Are you worried about your K-2 reader losing some ground as summer rolls in? There’s a quick and easy game you can play with your K-2 child that will help them keep their reading skills sharp! Here it is…
Outdoor Bingo! Picture and Word Game K-2
Here’s the better news!!! It’s on sale right now until June 5! Have fun!
Sue
The words are, “Shall we play a game?“, which is a throw back to an old 1980’s movie…”War Games”. Sometimes trying to get our students excited about class work can be like a battle. I have a very competitive group of students this year. They really love to outdo each other but I also want them to pull together as a team.
I tapped into that competitive streak to get them excited about doing classwork earlier this week. I have a game I call “Captain and the Crew”. It takes nothing more than a worksheet, white boards, markers, and erasers. This game really appeals to them as it pits the class against me!!
As the teacher, I am the “Captain” of my class and my students are my “Crew“. I handed out the worksheet and then wrote the words “Captain” and “Crew” on my whiteboard at the front of the room. The students work a problem independently. When the lid is on the marker of all the students, we are ready to share our answers.
Students hold up their individual white boards to show the answer. If everyone is correct, the students earn 2 tally marks. If even one student is wrong, I earn 5 tally marks. That’s not fair, you say? The students were more excited about beating me and me not being “fair” then really had them fired up!
![Instasize_0207153845[1]](https://itsallgoodreally.me/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/instasize_02071538451.jpg?w=308&h=308)
How did I use the worksheet? I had the students use the worksheet problems as the questions for our game. See the results of our first game below…
![20160201_110216[1]](https://itsallgoodreally.me/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160201_1102161.jpg?w=334&h=188)
I already have my students begging for a rematch! Who knew a worksheet could be so fun?
Let me know what you think and if you use it in your classroom!
Here’s the dictionary dilemma, teachers! We want our students to increase their knowledge of vocabulary in all subjects, but too often our go-to assignment has students looking up the words in a dictionary and copy the meaning into a notebook. For myself, even I used to shudder at the idea of looking up unknown words in the dictionary!
Engage students are learning students and the best is when they don’t even realize they are learning!!! I was racking my brain for a new way to introduce the vocabulary in a novel I wanted the class to read. It came to me like a flash!!!! I find that most students get very competitive in a game situation and that is what led to, TA DAH!!! DICTIONARY DASH!! Even better, the game is free AND easy to implement!!!
Here’s how it works in my room. I have my students get themselves into groups of three. Each group gets a dictionary. Because my students are so competitive, I have the students put their hands on the closed dictionary BEFORE I write the word to be looked up on the board. On the board I have drawn a chart. Word/Part of Speech/Definition. After the word is written on the whiteboard, they can’t start their search until I say “Go!”
The first group to find the word yells “We got it!’ and they send one of the students to the board. The chosen student writes the part of speech and the definition on the whiteboard. I will check the student’s choice of definition to make sure it is the one needed for the day’s reading.
The other students are reading the meaning of the word as it is written on the board. After that, the groups put their hands on the closed dictionary and the game continues until all vocabulary words needed for that day have been defined.
That being said, let me add a few pointers about the game:
I have the students put the vocabulary words and meanings into their subject journal and glossary. We then jump into the lesson.
That’s it…that’s all it took to get my kids excited about using the dictionary!! What’s the worst? You lose a bit of time…What’s the best? A new game that takes little to no prep and excites students!
If you try the game, let me know how it worked. If you have some fun ideas for vocabulary, share those too!!!! Thanks!
It's all good, really! 