14 Plenary Ideas to Make Your Lesson ‘Outstanding'

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littlesunshine
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14 Plenary Ideas to Make Your Lesson ‘Outstanding'

Post by littlesunshine »

Hi Teachers!

If you’re in need of some inspiration or If you’re looking for fun maths plenary ideas or engaging activities to try in your English lessons, here are 14 plenary ideas for primary school teachers that might help:
1. Give Me Five
An oldie but a goldie. Get children to draw around one hand. Then, they should label each finger with something they’ve gained from the lesson.
Ask these questions:
Thumb: What have you learned this lesson?
Index finger: What skills have you used?
Middle: What did you find hard today?
Ring: What have you improved on today?
Pinkie: What do you need to remember for next time?
2. Bingo
This is a classic plenary idea! If you’re introducing your class to some new vocab or tricky words, then why not play bingo to consolidate their knowledge? You can also use bingo it as a fun maths or science plenary too.
For example, if you’re learning some new words to do with fractions (numerator, denominator), you can put these into terms on our editable bingo cards.
3. Just a Minute!
An easy fix for last-minute lesson planning.
Here’s what you need to do:
Split your class into small groups
Give them a keyword from the lesson in an envelope
They have to explain the keyword to the group in under one minute - without giving the word away
The rest of the class have to guess what it is
Explaining new vocabulary is a great way of reinforcing knowledge. With this fun activity, children will really enjoy their learning!
4. Quiz Time
Get your game show voice ready. A quiz is a good way to make your plenaries interactive, which will keep children more engaged in lessons.
5. Exit Tickets
This is a quick, easy and effective plenary idea - plus it takes no time at all to prepare.
If there are any areas that children can’t quite grasp, This is a great way to monitor what topics need reviewing again.
These tickets ask students two simple questions:
What did you learn in the lesson today?
Is there anything you need me to go over again?
6. Guess the Question
Turn a quiz on its head. Instead of giving your class some questions, why not give them the answers? No, you’re not just making it easy for them…
Instead of a simple Q + A format, get them to guess the question instead. This will get children thinking creatively and outside the box.
7. Memorise the Keywords
This is a great example of retrieval practice. To make learning stick, get kids them to memorise keywords from the lesson.
Put all of the words up on the board and give children a few minutes to memorise as many as they can.
Then, take the words away. How many can they remember?
As long as you don’t make it too competitive, this is a fun way to end any lesson.
8. Topic Tennis
No need to get the tennis rackets out in the classroom (imagine!).
For this plenary activity, you can try the following:
Split the room into groups of three
In each group, there should be two players and an umpire
The teacher will say a topic. Then, the two players have to say related words to the topic until they run out of ideas
The umpire should decide who wins. Every time someone runs out of an idea, the other person gets a point
This is a great activity to get your pupils moving around and communicating with each other.
9. KWL
The KWL method is a great way to make your plenary ‘outstanding.’
Get your class to feedback to you with the following information:
What you Know already
What you Want to learn in future
One thing you’ve Learnt
10. X and O
Playing a game in class has many benefits: it’s interactive, it’s fun and it will help children remember what they learned in the lesson.
11. Two Stars and a Wish
If you want your students to reflect on the lesson and what they’ve achieved, this is a great plenary idea to try.
All they have to do is write down two things that went well. Did they get a good score on a quiz? Or complete an activity before the deadline?
Then they need to write a wish about what they want to achieve in the next lesson. Did they get something wrong and want to try it again?
12. Tweet a Friend
Can your students sum up a part of the lesson in 280 characters?
There’s no need to get any mobile phones out, but why not try asking them to write a Tweet?
280 characters is the perfect length for a quick, effective plenary that asks children to succinctly sum up a point from the lesson.
13. Plenary Pyramid
You can hit two birds with one stone with this idea: it’s a great plenary activity and it can help you plan for future lessons.
Simply draw a pyramid on some paper with six boxes. In the bottom three boxes, ask children to write three things they already knew.
In the middle two boxes, they can add something new they’ve learned.
Finally, in the top box, they can write something they want to know.
14. Vocabulary Musical Chairs
This is a fun one to get everyone up and moving!
To start, move the desks and make enough space. Put the chairs in the centre of the room and you’re ready to go.
Instead of music, ask a question and then read out keywords. When they hear the right answer, they have to sit down as quickly as possible!

Here you can find more detail about plenary ideas: https://www.twinkl.co.id/blog/plenary-ideas
Bayani
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Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2023 7:28 am
Status: Learner of English
Location: Philippines

Re: 14 Plenary Ideas to Make Your Lesson ‘Outstanding'

Post by Bayani »

Yeah, actually I really like your ideas! The Quiz, Bingo and Vocabulary Musical Chairs ideas are especially interesting for me.
It's cool when you learn something new with moving interactives, so well done!
Experience the thrill of Bingo, a popular game in Philippines!
littlesunshine
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Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:14 am
Status: Other
Location: united kingdom

Re: 14 Plenary Ideas to Make Your Lesson ‘Outstanding'

Post by littlesunshine »

Thank you, I'm glad that my post can help! {-:
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