Classroom Activities (page 4)

Classroom Fillers

Fillers—or sponge activities—use the time between lessons on activities in a fun yet educational way. These short activities absorb the short bits of time that occur throughout the school day. Several suggested classroom fillers are included below.

Considerations

• Keep fillers related to academic work, but fun and simple, too.
• Use fillers when there are only 5 to 15 minutes left in the period or at the end of the day.
• Use fillers for rainy or snowy day schedules, when the students have to stay inside during recess and lunch.

Around the World

Around the World is a whole-class game where students answer questions or give answers for flash cards. They work their way through the group to get “around the world.”

• Students stand behind their seats.
• Choose a starting person and the rotation to be used.
• The first student in the rotation stands beside the second student in the rotation at the second student’s seat.
• The teacher holds up a flash card.
• The first student of the pair to answer correctly moves to stand beside the next student in the rotation.
• The student who did not answer remains where he or she is.
• This continues until at least one student makes it completely “around the world” (around the entire rotation or class).

Suggestions

• An alternate setup is for students to stand in a circle, and the student who answers correctly moves to stand behind the next student in the rotation.
• This activity works well with vocabulary, math facts, picture cards for foreign language learning, and other content-based material.

Bingo

This is classic bingo with an educational twist.

• Print a blank bingo card for each student.
• Provide a list of items to be entered on the bingo cards, such as a range of numbers, vocabulary words, or pictures of items.
• List more items than can fit on the cards so that each student’s card will be different.
• Students fill out their own cards from the list provided.
• Read the problem or definition out loud.
• Students cover a correct answer with a bingo chip.
• The game continues until someone gets a complete row across, down, or diagonally and can shout out “Bingo!”

Suggestion

• Choose items by using a set of flash cards to randomly select math facts, picture cards for vocabulary, lists of spelling words, definition cards for vocabulary, or lists of synonyms and antonyms.

I Spy

Students can play the classic I Spy game in a version that has an educational purpose. There are many variations of this basic game that can be used in the classroom.

• “Spy” an object.
• Say “I spy something ... ,” where you complete the sentence with a clue to help students guess the object.

Suggestions

• Use the game to teach colors, shapes, and sizes. For example, “spy” right angles in the classroom after teaching the concept in math.
• Identify items around the classroom when teaching basic vocabulary to ESL (English as a Second Language) students.
• Develop a group of items to be “spied” by having students write down item names or draw pictures of items on small sheets of paper.
• Divide students into teams to play the game as a friendly competition.
• Play the game with a goal in mind, such as cleaning up scraps on the floor after an art project.

Monster Madness

Have students draw creatures using traced letters as the base. This is a great learning activity for the lower grades.

• Have each student choose a letter to use as the base for their creature.
• Allow the students to trace their chosen letter from a stencil or die-cut machine.
• Have students draw a creature, monster, or character out of their chosen letter.

Suggestions

• Use numbers as well as letters.
• Have this activity available for students to work on throughout the day.
• Establish a learning center with stencils and markers where students can draw their creatures.
• Display the “monsters” on bulletin boards and around the room.
• Allow each student to create an entire family of creatures, using all the letters of his or her name.

Chain Story

Students cooperate with each other to create a chain story, using selected words from lessons.

• Prepare a set of index cards, each of which has one spelling word or vocabulary word written on it.
• Arrange the class in a circle or allow them to work from their seats.
• Hand out the index cards, one to each student.
• Pick a student to start the story. The student will use the word on the index card in his or her part of the story—about one or two sentences.
• Have each student in turn add another sentence or two to the story, using the word on his or her index card.

Suggestions

• Assign a specific topic for the story, or let the students decide the topic.
• Divide students into groups so that each group creates a story to share with the class.