GodSpace Ideas – July 2012
Looking for a different way to evaluate your lesson with the kids or to do
a revision. It can be really valuable to allow time to for the children to
reflect on what you are doing. In our society we generally are not taught
to be reflective learners. So have time to stop and think can give us a
new perspective on what we are learning/experiencing. It can help us
make connections between our learning experiences, real life and future
learning. So why not give it a go – especially with older children.
Check out some of these ideas.
Feelings/Thinking Review
Equipment needed:
Enough cards (one for each person) with copies of individual pictures (can be
duplicates) related to the unit stories or objects that can be associated with
the story.
Place the cards or objects on the floor or where they can be seen and invite
everyone to take one and sit quietly and think about what it reminds them
about the story.
You can extend this by getting them to turn to a neighbour and share their
thoughts.
For the older children:
Encourage them to reflect about what emotions they feel about the story
and/or how the people involved may have felt.
Extension:
Walk around and swap cards (without looking) with three people then stop
after they have made three swaps and look at their new card and repeat the
process.
Thought Balloons
(with thanks to ‘A Teachable Moment’ by Jim Cain, Michelle Cummings, Jennifer Stanchfield)
Equipment needed:
Balloons
Markers/Textas
or
Whiteboard/butchers paper
Copies of pictures of people related to the unit stories
Copies of comics where speech/though bubbles are used (can usually be
found in newspapers)
Show example of the comics where speech/thought bubbles are used to
express what the characters are saying/thinking.
GodSpace Ideas – July 2012
Invite the children to select a character from the story and using the
marker/texta, write on a balloon (or inside a drawn bubble on the board) what
the person might be saying or thinking as the story unfolds.
Have them hold the balloon above the picture of the character and have
someone read it out aloud.
Alternatively, the ‘bubbles’ can reflect what the children themselves are
thinking during/after the story.
Pictorial Review
Equipment needed:
Cards with copies of individual pictures related to the unit stories (for older
children - with random numbers written on the back) or objects that can be
associated with the story.
Can be played with teams – alternating selection of the cards.
Place the pictures on the floor and invite the children to select a card, one at a
time, and then in a short sentence explain where it fits into the story.
For older children –
Place the pictures on the floor facing down with the numbers showing.
Invite the children to select a number and turn the card over to reveal the
picture. Children to give a short sentence to explain the picture and where it
fits into the story.
Note: by doing this randomly will mean the pictures will not be in
chronological order and may challenge the children a bit more to be telling the
story out of sequence.