Home Room activities from an experienced teacher

2 of the time- tested Home room activities I would do with my 4th and 5th graders.

 

#Homeroomactivities #Sharingideas #Teachernotes 

 

Activity 1

 Two Truths and a Lie

The objective of this activity is for children to know more about each other and strengthen mutual bond. 

 

Materials: none

 

Every child thinks of 2 truths(facts) and one lie (made up statement) about himself/herself. Truth or lie may pertain to apparent or hidden likes, dislikes , information about family or friends, physical appearance etc. 
e.g.- "My mother tongue is Hindi.

   "I take coaching for athletics after my school."

" I am shy by nature."

 

Once everyone has thought of these, each child shares 2 truths and 1 lie about themselves (with a straight face,off course!!)  and the rest of the class (in groups, if the need be) has to guess "The Lie". They will have to know their peers really well to be able to guess their "lie". 

 

It is win-win situation for everyone even if one is not able to guess the right answer. Everyone in turn, gets to know more about each other. 

 

 

Activity 2

Secret Intruder

 

The purpose of this activity is to emphasise the need for maintaining personal hygiene by understanding how germs spread. (More relevant than ever during and post-Covid times! 

 

Material required: a pen or a pencil coated with fine sparkle powder 

 

The teacher ushers a student (volunteer) out of the class who has to guess the "secret intruder" in the class and track it. Later, the teacher "secretively" hands over a sparkly object to another student with instructions to pass it around the class through other classmates' hands and then keep it somewhere hidden. 
Meanwhile , the volunteer comes back to the room and tries to track the "secret intruder" with it's tracks in everyone's hand. BUT the volunteer WON'T BE ABLE TO, at least not easily!! 

 

That is because the secret intruder/s are the fine particles of sparkle dust which would be on almost everyone's hands and other surfaces. 
Once it is made clear to the participants, they are in complete awe to understand the similar way in which germs spread! 
As an extension, the same activity can be re-done by wrapping the sparkly object with a handkerchief this time to emphasise the means of containing the spread of "germs" .

My students have shown incredible interest in these activities and have taken home the message! Go ahead and try these with your own twist!