Bellringer ideas and activities

Looking for some inspiration for your daily bellringers? Here are plenty of bell work ideas to get your students focused and reading to begin a lesson.

25 bellringer ideas for your students

Consistently starting your lessons with bell work is the perfect way to warm up your class for the day, starting the learning on the right foot.
‍
‍💡 Bonus: To learn more about bellringers, check out our ultimate bellringer guide for teachers.

Reflection bellringers

Check understanding
Lesson planning
Bring a sense of focus to the start of your lesson by asking students to reflect on previous lessons or learnings.
‍
These bell work questions and more can be found in the Ziplet question bank under the Take and breath and reflect category.

  • What was the most interesting thing you learned yesterday?

  • What is something you are stuck on from yesterday?

  • What's one thing you want to practice again?

  • What are you struggling to understand at the moment?

  • How could you apply your knowledge outside of school?

Fun and creative bellringers

Inspiration
Engagement
Creativity
Inspire your students with these bell work questions designed to inspire out-of-the box thinking.
‍
These questions and more can be found in the Ziplet question bank under the Spark engagement and creativity category.

  • If you touched the moon, what would it feel like?

  • Do you believe in magic?

  • What colour is Tuesday?

  • Is there more happiness or more sadness in the world?

  • If elephants ruled the world, what changes would you see?

  • Is there more future or more past?

  • You wake up today with the superpower of your choosing. What is it and how will it change your life?

  • Which is more real: a dream or the memory of a dream?

Problem-solving bellringers

student agency
differentiated learning
self-assessment

Encourage critical thinking skills by asking students to tackle a problem-solving activity.

These questions are most effective when tied to previous learning, or designed to spark thinking of a new topic before you begin.

  • If you had to solve [real-world problem], what steps would you take?

  • How would you approach [mathematical problem] using the concepts we learned?

  • What strategies would you use to resolve [ethical dilemma] based on our recent discussions?

Discovery bellringers

student agency
self-assessment
Find new ways to improve your teaching by asking students to reflect on the classroom environment and how they learn best.
‍
These questions and more can be found in the Ziplet question bank under the Discover learning needs and preferences category.

  • It would be awesome if we did this in class...

  • What's one thing you'd like me to START doing in class?

  • What's one thing you'd like me to STOP doing in class?

  • What's one thing you'd like me to CONTINUE doing in class?

  • How can you be more productive in my class?

  • What motivates you to learn?

  • What is one study habit you want to stop or achieve?

Get-to-know-me bellringers

Inspiration
Engagement
Creativity
These questions are great for getting students to open up and share more about themselves. You can use these responses to better connect with your class, and even share your own answers back with them.

These questions and more can be found in the Ziplet question bank under the Get to know one another category.

  • What's your favorite activity to do outside of class?

  • What is a big dream or goal you have for the future?

  • What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

  • What's your superpower?

  • Name something about yourself that you really like and why you like it.

  • Write about your biggest fear.

How to ask a good bellringer question?

To get the most out of the exit ticket process, questions should:
Be short
Where possible be open ended
Linked to the learning intentions (and success criteria) of the lesson
Focus on skill(s) or concept(s) being taught
Allow students to demonstrate understanding
Challenge students to synthesise what they have learned.
Not be surface level questions (i.e. factual)
Not be yes/or no answer
Prompt reflection
Use clean specific language that is not vague or ambiguous
Avoid passive and negative wording will enforce “I can’t” attitudes with no actionable way forward
Bellringers can use a variety of question types, for example, some questions might involve a rating scale, another might be more open-ended asking students to write their specific concerns or ideas or reflection. Another might ask a student to respond to a specific questions or prompt. It is a good idea, therefore, to model the exit tickets to your class and show them how to complete the different types of questions that might be asked.

Our lesson ideas have practical examples and implementation for bellringers, as well as exit tickets, SEL checks and more!
Bellringers in under 30 seconds

Get started

Resources

Company

Product

© Copyright 2025 Ziplet
Privacy policy
|
Compliance
|
Support request