Age range: KS2
Time: 15-20 minute starter, plus writing
Sharing fun facts
‘But there’s nothing interesting about me.’ Ever heard that? Inspire your class to share surprising, unique and sometimes hilarious information about themselves with this active starter. We used this activity to help children introduce themselves to penfriends, but it could also help generate ideas for any autobiographical writing.
Resources: questions* printed out – one per sheet of paper, star or other stickers (about 5 per child), pens or pencils
1) Carousel of questions
Divide your class into small groups or pairs. Give each group two or three questions* to answer about themselves. Having choices of questions allows children to focus on the questions they have more to say about.
Once the groups have had a chance to answer some or all of the questions, it’s time to move onto the next questions. Depending on how much movement you want in your classroom, you could have children travel to the next table of questions, or have each group pass their paper to the next children.
Keep swapping questions around until your class have had a chance to answer all the questions.
2) Gallery walk of everyone’s answers
Now’s the fun part. Give each child and each teaching assistant about five small stickers. Their mission is to read the different answers for all of the questions and to choose their favourite ones to mark with a sticker or a star.
This gives the children a chance to see what kinds of information other people find interesting or intriguing. Other people’s answers might also spark some memories of their own.
3) Get writing!
When your pupils have had a chance to think about what they could share about themselves, have them consolidate their ideas in writing. They could write a list of 7 top facts about themselves. More able pupils could take 3 of those facts and develop them into longer, descriptive paragraphs, or even a short anecdote.
Make sure the children keep a record of these, so they can refer to them in future letter-writing or autobiographical work.
Tips and tricks
Print out each question (or group of 3 questions) onto a separate sheet. There should be lots of space on each page page to allow several children to answer each one.
Before you hand out the sheets, fill out some of the answers yourself – or ask any teaching assistants to join in.
*Stuck for questions? Give these a try:
- Tell me your best joke OR your worst joke.
- Tell me about the people you live with.
- What’s the view outside your room?
- What’s the weirdest fact you know?
- Tell me something interesting you’ve learned this week.
- How would your friends describe you?
- What’s your favourite snack and why?
- What sauce do you put on everything you eat?
- Tell me about something that makes you smile.
- What do your family do (and eat!) for celebrations?
- If you could have any animal (real or fantasy) for a pet, what would it be and why?
- What’s your secret talent?
- If you could have a superpower, what would it be, and why?
- What’s the funniest or most embarrassing story your family would tell about you?
- What’s the silliest thing you’ve done this week? Or ever?
- Have you ever met or seen someone famous?
- What would your ideal party or birthday day be like?
- What would you wear?
- Have you ever broken a bone or had an accident?
- If you could go anywhere on holiday, where would you go and why? What would you do?
- How do you play your favourite game?
- What’s something that you wonder?
- What was the last movie/TV show/book/game you’ve seen/read/played? Would you recommend it?
- What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten OR where’s the strangest place you’ve ever been?
- Tell me something silly you believed was true when you were younger.
- Tell me about something you did that made you feel proud.
- Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever had a spooky experience?
