Games and activities that are fun and challenging are more likely to result in a happy, orderly class than busy work. Try one of these fillers.
"Teacher, teacher, I'm done." Those words are enough to fill any new substitute's heart with fear. How do you keep your class occupied for the next half hour when the kids are done their assigned work? While many substitute teachers immediately pull out busy work or drills, it is much better to try to keep the class on its toes with learning games and activities. Here are a few teacher tested fillers that can help you avoid a classroom revolt.
- Game show review. Almost any popular game show is ideal for classroom adaptation. For example, the new "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader" can be adapted to fit the class you are teaching with a few simple changes. "Are You Smarter than You Were in September" allows you to review everything students have learned through the year. Keep the questions fun and fast paced and have all the students compete against themselves by writing down the answers instead of calling them out.
- Bingo. This popular game is also perfect for almost any subject. Vocabulary words, multiplication facts and state or country drills are all ideal for this type of review. To make your own bingo game, come up with a list of 25 words, terms, or fact answers. Create a grid five squares across by five squares down. Run off enough copies so that all of the children can have a bingo board. Then, write the 25 words or terms in each square on one of the boards. When you are finished, go on to the next board, being sure that you do not use the same squares for the same words. Repeat this with each board, so you do not have 20 or so children shouting "Bingo" at the same time. Be sure to have some prizes on hand for the winners. Stickers or individually wrapped candy pieces work well.
- Charades. While this classroom game doesn't work for all subjects, it is ideal for a vocabulary review game. Write the vocabulary words on separate pieces of paper, divide the class into teams and find a stop watch or a watch with a second hand. Give one of the teams one minute to guess as many of the vocabulary words that their team member is acting out as they can. When the first team's minute is up, it is the second team's turn. For every word that was guessed correctly, the team gets a point.
Copyright Katelyn Thomas. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Katelyn Thomas - If you can't find me in the spring, I'm out hiking through the wood with a few pounds of photography gear strapped to my back. In the ...
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