to include quotes from the novel as their dialogue. In addition to quotes, students should also write narration, cite their quotes in MLA format, and dedicate an entire box to the novel’s conflict. You can download this FREE, EXCLUSIVE resource to use in your classroom with your next novel study! For more fun, yet rigorous, activities that you can use with any novel study, check out my Novel Unit. This resource is 99 pages and is filled so many activities that you can use them throughout the year for multiple novel studies. From introductory activities to use before reading, to differentiated writing prompts with built-in scaffolding to use as you read, to post-reading cumulative assignments, and everything in between, this novel unit is my go-to resource when I'm in a pinch and need an activity. Click HERE to check out this resource. Here are some additional resources to help you teach the novel! The SuperHERO Teacher - Workbook for Any Novel Unit Study Grades 7-12 Addie Williams - Novel Study Package - Use with ANY NOVEL Presto Plans - Assignments for Any Novel or Short Story Secondary Sara - Chapter Study Guides: Student-Made Activity for ANY Novel
Do you struggle with finding interesting ways to teach ESL listening skills? Maybe you have an activity or two already but you want to be able to mix it up and keep things interesting. By the end of…
Back to School is right around the corner for us and I am SUPER excited to kick of this school year with some fun, hands-on and engaging resources for The
Cause and Effect Cut and Paste Sort Are you looking for a quick assessment, review or activity for cause and effect? This low prep, cut and paste sort is what you just need! Contents: - Poster - 4 cut and paste sorts (2 worksheets to find the cause, 2 worksheets to find the effect) - Answer Key Hope you enjoy them! Rock, Paper Scissors
Pretend you're an alien from outer space ...
Don't miss out on this free kindergarten prep worksheet! It's free and has over 20 pages for your child to use and learn from!
8 ideas to keep students engaged and having fun with a simple worksheet
Here in this post, I have curated resources and strategies for facing these unpredictable absence days or even days where learning has switched from in-person to hybrid or virtual learning. As always, I’d love to hear what you use or any other ideas you’d like to add in the comments at the bottom of
Your students will love this sink or float science experiment! You can use everyday items from around the classroom for this experiment!
Your new favorite teaching strategy: This pared-down version of learning stations keeps the movement, interactivity and variety while minimizing the prep work.
Teach author's purpose with PIE (persuade, inform, entertain). No prep printables, task cards, a sorting activity and more! Great for Accelerated Instruction Groups! TEKS 3.10C TEKS 4.10A...
Ready to move beyond tired Jeopardy slides? Try a few rounds of the Flyswatter Game, a no-fail way to keep teens active and excited about test prep. Six Easy St
Teaching a weather unit is so much fun for little learners and adults. There are so many great weather books and simple experiments that can facilitate a weather unit. Creating an interactive and lasting way for your learners to explore the weather is a bonus. Of course, this Weather Interactive Science Lapbook is the perfect way of
SEPTEMBER NO PREP MATH AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES
Games are a tried and true way to engage students. Whether teaching in-person or remotely via a live session like Zoom or Google Meets, teachers know that games, brain breaks, and icebreakers are an awesome way to get students actively involved in learning. With the ever-changing landscape of education, I thought it might be nice to compile some versatile activities that challenge students in really fun ways. Best part? These activities are very low prep and work in a variety of settings. These activities encourage students to listen, solve problems, be creative, and practice critical skills. They're designed to be easy to do with little to no prep. You can easily add one of these games to any lesson as a warm-up, closure, community building activity, or lesson extender. GAMES & ACTIVITIES ⭐How Many? Give students a category and then challenge students to see how many different things they can fit within that classification. At first students will respond with obvious ideas. However, as they brainstorm, their ideas will stretch and their creativity will grow. Students can jot their ideas down on scrap paper and earn points for each unique response when they share out. Here are some categories to get started: occupations, things that are slimy, things that roll, animal noises, articles of clothing ⭐Listen Carefully: Read a short passage out loud to students. Then, have them answer questions based on what they can remember. Make it especially fun by awarding points for every answer that students get right. You can change up this activity by reading two versions of the same story. Mix up some of the details in the second version for students to listen for. Give this activity a try with the passages in this set of FREE Brain Bursts. Add your information below and then check your inbox! ⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟ ⭐Silly Silent Spelling: Practice spelling words in a super silly way. Explain to students that you are going to be giving them a practice spelling test (definitely NOT the real thing). Just like a typical practice test, they'll listen for the word and write it down. However, here's the catch: you're only going to silently mouth the words. Students will need to read your lips to figure out what word they will need to write down. Of course, figuring out a word from a silent cue is not easy. That's what makes this fun. Students will write down some wild guesses as they spell their way through this game. ⭐One Word: Pose a fun question to the class and have them all think of a one-word answer. Then, give every student a chance to share their responses as you call on each of them. Here are some questions to get started: --- If you were a type of dessert, what would you be? --- Where do you feel happiest? --- How would a soccer ball describe its day? --- Where is somewhere that you would like to visit? --- What would be the perfect gift for you? ⭐Mystery Item: This activity is quick and easy to play. To prepare, write 5 or 6 clues about an object. Make the clues gradually increase in their specificity. Then, read the clues to students as they jot down their guesses for the mystery item until you reveal the answer. ⭐Punchline: Start telling a joke to students, and then have them guess the punchline. Find a ton of jokes for kids here. ⭐Strike a Pose: Explain to students that they are going to pretend that they are in a photograph. They will need to imagine that the photo was taken at the height of the event. All they have to do is strike a pose after you give them a situation. For instance, you might say, "haunted house," and then students would freeze in a pose that shows them frightened or terrified. Here are a few situations to try: Dentist Office, Roller Coaster, Last Day of School, Scary Movie, Food Fight, Race ⭐Timed Writing Activities: Engage students with a creative writing prompt. Then, "amp up" the fun factor by adding a timed element. Challenge students to race the clock as they write as much as they can in a fixed time period. Find my favorite prompts here. ⭐And Then...: This is a listening game for the entire class. Students will need to listen to and add to a growing story. You'll start the story with an opener like, "At the zoo, I decided to open the lion's cage, and then..." Next, you'll call on a student to explain what happened next. That student will add one line and the phrase "and then" before selecting another student to add to the story. ⭐Listen and Draw: Students love this activity! To prepare, create a simple illustration filled with shapes and designs. Then, write out the directions for students. Have students complete the activity on a piece of paper. Read each direction to students and challenge them to replicate the illustration you instructed them to draw. (These are included in the exclusive freebie below.) ⭐Class Pet: Pretend that you have a new class pet. Explain to students that they will need to guess the type of animal. Students will need to ask questions and write their guesses on a piece of paper when they think they have figured out the new class pet. ⭐Add the Ending: Engage students as they practice writing and storytelling skills with this activity. First, students will listen to the beginning of a story that you read to them. Then, they'll take over the writing and complete the story. The story starters are a fun way to motivate students to write. ⭐Alien, Tiger, and Cat: Here's an improvisational theatre game that works in the classroom. Explain to students that they can be one of three things: an alien, a cat, or a tiger. If they choose to be an alien, they need to hold their pointer fingers next to their head (like antennae) and say "bleeb, bleeb." To be a cat, they need to rub their wrist along their face (like a cat cleaning itself) and say "meow." Finally, to be a tiger they need to push their hand forward with a claw stance and roar. On your cue, every student will choose and act like an animal. The goal is to get everyone to choose the same animal (which is nearly impossible, but fun to try). ⭐Rapid Recall: Create a list of random words. Then, read the list of words to students. As you read the words, you might have students put their hands on their heads so that you know for sure that they aren't taking notes. Once you've read the words to students once or twice, wait about a minute before letting students write down every word that they remember. (Find ready-made lists in this complete resource.) ⭐Finish the Fact: Share the beginning of a fact with students. Then, challenge them to complete the fact. Have them share their guesses before revealing the complete fact. Find a collection of random facts here. Want a free set of virtual classroom activities designed to be NO PREP and NO COPIES? Just add your name and email below. ⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟ BONUS: Here's one more idea: ⭐Paper Airplanes: Help students practice following directions by challenging them to fold a paper airplane by following your directions. To get started, choose a paper airplane design to have students fold. Then, have students take out a piece of paper. They'll need to listen carefully to each of your directions to make their paper airplane. Wishing you tons of fun in your (virtual) classroom, Mary Beth P.S. Find a TON of ready-made activities HERE.
Print this free kindergarten assessment pack to use as end of the year testing for your kindergarten students. This is a great way to see where your students are at, and find any areas for development.
Do you hate to teach poetry? Do you want your students to learn and enjoy poetry? Try these simple ways to learn how to teach poetry...
data:blog.metaDescription
Review Line types with your students. Have the pages laminated and practice tracing with dry erase markers. Review together on your smart board so students can practice.
Even experienced teacher’s get first day of school jitters when starting a new gig. Not only do you have to meet a dozen or more new colleagues (in your second language), you also have to introduce…
I'm breaking out of my blogging silence today with a post about a task I call "Word Graffiti." This activity is perfect before you have your students read anything with some vocabulary they've not seen before. I had my class read a short article I wrote on the Holocaust. There were some words I felt I needed to include in the text, but I knew they wouldn't have heard them in any other context. The words were: - corruption - devastation - inhumane - vainly - revolt - ghettos I wrote these words each on a whiteboard and placed them on table groups around the room. You could do the same with chart paper, I was just trying to be a bit environmentally friendly. Students traveled the room in table groups, and I gave them about 3-5 minutes per board. Each group had only 1 white board marker to use, so they had to work together to decide what they wanted to write. You can put down anything you think the word means or reminds you of. You are to read what groups before you wrote, but you don't need to agree with their ideas. That being said, you can't erase them either. As you can see, there were a lot of good connections and ideas floating around my classroom. My favourite is "electricity" for "revolt" because of the "volt" part of the word. Great ideas, but many were way off. I did have one student who knew "vainly" because I guess her mother tells her she is vain for looking in mirrors all the time. Ha! This task took us about 45 minutes from starting instructions to final discussion. We didn't read the article that day. However, the next day, after a night of processing they were all pros with those 6 big words! And, months later, they all still know what each 6 mean, which is most important. What do you do to get your students thinking about vocab before reading?
It's time for some fun geography hands-on learning! I love mapping activities and have put together a fun printable set to build a city map. This fun printable set is 15 pages long and includes 5 different
By Presto Plans A few years ago I became a part-time student and enrolled in a master's course called Writing Instruction. The professor took a unique approach by having us, a group of English teachers, write our own poetry and fiction. It was an eye-opener. I realized that somewhere between high school and my first teaching job, I forgot the lonely and uneasy feeling of staring at a blank page, not knowing where to begin. When the professor allowed us to work with another teacher on the next writing piece, there was a sense of comfort in that I had someone to discuss, collaborate, and share ideas with. Collaborative writing not only broke down my reserve and hesitation, but also allowed me to foster a relationship of trust and partnership with my co-author. I wanted to bring this experience into my own classroom, so I made a point to allow more opportunities for students to write creatively with a partner or a group. Try 5 of my favorite engaging, low-prep collaborative writing activities that you can use in your class tomorrow. Snowball writing is an activity that your middle and high school students will always remember. It can be used with almost any writing genre and is highly-engaging for even your most reluctant writers. I use this method for narrative, poetry, descriptive, and essay writing. I even use it as an introductory icebreaker activity during back-to-school or a semester change! How It Works: - One student starts the writing process for a timed period decided by the teacher. - When time is up, the teacher tells students to crumple up their work into a “snowball” and throw it somewhere else in the room. Get ready to see lots of confused faces J. - Students retrieve one of the snowballs, smooth out the paper, and continue the writing process! (Tip: have students use a pen to make the writing easier to read for the next student) This process is repeated as needed. When all parts are completed, the paper goes back to the original writer who creates a final copy. If you want to know more about how I use this for narrative writing, read this detailed blog post that gives the step-by-step process in more detail. Have your students write a descriptive paragraph using vivid imagery with an activity called Shared Sensory Writing. How it works: - Put students into groups of three and give them an object to describe. - As a group, they decide which of the 3 senses they will focus on (sight, taste, smell, touch, hearing). Each person is assigned a sense, and they write a short paragraph describing the object based only on the sense they receive. - The group combines elements from each of the paragraphs to create a final descriptive piece. Download this activity for FREE by clicking here: Shared Sensory Writing One of the challenging parts of creative fictional writing is developing the story elements that will form the plot. Use the graffiti fiction brainstorming technique as a way for students to work together to spark fictional writing. How It Works: - Set up 4 chart-paper stations around the room with the following titles: Conflicts, Character Traits, Settings, and Themes. Break the class up into 4 groups and have each group go to one of the stations. - The group members work together to “graffiti” the page with potential conflicts, character traits, settings, and themes that could emerge in a fictional story. I fill in a couple of my own examples to get them started. - Have each group spend 3-4 minutes filling the chart paper up with their ideas. Then, have them all circulate to the next station to repeat the process. - When they are done, have each student select one character trait, conflict, setting, and theme from the graffitied pages to develop a unique narrative. You can choose to have them write independently or with a partner. Tapestry poetry was developed by Avril Meallem (of Israel) and Shernaz Wadia (of India). The two women started writing tapestry poetry collaboratively via email. The form consists of two authors writing a 9-line poem based on the same title, and then working together to meld it into one seamless finished product. How It Works: - Put your students into pairs (or let them choose a partner). - Have one of the students select a title for the poem. This student who selects the title is the only one who has the option of using it in the poem (to avoid repetition). - Both students write a 9-line poem. - When they are done, the pair works together to interlace the poem into one. All 18 lines must be included. Students are permitted to make grammatical changes (singular to plural, verb tenses etc.), and adjustments to adjectives and adverbs, but the majority of the poems should remain the same. Download this activity for FREE by clicking here: Tapestry Poetry Sketch and scribble writing is meant to be used with descriptive/narrative writing and will particularly appeal to those artistic students in your classroom. How It Works: - Have students form a group of three. Give each of the students a picture as a writing prompt. The picture prompts below are the ones I use. The images should allow them to use a narrative voice to describe a scene. They should keep the prompt hidden from the other members of the group. - Once the time is up, each student passes the writing to another student in the group who will read it and draw the scene based on the description (no words allowed). - When the drawings are done, they are given to the final student who must write a paragraph based on the drawing. In the end, have students compare and contrast the drawings to the original picture writing prompt as well as the two pieces of writing. Want even more ideas for collaborative writing? Check out these activities from some of the other Secondary English Coffee Shop bloggers! Tandem Writing from The SuperHERO Teacher Group Writing Challenges from Room 213 Two Truths and a Lie from Secondary Sara Round Robin Writing from Nouvelle ELA Have other ideas for collaborative writing? Click the comment button at the top of the post to join the conversation! SaveSave SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
Struggle to keep your students engaged during test season? Shake things up with these fun and effective test prep games!
