One inevitable part of teaching is that you will sometimes be left with a small block of time and no formal plans. Maybe you’ve lined up a few minutes early, arrived at specials a few minutes ahead of time, or are waiting around for a bus or an assembly. Whatever it is, it’s always good to have some easy time fillers in your mind that don’t take any materials and can be done anywhere!
Here are our general rules and rewards!
Rules: Must be standing/sitting quietly, quiet thumb or hand up (no shouting out answers), be a good sport
Rewards: A high five, an air high five if I can’t physically reach them, or, if I have access, some smelly stickers.
Here are a few of my favorite quick and easy time fillers!
- Questions About…
- Me, their teacher…we spend so much time together, they know a lot of my personal information, so it’s fun to quiz them a bit! My favorite colors, pets’ names, age, birthday, family, and more.
- Our school…names of administration, specialists, other teachers and staff, school mascot, full name of school, halls/pods information, school wide expectations/rules or programs, etc.
- Recent content…review recent vocabulary or concepts from math, science, reading, social studies, or writing.
- Math Facts
- A great way to practice fluency with basic facts…I say a fact, they give the answer
- Or, I say the answer, they give me an equation that would make that total
- Letter Sounds…this can become more advanced throughout the year
- I say a letter, they give the sound
- I say a sound, they give the letter
- I say a word, they give the sound (could be initial, medial, or final, depending on where you are in the school year)
- I say a letter or sound, they give a word that begins/ends with it
- I say a short or long vowel sound and they give a word that has that medial sound
- Rhyming
- I say a word, they give me a word that rhymes with it
- Or a bit simpler, I say two words, they tell me if they rhyme or don’t rhyme. “Bonus points” if they can name they rhyming “chunk”
- Skip Counting
- I start counting, they tell me what’s next (example: I say 10, 20, 30 and they tell me what’s next)
- What Did We Learn Today?
- I call on a few volunteers to tell something they learned today
- Favorite Thing About Today
- I call on a few to share their favorite thing about today
- Goals Achieved/Celebrations
- Volunteers can share a goal they achieved during the day or recently
- Shoutouts
- Kids can share something great a friend did…helped them, said something nice, worked with them, etc.
- Tell Your Parents
- This one is great at the end of the day so they will have something fresh in their mind to tell their parents about their school day…it could be something we learned, a book they read, something from our read aloud, something they want to practice or try at home, etc.
- Syllables
- I say a word, they tell me how many syllables
- I say a number, they tell me a word with that many syllables
- Spelling
- Practice word wall words, word family focus, etc.
These are some of my favorites I use on a regular basis! I hope they will help you if you are ever in need of a quick idea!
Practical Primary Teacher ~ Jennifer
Be sure to scroll down and subscribe to my blog…you will receive access to my free resource library, information about new resources and events, and more!
