I had a really tough time picking something to make this week until I stumbled across this game I found on Pinterest. Even though the original game was created for a 5th grade classroom I think it will translate really well into middle/secondary classrooms of any content area. The other really nice thing about this is it is SUPER cheap to make.
All you need is:
– Poster board
– Library Pockets
– Cardstock
I went to hobby lobby where they always have crazy discounts plus I had a 40% off coupon as well as using my teacher discount. I picked up a paper trimmer when I was there and it made cutting out all the cards and numbers a thousand times easier!
And here is the final product!
How It Works:
– Separate your students into 4+ groups
– Have a bunch of questions ready to go on the smartboard/powerpoint/etc. Prop your ZAP! game up next to is at well as having a student serve as scorekeeper (or you if you are good at multitasking)
– Ask a group a question, if they get it right they receive one point and get to pick a game card for the poster. The game cards can either be good, bad, or do nothing at all. If a team is ZAPPED! then they lose all of their points. If the team answers the question incorrectly, the question is asked to the next team. You play until the class is over, a timer buzzes, or all your questions are gone. Obviously group with the most points at the end is the winner.
Here are the set of cards I made (printed out on cardstock) if you would like a set!
I love this idea for many reasons – but a big one is that the brightest team doesn’t always win which encourages all students to participate.
As a freebie I wanted to share a recent purchase. I plan on implementing interactive notebooks in my classroom and wanted a date stamp for when I collect them. I found the coolest one!!
Check out all the neato phrases it has!!
You can find it at all craft stores as well as Walmart and Target. It should be in the scrapbooking section with all the SMASH! products. Best part was that it was super cheap – only $4.50!