Bell ringer starter activities to do with your online class during distance learning

It can be tricky knowing what kind of bell ringer starter activities are suitable to do with your online class while you're waiting for everyone to arrive.Distance learning is a very different world to navigate!

It can be challenging keeping students engaged from a distance:

You’re not alone if you’ve been finding yourself stuck not knowing what to do with your students while you’re waiting for them to arrive online. You want to have fun yet meaningful activities to do with your students and ensure that they are engaged and excited to be there. If you’ve been struggling to think of suitable digital bell ringer activities for distance learning, keep reading for some ideas to help. ​

Distance learning bell ringer activities can transform your online lessons:

Imagine preparing for your online lessons, and instead of the awkwardness as you are waiting for students to join, you can have a foolproof list of go-to activities ready in your arsenal. Knowing that these activities will help keep your online calls fun and engaging as well as help build a classroom community, renders them influential in encouraging attendance to your online lessons.

Quizzes are always an engaging and meaningful way of keeping students entertained:

Fun tools to keep in your online lesson arsenal are quizzes. For example, many students love riddles as they stimulate their minds. Theseriddle bell ringers are easy to use in an online call: you can share your screen with the class and then click to reveal the answer when you're ready. It's a good idea to leave some time for personal reflection before you do so. To encourage engagement, students can record on a piece of paper or device what they think the answer is, and then everyone can hold up their answer on the screen at once! If you would like a set of riddles to try out in your online classroom, you can download a week's worth of questions for free here. ​

Another fun game you could introduce is "True or False". These games are ideal if you want full participation from all your students as you can send them a link to a true or false web-deck where there are a range of questions based on a particular theme. Students flick through each fact and select whether they think it is true or false. They receive immediate feedback on the answer, so as they are playing, they are learning facts about that particular topic as well. The beauty of this method is that every student can participate! If you would like to try out the true or false web-decks, you can check out this one for free on the Coronavirus.

There are also some physical games you can do during online calls which are great to get students moving. Some examples include scavenger hunts, virtual contests and show and tell activities. If you would like to learn more about how they work, you can read the article on building community while distance learning here.

Finally, if you are looking for some interactive activities where the whole class is involved and playing together, here are some great online quizzes that would work exceptionally well for online calls:

Kahoot is one of my all-time favourites, and students cannot get enough either! You reveal a question on your screen, and students can use their devices to select the answers simultaneously. This means everyone is involved in taking part, and it's always an enjoyable time for all concerned!

Some other sites that work similarly are Quizizz and Gimkit: all students are interactively involved in competing against one another based on a topic of your choice, and engagement is always through the roof!

To conclude:

There are lots of fun activities that you can do in your online calls to help your students remain engaged, motivated and excited! In addition, these games can help increase attendance and help keep the classroom community spirit alive while distance learning.

Download free riddles to use as bell ringers for your online lessons:

Students love riddles, so if you would like to download a set of riddles for free, you can download them below: