If you're anything like me, on the last day of school holidays, you've got a mad case of the Sunday scaries and you're staring at your blank planner for the week with something that can only be described as panic. Firstly, please remember that holidays are there to be enjoyed and it's okay to not spend them working. Secondly, this is your friendly reminder that students are likely feeling as discombobulated as you after a break, and they're often in need of some easing into the term too.
Here are three of my favourite low/no-prep activities for the first day of term. Why do I love them? Well, they:
- require minimal preparation
- are highly engaging
- help both you and your students transition smoothly into the new term
- foster collaboration
- support effective revision and long-term retention of key concepts
- promote active learning
- build a strong sense of classroom community
So, without further ado, here are three activities that you can adapt for any subject or year level.
Activity #1: Speed Dating
Image: LifeDesignLog
Great for: Classes that love a good chat or who need to develop better relationships with one another. This is also really handy for helping students to develop confidence with public speaking but in a low-stakes way.
Materials needed:
- Chairs
- Basic pre-prepared PPT
Instructions:
- Come up with a list of 5-10 questions and write them in a PPT (one question per slide). The questions can be content-related, holiday-related or some generic would-you-rather questions.
- Get students to grab their seats and sit in two lines facing each other.
- Start a timer for 1 minute (or whatever time you like). Whoever the student is sitting opposite is their partner for the first round. They have 1 min to discuss the first question as a pair. Try and keep the time short to keep it moving quickly and to take the pressure off.
- When the timer goes off, one of the lines must move to the right. They then have 1 minute to discuss the next question with the next person.
- Repeat for as many rounds and questions as you like.
Notes:
- This can be a great one to use for revision, especially for subjects that have a semester exam at the end of Term 4. Studies on the "spacing effect" show that revisiting concepts over time, rather than cramming, significantly improves students' long-term retention of information (Rohrer & Pashler, 2007).
- It can also be great to use as a starter for some kind of writing activity. The discussion can be used to generate ideas they can then use in a secondary activity on their own.
- If you're wanting to develop even stronger relationships with your students, I highly recommend sitting in on one of the lines so you get to participate too. Put the timer on auto-repeat and get the student closest to your laptop to click next on the PPT.
Activity #2: The Creative One-Pager
Image: WeAreTeachers
Great for: A chilled first lesson where students review previously learned content and present it visually to be displayed in the classroom.
Materials needed:
- Plain paper (A4 is best for a single lesson)
- If you're feeling fancy, you can also print some templates (Google 'one-pager templates')
- Textas/pens
Instructions:
- Spend 5-10 minutes reviewing the content from last term on the board together.
- Explain the one-pager and show students some different ways they can complete it. Google 'sample one-pagers for [subject area]' to get some great ideas. Also show them some templates if they're unsure how to start.
- Hand out paper and pens/textas and put some music on.
- Spend the session wandering around and catching up with students 1:1.
Notes:
- Make this collaborative by putting students into groups and assigning them an idea from the board (eg. group 1 completes a one-pager about a specific concept they learned last term)
- Make this a whole-class effort by using a giant roll of butcher's paper. Everyone gets their own section to decorate.
- Rather than using this as a revision activity, you can also use this to front-load the upcoming term's content. Assign each student/group a specific concept and get them to do a bit of research. Front-loading, or previewing content before it’s deeply explored, has been shown to increase student engagement and preparedness to learn. This approach activates prior knowledge and sets the stage for deeper understanding during formal instruction. (Marzano, 2004)
Activity #3: Students Become the Teacher
Image: Washington Township Public Schools
Great for: revision, teamwork, public speaking and mastery of content. This one also weirdly helps students recognise the effort that goes into designing lessons which is an added bonus.
Materials needed:
- A list of concepts studied last term (you can also come up with this together in a start activity)
- A generic list of expectations about the task
Instructions:
- Students work in groups. It's up to you how you do this.
- Each group is assigned one topic/concept that you studied as a class last term.
- Students have one lesson to prep their 'lesson' which they will then deliver to the rest of the class next lesson. The lesson's structure is up to you and it largely depends on the subject, year level and amount of time you have for groups to work on (and deliver) the task. Personally, I like giving students a time limit of 5-10 mins (depending on the year level) and it must include both an instruction component (eg. PPT) as well as some kind of engaging activity that tests the class' mastery of the concept.
- Spend the lesson circulating around to each group to keep them on track and extend their thinking. Get them to reflect on lessons they've loved in the past and what kinds of activities they felt they learned the most from. Also remind them that they need to have 'answers' prepared for any activity they run.
Notes:
- Like the last activity, you can also use this to front-load the upcoming term's content, but this is certainly more challenging. Assign each student/group a specific concept and get them to do a bit of research. Front-loading, or previewing content before it’s deeply explored, has been shown to increase student engagement and preparedness to learn. This approach activates prior knowledge and sets the stage for deeper understanding during formal instruction. (Marzano, 2004)