Romeo and Juliet Activities Cheat Sheet

Day One:
- Bell Ringer is a daily activity wherein students respond to some sort of prompt, question, or
response-based scenario. This is done at the beginning of the class and is used to 1) ensure
students are in their seat and ready for class to begin once the bell rings and 2) get students’
brains into gear for class.
- Think-Pair-Share is an activity wherein students are given wait time to respond to a prompt,
question, or other type of response-based scenario. At this point, they would jot down a few
ideas on a piece of paper. After given a few minutes of wait time, students will be tasked with
partnering up with their shoulder partners and quietly sharing what they came up with in the
previous section of the activity. Once students have a few minutes to share with their partners,
they will be tasked with participating in a whole group discussion wherein students share what
they discussed in their partnerships.
- Ticket-Out-The-Door is an activity wherein students are given time to respond to a prompt,
question, or other type of response-based scenario at the end of class/at the end of the day’s
lesson. Students typically respond on a sticky note or a half sheet of paper. This response is
given to the teacher as students exit the room.
Day Two:
- Vocabulary Review Game is a game found online wherein students are given the opportunity to
be given a brief refresher course on Shakespearean Vocabulary, as well as review the vocabulary
within the context of the play.
Day Three:
- Speed Dating is a whole class activity wherein students share with their peers a response/idea via
facing off one-on-one with a peer. In this face off, each student will quickly and effectively share
their idea/response before shifting and moving to the next peer. This is completed until all
students share with multiple students, and the teacher is used to facilitate/ensure students are on
task, as well as to keep time.
- Double Entry Journal is a reading activity wherein students take notes on a text while they read
it. The students make two columns. In one column, they make a note of a specific quotation from
the text, and in the other, they make a comment and/or ask a question.
Day Four:
- Abstract Paper Ripping Activity is a whole class activity wherein students respond to a
theme/scene via ripping construction paper and creating an abstract representation. After students
are given time to create their masterpieces, they will be given the task of showing-and-telling
what they made, sharing with their peers what they made and why.
Day Five:
- Reading Recap is an in-class activity wherein students give brief summarizes about the previous
reading. This can be done either verbally or written.
- Final Thoughts is an in-class activity wherein students are given the opportunity to share any
final thoughts they had about the day’s lesson/reading or ask any questions they had.
Day Six:
- Group Debates is a whole-class activity wherein students are grouped into two groups. Each
group would be given the task of defending a certain side of an issue. There will be three
impartial student judges. The groups will have time to deliberate about their response before
each group nominates a speaker; one speaker at a time presents their ideas to the judges. The
judges choose one winner.
Day Seven:
- Group Students by Counting is a grouping method wherein the teacher counts students off (ex. 1,
2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) in order to group them.
- Group Readings is a reading method wherein students read the text aloud within their groups.
Day Eight:
- Chronological Order Performances is when students are grouped into groups and given a
specific scene. They are given time to practice quickly and then share with the class. The groups
perform in order of their scene as it appears in the text.
Day Nine:
- Blobs is a grouping method wherein the teacher groups students into groups via interesting things
about themselves. Things can be things like shoe color, hair color, favorite season, height, birth
order, birth month, etc.
- Individual Recap is a formative assessment wherein students give a brief summary of what was
last read. It can be either verbally or written.
Day Ten:
- Mini-Lesson is a teaching strategy wherein the teacher goes over a topic (such as imagery,
symbolism, mood, tone, etc.) briefly before going into the main focus of the day’s lesson.
Day Eleven:
- Drift is a classroom management technique used during student individual worktime. The
teacher moves around the room, ensuring student understanding and offering assistance as they
go.
- Character Chart is an activity wherein students are given a blank cut-out of a person (basically a
paper gingerbread man). On that piece of paper, students come up with attributes that describe a
character from the assigned text.
Day Twelve:
- Venn Diagram is a graphic organizer activity wherein students draw two overlapping circles. On
one side of the diagram is one topic, the other is another topic. In the center is where students
write things about how the two are similar.
Day Thirteen:
- Riddle Bell Ringer is an adapted Bell Ringer activity wherein students respond to a riddle as a
way to get students thinking critically before class.
Day Fourteen:
- Visual Representation is an activity wherein a student is given the chance to doodle a response,
as opposed to writing it.
Day Fifteen:
- Class Performance is a classroom activity wherein volunteer students perform a specific scene of
a text in front of their peers. Students are able to gender swap/adapt if they would like.