It's important to review the information that we teach to our students. It might be before a unit test. It might be just for spiral review to help them retain it. Or, it might be before the big state test. Whatever reason you are practicing with your students, you want to make it engaging. That's why I like to use games for review.
We want students to be engaged, but we also want to not spend a ton of time prepping for that engagement. That's why I like these particular games for review. They are low prep for the teacher. We all want to save time where we can.
1. Gameboards
Gameboards are great in the classroom because they can be used whole class or in small groups. When I use them whole class, I put the students in groups with each group having a gameboard and we answer the questions whole class. Then each person gets to roll the dice and move if they got the answer correct. If someone wins while we are still reviewing, everyone in that group goes back to start and begins again. If you use a blank gameboard, you can use it with any topic, making it a great game for review.
You can have students make their own gameboards if you don't have any. I also have digital gameboards that I use so that I don't have to spend the time and money printing, laminating, and cutting. They also don't take any storage space. However, they can be printed if I feel like the students need a break from the computers.
2. Individual Game Boards
Another game for review I use is open-ended individual game boards. When I first discovered these, they seemed to be designed for SLP teachers but I love using them in my classroom. In this case, each student gets their own board, with the goal to fill it up. The nice thing is that students are just competing against themselves.
I give each student a game board and markers to fill it with. Each time they get an answer correct, they put a marker on their board. If they fill it up, they start over and try to fill it again.
Once again, these boards can be used with any topic. I have open-ended game boards for holidays throughout the year that I like to use.
3. Kahoot and Blooket
You've probably heard of Kahoot but may not have heard of Blooket. If you haven't used Blooket, definitely check it out. It's like a more gamified version of Kahoot and my students love it. If you haven't heard of either, they are online games that students love. You can create a free account and students love playing them. You can create your own game, or you can search for the many, many games that have already been created to find the topic that you are working on.
4. Class Points
I use PAT points in my classroom. I do a modified version of what Fred Jones teaches about. My students accumulate PAT points throughout the week and get extra time on Friday afternoons to work on educational activities such as STEM bins, puzzles, and educational websites.
For the game, I write points on index cards and hang them up on the board, blank side forward. I have quite a few low point cards, a couple of high point cards, and a couple that they lose a certain amount of points. I then give questions to the class. I usually let students work together in pairs or with their groups to help them be more successful. Then I randomly pick a student and if they have the correct answer, they get to come up and choose a card. Then I keep track of the points that the class accumulates throughout the game and add that to the total points we already have at the end.
This is a really low prep game for review and once you've created the cards with the points, you can use them over and over again. I just stick them on my board with blue painter's tape so that it comes off easily. You might even want to laminate them to make them last.
Do you have any games for review that you like to use? I'm always looking for new games and I'd love to hear about them so comment below and let me know.
~Jill
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