What's the Question? (using pictures)

Using a photo (no photo included in this post) create some answers related to the photo (before class or learners in groups with their own):

1, France
2, Late afternoon
3, A house
4, Yes, on the right hand side
5, No
6, A young family
7, They are playing tennis

8, It might have been 1910

9, It could be Spring

Now decide what the questions could be for these answers by looking at the photo:

example 1, Where was the photo taken?

Excuses Excuses

Reasons why they didn't do the homework. A list.

I forgot

I was ill

I was absent

I had to study

My dog ate it

I had a headache

I didn't have time

I did the wrong page

I didn't understand it

I couldn't be bothered

I did the wrong exercise

I can't find my workbook

I left my workbook at home

I didn't come to the last class

I hurt my leg and was in hospital

I know it already so it's a waste of time

I left my bag in my grandparents house

I left my books in my grandparents house

Was there homework?

@theirwordsmyverse

Drawing by Claudia

Preference

A) Do you prefer ____ or _____?
B) ____
A) Why?
B) Because ____

Restlessness

Here are some forms of transport:

1, car | plane | UFO

2, camel | elephant | magic carpet

3, skateboard | train | horse

Choose one group of three words and answer the questions:

1, Which ones have things in common?
2, Which is the (___est / most ___) 
3, If the ___ could speak, what would it say?
4, What advice would the ____  give to its children?
5, Can you create a new transport using two words?
(example magic camel (include a brief explanation))

Respect

1, Here are some reasons you might get into trouble at school:

Not doing homework
Using a mobile phone when you shouldn't
Punching another student in the playground
Insulting another student in the playground
Speaking to friends in class

Can you rank them in order of the one that gets you into the MOST trouble to the one that gets you into the LEAST trouble. Compare and justify your answers.

2, Here are some alternative ideas from The Philosophy Man. A bit more thinking involved. Rank them.

Hitting someone
Hitting someone back
Stealing food from the school canteen
Stealing someone’s lunch
Calling another pupil a bad name
Calling a teacher a a bad name

Positive Thinking

What are you good at? (a sport, hobby or subject at school etc.)

Answer these questions

1, What advice would you give a beginner?

2, What do you enjoy about it?

3, When was the last time you did it?

4, Whose feedback do you need?
5, Who/What stops you from doing it?

Present your ideas.

Flip it

Ask them what they didn't do on their summer holidays.

Grandparents

How do you feel at their house?

What can you smell / hear / see?

What things do they say?

What do you think?

The results from my class: #theirwordsmyverse
(Poem style inspired by Michael Rosen)

At my grandparents house

I feel happy, loved, bored
I can smell soap, socks, food and air freshener

At my grandparents house
I have to eat lentils

At my grandparents house
My grandad doesn't drink water
he drinks Fanta

At my grandparents house
There are old photos, old films
an old TV and a rocking chair

At my grandparents house
They ask me how things work.
They ask me for my dads mobile number (again)
and they call me by my sisters name

At my grandparents house
I talk about school, do my homework
I think about my future
I think about pizza

Length

What is the longest word you can think of starting with the following letters:

S

E

P

T

E

M

B

E

R

example: S – Salubriousness.

Be Yourself

Be Yourself

Be calm and aware
Be who why and where?

Be the child looking up
Be the team with no cup

Be the road that takes longer
Be the battery that gets stronger

Be the film without a script
Be the chocolate amongst the chips

Be the experiment that fails
Be the fish with no scales

Be the stranger thats kind
Be the stars unaligned

Breathe in. Breath out
Sit straight. Stand tall

Dare to be true
Dare to be you

Clarence Greenway 

What is going on in this picture?

A good website for speculating and guessing

Unlimited

Here is Nike's staff memo from the 1970's.

How many of these can we apply to our class to ensure a successful year and passed exams?

Rules

Effective teachers don't focus so much on rules, but more on relationships, routines, & expectations. If you focus mainly on rules, you will spend most of the year enforcing them. But if you focus on relationships, routines, & expectations, you rarely have to defer back to rules.

Brad Johnson