Accessing Relevant Knowledge, or the “ARK” should be a short activity posted or projected for the students to do as they enter class. There’s no ambiguity to what students should begin doing as they enter the room.
Make your own copy here. The “Agenda Slide" Template has space for you to display the ARK activity along with an agenda, the objective, materials list, a timer, and it's fully customizable.
This strategy not only helps establish routines and provide stability, but it enhances learning and retention of new material by retrieving previous knowledge and attaching the new learning to what students already know
Students make predictions about a text or topic before they begin reading or learning. This video goes over a basic version, as well as a "Four Corners" variation as well a KWL chart as a way to start class.
Use images instead of text to create an anticipation guide by selecting an image, graph, or a set of images that are related to the topic of the upcoming lesson or text, and ask students to make predictions, observations, and connections based on the images.