It’s likely you’ve heard of bell ringers or have even incorporated some form of them into your own classroom routine. It’s also likely you completed them as a
Years ago, at a workshop, I was introduced to Jeff Anderson's Power Writing. The basic idea (or at least how it was conveyed to me at the workshop) is this: Round One: Give students two words (I used "school" and "vacation") and have them write the words at the top of their page. Then they need to circle one. Set the timer for one minute and tell students to write as fast as they can about that word or a story that includes that word. When time is up, have them count the number of words they wrote. Record their word counts (you can see how I used the chart and tally marks). Round Two: Same directions, only with two different words (I used "chocolate" and "pizza.") Record word count again. Round Three: Repeat with two more words (I used "summer" and "winter") and record again. Now, ask students to summarize the "data" on the board and see if, from the data, they can form a generalization about writing based on what they observed. (I usually let them work in groups or at least with a partner.) Most students will be able to conclude that with each round, they got faster. Then some will generalize that maybe writers need to get "warmed-up" when writing just like athletes do when playing a sport. Eureka!! We discuss that most practices or work-outs will begin with a warm-up to get the body ready for exertion. I explain that writers need to do the same thing! They need to get their hands and head warmed-up for all the writing that is about to come in class that day. I tell them that that is why will begin each and every class with a 10-minute bell-ringer: a quick write that will get us ready for the real work ahead later in class. Each day, when my students come into class, they need to write for 10 minutes without stopping. They can write about whatever they want, but I always have a prompt on the board just in case they need some motivation. Usually it's one of these prompts, or a fun picture. It's a quiet and peaceful way to begin class, and, as our research shows, the perfect way to get our hands and head ready for all the writing ahead! What are some of your favorite bell-ringers? I'd love to hear from you!! Happy Teaching!!
It’s likely you’ve heard of bell ringers or have even incorporated some form of them into your own classroom routine. It’s also likely you completed them as a
Shhh! Did you hear that? It was the second bell. They’re COMING. Skipping, tripping, sauntering and marching right down that hallway. Are you ready for your students? Because make no mistake, they are ready for you! In an instant, the classroom goes from empty and silent to bursting with energy. Let’s face it: we teachers ... Read more
Bell ringers are warm-up activities that students complete at the beginning of class—when the bell rings—while teachers get ready for their day.
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Shhh! Did you hear that? It was the second bell. They’re COMING. Skipping, tripping, sauntering and marching right down that hallway. Are you ready for your students? Because make no mistake, they are ready for you! In an instant, the classroom goes from empty and silent to bursting with energy. Let’s face it: we teachers ... Read more
Begin each of your classes with bell ringers or warm up activities that your middle or high school English students will love!
By Presto Plans I first realized the power of bell ringers years ago, thanks to a particularly unruly class that would bounce off my walls after lunch. After consistently wasting the first ten minutes of class getting students seated, settled, and ready to learn, I decided to give bell-ringers a try. They were immediately a classroom game-changer. Bell-ringers—sometimes referred to as “warm ups” or “do nows”— are questions, tasks, or other warm up activities that students complete at the beginning of class (or when the bell rings, as the name suggests.) They jump start student learning, calm classroom chaos, reduce uncertainty, and make transitions smoother, all the while allowing the teacher to maximize their time and maintain their sanity. I’m here to share the benefits of using a bell-ringer routine in your classroom, tips and strategies to implement them effectively, and answers to your most commonly asked questions. I'm also sharing free bell-ringers that will last you a couple months! 1) Extra time at the beginning of class Bell-ringers give teachers the gift of time. In those 5-10 minutes, you can take attendance, get papers ready and/or passed out, prepare tech, catch up with students who have been absent, or even prepare for your next period. 2) Improved classroom routine and classroom management As students transition from class to class, they tend to get amped up from hallway antics. Bell-ringers improve the transition back into the academic setting and establish a consistent routine and minimize classroom management issues. There is a lot of uncertainty in a teenager’s world, and though they may not admit it, students crave predictability and routine. After the routine is established, you’ll even find that students will get started on the bell-ringer BEFORE the bell even rings, as they know exactly what is expected of them. 3) A chance to practice ELA skills and assess and review standards By using bell-ringers at the start of class, you are taking advantage of an extra opportunity to practice the ELA skills and meet standards you have been diligently working on throughout the year. Bell-ringers are perfect for putting what you’ve taught to the test in a creative, fun, low-pressure way. Given that they aren’t heavily graded on the bell-ringers (or not at all), the pressure often associated with other tasks is alleviated. 1. Mix up your bell-ringer each day If you are using the same bell-ringers every single day, students will likely grow tired of them. I like to have themed days for each of the bell-ringers that will address a specific skill. Below are some of the types of bell-ringers you might consider using: Improve word choice Locate figurative language Have a short discussion with a partner Watch a short video clip and write a personal response to a prompt Infer the meaning of new words in context Correct grammar errors Have a mini-debate with a partner Use a picture to spark narrative writing I liked to use each of my year-long volumes of bell-ringers to have different activities for each day. You can try four free weeks by clicking on the image below to see if they might work for you. 2. Give students a fun challenge Another way to mix up your bell-ringers is to set a challenge at the start of the week and have students progressively work towards a solution on Friday. My favorite way to do this is with escape room bell-ringer challenges. When you use an escape room bell-ringer, students are given a back story on Monday where they find themselves in a situation (dungeon, alien planet, military bunker, scientist study etc.). They work with their group for the first 5-10 minutes of class to progressively move through different floors, rooms, chambers, and cells each day to solve ELA related puzzles. Their goal? To successfully escape by the end of the week. Want to try a bell-ringer challenge with your students? Grab a free figurative language bell-ringer activity below as a fun way to start one of your classes. 2. Model a Good Response Spend the first days explaining the daily bell-ringer activity for that day and even show them what a strong response looks like for each different bell-ringer activity you do. Taking this time at the beginning will get you better responses from the students as the year goes on. 3. Set specific expectations and procedures From day 1, you’ll want to demonstrate exactly how things are going to play out. Start by literally walking them through the process of entering the classroom and retrieving their bell-ringer booklets or binder. Once they are completed their work, you might think of getting them to hold onto their booklets and putting them back at the end. I would recommend not doing this as typically someone will accidentally take it home or the booklets will get destroyed since they all are eager to leave and are throwing the booklets on the shelf (real life teaching, right?) That’s why I would suggest you establish a system for collecting the bell-ringer booklets after they are done, and go through it with them a few times to practice. You wouldn’t think something as simple as collecting the booklets would be an issue, but having a plan makes things run so much more smoothly. If you use a standard classroom set up (desks in a row or pairs): Have each row turn around to collect the booklets from the row behind them and move them all forward until they are in the front row. Select one student to collect them all from the front row and put them back in the proper spot. If your desks are set up in groups: Have one member from each group be responsible for collecting the booklets, and have all groups pass them over to the group closest to where to store them. Have one person put them all back. On the first day, I practice this 2-3 times and set a timer to see how fast they can do it (I tell them they are in competition with the other classes). This makes it fun, but it also establishes a routine, and set a precedent to strive for throughout the year and it makes collecting the booklets quick and efficient. 1. Should I grade bell-ringers? Won't that make more work for me? Listen, the LAST thing I want to do is add more paper to an English teachers' pile! Bell-ringers are a type of formative assessment that do not need to be graded. They are a quick way for students to practice and develop ELA skills. I did add a quick check rubric on the bottom of some of my student handouts because I personally used this to keep students accountable and motivated to complete the work to the best of their ability. I would tell them that one week out of the month would be graded, but they wouldn't know which week (insert evil laughter 😉). This lessened my grading, but I also liked peeking at them monthly to see who was completing the work well and where I needed to focus my instruction. 2. How long should you spend on bell-ringers? For me, bell-ringers would typically take an about 5-10 minutes to complete. The time will vary depending on what type of bell-ringer you are completing. Some people like a quick 5 minute bell-ringer, others like to dive in a little deeper and spend more time as it pertains to their lesson. If students are improving the word choice in a passage or practicing labelling figurative language, it may only take a quick 5 minutes. However, if they are discussing an ethical prompt or watching a video clip and writing a response, it may take closer to 10. It's important to remember though that sometimes your students will be totally engaged in a bell-ringer, and you may end up spending more time than you thought on it. This is not wasted time! The content still relates to your curriculum and helps students hone their writing, reading, speaking, and listening skills. Sometimes an unplanned part of a lesson is where the best learning happens. 3. How do you manage all the paper? Here is my fool-proof system. A word of caution: don't let them take their bell-ringer binder home! It's an absolute nightmare waiting to happen 😂. Have each student purchase a small 1 inch binder to hold all of the bell-ringer response sheets (or use a three-clasp folder). Have students write their name in big bold letters on the spine (or the front if it is a folder). Having a variety of colors of binders/folders is better so they can find theirs more easily. Put a bookcase somewhere near the door of your room. Assign each class an area of the bookcase. Tell students they will grab the binder when they enter, and it will go back on that shelf when the bell-ringer is done.! This makes it easy to find their binder the next day. 4. Will using bell-ringers help my classroom management? Yes, routines are your friend! I learned fairly quickly in my teaching career that expected procedures are necessary for survival when it comes to classroom management. Bell-ringers set the tone in the first few minutes of class and help students transition back into work mode after a break period. I was literally wasting the first 5-10 minutes of class quieting my students down and preparing to get started. After starting a bell-ringer routine, they immediately started working when they entered! 5. Should I do bell-ringers every day or just on some days? Personally, I think it is better to bell-ringers every day and stick to the routine. When you are always skipping the bell-ringer or only doing them here and there, students lose that consistency, and you won't see the classroom management benefits. You can certainly make it work if you don't want to do it every day, but if you do this, I might suggest writing on the board or projecting a slide to say if there is a bell-ringer that day. This way you don't have to constantly answer the question, "Is there a bell-ringer today?" Still have questions about using bell-ringers successfully in the classroom? Don't hesitate to reach out! I'd love to hear from you. Need more bell-ringer ideas? The bloggers of the coffee shop have you covered! Growth Mindset Bell Ringers from The Daring English Teacher Daily Career Writing Prompts from The Classroom Sparrow Independent Reading Prompts from Room 213 Bell-Ringer Journal Prompts from Tracee Orman Collaborative Bell-Ringers from Nouvelle ELA
Begin each of your classes with bell ringers or warm up activities that your middle or high school English students will love!
Establish an easy routine with these daily bell ringers for the English classroom. Each week day has a theme that is followed every week. Motivation Monday - quick-write Try it Tuesday - students correct errors in a sentence Wordy Wednesday - students use vocabulary word in frayer model Think about it Thursday - quick-write FriYAY - quick-write Each day is already completed for you. Just print each student the weekly recording sheet and display the slide when they come into class! This resource includes: -20 daily bell ringers (4 weeks) -students recording sheet -answer key
The ELAR & SEL bell ringers for middle school are excellent to get students to start working from the moment they sit at their own desk.
Shhh! Did you hear that? It was the second bell. They’re COMING. Skipping, tripping, sauntering and marching right down that hallway. Are you ready for your students? Because make no mistake, they are ready for you! In an instant, the classroom goes from empty and silent to bursting with energy. Let’s face it: we teachers ... Read more
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Free English Bell Ringers Vol 1 Sample - Lit Devices, Discussion, Writing, Video: Try a free sample of our best-selling English bell ringers. This 2-week sample is from our comprehensive full-year resource that includes everything you need to start each class with an engaging bell ringer activity. W...
The ELAR & SEL bell ringers for middle school are excellent to get students to start working from the moment they sit at their own desk.
Are you looking for THE BEST bell ringers for high school English? Get your students excited to start class by...
This product includes two weeks (10 days) of literary elements bell ringer activities! These are short warm-ups that are perfect to use as spiral review throughout the year or to complete during a novel unit. Includes bell ringers for: Plot Setting Characterization Point of View Check out my other bell ringer resources! Figurative Language Bell Ringers
Warm ups, bell ringers, do now's (whatever you'd like to call them!) - this post walks you through how to use bell ringers in an effective and powerful way!
Great for integrating ELAR expository reading skills with basic geography skills practice. Easy to integrate into bell ringer activities. Based on the use of the CIA World Factbook "Fact of the Day", a brief topic chosen from an important topic, feature, structure, historical event from around th...
July 4th has come and gone, which means my mind has turned to school. I’ve got a busy month ahead of me…working at a community camp in Hesston, APSI training in Tulsa, a family reunion …
In the last couple of years I have gone through some teaching position changes that I never thought would happen to me. I taught self-contained 5th grade for three years (that included my student teaching). I knew nothing else, and honestly, at the time, I didn’t really want to. Long story short, I moved across ... Read more
With these bell ringer activities, students can practice dressing up their vocabulary to make it more appropriate for academic writing. WHAT'S INCLUDED? -Transition Words Reference List -Vocabulary Graphic Organizer -Academic Language Activity Menu (Total 12 tasks) -Answer Key Looking for a COMPLETE UNIT PLAN? ACADEMIC WRITING UNIT Looking for more ACADEMIC WRITING RESOURCES? MLA FORMATTING GUIDE - EXAMPLES AND CHECKLISTS PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING, QUOTING & PLAGIARISM INSTAGRAM : BLOG : PINTEREST
TWITTER ISSUES - Correct the Spelling and Grammar of Celebrities! This great bell ringer includes 25 grammatically incorrect tweets from famous celebrities. Pop one on the board and get your students to correct them! A mixture of spelling and grammar issues #Twissues on one fun PPT. I made this i...
In the last couple of years I have gone through some teaching position changes that I never thought would happen to me. I taught self-contained 5th grade for three years (that included my student teaching). I knew nothing else, and honestly, at the time, I didn’t really want to. Long story short, I moved across ... Read more
Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.
One of the first things teachers learn in their pre-service teaching classes is the importance of establishing effective classroom routines and procedures for
Meaningful bell ringers for high school language arts will start class in an organized way and help you meet standards.
If you're like me, you have tried a thousand options for bell ringers/bell work. No matter what, the bell work needs a home, and for a long time, the bell work "home" has been in a notebook. Then, what do we have to do to grade it? COLLECT 125 SPIRAL BOUND NOT
Warm ups, bell ringers, do now's (whatever you'd like to call them!) - this post walks you through how to use bell ringers in an effective and powerful way!
This activity contains one month of FREE bell ringer activities you can complete with your students. The activity focuses on parts of speech and challenges students to label the different parts of speech in each sentence. Students can use this activity to learn the parts of speech, refresh the parts of speech, and is a mini assessment. If you like this product, you would LOVE these products in my store: Repair My Sentence Activity Greek Mythology Activities Greek Mythology BUNDLE Click here Figurative Language Handouts Grades 6-12 ELA Click here Teaching Symbolism in Texts Grades 6-12 ELA Click here Teaching Short Stories in Grades 6-12 ELA → A fun project that can be used to end or begin a short story unit. Click here Teaching Close Reading Strategies using SPEECHES and COLOR Click here Common Core Handouts Grades 6-12 ELA Click here Author’s Purpose Activities Click here Teaching POETRY using PARCC Questions and CCSS Prompts: Click here ***Customer Tips:*** How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. ☺ Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Follow Tee is for Teacher on Facebook → Click here Follow Tee is for Teacher on TPT →Look for the green star near the top of any page within my store and click it to become a follower. You will then receive customized email updates about my new products. :)
Quick writes bell ringers and exit slips for implementing the Common Core State Standards.
By Presto Plans I first realized the power of bell ringers years ago, thanks to a particularly unruly class that would bounce off my walls after lunch. After consistently wasting the first ten minutes of class getting students seated, settled, and ready to learn, I decided to give bell-ringers a try. They were immediately a classroom game-changer. Bell-ringers—sometimes referred to as “warm ups” or “do nows”— are questions, tasks, or other warm up activities that students complete at the beginning of class (or when the bell rings, as the name suggests.) They jump start student learning, calm classroom chaos, reduce uncertainty, and make transitions smoother, all the while allowing the teacher to maximize their time and maintain their sanity. I’m here to share the benefits of using a bell-ringer routine in your classroom, tips and strategies to implement them effectively, and answers to your most commonly asked questions. I'm also sharing free bell-ringers that will last you a couple months! 1) Extra time at the beginning of class Bell-ringers give teachers the gift of time. In those 5-10 minutes, you can take attendance, get papers ready and/or passed out, prepare tech, catch up with students who have been absent, or even prepare for your next period. 2) Improved classroom routine and classroom management As students transition from class to class, they tend to get amped up from hallway antics. Bell-ringers improve the transition back into the academic setting and establish a consistent routine and minimize classroom management issues. There is a lot of uncertainty in a teenager’s world, and though they may not admit it, students crave predictability and routine. After the routine is established, you’ll even find that students will get started on the bell-ringer BEFORE the bell even rings, as they know exactly what is expected of them. 3) A chance to practice ELA skills and assess and review standards By using bell-ringers at the start of class, you are taking advantage of an extra opportunity to practice the ELA skills and meet standards you have been diligently working on throughout the year. Bell-ringers are perfect for putting what you’ve taught to the test in a creative, fun, low-pressure way. Given that they aren’t heavily graded on the bell-ringers (or not at all), the pressure often associated with other tasks is alleviated. 1. Mix up your bell-ringer each day If you are using the same bell-ringers every single day, students will likely grow tired of them. I like to have themed days for each of the bell-ringers that will address a specific skill. Below are some of the types of bell-ringers you might consider using: Improve word choice Locate figurative language Have a short discussion with a partner Watch a short video clip and write a personal response to a prompt Infer the meaning of new words in context Correct grammar errors Have a mini-debate with a partner Use a picture to spark narrative writing I liked to use each of my year-long volumes of bell-ringers to have different activities for each day. You can try four free weeks by clicking on the image below to see if they might work for you. 2. Give students a fun challenge Another way to mix up your bell-ringers is to set a challenge at the start of the week and have students progressively work towards a solution on Friday. My favorite way to do this is with escape room bell-ringer challenges. When you use an escape room bell-ringer, students are given a back story on Monday where they find themselves in a situation (dungeon, alien planet, military bunker, scientist study etc.). They work with their group for the first 5-10 minutes of class to progressively move through different floors, rooms, chambers, and cells each day to solve ELA related puzzles. Their goal? To successfully escape by the end of the week. Want to try a bell-ringer challenge with your students? Grab a free figurative language bell-ringer activity below as a fun way to start one of your classes. 2. Model a Good Response Spend the first days explaining the daily bell-ringer activity for that day and even show them what a strong response looks like for each different bell-ringer activity you do. Taking this time at the beginning will get you better responses from the students as the year goes on. 3. Set specific expectations and procedures From day 1, you’ll want to demonstrate exactly how things are going to play out. Start by literally walking them through the process of entering the classroom and retrieving their bell-ringer booklets or binder. Once they are completed their work, you might think of getting them to hold onto their booklets and putting them back at the end. I would recommend not doing this as typically someone will accidentally take it home or the booklets will get destroyed since they all are eager to leave and are throwing the booklets on the shelf (real life teaching, right?) That’s why I would suggest you establish a system for collecting the bell-ringer booklets after they are done, and go through it with them a few times to practice. You wouldn’t think something as simple as collecting the booklets would be an issue, but having a plan makes things run so much more smoothly. If you use a standard classroom set up (desks in a row or pairs): Have each row turn around to collect the booklets from the row behind them and move them all forward until they are in the front row. Select one student to collect them all from the front row and put them back in the proper spot. If your desks are set up in groups: Have one member from each group be responsible for collecting the booklets, and have all groups pass them over to the group closest to where to store them. Have one person put them all back. On the first day, I practice this 2-3 times and set a timer to see how fast they can do it (I tell them they are in competition with the other classes). This makes it fun, but it also establishes a routine, and set a precedent to strive for throughout the year and it makes collecting the booklets quick and efficient. 1. Should I grade bell-ringers? Won't that make more work for me? Listen, the LAST thing I want to do is add more paper to an English teachers' pile! Bell-ringers are a type of formative assessment that do not need to be graded. They are a quick way for students to practice and develop ELA skills. I did add a quick check rubric on the bottom of some of my student handouts because I personally used this to keep students accountable and motivated to complete the work to the best of their ability. I would tell them that one week out of the month would be graded, but they wouldn't know which week (insert evil laughter 😉). This lessened my grading, but I also liked peeking at them monthly to see who was completing the work well and where I needed to focus my instruction. 2. How long should you spend on bell-ringers? For me, bell-ringers would typically take an about 5-10 minutes to complete. The time will vary depending on what type of bell-ringer you are completing. Some people like a quick 5 minute bell-ringer, others like to dive in a little deeper and spend more time as it pertains to their lesson. If students are improving the word choice in a passage or practicing labelling figurative language, it may only take a quick 5 minutes. However, if they are discussing an ethical prompt or watching a video clip and writing a response, it may take closer to 10. It's important to remember though that sometimes your students will be totally engaged in a bell-ringer, and you may end up spending more time than you thought on it. This is not wasted time! The content still relates to your curriculum and helps students hone their writing, reading, speaking, and listening skills. Sometimes an unplanned part of a lesson is where the best learning happens. 3. How do you manage all the paper? Here is my fool-proof system. A word of caution: don't let them take their bell-ringer binder home! It's an absolute nightmare waiting to happen 😂. Have each student purchase a small 1 inch binder to hold all of the bell-ringer response sheets (or use a three-clasp folder). Have students write their name in big bold letters on the spine (or the front if it is a folder). Having a variety of colors of binders/folders is better so they can find theirs more easily. Put a bookcase somewhere near the door of your room. Assign each class an area of the bookcase. Tell students they will grab the binder when they enter, and it will go back on that shelf when the bell-ringer is done.! This makes it easy to find their binder the next day. 4. Will using bell-ringers help my classroom management? Yes, routines are your friend! I learned fairly quickly in my teaching career that expected procedures are necessary for survival when it comes to classroom management. Bell-ringers set the tone in the first few minutes of class and help students transition back into work mode after a break period. I was literally wasting the first 5-10 minutes of class quieting my students down and preparing to get started. After starting a bell-ringer routine, they immediately started working when they entered! 5. Should I do bell-ringers every day or just on some days? Personally, I think it is better to bell-ringers every day and stick to the routine. When you are always skipping the bell-ringer or only doing them here and there, students lose that consistency, and you won't see the classroom management benefits. You can certainly make it work if you don't want to do it every day, but if you do this, I might suggest writing on the board or projecting a slide to say if there is a bell-ringer that day. This way you don't have to constantly answer the question, "Is there a bell-ringer today?" Still have questions about using bell-ringers successfully in the classroom? Don't hesitate to reach out! I'd love to hear from you. Need more bell-ringer ideas? The bloggers of the coffee shop have you covered! Growth Mindset Bell Ringers from The Daring English Teacher Daily Career Writing Prompts from The Classroom Sparrow Independent Reading Prompts from Room 213 Bell-Ringer Journal Prompts from Tracee Orman Collaborative Bell-Ringers from Nouvelle ELA
Are you looking for THE BEST bell ringers for high school English? Get your students excited to start class by...
By Presto Plans I first realized the power of bell ringers years ago, thanks to a particularly unruly class that would bounce off my walls after lunch. After consistently wasting the first ten minutes of class getting students seated, settled, and ready to learn, I decided to give bell-ringers a try. They were immediately a classroom game-changer. Bell-ringers—sometimes referred to as “warm ups” or “do nows”— are questions, tasks, or other warm up activities that students complete at the beginning of class (or when the bell rings, as the name suggests.) They jump start student learning, calm classroom chaos, reduce uncertainty, and make transitions smoother, all the while allowing the teacher to maximize their time and maintain their sanity. I’m here to share the benefits of using a bell-ringer routine in your classroom, tips and strategies to implement them effectively, and answers to your most commonly asked questions. I'm also sharing free bell-ringers that will last you a couple months! 1) Extra time at the beginning of class Bell-ringers give teachers the gift of time. In those 5-10 minutes, you can take attendance, get papers ready and/or passed out, prepare tech, catch up with students who have been absent, or even prepare for your next period. 2) Improved classroom routine and classroom management As students transition from class to class, they tend to get amped up from hallway antics. Bell-ringers improve the transition back into the academic setting and establish a consistent routine and minimize classroom management issues. There is a lot of uncertainty in a teenager’s world, and though they may not admit it, students crave predictability and routine. After the routine is established, you’ll even find that students will get started on the bell-ringer BEFORE the bell even rings, as they know exactly what is expected of them. 3) A chance to practice ELA skills and assess and review standards By using bell-ringers at the start of class, you are taking advantage of an extra opportunity to practice the ELA skills and meet standards you have been diligently working on throughout the year. Bell-ringers are perfect for putting what you’ve taught to the test in a creative, fun, low-pressure way. Given that they aren’t heavily graded on the bell-ringers (or not at all), the pressure often associated with other tasks is alleviated. 1. Mix up your bell-ringer each day If you are using the same bell-ringers every single day, students will likely grow tired of them. I like to have themed days for each of the bell-ringers that will address a specific skill. Below are some of the types of bell-ringers you might consider using: Improve word choice Locate figurative language Have a short discussion with a partner Watch a short video clip and write a personal response to a prompt Infer the meaning of new words in context Correct grammar errors Have a mini-debate with a partner Use a picture to spark narrative writing I liked to use each of my year-long volumes of bell-ringers to have different activities for each day. You can try four free weeks by clicking on the image below to see if they might work for you. 2. Give students a fun challenge Another way to mix up your bell-ringers is to set a challenge at the start of the week and have students progressively work towards a solution on Friday. My favorite way to do this is with escape room bell-ringer challenges. When you use an escape room bell-ringer, students are given a back story on Monday where they find themselves in a situation (dungeon, alien planet, military bunker, scientist study etc.). They work with their group for the first 5-10 minutes of class to progressively move through different floors, rooms, chambers, and cells each day to solve ELA related puzzles. Their goal? To successfully escape by the end of the week. Want to try a bell-ringer challenge with your students? Grab a free figurative language bell-ringer activity below as a fun way to start one of your classes. 2. Model a Good Response Spend the first days explaining the daily bell-ringer activity for that day and even show them what a strong response looks like for each different bell-ringer activity you do. Taking this time at the beginning will get you better responses from the students as the year goes on. 3. Set specific expectations and procedures From day 1, you’ll want to demonstrate exactly how things are going to play out. Start by literally walking them through the process of entering the classroom and retrieving their bell-ringer booklets or binder. Once they are completed their work, you might think of getting them to hold onto their booklets and putting them back at the end. I would recommend not doing this as typically someone will accidentally take it home or the booklets will get destroyed since they all are eager to leave and are throwing the booklets on the shelf (real life teaching, right?) That’s why I would suggest you establish a system for collecting the bell-ringer booklets after they are done, and go through it with them a few times to practice. You wouldn’t think something as simple as collecting the booklets would be an issue, but having a plan makes things run so much more smoothly. If you use a standard classroom set up (desks in a row or pairs): Have each row turn around to collect the booklets from the row behind them and move them all forward until they are in the front row. Select one student to collect them all from the front row and put them back in the proper spot. If your desks are set up in groups: Have one member from each group be responsible for collecting the booklets, and have all groups pass them over to the group closest to where to store them. Have one person put them all back. On the first day, I practice this 2-3 times and set a timer to see how fast they can do it (I tell them they are in competition with the other classes). This makes it fun, but it also establishes a routine, and set a precedent to strive for throughout the year and it makes collecting the booklets quick and efficient. 1. Should I grade bell-ringers? Won't that make more work for me? Listen, the LAST thing I want to do is add more paper to an English teachers' pile! Bell-ringers are a type of formative assessment that do not need to be graded. They are a quick way for students to practice and develop ELA skills. I did add a quick check rubric on the bottom of some of my student handouts because I personally used this to keep students accountable and motivated to complete the work to the best of their ability. I would tell them that one week out of the month would be graded, but they wouldn't know which week (insert evil laughter 😉). This lessened my grading, but I also liked peeking at them monthly to see who was completing the work well and where I needed to focus my instruction. 2. How long should you spend on bell-ringers? For me, bell-ringers would typically take an about 5-10 minutes to complete. The time will vary depending on what type of bell-ringer you are completing. Some people like a quick 5 minute bell-ringer, others like to dive in a little deeper and spend more time as it pertains to their lesson. If students are improving the word choice in a passage or practicing labelling figurative language, it may only take a quick 5 minutes. However, if they are discussing an ethical prompt or watching a video clip and writing a response, it may take closer to 10. It's important to remember though that sometimes your students will be totally engaged in a bell-ringer, and you may end up spending more time than you thought on it. This is not wasted time! The content still relates to your curriculum and helps students hone their writing, reading, speaking, and listening skills. Sometimes an unplanned part of a lesson is where the best learning happens. 3. How do you manage all the paper? Here is my fool-proof system. A word of caution: don't let them take their bell-ringer binder home! It's an absolute nightmare waiting to happen 😂. Have each student purchase a small 1 inch binder to hold all of the bell-ringer response sheets (or use a three-clasp folder). Have students write their name in big bold letters on the spine (or the front if it is a folder). Having a variety of colors of binders/folders is better so they can find theirs more easily. Put a bookcase somewhere near the door of your room. Assign each class an area of the bookcase. Tell students they will grab the binder when they enter, and it will go back on that shelf when the bell-ringer is done.! This makes it easy to find their binder the next day. 4. Will using bell-ringers help my classroom management? Yes, routines are your friend! I learned fairly quickly in my teaching career that expected procedures are necessary for survival when it comes to classroom management. Bell-ringers set the tone in the first few minutes of class and help students transition back into work mode after a break period. I was literally wasting the first 5-10 minutes of class quieting my students down and preparing to get started. After starting a bell-ringer routine, they immediately started working when they entered! 5. Should I do bell-ringers every day or just on some days? Personally, I think it is better to bell-ringers every day and stick to the routine. When you are always skipping the bell-ringer or only doing them here and there, students lose that consistency, and you won't see the classroom management benefits. You can certainly make it work if you don't want to do it every day, but if you do this, I might suggest writing on the board or projecting a slide to say if there is a bell-ringer that day. This way you don't have to constantly answer the question, "Is there a bell-ringer today?" Still have questions about using bell-ringers successfully in the classroom? Don't hesitate to reach out! I'd love to hear from you. Need more bell-ringer ideas? The bloggers of the coffee shop have you covered! Growth Mindset Bell Ringers from The Daring English Teacher Daily Career Writing Prompts from The Classroom Sparrow Independent Reading Prompts from Room 213 Bell-Ringer Journal Prompts from Tracee Orman Collaborative Bell-Ringers from Nouvelle ELA
After my middle school guided reading posts, this post goes into how I teach my ELA curriculum and small groups in middle school.
In the last couple of years I have gone through some teaching position changes that I never thought would happen to me. I taught self-contained 5th grade for three years (that included my student tea
English Bell Ringers - Figurative Language, Grammar, Vocabulary, Videos - Vol 2: Have your students in their seats as soon as the bell rings by beginning each of your middle or high school English classes with these engaging daily bell ringer routines! This comprehensive full-year resource includes everything you need to start each class with an engaging bell ringer activity. With tasks related to figurative language, high-interest discussion prompts, vocabulary, grammar and video journals, you'll have what you need to engage your students and improve their ELA skills. All you have to do is print the weekly student handout or use the general response sheets to choose the day of the week for each bell ringer, and your planning is complete. Try two weeks of these bell ringers for FREE by clicking here! Prefer the digital Google version? Click here! What Teachers Are Saying About These English Bell-Ringers: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ These are amazing! My students absolutely love them! Teachers-BUY THE BUNDLE! You will get more than you could ever imagine! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am to use this in the fall. I have been doing daily grammar/punctuation bell ringers for four years, and even though they are effective, this takes bell ringers to a whole new level. My kids are even going to know what hit them with these awesome ideas. Thank you so much! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The absolute BEST purchase I have made on TpT. This was so well put together, fun, and not a thing could have been added. This is going to make my life so much easier! Included in These English Bell-Ringers (Vol 2): ➡️ Monday - Video Journal of the Week: Start your week off with dynamic slides that feature 45 video clips accompanied by related writing prompts. The videos are inspirational, thought-provoking, and creative. This resource provides a structured approach to incorporating video journaling once a week to last you the entire school year! ➡️ Tuesday - Vocabulary of the Week: Introduce new vocabulary words to your middle and high school students by having them guess the meanings of words in context! Each of the 45 bell-ringer slides provides the vocabulary word in a sentence and has students infer the meaning of the word using context clues. Also included are extra resources to take this to the next level. There is a poster and slideshow option with the vocabulary terms that include the part of speech, pronunciation, definition, and an example. There are also vocabulary quick reference lists, quizzes, and word cards. ➡️ Wednesday - What If? Discussion Prompt of the Week: Use the next day to engage your students in meaningful discussion! This resource includes 45 discussion prompts that include what if scenarios where students must consider how life would be different. You can discuss the prompt as a whole class, or break students into small groups to discuss and report their thoughts back to the whole group. This is an excellent tool to encourage friendly debate. Additional assignments are also included that students can use to take these prompts to the next level. ➡️ Thursday - Social Media Grammar of the Week: This daily task allows students to edit grammar, spelling, and punctuation in a fun and modern way! Students will have the chance to read social media posts to find grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors and correct them! Detailed answer keys are provided for easy classroom review. There are also additional resources like printable cards and a worksheet page option. ➡️ Friday - Figurative Language of the Week: End the week by having your students read a paragraph that contains figurative language and attempt to locate examples of metaphor, simile, oxymoron, personification, alliteration, or onomatopoeia. Each of the slides are also included in task card and booklet format to provide you with flexibility in using the resource. ➡️ Organized Weekly Student Handouts and Slides: Each of the 45 bell-ringer weeks includes a folder that contains a PowerPoint presentation with each of the weekly slides organized by day as well as an accompanying weekly student handout. Distribute the weekly bell-ringer handout on Monday, and students will use it to complete the bell ringers for that week! ➡️ General Response Pages (not Mon-Fri Option): Don't follow a Monday-Friday schedule? No problem! We have included general response pages for each of the days, so you can create your own bell-ringer binder and use the general slides that do not include a Monday-Friday header! More Incredible Teacher Feedback On These English Bell-Ringers: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is an amazing product! I am moving from elementary to 7th grade, and this is absolutely perfect. I wanted something that was routine for my bellringer work, but beyond the routine, I wanted it to be interesting to them! WELL worth the price! Thank you! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is my first year using bell ringers and I can say that I wasn't sure if high school students would respond well to them and I was wrong. They absolutely do amazing things with the bell ringers. This is very eye appealing and the students love them. I teach 2 sets of reading so I bought the first and second one. Please keep making such wonderful resources. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ One of the best purchases I have made on tpt! Awesome, thank you! Want even more bell-ringers? Check out our other volumes: >>> English Bell-Ringers - Volume 1 >>> English Bell-Ringers - Volume 3 >>> English Bell-Ringers - Volume 4 © Presto Plans ➡️ Want 10 free ELA resources sent to your inbox? Click here! ⭐️ Follow Presto Plans on TpT to see what's new and on sale.
English Bell Ringers - Grammar, Vocab, Fig Language - Digital Print Bundle Vol 3: Have your students in their seats as soon as the bell rings by beginning each of your middle or high school English classes with these engaging daily bell ringer routines! This comprehensive full-year digital and print resource includes everything you need to start each class with an engaging bell ringer activity. With tasks related to literary devices, high-interest discussion prompts, famous quotes, and video journals, you'll have what you need to engage your students and improve their ELA skills. All you have to do is print the weekly student handout or share the digital response slides and your planning is complete. This is a BUNDLE of my print and digital versions of our Volume 3 Bell-Ringers. Click the links below if you do not require both options: English Bell Ringers Vol 3 (Print Version Only) English Bell Ringers Vol 3 (Digital Version Only) What Teachers Are Saying About These English Bell-Ringers: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is one of the best products I've ever bought on TPT, and I've bought a lot! My students love the variety in the activities, I love the ease of use, and that everything is done for you! My administrators love how creative the prompts are and have commented on them in several observations. If you are going to buy any bell-ringer activity, this is the product for you! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I love these so much that I've purchased all 3 Volumes!! I appreciate the time and effort that you put into this resource to make my job easier!! Thank you!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I am in my 4th week of using the Bellringers, and it has transformed the beginning of my classes! Students come in, pull out the Bellringer sheet and their homework and get working while I check the homework. One student told her grandma how much she loved English because Mrs. Phillips has something different every day. She was talking about the bellringers. I am so delighted with this purchase! Included in These English Bell-Ringers (Vol 3): ➡️ Monday Mistakes (Grammar Correction): These engaging tasks prompt students to correct grammar errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation errors while exploring interesting modern topics. Included are 40 PowerPoint and Googles Slides of high-interest paragraphs that contain errors. The animated slides allow each error to be revealed at a time, making for easy class review. Also included is a task card or general digital slides format, a teacher reference sheet or slide with basic grammar rules (commas, homophones, numbers, subject-verb agreement, and capitalization), and general response slides or handouts with all the grammar paragraphs in case you do not want to use the weekly response pages/slides. ➡️ Tuesday Terms (Vocabulary): These bell-ringers allow students to infer the meaning of two new vocabulary words in a sentence using context, and then compare their inferences to the correct definitions. Included are 40 bell-ringer slides, a task card format, and a digital or print booklet with all the vocabulary tasks in case you do not want to use the weekly response pages. ➡️ Wednesday Wise Words (Quote Response): These wise words bell-ringers will engage your students in reflection and writing! Each slide includes an inspirational quote from a famous person in history. Also is a 40-slide PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation, a general individual quote response assignment, and twenty pages or slides of bell-ringer student response sheets in case you do not want to use the weekly response pages or slides. Students will also learn about people in history as information is provided about the figure who said the quote! ➡️ Thursday Thoughts (Video Clip Journal Writing): Engage your students with these dynamic slides that feature 40 video clips accompanied by related writing prompts. The videos are inspirational, thought-provoking, and creative. This resource provides a structured approach to incorporating video journaling once a week to last you the entire school year. ➡️ Friday Figurative Language (Literary Devices): These slides allow students to locate and label figurative language in examples (2 per week). Each of the bell-ringers is also available in task card format, and a bell-ringer digital or print booklet with all the figurative language tasks in case you do not want to use the weekly response pages or slides. The types of figurative language included in this resource are simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, idiom, hyperbole, allusion, alliteration, pun, assonance, synecdoche, and irony. ➡️ Organized Weekly Student Response Pages/Slides and Teacher Slides: Each of the 40 bell-ringer weeks includes a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation with each of the weekly slides organized by day as well as an accompanying weekly student handout or digital response slides. Distribute the weekly bell-ringer handout or share the digital response slides on Monday, and students will use it to complete the bell ringers for that week! ➡️ General Response Pages and Slides (not Mon-Fri Option): Don't follow a Monday-Friday schedule? No problem! We have included general response pages and digital slides for each of the days, so you can create your own bell-ringer binder or create your own digital schedule and use the general slides that do not include a Monday-Friday header! More Incredible Teacher Feedback On These English Bell-Ringers: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I LOVE this resource! I have used all the volumes. I have continually received good reviews for classroom management because my students come in and know what to do! So often I am able to make connections to the lessons I'm teaching. The resource allows you to pick and choose and reorder the sections as you see fit. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My students absolutely love these! I've purchased all three volumes of the bell ringers, and my students can't get enough of these. Students feel very comfortable commenting on what they like and do not like. I stopped using the bell ringers for about a week, as I thought they needed a little change. I received numerous requests to bring "the real bell ringers" back. The students have said that they enjoy the stories/information but do find them challenging. Also, they love watching and responding to the videos. The topics often spark great discussions. I've even had parents say that their children really enjoy what we're doing in class and our bell ringers! Fantastic!! These are worth more than the asking price! Thank you! Keep up the fabulous work! Check out our other bell-ringer volumes: >>> Bell-Ringers Volume 1 >>> Bell-Ringers Volume 2 >>> Bell-Ringers Volume 4 © Presto Plans ➡️ Want 10 free ELA resources sent to your inbox? Click here! ⭐️ Follow Presto Plans on TpT to see what's new and on sale.
English Bell Ringers - Literary Terms, Discussion, Writing, Video Digital Vol 1: Have your students in their seats as soon as the bell rings by beginning each of your middle or high school English classes with these engaging digital bell ringer routines! This comprehensive full-year Google-compatibl...
If you're like me, you have tried a thousand options for bell ringers/bell work. No matter what, the bell work needs a home, and for a long time, the bell work "home" has been in a notebook. Then, what do we have to do to grade it? COLLECT 125 SPIRAL BOUND NOT
