Tip: Choose words appropriate for your students � abilities. Words for which they might know multiple synonyms or meanings are best! You might use a thesaurus to create a list of possible words before playing the game. Write those words in large letters on cards so students can use them as the game is played. Save the cards from year to year.
Sample password: ferocious
Possible clues: fierce, vicious, wild, fiendish, savage, cruel, brutal
More possible passwords: understand, taste, slam, easy, recess, ancient, nasty, laugh, drink, impatient, hot, pound, glimpse, friend, correct, motion, ruin
This game is based on a popular box game. To start the game, the teacher chooses a word for which no student will know the meaning. The teacher writes the word on the chalkboard and writes the definition of the word on a sheet of paper from a small pad. Then the teacher hands a sheet from the same pad to each student. The student must write on that sheet his or her name and a definition of the word. The teacher collects all the definitions. One by one, the teacher reads the definitions. Students consider each definition. Then, as the teacher rereads them, the students vote for the definition that they believe is the real meaning of the word. Students earn a point if they guess the definition correctly; they also earn a point each time another student selects their (fake) definition as the true meaning of the word. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Some Words to Try
- fabulist (FA-beeyuh-list) -- a creator or writer of fables
- coppice (KAH-pes) -- a thicket, grove, or growth of small trees
- inquiline (IN-kweh-lign) -- an animal that lives habitually in the nest or abode of another species
- miliaria (mi-lee-AR-ee-eh) -- an inflammatory disorder of the skin characterized by redness, burning, or itching
- baht (bot) -- a unit of money in Thailand
You can easily adapt this game to many areas of the curriculum. The teacher writes a category on the chalkboard -- foods, for example. Each student writes the letters A to Z on a sheet of paper. The students have five minutes to create an alphabetical list of as many foods as they can think of. Then the game begins. The first student must tell the name of a food. The second person must give the name of a food that begins with the last letter of the food given by the first person. The third person must name a food that begins with the last letter of the second person �s food and so on. One at a time, students are eliminated.
Other possible categories: cities; songs; things in nature (for older students, animal names or plant names); people �s first names (for older students, famous people �s last names or, more specifically, authors � names).
This game is another old favorite! Choose seven students to be It. Those students go to the front of the room. The other students put their heads on their desks so they can �t see. The seven Its wander the room. Each taps one of the seated students on the head. As a student is tapped, he or she raises a hand. When all seven Its return to the front of the room, they say in unison, "Seven up, stand up!" Each student who was tapped has an opportunity to guess which student tapped him or her. If a student guesses correctly, he or she replaces the person who did the tapping. The game begins again when all have had a chance to guess.
In this game, nobody wants to hold the rubber chicken -- the game �s only prop! To begin the game, all students sit in a circle. Select one person to be It. That person holds the rubber chicken. The teacher or a "caller" says to the person holding the chicken, "Name five presidents of the United States. Pass the chicken!" As soon as the caller says, "Pass the chicken," the person holding the chicken passes it to the right. Students quickly pass the chicken around the circle. If it returns to the original holder before he or she can name five presidents of the United States, the holder is still It. Otherwise, the person holding the chicken when It finishes listing five presidents is the new It. You should prepare the topic cards for this game in advance. Topics can relate to your curriculum or be general information topics. The student who is It must name five items in the called-out category in order to get rid of the dreaded chicken!
Some Suggested Topics
- fast-food restaurants
- authors of children �s books
- countries in South America
- sports teams
- things that grow in the desert
- vegetables
- cartoon characters
- musical groups
- cereals
- rivers in the United States
- candy bars made with chocolate
- large bodies of water
- animals found in salt marshes
- cities in [your state]
- cities in Florida
I hope they are of good use!!!
Hugs,
Nebal
