Warm Ups at Eton State School
A Warm Up is designed to reinforce previously learnt work by moving learning from short term to long term
memory. This is done to develop automatic responses in students. A Warm Up consolidates the key skills
students need at a particular year level.
Warm Ups are conducted three times a day for English, Maths and Science/SOSE. Each Warm Up lasts
between 20 and 30 minutes. Every Warm Up is a carefully planned session that follows a set structure. The
concepts and skills practiced in a Warm Up are applied in a variety of ways and regular checking for
understanding is essential.
The content presented in a Warm Up must have been taught explicitly in a prior lesson and will remain a part
of a Warm Up until it has been embedded in students’ long term memory. The level of content is extended
according to students’ capabilities.
The cycle of a Warm Up is outlined below. This cycle is followed through with every concept covered in a
Warm Up.
Chant
 Clever chants, rhymes,
songs and mnemonics
that assist students in
recalling concepts
 Class created chants
are especially effective
Check
 When/where do we
use this rule?
 What does ____ mean?
Start
Chant
Check
Warm Up
Cycle
Apply
Apply
 Have students use the skill
or rule in a variety of ways
 Ask for examples of uses
or have them identify the
concept/fact etc in context
Accountability
It is essential that all children are provided an equal opportunity to answer questions when a whole class response is not
possible or not the best method. A possible strategy to ensure that questions are spread evenly is to have a class set of
dolly pegs with a student name on each. After you ask the question pull out a peg and have that student answer the
question. Clip the peg onto the side of the bucket to ensure that turns are shared evenly.
Active participation in Warm Ups – Give Me 5
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Legs are crossed
Hands show actions
Ears are listening
Eyes are watching
Lips are chanting together
What to include in a Warm Up
In an English lesson, warm up activities will include spelling, phonics, vocabulary activities, blending,
segmenting, sight words, definitions of text type, and grammar and punctuation. In mathematics warm ups
include timetables, rules and formulae, shapes, and mental maths activities. Science warm ups focus on skills
and science vocabulary.
English Warm Ups
Long and short vowel sounds
Vowels
What’s special about vowels?
Chant – every word has a vowel sound
Long vowels – hand raised (one vowel for each finger) – a, e, i, o, u
Short vowels – had at shoulder height (one vowel for each finger) – a, e, i, o, u
Mr Vowel (stuffed toy in box – moved to the positions chanted)
- A, a at the side
- E,e on the edge
- I, i in the box
- O, o on the box
- U, u under the box
Long vowel chants (cards) – a, a, a long a says a, ai, ay…
Chant – Short/Long vowel digraph (flipchart)
Check – add short/long vowels to beginning or end of consonants/blends/digraphs eg. ba, be, bi, bo, bu or ab, eb, ib, ob, ub
How do good readers read words?
Chant – Track the word to the end and blend the sounds together.
Check – As a group track sounds across the board (tracking strips) and then say word together
Apply – flash words for students to read
How do good spellers spell words?
Chant – Stretch the sounds out into segments
Check – Stretch a word out while students give the letters that make the sound
Apply – Give students words to write on SMB
Spelling choices for long vowel sound
Use long vowel sound flash cards and chant.
A – a, a, ai, ay, and a_e
Repeat for other long vowel combinations
Where are they found in a word?
Phonics flash cards
Add new sounds as they are taught
Chant – b, b, b says b, b, b etc
Check – give me a word that starts with …
Trick consonants/vowels
Soft c - c will say s when followed by e or i
‘A’ says o when it comes after a ‘w’ sound
Blend
What is a blend?
Chant – two letters two sounds (flash two fingers twice)
Chant sounds from flashcards eg. sl, sl, sl s-l says sl – repeat just saying sounds once
Check – give me a word that starts with eg. Br or say sounds and students blend eg b – l = bl
Apply – ‘if I was going to write the word bread, what blend can you hear first? Sound out words for students and have them
blend the sounds together and say the word.
(interactive activity)
Blends placed in front of short vowel sounds and dragged down… chn chant sound… (swa, swe, swi, swo, swu) Ask can it
go on the end? No. Repeat with long vowel sounds and final consonant blends.
Check for Understanding throughout – give me a word that has this sound at the beginning/end.
Consonant Digraphs
What is a digraph/trigraph?
Chant – two/three letters one sounds (flash two/three fingers then one finger
Chant sounds from flashcards/flipchart eg. Th, th, th t h says th – repeat just saying sounds once
Pause at tricky digraphs
When is this sound used in a word?
ck is used after a short vowel
ll, ff, ss are only found after one vowel
wh comes at the beginning of a word that asks a question
ve – no English word ends in v. They end in -ve
Check – give me a word that starts with eg. sh
Apply – ‘if I was going to write the word shed, what digraph can you hear first? Where can you hear the diagraph in eg flash
(final sound)
Identify the digraphs in words on flashcards.
Tracking
2 columns on white board – draw a line from between sounds in each column. Chn track and say the nonsense word.
gr
e
d
tw
ai
lt
sp
ea
mp
fr
igh
th
Show nonsense words … track through the word, using your sounds … 1, 2, 3… frout (all chant the word after 3)
Segmenting
Dropping off initial sound, substituting the initial sound, substituting medial sounds
eg; start with –at
“If I put ‘c’ at the front, what is it?
What if I put ‘m’? What if I changed the middle sound to –u-?
“What word is this? “Bit”
What is it if I put ‘e’ at the end?
Why? Ch’n explain split digraph
Syllables
How do we count syllables in words?
Chant – count the number of vowel sounds
Check – Count syllables in words (use chin bop strategy for strugglers)
Apply – if I was spelling the word eg. biggest how many vowel sounds will I have to write?
Oddballs
Chant: Oddballs have no rule, you just have to know it
Tricky words/oddballs on flash cards eg they
Chn spell word on show-me boards
Spelling high frequency words
Flash word, chn write on show me boards (chant saw…s…a…w…saw) or because (use mnemonic eg big elephants can
always understand small elephants)
Tricky Words
Pull words from the week before writing activities. Flash words on cards quickly then have students chant the spelling and
write it on SMB.
Contractions
Was not, was not, was not (palms facing up, alternate hands up and down), wasn’t (write apostrophe in the air)
Reading
Looking at expression and punctuation: Whole class reads a text with fluency and expression. Re-read pages over a
number of days.
Grammar/sentence construction
Improve a sentence
Eg, The mouse ate the cheese. (becomes after discussion)
The small brown mouse ate the stinky cheese.
Grammar
Chant definitions of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs
Check for understanding – ask chn to… give an example of a noun, an adjective to describe the weather today, a verb in
the past tense, a verb in the present tense, a pronoun that we could use instead of the chair etc.
Simple, Compound, Complex sentences
Chant - definitions of:
 Simple Sentence – Must have a noun and a verb and a complete thought.
 Compound Sentence – is two dependent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction
 Complex Sentence – a dependent and an independent clause joined by a subordinating conjunction
and definitions of:
 Conjunction – a word that joins two simple sentences
 Subordinators – a word used at the beginning of a clause to make it dependent
Check – Ask: What are some conjunctions and subordinators that we can use in our writing to create compound and
complex sentences?
 Coordinating Conjunctions - FANBOYS – For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
 Subordinating Conjunctions – WABWAS – When, After, Because, Which, Although, So that
Apply - Highlighting independent clauses and circling conjunctions in compound sentences. Chn write an appropriate
missing conjunction on show me boards for given independent clauses Emus have wings ______ they cannot fly) etc.
Convert two simple sentences into a compound or complex sentence using a conjunction or subordinator.
Editing
What is in a Simple Sentence?
Chant – it has a noun, a verb and a complete thought
What is a noun?
Chant – a noun names the things around us
Check – students give examples
What is a noun group?
Chant – a noun group defines the noun
What is a verb?
Chant – a verb is a doing word
Check – students give examples
Apply – Show a simple sentence with high frequency words misspelt, no capital or full stop etc
Eg teh cit sat no teh mot
Read the sentence to the students and have them help you edit stating any rules they are applying.
Identify the noun and verb.
Expand the noun group
Spelling rules eg. Adding –ed, -ing, -s or –es for plurals
Chn chant spelling rules eg. Teacher starts… if a verb ends in an e… (chn say) … cross of the e and add –ed, … if a verb
has a short vowel sound before the last letter … double the last letter and add -ed, for most verbs just… add –ed.
Chn write on show me boards eg. Write dance on the board, ask chn to write the past tense of the verb, ie. Danced. Repeat
for other words. Discuss rules used.
Language conventions – NAPLAN style
Code Breakers (Commercial Program)
“bomb” students write a word beginning with the last sound. Repeat for next word written.
Math Warm Ups
Counting
Chant – When I count in 1’s, I count in 1’s, when I count in 2’s, I count in 2’s etc
Check – count in 1’s from given numbers
Apply – I am going to count these $1 coins how will I do it?
Count forwards and backwards and start from different numbers
Numbers
1, 1, 1 o-n-e that’s 1
2, 2, 2, t-w-o that’s 2 etc
Place Value
Millions to hundredths depending on Yr level. Give students a number and have them reveal the place value of certain
digits using SMB’s.
Standard partitioning
Have students expand numbers or represent the expanded number
Eg 6000+400+30+5
Or 6 thousand + 4 hundred + …
Non-standard partitioning
Eg 63 hundreds + 14 one =
Rainbow Facts
Chant – facts
Check – quick fire eg 7 and, 6 and etc
Apply – I had 3 apples but need 10 how many more do I need to buy?
Apply to multiples of 10 and 100
Double Facts
Chant – facts
Check – quick fire eg double 6 etc
Apply – I have two octopuses how many legs? Etc
Apply to multiples of 10 and 100
Count on 1 and 2 facts
Follow above format
Use SMB to flash answers to quick fire questions
Times Tables
Chant - tables with answer revealed eg 1 x 7 = 7, 2 x 7 = 14… Then chant tables with answer hidden eg. 1 x 7 =__, 2 x 7 =
and then chant multiples eg 7, 14, 21…
Check - Quick fire facts (all students answer or st’s reveal answer on SMB)
Fact circle – students sit in a circle. Give two students opposite each other a die each. Students roll the dice and multiply
the numbers. The first student to answer correctly holds onto the dice while the other student passes their die in a clockwise
direction. The aim of the game is to end up with both dies.
Apply – use SMB for students to reveal answers to a range of questions eg 7 cars how many wheels or a rectangle that is 7
x6 what is the area?
Vocabulary
Students can chant definitions of math concepts. CFU with regular questioning.
Odd and Even
Composite numbers
Prime Numbers
Factors
Multiples
Square numbers
Perimeter
Area
Mixed Fraction
Common Fraction
Improper Fractions
Shapes
Chant – names of 2D and 3D shapes
Check – what are the properties (Who am I type questions)
Apply – Where do you see these shapes in the world. Use SMB to draw different shapes
Angles
Identify angles in 2D shapes
Symmetry
Identify symmetrical shapes/number of lines of symmetry etc in shapes
Time Measurement
Chant – days of the week, months, seasons
Check – how many days in week, fortnight, months, year, leap year? How many weeks in a fortnight, month, year etc? How
many months in a year, season? How many years in a decade, century? How regularly does a leap year come around?
How many minutes in an hour, etc?
Apply – Tell times, calculate future dates on calendar etc
Science Warm Ups
PROE
Chant – Predict, Reason, Observation, Explanation
Check – What does Predict mean? …
Apply – Mini Fair Test – eg ask What will happen when I let go of this basketball? Students record short answers for each
step of PROE.
5 Senses
Chant – What are the 5 senses? Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching
Check – How do we use our senses in Science experiments?
Apply – Provide samples in petrie dish (eg Rock salt, sugar, etc). Ask students to use an adjective to describe the sample
using each of the senses one at a time. Students display responses on SMB’s.
Vocabulary
Flash cards with definitions – eg gas, liquid, volume, vapour, states of matter etc. Students read word and definitions from
the cards.
Check – students give examples
Apply – pose a series of questions for students to identify missing term eg. What state of matter does butter turn into if it
melts? Or What type of test do you have if you change only one variable? Students write answers on SMB’s
Theme related songs/chants
Eg. Solar system themed from YouTube
- Mr Parr’s Moon Phases song
- The Planets of the Solar System
- The Rock cycle song (C2C link)
PowerPoints and Flipcharts
Flash cards with moon phases, tide cycles, seasons, eclipses
Rocks
- Chant – definitions of Rock types
- Check - examples of
- Apply – SMB students name examples
-
Music
Flashcards for beats in notes
Check – students draw eg two beat notes
Identify parts of the sheet music
Treble Clef
Clap beats
Guess the instrument by sound
LOTE
Chant - Hirigana Flashcards
Hirigana chart
Check – write the letter for this sound
Apply – write the word using hirigana