Running dictations

It is a game involving running and information. It is fun as the children need to run to get the information they need. The information at the end may be any, depending on what is the aim of the activity. If it is Maths it may be an operation, if it is Science, a part of the body they need to label...

Rules
One person of the team goes to get the information while the rest waits in the table for him/her to come. When this person has come, the next person in the team goes and gets the next piece of information. They may remember the information and tell it to their team. Once they've got all the information or while the team is bringing it, they can do the activity proposed, depending on what it is.

How can it be used?

-To introduce new information and get the meaning of it.
-To review vocabulary or a specific topic.
-To work on a specific issue on any subject.

Groupings
-In groups of 4-5.

Scrambled eggs

We can work on some topics or grammar using this game. It consists of writing sentences and dividing the words into different papers. The students have to place the papers correctly to discover the hidden sentence.

Groups
-Individually
-Pairs
-Small groups

How can it be used?
-To reinforce grammatical aspects, like the order of the words (subject, verb...)
-To reinforce learning (the moon goes around the Earth/Sun/planets...giving several options according to the level)

Positions

In the beginning, it's difficult to teach reading and focus attention to the book. For that, it can be a good idea to write on the board some sentences they need to read using a competition game.

Groupings

-Groups of 5 or more to do it more dynamic.

How can it be used?

-For reading

-To focus attention

-To assess reading

How to do it?

-You divide the class into 4 groups (creating too many groups will make the students lose interest on the development of the activity)

-You write a sentence and one person from the first group reads it. The whole group repeats it.

-After that, the student does what he/she has just read.

Example:

I did it with the flascards from the topic practising the positions "on", "in" and "under" in first grade. I wrote "The pool is on the box" and the students read it aloud and placed the flashcard with the pool on the box. (It is a good idea to read it with the whole class first so that students with difficulties had a bit of help and focus the attention of the whole class during the activity). If the student placed the flashcard correctly he got a point for the team. The winner is the team which gets more points. The team can get a sticker or a stamp.

Keep the students working

It usually happens that children are not paying attention to the activity they are doing. What can we do? I deeply recommend you to watch this video of Rob Plevinson talking about it.

The steps he proposes are:

1. Give non verbal signal to the student to go back to work without anyone noticing it.

2. Get close to them so they realise they are not working.

3. Focus on what the student is doing right so that he/she feels better and motivates him/her to go on like that.

4. Offer support to the student to focus on work again avoiding confrontation.

5. Limit choices. Draw attention to the work by giving choices about what pen they are going to use, or who would they prefer to help them.

6. Set targets for the student. Instead of telling them they need to complete everything in the hour, maybe the student works better by telling him/her that in the next 5 minutes he/she is expected to do the first activity.

You have two options

You have two options. This is an easy way to control childrens' behaviour and make them reflect on what they are doing and what they can do.

For example, when a child is playing with a toy he/she shouldn't be playing with, you can tell him/her: "You have two options: you can put it away in your bag and pay attention, or you can leave it on my desk. "

They will probably choose the first one and keep them in their bags. Remember, it is better to avoid confrontation.