Find short starter clips for use on interactive whiteboards in your classroom, covering primary maths, science, French, history, and literacy

Primary Lesson Starters

Teach KS2 pupils about algebra using the story of a party

A Key Stage 2 maths algebra lesson starter based around how many people can sit at a birthday party table. The birthday boy and girl must sit at opposite ends of the table with all their guests sitting down either side. A single table can sit six children, one at each end and two on either side. When a second table is added, ten children can be seated (two at either end and four at each side). As the tables and the number of children grow a pattern starts to appear. Can your pupils work out the pattern and predict how many children could come to the party if there were 100 tables? This video is part of the KS2 maths Lesson Planning Pack on algebra, which includes two lesson starters, one great lesson idea and a CPD discussion.

Algebra - What's the Pattern?

A KS2 algebra lesson starter based around working out a formula

A Key Stage 2 maths lesson starter on algebra, using a story of a cold apple seller who can't afford a scarf. The apple seller manages to exchange some apples for a scarf. The scarf seller then goes and exchanges some of her scarves for a coat. The story finishes by asking pupils to work out the formula for how many apples will be needed to get a coat. This classroom resource is part of the KS2 maths Lesson Planning Pack on algebra, which includes two lesson starters, one great lesson idea and a CPD discussion.

Algebra in Action

Pirate Kate uses geometry to find buried treasure, for KS2 maths

Pirate Kate has lost her map and needs to find her hidden treasure, in this fun drama which provides an idea for use in Key Stage 2 maths lessons. To find the buried treasure, primary pupils need to use their knowledge of geometry, degrees and angles.

Angles: Pirate's Lost Treasure

Primary pupils visit an observatory: a KS2 science lesson starter

Amateur astronomer Bill Forest gives a primary class a tour of an observatory in this lesson starter for Key Stage 2 science. Teacher Adrienne Bullen arranges an evening trip for her class from Ponsbourne St Mary's Primary School in Hertfordshire. The children ask questions about space and look at stars through a telescope, getting a glimpse into the workings of a small observatory. The trip inspires and excites the KS2 class and helps the children put their work into context.

Astronomy: Observatory Trip

Challenge KS2 pupils with seven science lesson-starting ideas

This classroom resource provides seven Key Stage 2 science lesson starters for use with an interactive whiteboard when teaching about topics such as materials and their properties, or physical processes. Each video introduces a different scientific topic, from water and evaporation to the science of sounds, with each using a documentary or drama style. A year group is suggested for each video, from Year 3 to Year 6.

Changing State, Micro-Organisms and Other Topics

A KS2 lesson starter on characterisation in literacy

A primary lesson starter designed as a creative stimulus for developing characterisation in KS2 lessons. Six characters are presented in pairs, which are loosely associated with story types such as fairytales (a fairy and a country boy), adventure stories (a pirate and a fortune teller), and contemporary stories (a young boy and an amateur detective). There is enough ambiguity in the presentation of the characters to encourage children's imaginations to flow freely. The lesson starter provides audio and visual clues for the different characters, and music is played to suggest changes in mood and atmosphere.The visual and audio clues can be used to encourage pupils to develop their ideas about who they think the characters are, what they are like, and the kinds of stories they might feature in.

Character Glimpses

A KS2 lesson starter looking at characterisation using cinderella

A Key Stage 2 lesson starter on literacy and characterisation, looking at the fairytale of Cinderella. The lesson starter explores how characters change during a story, and how they can have very different perspectives on the same event. It focuses on the ball scene in Cinderella, and features the prince and one of the ugly sisters. It's the evening of the ball in the Cinderella Fairytale, and the prince is nervous. He uses the royal video diary room to share his thoughts and feelings about the evening, and as the night unfolds, he returns to the diary room to talk about what is happening on the dance floor. The ball seems to be going as badly as he feared - until a mysterious stranger appears. His diary entries are juxtaposed with those of one of the ugly sisters, who begins the evening very excited and hopeful, but whose night is destroyed when a girl in glass slippers gatecrashes the event. Using a familiar setting, the lesson starter is designed to support the teaching of characterisation at KS2, linking with the schemes of work for Years 4 and 5. It can be used as a stimulus to explore the differences between characters; what you can tell about them from their clothing and behaviour; what they think and feel; and how and why characters change during a story.

Character Viewpoints

KS2 history starters with colour film of personal stories from WW2

This video features short clips of British and German film-makers' home movies taken during the second world war, which can be used as Key Stage 2 lesson starters. They're designed to encourage primary history pupils to think about the hardship that British and German children experienced during the second world war. The video includes people listening to the declaration of war on a Cornish beach, information on school life, gas masks and air-raid shelters, as well as the story of a woman's experience of the Blitz, which led to the death of her three siblings. Also see two children's account of the bombing of a German home, with footage filmed by their father.

Children in World War II

See the risk of misinterpreting a text, for primary and secondary

This primary and secondary lesson starter resource demonstrates to Key Stage 2-4 pupils how people's intentions can be misunderstood in emails and texts. A secondary schoolgirl receives a text message from her friend and, due to the lack of face-to-face speech, and room for misinterpretation, she's offended and distressed. This video highlights how cyberbullying can start innocently. It addresses personal and social skills and supports Every Child Matters, and is designed to stimulate KS2-KS4 classroom discussion around e-safety.

Combating Cyberbullying: Inadvertent Bullying

A primary and secondary lesson idea on e-safety and anti-bullying

Teach primary and secondary PSHE pupils the risks and impacts of cyberbullying. This classroom resource can open discussion around Every Child Matters issues including e-safety, anti-bullying and personal and social skills. A primary school pupil becomes the victim of cyberbullying after a picture of her taken at a friend's birthday party is posted online. The picture is uploaded onto a social networking site without her knowledge, causing her distress.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

Top series

> In-Class

> Primary Lesson Starters