Aug
9
Written by:
deb
8/9/2014 7:20 AM
We stop teaching and say, "Let's get ready for lunch now." Everyone is ready but we cannot leave the classroom for five more minutes. Fill the time wisely! Always try to make use of every minute in the day.
Thinkers!
Ask a student to come up to the board (or you do this part) to indicate each unique word with a tally mark. Give them a Thinker question. Set a goal of 8 or 10 words in the Thinker question and let them know that meeting the goal is the minimum. Perhaps you will give incentive stamps on their incentive cards...or whatever your particular "prize" might be...if the students are able to come up with 5 more than the minimum.
Thinker questions should be easy enough for the students to come up with the words, but not so easy that the list is endless.
Examples of Thinker questions:
Name as many breakfast items as you can.
Name as many words as you can that have AR in them.
Name as many color words as you can.
Name an item you might find on a beach.
Name items you might find at the park.
This filler can also be used as a competitive game. Place students into groups and assign one student to be writer for the group. Hand out a paper with the Thinker question on it face down and then read the question aloud. Set a timer and say "GO!" The writer will flip the page over and be ready to write the words. The students will quietly say words (so other groups will not hear him) that will fit the question and the writer will write them down. When the buzzer goes off, stop them and have a group writer read each word. If another group has that word, everyone crosses it out. The group with the most unique words wins.
Or, give each student a paper and have them write the words. Handle the elimination the same way. Select a student to read his list....the others cross off the words as read. When completed, ask if anyone has additional words...and so on.
Making use of our "Filler Minutes" should be a goal for us as teachers.
Happy Teaching!
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