Once upon a time, when I was student teaching, we used Madeline Hunter’s seven-step lesson plan. It has held up over time and remains a great model for direct instruction. (I found a PDF online, the same document we used at UNC-Chapel Hill back then.)
While she is known for her lesson plan format, another valuable thing I learned from Madeline Hunter was the idea of “sponge activities.” These are “learning activities that soak up precious time that would otherwise be lost.”
These activities should be quick, fun, and engaging, with a slight focus on academics but that doesn’t feel too intense. These are perfect for using bits of time for more learning!
What’s the difference between sponge activities and brain breaks? Brain breaks are short mental breaks designed to help students stay focused and attentive. They might help energize or relax students (depending on the need). Sponge activities are learning activities. They both serve a purpose.
Every teacher can come up with their own versions of great sponge activities, depending on the needs of their class and their curriculum. Here are 20 ideas to get you started!
ELA
1 – Read aloud – this will always be my first choice. Keep a stack of picture books and a chapter book read-aloud handy at all times (even if you only teach math or science or social studies).
2 – Stellar Literacy is a favorite resource of mine, and I especially love their sentence writing routine. Here’s a link to a free resource. Try it out and see what you think! This is a great way to use a few extra minutes and students love it.
3 – Make up stories with Story Cubes. These are fun to use with small groups or the whole class together. Roll a cube to get started. One student starts a story using that cube and writes for one minute (or whatever amount of time you want to use). When the timer goes off, they pass the paper to the next student, you roll another cube and the next student continues the story. Continue for as much time as you have and then read the fun results!
4 – Mad Libs. These are always fun and a great reinforcement for parts of speech.
5 – An oldie, but goodie: read a 5 Minute Mini Mystery and try to solve it.
6 – Play fun games to review spelling or vocabulary words that have been previously taught.
Here’s an example game I like to use: – “Be a Mind Reader” from Patricia Cunningham’s Month-by-Month Phonics for Upper Grades .
The teacher gives clues one at a time providing appropriate wait time in between for students to think (or write down their word guesses).
Examples:
Clue 1: I’m thinking of a word on our spelling patterns list.
Clue 2: It has one syllable.
Clue 3: It is a homophone.
Clue 4: It rhymes with could.
Clue 1: I’m thinking of a word on the vocabulary list.
Clue 2: It has 5 letters.
Clue 3: It is a verb.
Clue 4: It belongs in this sentence: Mary will _______ her essay today.
Math
7 – Try some choral counting. As a class, count by twos, fives, tens, or other multiplication facts you want to review.
8 – Another choral counting option is to start with a number such as 225 and count by tens or hundreds forward or backward.
9 – Yet another choral counting option: count by fractions (fourths, for example) or decimal numbers.
10 – Play “I am the Greatest” to have fun with place value. Here’s how to do it:
The teacher needs a deck of cards or a ten-sided die.
Have students draw lines on paper or whiteboards for whatever size number you want to use. (6 lines for numbers up to hundred thousands place, for example, or 4 lines, a decimal point, and then 2 lines for numbers up to the thousands place and decimals to the hundredths place).
The teacher rolls a die or pulls card and calls out the number. Students place that number anywhere on their lines.
Continue until all blanks are filled. (The teacher plays along to ensure that the greatest possible number is being built.)
Students call out “I am the greatest!” if they have the greatest number.
There is an element of strategy to this as students try to place larger digits in the largest place value spaces. But there is the element of luck as well since they can’t predict what numbers will be drawn or rolled!
11 – Play the 24 Game. This one is a lot of fun.
12 – Try some activities from Steve Wyborney’s math site.
Not content-specific
13 – Would You Rather? questions get kids up and moving. They have to choose one or the other – no fair sticking to the middle! Then randomly call on one or two students to justify their answer by explaining why they would choose that. Minds in Bloom has great suggestions for different times of the year.
14 – Use The Kids’ Book of Questions or Table Topics for Kids for some lively discussions!
15 – Play Brain Quest!
Third grade set
Fourth grade set
Fifth grade set
16 – Try some classroom podcasts! Here are some popular ones.
Six Minutes
But Why
Brains On
Who Smarted
17 – Play a favorite song or video from YouTube. Some possibilities include anything by Kid President, any song that teaches something in your curriculum (“Tour the States” is a favorite of my fifth graders), inspiring performances from America’s Got Talent, or Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman videos.
18 – Write a ten-word summary. Have kids work in groups to create a ten-word summary of some concept you are studying or a summary of a book or article you are reading. They can omit words like “the”, “a”, etc.
19 – If you have a few extra minutes, try going on a virtual field trip! Here’s my list.
20 – If you have enough time for students to use computers, it’s fun to play Quizlet Live with any Quizlets you have already created. Quizlet Live randomly assigns students to small group teams and they play as a team to review vocabulary terms.
I hope these sponge activities help you get started with collecting your own! Using every minute well (while having fun along the way) is the goal.
Want a printable list of these activities! You can download it here!