Keeping your pupils engaged following the festive period - Lesson Plans

2018-08-16

As many teachers know the beginning of any new term can be a challenge. The excitement of the New Year, new class and all the fun stories to talk about from the holidays can make keeping the student's concentration a hard task.


Knowing this, we’ve put together some lesson plans and activities to keep the pupils engaged following the festive period. 


Starter Activities

Get their brains switched on by quick fire starter activities. A great way of unloading their stories from the holidays is to involve this in the activity.

For example, work your way around the classroom and ask every child to sum up their Christmas holiday in 3 words. It’s a short sharp activity that gets everyone involved.


Short timed activities 

Having got used to not being in the classroom for a number of weeks, getting them back in the routine of learning can be a difficult one. There’s no point in starting an hour long activity straight away. 

Try splitting your lessons into 10-minute blocks, a timer or countdown clock is a great way of giving them a target and ensuring they stay engaged. 


New Year Resolutions

Getting the students to write down their resolutions for the New Year, is a great way of getting them to think ahead. Ensure that these are meaningful and relevant to that pupil. It makes a great class talking activity, or put them all into a wall display, ensuring you refer back to them throughout the year.


Calendar Activities

There’s no better time to understand how the calendar works and its history than in the New Year. There are hundreds of activities out there to help you plan a lesson around this and it can fit into so many topics – Maths, Science, History, Art and English. Take a look at some of the links below for some ideas:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/calendar-based-activities

https://educators.brainpop.com/bp-jr-topic/calendar-and-dates/

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/calendar-math.shtml