Best Games- Want to know some fun games you can play with your students all year? Keep reading.
I am joining with Tracey at The Teacher’s Chair all week in this School Week Linky
GAMES FOR WORD PRACTICE
Have you heard of the game Sparkle? It is a favorite game of my students every year. We play it with their weekly Spelling Words for review before any weekly test.
How to Play Sparkle:
Gather your students in a circle standing up. I draw out a stick to see which student will start. Then I give that student a word off the spelling list and they say the first letter of the word, then it is the next students turn. Let’s say the word is RIGHT-The first person says R then next person I and so on. If a student gives the wrong letter they sit down and are out. The student to say the last letter of the word would say T- The next person says Sparkle and the person the person who says Sparkle is automatically after out. If they don’t say Sparkle at the right time they are also out and has to sit down. As soon as that word is done the teacher gives another word on the list and starts with the student next in the circle. The last player standing is the winner. It is a good listening and thinking skills game. I like it because it doesn’t always leave the best spellers in the game. They get out randomly by chance depending on who messes up in the circle. It’s a great review on Thursday for Friday or right before they take the test on Friday.
Need to enrich students with word games try Banangrams. It is a word game that I liked to play at home with my own kids and I thought why not play it at school with my higher students. My students absolutely loved it. They continued to get better making words each time they played.
GAMES FOR MATH FACT PRACTICE- Flashcards with a Twist
Around the World is another class favorite every year. You play it with math facts. Everyone starts out at their own desk. You pick one student to start the game and they get up and stand beside the student’s desk that sits beside them. They race that student with the math fact you are holding up. The winner goes on to the next desk and the loser sits down at that desk. The goal is to try to make it Around the World which is really around the classroom and trying to get back to your own desk. I made giant cards using all the harder addition math facts 6, 7, 8. and 9’s so students can get practice with them since these are the ones the they usually struggle with throughout the year.
I’ve also played King/Queen of the Table around my kidney shaped table with the math facts. They all race against each other I put the cards in front of them at the table and the first person to get 3 right on their pile moves up to the king/ queen spot. The rest move down the table in their seats. To be King/ Queen of the table they must beat the rest of the kids at the table 3 times. I pull kids that really need help with facts and once they keep getting king/queen spot I send them to their desk and pull others. This works great when others are finishing up math seat work and you want to give others practice. Kids beg to play this a lot.
Just for Fun
Doodle Dice was a big hit during inside recess. It’s a game of making doodles with dice and stealing cards from others until you collect one of each color. I bought mine at the teacher store but if you click the link you can get it online.
Do you play any of these games with your students? What games new or old can you share with us?
Come back tomorrow for Tech Tips- my favorite of the week.
3 Responses
Wow! Thanks for sharing all of those games. I had forgotten how to play Around the World. Doodle Dice sounds fun.
-Lisa
Grade 4 Buzz
Sparkle is a new one to me; thanks for sharing it! ~Deb
Crafting Connections
This seems like a great teaching tool. Games are one of the best ways to get children involved and participation. Thanks so much for writing about it.
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