LESSON BREAK ACTIVITIES – LANGUAGE
Contents
‘Simon says’
Object Description
Different writing styles/genres
Debate
Rhyming musical chairs
Quick Sticks Scattergories
Comparisons
Non-verbal pairing
Vocabulary development
Where does this animal live?
Charades
‘I went to the shops and I bought..’
Word association
Rhythm work
Fill the gaps
Story pictionary
Rhyming
End/Start
Newspaper headlines
Continuous stories
Produced by the Riverina Schools Project Partnership, 2006.
‘Simon says’ –Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and 2
Targets:
o Developing understanding of language
o Developing listening skills
o Developing the skill of accurately following
instructions
o Developing ability to following 2 or 3 step
instructions
 Teacher or student gives instructions
Increase complexity for Stage 1 by increasing the level of
instructions, 2-3 steps
Eg. Put your right hand on your head and the left one on your left
knee
Increase complexity for Stage 2 by adding prepositions to the
commands
Eg. Put your hands on the floor between your legs
1
Object description - Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and 2
Targets:
o Developing ability to express language verbally
o Developing alternate ways to express ideas
o Developing awareness of meanings and
associations between words and categories
 Divide class into two teams
 One student is to stand out the front and is given a word to
describe to the class
 First team to guess correctly wins a point, team with the most
points wins
Increase complexity for Stages 1 and 2 by describing adjectives,
verbs, emotions and feelings
Eg. ‘red’. The child describes: ‘it’s a colour, on the traffic lights,
santa’s suit is this colour
2
Different writing styles/genres –Stage 3, Stage 2
Targets:
o Developing the understanding and awareness of
how language can be used in different genres and
contexts
o Developing the understanding that language can be
used in various forms to express different ideas
 Teacher provides students with scenario
 Students then have to write about it in the appropriate form.
 Other options could be,
o Newspaper article – Australia attacked by giant bees,
Australia win soccer World Cup, McDonald’s get rid of
French fries
o Postcard – You’re on holiday to Egypt, school camp to
the mountains, a white Christmas
o Letter – Thanking someone for a birthday present,
writing to a friend who has moved away, writing a letter
to an admired celebrity
o Recipe – Nan’s fantastic scones, green pancakes,
cheese on toast
o Poem – My older/younger brother/sister, my favourite
pet, weekends
Decreasing complexity for Stage 2 by brainstorming as a whole
class, what are the features and characteristics of different written
forms.
3
Debate – Stage 3
Targets:
o Developing conversational skills such as turn-taking
o Developing the understanding of conversation and
the rules involved
o Developing ability to express through verbal
language
o Developing awareness of alternate ways to express
ideas
o Developing understanding of language
o Developing active listening skills
 Provide topic for debate
o Lollies should be sold at the school tuckshop
o Children should not get any pocket money
o Parents should let their children watch TV during the
week
o Chocolate should be banned
o A cat makes the best pet
o Football is the worst sport
 Brainstorm as a whole class the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’
the topic
 Ask students to state their opinion and provide a reason
 Select students to work in teams to present one side of an
argument
 Allow several minutes for groups to organise and discuss
their argument
Decrease complexity by stretching the debate over a couple of
lesson breaks, and allowing more time for students to collate
arguments.
4
Rhyming musical chairs – Early Stage 1 to Stage 3
Targets:
o Developing the concept of rhyming
o Developing awareness of words starting and ending
with the same letter or sound
o Developing the awareness of syllable segmentation
 Teacher reads out lists of rhyming words and nonsense
words (see appendix)
 When a non rhyming word is read aloud, students sit on the
chairs
Complexity can be increased for Stages 1, 2 and 3 by using words
with more syllables
Eg, make, shake, rake, bake, cake, sun(sit on seats)
Reason, season, treason, water (sit on seats)
(Refer to Appendix 3 for ideas of rhyming words)
5
Quick Sticks Scattergories –Stage 1 to Stage 2
Targets:
o Developing awareness of meanings and
associations between words and categories
 Class is divided into teams
 Teacher provides a category and a letter of the alphabet
Eg, vegetables, ‘C’
 The team who comes up with as many things relating to that
category starting with that letter wins a point
 Several quick games could be played to determine which
team is the winner
Increase complexity for Stage 2 by providing more obscure
categories paired with different letters of the alphabet.
(Refer to Appendix 1 for ideas of categories)
6
Comparisons – Early Stage 1 and Stage 1
Targets:
o Developing awareness of meanings and
associations between words and categories
 Teacher asks the students a question ie. ‘Which is taller?’
and then provides the students with two or three objects ie.
Giraffe horse rabbit
 The students must decide which option is correct
 Can be played as a whole class, and answer written on the
board, or as a competition in teams
To increase complexity provide several options and the students
must put them in order. The following questions are some
examples of what could be asked:
 Which is taller? Giraffe horse rabbit
 Which runs faster? Fish cheetah goat
 Which is shorter? Elephant dog person
 Which makes more noise? Kookaburra mouse snake
 Which jumps higher? Whale kangaroo koala
7
Non-verbal pairing – Early Stage 1 to Stage 2
Targets:
o Non-verbal communication, ie facial expressions,
body language
o Categorising items
 Each child is given a card which has its own pair. For
example ‘toothbrush’ pairs with ‘toothpaste’.
 Students have to find their pair by explaining what card they
have to other students without verbalising.
 The last 4 students to find their pairs have to sit down, as the
game starts again until the 2 students are left remaining (The
winners)
8
Vocabulary development – Stage 2 and 3
Targets:
o Developing vocabulary through the use of alternate
words with similar meanings
 The cards of synonyms are handed out to each student in
the class
 Students organise themselves into groups according to the
meanings of their words
 The students can then explain the following:
o How the synonyms are the same
o How the synonyms are different
Eg,’ joyful’ and ‘excited’. How are they the same? How are they
different?
(Refer to Appendix 2 for synonyms)
9
Where does the animal live? – Early Stage 1 to Stage 2
Targets:
o Developing awareness of meanings and
associations between words and categories
 Teacher draws on the board the sky, the ocean or river, and
land
 Teacher then says an animal ie a lion
 The students must choose where the lion belongs, in the sky,
the water or the land
 Several different animals can be mentioned to give students
an idea about different animals and their environments
o Which animals are reptiles
o Which animals lay eggs
o Amphibians?
To increase complexity for Stages 1 and 2, allow the students to
come up with the animals to fit the different environments
themselves.
Sky
Parrot
Budgie
Kookaburra
Toucan
Eagle
Butterfly
Bee
Mosquito
Fruit bat
Ocean
Whale
Shark
Sting-ray
Seahorse
Fish
Turtle
Dolphin
Squid
Lobster
Land
Cow
Tiger
Sheep
Monkey
Dog
Lizard
Snake
Kangaroo
Donkey
10
Charades – Stage 2
Targets:
o Developing the use of non verbal expression
o Developing understanding of language
o Developing listening skills
 A member of the class has to relay an idea ie, something
from a category, object, movie, book title.
 The rest of the class must guess what it is
 The person who guesses correctly is then the next to
perform a charade
(Refer to Appendix 1 for more ideas of categories)
11
‘I went to the shops and I bought……’ – Stage 2, Stage 3
Targets:
o Developing skills in processing information
o Developing skills in retaining information
o Developing skills in expressing information
 Students sit in a circle, going around the students say ‘ I
went to the shops and I bought….’ Or I went to the zoo and
saw a ….. I went to the circus and saw……I went to the
beach and found……I went to the moon and found……I went
camping in the bush and cooked…. Adding something to the
list each time
 The next student then says what the previous student said
plus their own addition
 The last student to go will have to remember every item that
the other students have previously mentioned.
Increase complexity for Stage 3 by using sentences or
uncategorised objects. Eg. I went to the moon and found a cat
sitting on a rug, a bird singing in a crater….
12
Word association –Stage 1
Targets:
o Developing awareness of meanings and
associations between words and categories
 Teacher writes a word on the board
 Students are asked to figure out
o What the object is used for
o Where the object would be found
o What does it look like etc
Object
Used for…
shoe
Feet
protection
Where
found….
On feet,
box, shop
front
window,
under the
bed, at front
door
Looks
like…
All different
colours,
same have
laces,
buckles,
Velcro,
made of
rubber
Feels
like…
Some can
be soft,
hard,
squashy
etc
13
Rhythm work –Stage 1and Stage 2
Targets:
o Developing the awareness of syllable segmentation
o Developing awareness of words starting and ending
with the same letter or sound
 Get the students to sit around in a circle
 Students to clap out the syllables in their names
Eg. ‘Daniel, Sarah, Tom, Tara, Alexandra’ (dan-iel, sa-rah, tom, tara, al-ex-an-dra)
Increase complexity for Stage 2 by clapping the students’ names
before them, or adding sentences to the names.
14
Fill the gaps in the familiar song or nursery rhyme – Early
Stage 1 and Stage 1
Targets:
o Developing skills putting sentences together
correctly
o Developing the concept of rhyming
o Developing the awareness of syllable segmentation
 Teachers sings a familiar song or nursery rhyme
 Omitting verbs or nouns for the students to recognise what is
missing
Eg. ‘Mary had a little lamb, little ____ little _____, Mary ___ a little
lamb its fleece as white as snow. And every where that Mary ____
that lamb was sure to go.’
Increase complexity for Stage 1 by getting the students to create
their own rhyming song, or poem.
15
Story Pictionary –Stage 1 and Stage 2
Targets:
o
o
o
o
Developing skills in processing information
Developing skills in retaining information
Developing skills in expressing information
Developing skills in sequencing and planning of
stories
 Teacher reads out a short story
Eg, nursery rhyme, fable, a segment from the current class
serial/book.
 Students must draw in sequence what happened in the story
 Students can then share their depiction of the story with the
class
To increase complexity for Stage 2, lengthen the story, add more
complicated events
16
Rhyming Suffixes –Stage 1 and Stage 2
Targets:
o Developing the concept of rhyming
o Developing the awareness of syllable segmentation
o Developing awareness of words starting and ending
with the same letter or sound
o Helps to recognise tenses
 Use the suffixes or prefixes appropriate to age levels
 Ask students to name as many words as they can that have
rhyming suffixes. Ie playing, jumping, crying
played, jumped, cried
undone, untie, unsure
Increase complexity for Stage 2 by moving on to other suffixes or
prefixes that students may have difficulty producing in the correct
contexts.
17
End/Start - Stage 2 and Stage 3
Targets:
o Developing awareness of meanings and
associations between words and categories
o Developing the concept of rhyming
o Developing the awareness of syllable segmentation
o Developing awareness of words starting and ending
with the same letter or sound
o Helps to recognise tenses
 Go around the circle, students have to say a word starting
with the last letter in the previous word
 Categories which can be used, for example:
o Food
o Cities
o Countries
o Animals
The use of different categories increases the complexity of the task
for Stage 3.
(Refer to Appendix 1 for more ideas of categories)
18
Newspaper headlines – Stage 3
Targets:
o Developing skills in creating narrative
o Developing skills of putting sentences together
correctly
o Developing skills in creative thinking
 Can be done in groups or individually
 Teacher provides students with a headline from a newspaper
 Students are to create a fictional story to fit in with the
headline
Examples of possible headlines:
‘Australia wins gold’
‘How could this happen, a chocolate shortage?’
‘Schools to allow students longer recess time’
‘Aussies are sports mad – says survey’
19
Continuous Story - Stage 2 and Stage 3
Targets:
o Developing skills putting sentences together
correctly
o Developing skills in creating narrative
 Each student writes the opening line of a story at the top of a
blank sheet of paper, in a limited time ie 40 seconds
 The sheet is then passed onto the next student. The next
student must come up with a sentence to follow on from the
previous.
 Each time the student adds a sentence, the previous
sentence must be folded over before handed on to the next
student.
 By the time the sheet has been passed around a group, or
the whole class, there will be a short story for the students to
share with the class.
To increase complexity for Stage 3, limit the time permitted to write
the sentences, or provide certain topics to be mentioned within the
stories.
Examples of opening lines:
I have always disliked hotdogs….
I wandered down to the corner, when it sprang out in front of me….
Why did my brother have to be so annoying, she always……
The next day I woke up and realised it was all I dream, I
remember……
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APPENDIX 1
CATEGORIES
Useful for word association games, tasks involving lists and guessing games.
animals (and subcategories of animals)
appliances
art
awful birthday presents
awful video clips / movies etc
balls
bands/music/artists
big words
birds
body parts - external
body parts - internal
book titles
brand names
brands of washing powder
brands/types of sweets/chocolates
brands of (insert specific thing here)
breakfast
brushes
building materials
car parts
cartoon / comic characters
cities in USA
colours
countries
currencies of different counties
criminals
desserts
drinks (non-alcoholic)
nuts
food (and subcategories)
shops
drinks
gates
famous artists
famous composers
famous landmarks
famous people
feelings
first names (be careful of cultural bias)
fruit
fun things to do
furniture
games
games you can play with other people
great birthday presents
highways
ice cream flavours
insults
jobs / careers /occupations
kinds of deliveries trucks make
lights
little words (of 4 letters or less)
make up
mountains (or other landform types)
movie stars
names (of boys, girls)
noises you can make
people on TV
people with outside jobs
places for holidays
places to live
relatives
reptiles
rivers
selfish things to do
shapes
shoes
something you put things in
song titles
sports equipment
sports
story topics
local street names
take away food
things about babies
things in a bathroom or at home
things in a garden
things in a kitchen
things in a school
things in cold climates
things in the jungle
things in the kitchen drawer
things made of: metal, wood, plastic (insert
material)
things on a farm
things that are cold
things that are expensive
things that are fast
things that are hot
things that are slow
things that are valuable
things that are: (insert adjective)
things that have water in them
things that move on water
things that you can (insert verb: eg, collect,
throw, worry about, watch...etc)
things to do when you're bored
things to eat
things to wear
things to carry water in
things you can buy at a service station
things to write with
things under the sea
things with wheels
things you can buy from a supermarket
things you can cook
things you can do on a computer
things you can do with your hands
21
things you can have wrong with you
things you can lose
things you can make noise with
things you can make things with
things you find in the garden (insert other
place)
things you can take photos of
things you can't take photos of
things you dislike about school
things you don't wear very often
things you find in hospital
things you like about school
things you need to make an appointment
for
things you should do
things you shouldn't do
things you take photos of
things you've seen ads for
tools / powertools
towns in Australia
toys
transport
TV shows
uses for a bucket
uses for pen or pencil
uses for rope
uses for other things (think up your own
thing…)
veges
ways to move your body to get
somewhere (eg, crawl, walk etc)
ways to surprise someone
ways to describe getting angry (being
cross, losing your temper, knocking
someone’s block off – idioms etc)
ways to describe being dead (croak, cark it,
kick the bucket – idioms etc).
ways to describe….(insert other thing here)
Words beginning with 'a' (etc)
words to do with time
writing implements
22
APPENDIX 2
BIG
HUGE
MASSIVE
GIANT
GIGANTIC
MONSTROUS
TREMENDOUS
LARGE
BAD
AWFUL
HORRIBLE
HORRIFIC
UNPLEASANT
DREADFUL
BRILLIANT
AMAZING
TREMENDOUS
SUPERIOR
FINE
EXCELLENT
GOOD
WONDERFUL
FANTASTIC
TERRIBLE
23
VIVACIOUS
GLAD
JOLLY
HAPPY
CHEERFUL
ECSTATIC
ELATED
ENTHUSIASTIC
EXCITED
JOYOUS
MERRY
PETITE
MINISCULE
MINUTE
SMALL
LITTLE
TINY
SAD
GLOOMY
MISERABLE
UNHAPPY
DEPRESSED
UPSET
SULLEN
SULKY
SORROWFUL
MICROSCOPIC
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APPENDIX 3
Rhyming words which can be used in ‘rhyming musical chairs’
1 syllable
Dog
Frog
Log
Cog
Mog
Ball
Rog
Sog
Pog
Nog
Phone
Hog
Gog
Fog
Vog
Zog
Shirt
Snake
Quake
Wake
Nake
Tree
Hake
Zake
Jake
Dake
Balloon
2 syllables
Reason
Season
Treason
Cricket
Freason
Breason
Pleason
Sesame
Weason
Teason
Deason
Meason
Laughter
Race
Lace
Pace
Case
Jacket
False
Mace
Racket
Dace
Smacket
Base
Dracket
Make
Face
Bucket
Shake
Backet
Waste
Bake
Gase
Cracket
Cake
Hase
Macket
Tase
House
Ticket
Lake
Vase
Lacket
Fake
Packet
Horse
Take
Sase
Sacket
Sake
Grace
Hacket
Rake
Brace
Locket
Trace
Pate
Crease
* Words in italics indicate the word does not rhyme with the others
in the list
25
Beat
eat
feat
heat
meat
neat
seat
Law
paw
raw
saw
slaw
straw
mate
fling
king
ping
ring
sing
sling
spring
At
bat
brat
cat
chat
fat
flat
hat
mat
pat
rat
sat
Feel
heel
peel
wheel
Mill
Kick
lick
nick
pick
quick
rick
sick
Book
Brain
gain
main
pain
plain
rain
spain
train
Ball
call
fall
hall
mall
stall
tall
wall
Ate
crate
date
fate
Beep
deep
jeep
keep
peep
sheep
Meat
Bell
cell
dell
dwell
fell
sell
smell
Grill
Ill
jill
pill
sill
still
till
will
Growl
Bow
cow
how
now
sow
vow
wow
Blow
crow
flow
glow
grow
low
mow
Took
Bump
dump
hump
jump
lump
Nump
Bring
cling
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