really good time filler

Graham_Supply · #1 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006, 09:23 AM

My most used (overused) time filler is a game called categories. I discovered this game when working in a YOI and it seemed to be a good way of keeping the lads busy otherwise they decended into anachy. You (or the children) choose 10 or so categories - boys name, country, animal etc. The class then split into four or five teams and have to think of something for each category beginning with a certain letter (chosen by flicking through a dictionary. The team gets a point for each correct answer. You can deduct points for talking or just general silliness. This can have good benefits for spelling (especially words that begin with a silent letter) and can take a more 'educational' slant by focussing the categories to a particular topic. So thats my best filler!

NuttySupplier · #2 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006, 09:36 AM

I can really see that working!

The junior girls are obsessed with asking you to give them a boy's name (say Peter), a country (Wales) and a number (3) and then proclaim that you're going to marry a man named Peter, live with him/honeymoon in Wales, and have 3 kids!

They'd love it... see, teaching kids is all about finding what they like, and using it to your own advantage!
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Footiegirl · #3 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006, 06:09 PM

oooohhh Nutty, manipulating children like that.... I think there may be a law against that somewhere
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caroline · #4 (**permalink**) 10-02-2007, 01:22 PM

A really basic starter is an acrostic of the topic pupils are studying, I recently used related words to Christian Family Life, it gives time to sort out those slow to settle/without paper/register. Can be done as poem on topic too. Literacy can be supported with using the alphabet like this or writing sentences/ a paragraph containing obvious grammatical errors to be corrected, these could be on the topic too. Anyone got anymore preparation-free, easy starters?Cheers, Caroline.
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NuttySupplier · #5 (**permalink**) 10-02-2007, 04:50 PM

Put up 5 or so things that make a great piece of writing (literacy/or other) e.g. complex sentence, simile, 3 powerful adjectives/adverbs, clear beginning/middle/ending, whatever they've been focussing on that half-term, etc., and get them to honestly mark their own or mark a friend's piece of work from the week before based on this criteria...

Charlie1 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-01-2009, 11:00 AM

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Worked really well.

Thanks

Charlie1

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