Wednesday 9 March 2011

LOW TECH + NO PREPARATION = GREAT FUN


Sometimes I am guilty of feeling that if a lesson hasn't taken me a long time to prepare and doesn't involve some sort of ICT, then it couldn't possibly be a good lesson.
Today I wanted to revise some basic vocabulary in our local primary before moving on to a new topic, so I grabbed my bomb and Rhoda as I dashed out the door. GGS pupils will be familiar with both, but this was the first time that I had used either with the primary pupils. We moved the desks to the side of the room and put our chairs in a circle.
I used the bomb (from the Pass the Bomb game) to revise the numbers 1-20 as a starter. If the bomb 'exploded' they had to tell us something about themselves in Spanish. Normally at GGS it is a harsher penalty, either asking someone on a date or mooing like a cow in a neighbouring class, but P6 aren't that used to me and I feared tears!

Pupils then moved to the floor when I brought out Rhoda, my sheet with different coloured squares. Each pupil had a marker and knew which square to aim for depending on the word I said eg. numbers were pink, etc.. The golden rule was that they weren't allowed to change their mind and move their marker. We started with 3 max per square and then cut it down as more pupils were put out. As pupils were disqualified, they then became my judges.

Pupils veered between terrified and thrilled in Pass the Bomb, and they all adored Rhoda. This was a lesson with no preparation and was low tech, yet all were engaged and learning tok place. Do the sums...

2 comments:

Clare Seccombe said...

Cool toys! My primary lot like low-tech too. But I have to ask - why Rhoda?!

A Salt said...

My HOD had one made by a pupil's mum, and she was called Roberta so the sheet was made after her. I was inspired to make one and called mine Rhoda after my nanny, the seamstress, and because it followed the 'Roberta' pattern. Poor Roberta went MIA several years ago (the sheet, that is)