5 minutes

I was asked for some ideas for what to do with your class when you have a spare 5 minutes. Here are my top 6, whole-class ideas.

• Practice Phonics

It's important learning is revisited frequently so that it moves to long-term memory. Recapping phonemes, tricky/ high frequency words, or even practicing some oral blending is a great one for Reception/ Year 1 especially as you're lining up to go to lunch or before the children go home.

• Talking about a picture

This is a good one for imagination, curiosity, and communication and language. Looking at unusual photos like these Talking Time pictures, asking the children to talk about what they can see or getting them to ask questions to find out more. These pictures are also good to use when your children are able to use their phonics to write; they can write what they think is in the picture or write a story about what is happening in the picture.

• Singing

I know it may be an obvious one, especially for EYs practitioners, but singing is an all time favourite of mine. Singing your favourite nursery rhyme or a learning song like this one, is a perfect 5-minute filler.

• 5 Minutes of Movement

Joe Wicks has got some simple ‘five minutes of movement’ videos you can access on YouTube for free, just like this one.

• 5 Minutes of Meditation/ Mindfulness

And for those high energy days, I love to do five minutes of calm time and my class especially like this video.

• Touch and Point

A great one if you're learning colours or want to develop everyday vocabulary. Call out colours or classroom objects and ask the children to point to the object or something of that colour. Alternatively, if you'd like to incorporate movement into the game, ask the children to go and touch an object.

I hope these simple, but effective ideas help. Let me know in the comments box below!