Teacher Discussion Forums

I'm looking for Warm up ideas on different activities or games I can do with my Grade 4/5 class. I can't find any in the Idea Cookbook. These are just 5-10min things we can do to get them up and ready for the 1-2hr class.

All I have been doing so far is "Switch Seats" where 1 person stands up and says 2 vocab words that are assigned to certain students and try to sit down in one of their seats faster then the other person. The second one is just "Teacher Says" and varients of it.

Thanks!

Penny Ur has a good book on 5 minute activities.

Have you tried www.onestopenglish.com?

I often start my grade 5 - 6 classes with a "Chain Question". The content is related to what we did in the previous lesson, or what we are going to do that day. The pupils sit in a circle and I tell them the question - which stays the same - and a possible answer. Then, while they think about their answer, I write the question and the structure of the full-sentence answer on the board. I then ask the first pupil to my left or right the question, and he or she responds with the answer. Then that pupil turns and asks the next pupil, and so on all the way around the circle.
If things take too long, I introduce a competitive element in the following lesson, such as break the 4-minute barrier (I have 30 pupils) or get all the way around faster than the other class did.
The benefits of this little game are numerous:
-each pupil has spoken in the first 5 minutes of class
- weaker students have a chance to hear the question and answer many times before they have to produce them themselves
- they get easy but relevant practice in question formation and word order
- the structure stays the same, but a bit of information changes (functions / notions)
- it's a recap of what we did previously, or an introduction to what we're going to do
- it's fun!
Example questions:
- Are you a girl? (not exactly authentic language, but very funny)
- Do you have pets at home?
- Where are you going on holiday?
- How much pocket money do you get?
- What colour are your socks?
This week the question will be:
- What time do you go to bed? (we're telling time)

Hope this is helpful!

The Excersize Game: You can always do a TRP segment. Shout commands to the students like jump, sit down stand up, clap, turn around, raise your hand, etc. Do the actions along with the students so they get the hang of it.

Then, jump when you say clap and see how many students make the mistake. Then tell them you're going to try and trick them and this is a game. Then proceed to go through a list of commands while you and the students preform the actions, and then try to trick them. When kids make mistakes they are out and the game continues until you have a few finalists.

As time goes on you can advance to things like, "Don't jump." "Say Jump" and eventually to telling stories and having the students do actions along with you.

It's a great warm up and really get the kids going and will get them excited when they see you coming to their lessons.

- Mark Cox
www.mes-english.com