TeacherHero
Warm-Up · 3–5 min to activate prior knowledge

Four Corners

Four Corners puts four responses on the walls and asks every student to walk to one and defend it. TeacherHero uses it as a Warm-Up, so the corners are written about the text the lesson is about to read, and it hands the teacher the corner cards, the timing and a debrief that bridges into the reading.

Move to and defend one of four responses.

Real generated output

Bellringer

The Warm-Up phase of a Grade 6 ELA lesson, as TeacherHero generated it. Planned for 5 minutes.

  1. Student prompt

    On your own: List Ada’s two promises using “Ada promised ___ that she would ___.” Circle the name of the person still missing.

    “The ferry left at dusk, and Ada had promised her mother she would be on it. She had also promised her brother she would not leave without him, and Tomas was still somewhere in the market with the ration book in his coat.”

  2. Materials

    • Bellringer with the opening excerpt and four corner cards
    • Pencils

  3. Teacher directions

    • Before class, place the four corner cards around the room with their text covered. Display the opening excerpt and independent prompt.
    • 0:00–2:00: Have students read independently, list both promises, and circle Tomas in the excerpt. Keep corner responses covered until students finish.
    • 2:00–2:30: Reveal the cards. Ask which response best describes how difficult Ada’s promises seem to keep. Students move to their chosen corner; students may indicate a corner from their seats.
    • 2:30–3:30: Invite one student from each occupied corner to defend the position using the printed speaking frame. Accept any corner supported by the opening details.
    • 3:30–4:30: Check the written lists and circled names. If a response confuses the promises, direct students to identify whom Ada promised and what she promised that person.
    • 4:30–5:00: Return students to their seats. Keep the two promises visible as you begin reading the full supplied passage and modeling the conceal card.

  4. Debrief

    • Confirm the two promises and the missing person without deciding which promise matters more.
    • Say: Keep both promises in mind as we read. We will connect Ada’s actions to precise vocabulary.
Why the coach chose it here — Four Corners uses elaboration to connect Ada’s competing promises to the details students will later use in vocabulary explanations. Students first identify the promises independently, then briefly defend a position with evidence. With no prior lessons supplied, this supported readiness check prepares sixth graders for the word cards and final two-word response without introducing vocabulary prematurely.

Frequently asked questions

Is Four Corners a game or a lesson strategy?

Both, and the difference is what the corners say. As a game the corners can be anything. As a strategy each corner is a defensible position on the day's question, so moving is a commitment students then have to explain to the people standing beside them.

Why does the example keep the corners covered at first?

So students commit on paper before they see where their friends go. The generated directions have students work the opening excerpt alone first and reveal the corners afterwards, which keeps the choice their own rather than a walk to wherever the crowd is heading.

How long does a Four Corners warm-up take?

About five minutes in the example on this page: a short independent read, the move to a corner, and a debrief that names what the room disagreed about. Longer than that and it starts eating the modelling step that follows it in the lesson.

Strategies that pair with it

Do Now

Warm-Up · Complete a short review or readiness task.

See the example

Finish the Thought

Warm-Up · Complete and extend a content-specific sentence stem.

See the example

Image Inference

Warm-Up · Infer context or theme from a compelling image.

See the example

Notice & Wonder

Warm-Up · Observe a text or image and record observations and questions.

See the example
Example free · generation with Pro

One move out of six phases.

A TeacherHero lesson generates all six with your course, unit, week and text in context, so the Warm-Up phase continues the one before it instead of starting over.

Explore a whole example lesson