Teacher Tip: Bellringers
Distinguished Modern Classroom Educator Mary Tripp starts each class with a bellringer to engage students and get them thinking.
Bellringers are warm-up activities that sparks learners’ interest and creativity. They can easily be modified to relate to your subject area, to account for your students’ abilities, and to fill the early minutes of class while students filter in and you connect with individuals.
In Mary’s words: “We rotate through different kinds of activities during the year. No matter the activity, I project it onto my board and students use a paper copy of my response sheet to record their ideas. I encourage students to collaborate on these activities, and discuss them as a whole class once all students have had time to answer. Every two weeks I collect these response sheets, and give students productivity points for their efforts.”
Student Response Sheets
Mary has collected eight of her favorite bellringer activities for you below.
Word Ladders
Students start with a given word, then using the clues, work their way down the ladder to finish with the last word.
Pun of the Day
Students read the pun and answer an additional question.
Optical Illusions
Students look at an optical illusion and decide which image they see. You may also have students defend their answers in a small group.
Brainteasers
There are many brainteasers that you can share with students. One specific type of brainteaser is a Rebus Puzzle.
Students see an image and must figure out what common phrase is being represented.
Click here for more rebus puzzles!
Context Clues: Word of the Day
Students are given a short prompt. After reading through the prompt, students answer the question on their response sheet.
Jeremiah joked around so much that when he told the others about the accident that had occurred, they didn’t believe that he was being earnest.
What does earnest mean? How do you know?
Wildlife Picture of the Day
Students are shown a picture of some of wildlife. They are then asked to caption the picture on their response sheet.
What Genre is it?
Students are given a short prompt. After reading the prompt, they are tasked with defining the genre of writing.
Newton's Law by Morton Mallon
After a life of studying the nano-transportation sciences, Professor Melton stumbles upon a major breakthrough. On April 20th, 2042, Melton discovers a way to transport particles at light-speed across fixed distances. Now he can teleport from one location to another. But Professor Melton soon discovers that there is no such thing as a free lunch. He learns that the body ages relative to the distance travelled, not just the time. This means that a teleporting body ages very rapidly. Can Melton solve this problem before his time is up?
What Kind of Irony?
Students are given a short prompt. After reading the prompt, students are asked to identify the type of irony that is being displayed.
Tim Kylie is one of the world's top chefs. He is best known for his signature dish, triple-dipped chip steak. This masterpiece contains over a pound of beef braised in duck fat. Another of Chef Kylie's more celebrated dishes is the Hamslaughter Supreme. This dish features ham stuffed sausage links presented in a basket made of braided bacon. While carnivores around the world roar for Chef Kylie's creations, it is unlikely that Chef Kylie will dine with them. As a longtime vegan, Chef Kylie would never dream of devouring one of his own dishes. Which type of irony is used?
We collected a full slide deck with these examples. Try out one of these bellringers with your students or invent your own!