What’s a Bellringer?

What is a Bellringer?

Today I introduced the Bellringer to students, which is our daily opening activity. “Yet, what is it?” you may wonder, and I’m glad that you’ve asked. Most of our Bellringers will involve historic artifacts, and students are asked to be detectives to determine what they are and what purpose they might have. Students first need to observe and describe what they see in the picture. Next, they analyze the object using the details from their observations. Finally, they reveal their thinking by explaining how they’ve stitched together their observations and analysis. These three steps, OAR for short, are tools that archaeologists and historians use frequently. 

Along with using their thinking skills, students also have a chance to employ and strengthen their writing on a daily basis. Sixth grade is a time of great growth in terms of writing and thinking, and I love watching how students’ explanations become more sophisticated and detailed as the year progresses.

We also discussed how students can Turn the Question Around (TTQA) to create the topic sentence for their answer. For instance, if the question asks, “Why did the Aztec civilization fail?”, the topic sentence could be “The Aztec civilization failed for a few reasons.” Using the same words from the question makes crafting a topic sentence easier.

Furthermore, Bellringers help students make the transition into the classroom, as this task gets them into work mode right off the bat. They also can serve as a springboard to the whole class lesson.

Today’s Bellringer asked, “If social studies were a food, which food would it be and why?” Students came up with many great analogies, including the following:

  • Social Studies would be sandwiches because historical events can be tall and complicated or short and simple. Sandwiches can also be meaty or they can be cheesy.
  • Pizza is eaten all over the world and social studies is about things that happened around the world and also about places around the world. Also you know how pizza is packed with flavor just as social studies is packed with excitement. One more thing is pizza is unpredictable. It could be spicy or it could not be. It’s the same with social studies. You never know what you’re going to learn next.
  • Social Studies is like a chicken wing. When you look at it, it looks good, but when you eat or learn about it, it’s not always as good or delicious as you thought it was going to be. People do things that are unpleasant, just like chicken gristle. 
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