Wall dictation in a Science class

A few days ago, my Year 5 children took part in a "Runnig dictation", also called "Wall dictation", where they were basically meant to work in 2s, one of them playing the role of the runner and the other child the writer. They swapped roles half way through the activity. The runner is expected to run up for the text and try to memorise as much as possible and then they run back to their partner and quietly dictate what they remembered to their partner, who writes it down. Over quite a few turns, they will put together the whole message or text which in this particular case was about Flowering and Non-flowering plants and the different types within each category as this activity was part of a Natural Science lesson.

It is worth pointing out this is a stimulating activity which is more reading, writing and listening orientated but where children also have to rely on their speaking skills.What is more, this type of activity will help teachers cater for a wider range of multiple intelligences. In this case, the main domain of intelligences children have to use are linguistic and kinaesthetic.