Activity Ideas to enhance the classroom

I wanted to give you a few ideas to vary classroom activities. These are ones I’ve learned about in workshops, books, internet, used in my own classroom, or have seen other teachers use successfully. I hope you can find a few that will be useful in your lesson planning when you need something different With any of the activities, they should be used to reinforce the SCOS objective being taught, and should be time sensitive/brisk paced. Often the prep/background work can be done as a HW assignment to better utilize the limited class time.

According to a study by Milken Family Foundation, students whose teachers used HANDS-ON-ACTIVITIES outperformed their peers by about 70% in math and 40% in science.

Dividing students into SMALL groups to work on substantive topics improves student achievement, creates enthusiasm for classwork, and teaches students crucial skills, such as how to move a group forward and how to include all members in a discussion.(according to a Harvard study)

Feedback for teachers in the form of a DAILY “one minute paper” at the end of class helps focus the students’ minds and provides teachers feedback on whether they are getting their main ideas across. Students are encouraged to think throughout the class about what they will write down as the main idea of the lesson and any unanswered questions they may still have.( Harvard study)

  1. Have students write down key words, phrases, details, questions, related to the lesson on sticky notes or sticky posters and place in the center of a sheet of paper after reading. Use these to generate discussions in small groups or as a class.
  2. Have a relay race to write down a fact/detail/event/vocabulary/work out a problem, etc on the board in teams. To make it more interesting, set ground rules, controlled chaos, perhaps have students suck up a cotton ball through a straw and hold it there until they reach the board to write down their answer. This makes it a bit more exciting. Each student on the team must take a turn at answering a question.
  3. Sequence Line up for working math problems in steps, sequencing events, etc.-Write the steps on strips of paper, mix them up and put them in a container. While working in group sizes equal to number of strips needed to complete the process your studying, have each student obtain one strip. As a group they must move around putting the steps in the correct order without any talking. They can use body language, point, etc. This could also be used to pair up question strips with answer strips, but once again no talking.
  4. Concert presentations are when a student has to share to the class about what they’ve learned while a piece of classical music is being played softly in the background. Music should be instrumental only. When the music stops the presentation should be complete. This could be in small groups.
  5. Classical music can be used softly in classrooms while students are working or testing. Research has proven that classical music stimulates the learning centers of our brains. This technique used during class time will help students retain information. It’s important to explain to students that it doesn’t work with all music. Students will also become conditioned by the classical music to focus better when used regularly. I have a few of the CDs’ I used in my office if you would like to burn a copy. The music starting and stopping can also be used as a timer for assignments.
  6. Have students role play characters in material being taught.
  7. Give students sticky notes before a reading assignment to mark important sections or ideas presented. Limit the number you give them so they will have to be very selective. In small groups they can discuss where they put their markers and why. Also useful to springboard class discussions. To make sticky notes go further cut them in half inch strips.
  8. Develop a system of symbols that students can use as they work on material in your class. Have them mark the text with these symbols on sticky notes or on their notes, worksheets, etc.. Make up your own or use some of these ?=I don’t understand this part, *=important to remember, N=new vocabulary, MI=main idea, !=check this out/interestintg detail. Make a poster of your symbols to display in the room and encourage regular use, this makes it easier to check for understanding when you walk around checking student progress.
  9. Make signs on large index cards glued to popsicle sticks to leave at each students seat to use during daily lessons to check for understanding instead of asking are there any questions and moving on. (Green-I’ve got it Red-I still need help)Students can hold up the appropriate one when you ask the class as a whole are there any questions, then the students aren’t put on the spot individually to admit they need help.
  10. websites- googleearth.com(3D satellite maps of locations you are teaching about) learnnc.org (literature fieldtrips) study island eduwaretestmaker/games for science and math (should be coming to you soon) United Streaming/discovery education streaming. All of these websites are user friendly and full of ideas to mix up your lessons and to help keep the students hooked.
  11. Put students in groups and assign them to compete with the other groups to build a tower out of index cards that will stand independently. The tallest standing tower wins. The catch is they must answer questions or solve problems as a group to get each index card. Therefore the more problems/questions they work correctly the more building materials they get. To be successful they need to focus on building a good foundation. They could collect index cards over time as a group by working HW, bell starter questions, CW, test reviews, quizzes, etc. then have the tower building contest. History classes-students write events for a civil war on cards before they can use them. The more facts they remember the more cards they can use to build their tower. Language arts- start with a foundation word- then students add descriptive words to build tower.
  12. Students present a lesson in the form of an opera, rap, poem, or story. This is a great HW assignment to prepare at home and present in class.
  13. Use empty symbols to stimulate writing activities, such as admit/exit slips. It just makes it fun. I’ll attach a few examples to this page. Example-in the #1 symbol-What is the main concept from today’s lesson? Example-in the STAR symbol- list the 3 stars of today’s literature story. Use your imagination to apply to your subjects areas.
  14. Use a sheet of tin foil to create a 3D sculpture of something you want students to focus on, such as the mood of a poem or story. Then explain their sculptures.
  15. FISH BOWL activity-at any point in the lesson, stop and have students write down questions on small strips of paper they have at this point about the lesson or information they are obtaining from your lesson. Put them all in a fish bowl and go fishing, the teacher pulls them out one at a time and addresses each. The teacher gets feedback without putting students on the spot.
  16. FACT FANS, LEARNING CIRCLES Forms attached.
  17. Capsule Vocabulary, Sentence synthesis, Sticky note discussions, vocabulary cartoons-SEE attachements.
  18. Carousel brainstorming-attached
  19. Talk show discussion format-attached
  20. Story shackles-a stimulating way to involve students in a reading assignment-see attached.
  21. HOT CARDS-students are given a note card and instructed to respond to a prompt. They write 3 quick sentences summarizing what they learned in class that day, list 10 facts about a topic, write five quiz questions, or give a quick explanation of their understanding of a concept.
  22. LETTERS-students write letters between two historical figures, literary characters, or current newsmakers to show not only their understanding of a concept but their ability to see it from more than one perspective.
  23. CUBING-cubing allows a student to consider a subject in six different ways. Describe it, compare it, associate it, analyze it, argue for or against it.
  24. BUMPER STICKERS-create a bumper sticker advertising or taking a position on the concept being studied. Remind students that bumper stickers are short and capture the essence of something in a memorable way.
  25. WANT ADS-Students create want ads to show their understanding of literary characters or historical figures by composing want ads that depict something the person seeks, wants to sell, or could offer as a service.
  26. Powerpoint looping-create a power point with around 5 facts, vocabulary definitions, theories, etc, you want the students to focus on and loop it to stay on each for only a few seconds. Direct students to focus and try to read each. This can be used a bell starter or introduction to a topic. Set the looping fast enough that it will be difficult to read with one viewing, they will have to be ready when it loops back around to get what they missed the first time.
  27. Literacy strategies-see attachment
  28. GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS-If you do not have access to programs like these, then the web offers a number of free tools that will allow you to print concepts maps from your browser. If you need a blank map but don’t have the time to create one, take a look at the Canadian site This site houses a large collection of educational resources for educators produced by an alliance of organizations from the province of Alberta. Available in both French and English, one of the most attractive features of the site is the Teacher Tools section. From this page, click on 2Learn.ca Tools in the bulleted list near the top of the page. There are numerous teacher productivity tools in this section, but since you can only look at one at a time, take some time to explore the Concept Map Assignment Builder in the drop-down window for Teachers. This page offers fifteen different blank concepts maps that can be customized and printed from the browser. The templates for these maps allow the teacher to customize the following information at the top of the map page:
  • Teacher name
  • Title or topic of concept map
  • Instructions for the student explaining how to complete the map
  • ALSO research learnnc.com for more resources

I plan to continue to collect more ideas to supplement your lesson plans. I have seen a lot of wonderful activities going on in many of the classrooms I have been observing. I would love to include your successful activities if you would like to share. Please let me know of any I could include next time. I hope these are helpful. Let me know if I can research anymore ideas for you.

L. Caudell

Curriculum Specialist

LSHS