Time Fillers

How many times do you end up having a few extra minutes at the end of a class??? My classes baffle me. One class period may finish right on time or barely, then the other class has too much extra time. I try to have a few "time filler" activities on hand for those special occasions.

The first day of school or even throughout the first few weeks I will play some "get to know you" type games. Last summer I found some cheap beach balls at a dollar store. The regular stores wanted me to pay $5 or so for a beach ball. No way....I'm on a budget! And I know the dollar store has to have them for cheap!!! Sure enough they did and in several different colors. So I used a sharpie to write various questions that the kids would be willing to answer aloud. The rules are: I call out someone's name that I am going to throw the ball to. They catch the ball. They read the question closest to their right thumb and answer. Then they call out a classmate and throw the ball, etc. The kids love it! They will even toss the ball back to me to see my question and answer will be.

I have also made a review ball for my PreCalculus class. We are currently studying Trig Functions. They are supposed to be memorizing the Unit Circle. So if we have some spare time in the next couple of weeks, I am going to let them toss around this review ball to see what they know.

I still have a couple more beach balls, so I'm sure I'll come up with a few more educational options to fill my time.