Bingo Review is an activity that you can use as a whole class or in teams (using the Team Bingo Review directions). Decide whether you want to use the 4 x 4 Bingo Boards or the 5 x 5 Bingo Boards. There are 24 half-page cards in each set. Then print out the corresponding Bingo Review Cards (4x4 or 5x5) and add your own questions or problems on the numbered cards. Cut up the cards and shuffle them. The Bingo Captain (the teacher in a whole group setting) calls out the problem or question and everyone answers it on individual dry erase boards. The students show their answers and the correct answer is revealed. Discuss any wrong answers and clear up misunderstandings. All students who had the correct answer cover up the corresponding number on the Bingo Board. For the 5 x 5 board, there are only 24 question cards, so you'll need to mark space 25 as FREE.
Mastery Learning is an instructional process that I use primarily in math, though it can be used in other subjects. Essentially, it involves teaching the material quickly, giving a test, and using that test to diagnose learning difficulties. Students who have already mastered the material are given enrichment activities to challenge them, and students who have not mastered the material are given additional instruction. Finally, a retest is given to those who didn't achieve mastery on the first test. This process allows all students to master the content before moving on in the curriculum. For a more detailed explanation read Tom Guskey's April 2005 paper "Formative Classroom Assessment and Benjamin Bloom: Theory, Research, and Implications." This activity is a simple cooperative learning strategy for practicing the skill of using guide words and entry words. You'll need the Dictionary Word Sort Gameboard for each team as well as a set of Rain Forest Word Cards. The students cut apart the word cards and place them face down in the place provided on the gameboard. They place the Guide Word strip at the top of the gameboard. The first person on the team turns over the first entry word and tell whether it should go on the page with those guide words, before the page, or after the page. The rest of the team either agrees with the statement or they discuss it as a team. When all are in agreement, the entry word is placed face up on the gameboard in the correct location. Continue with team members taking turns and the teacher moving about the room to monitor answers. When studying weather and climate, an easy way to integrate technology is to have students research weather and climate data for two locations and create comparison graphs. Use the Climate Comparison Charts as a place for recording the data. This data is readily available at the Worldclimate website located at www.worldclimate.com. Students simply type in the name of almost any city in the world, and they can easily find the temperature and precipitation data. After they record the data, have them use a spreadsheet program (like Microsoft Excel) to create comparison graphs. Early American History Timeline Activity You'll need to print out the Early American History Timeline master to understand these directions. Each student will need four copies of the first page and one copy of the second page. Have each student cut apart the cards. Working in teams, students research the events to find out their correct chronological order. On the back of each card, they should lightly write in the date of the event. Then students should arrange the cards in order and place them in the boxes on their four sheets. They need to record the date of the event in the box below it before gluing the card down. (Check the order of cards before they are glued in place.) The next step of the activity is to go back through the events and write a brief summary of each item in the space provided. You can structure this as an individual activity, a pair activity, a team activity or even as a whole-class project. I have found it helpful to have students create "Grade Logs" where they write down their grades in every subject. I created a cover for the logs which is a piece of paper, that when folded, puts a cover on the front and a grading scale on the back. I have the students place the Grade Log Cover face down and stack 2 plain sheets of paper on top. When they fold the 3 sheets together and staple it, the cover lands on top and the grading scale is on the outside of the back cover. They write a subject title on each of the inside pages. When I return graded papers to them, they record the date, the name of the assignment, and their grade. I make sure that they record a 0 for missing assignments. Periodically I have them average their grades. It's amazing how much more impact that 0 has when a student averages his or her own grades. All of a sudden they want to know what they can do to make up that assignment! Daily Grammar Practice is a system I developed that is similar to Daily Oral Language. I write one sentence or quotation on the overhead, making sure that I include a variety of grammatical errors (depending on what we are studying at the moment). The students attempt to write the sentence correctly on their Grammar Practice Worksheet. I circulate through the room holding a mini-stamper (available from Crayola - looks like a magic marker but has a small stamp at one end). If a student finds all the errors in the sentence and corrects them without help, I place a stamp next to that sentence. This helps me assign a grade later. After I have checked all papers, I call on one student to make the corrections on the overhead. All students are expected to correct the errors on their paper at that time. At the end of the week, I collect the papers and assign a letter grade based on the number they wrote correctly without help (as indicated by my stamp) and the number they wrote correctly after seeing the sentence on the overhead. Recently I have been using famous quotations as the basis for my Daily Grammar Practice. (See sample overhead master) After we discuss the grammatical errors, I have the students put their heads together in teams to discuss the meaning of the quotation. Then I call on one student in each team to explain their team's interpretation. I clarify the meaning for the class and we discuss examples in every day life. This activity is a great way to start the day! Then at the end of the week I choose one of the quotations and the kids have to write a short synopsis of what the quotation means on the back of their Grammar Practice Worksheet. Use the Cooperative Learning Weekly Plans form to remind yourself to plan at least one cooperative learning activity a day. After completing your regular plans, review them and use this form to jot down the cooperative activities you are doing each day. If you find that you have not planned a cooperative activity for some days, think about the content you are teaching on those days and decide which structure would help you teach those skills. Be sure you are including at least one Teambuilder and one Classbuilder structure each week. After using this form for several weeks, you will find yourself automatically including cooperative learning activities in your lessons. Moving Remainders Division Game (for Pairs) Materials for each Pair: 1 Moving Remainders game board, 2 game markers, 1 die, 1 calculator, pencil and paper. Procedure: Students roll die to see who goes first. Both players place their game markers on the Start number (17). One person rolls the die and creates a division problem. The number 17 is the dividend and the number rolled is the divisor. While that player works out the problem with paper and pencil, their partner uses a calculator to check it (You need a calculator with an INT key that can find remainders. If none is available, the partner works it out on paper too). When the person who rolled finds the quotient and remainder, he or she moves ahead the number of spaces indicated by the REMAINDER. If there is no remainder, they stay on the space. Students take turns rolling the die and solving the problems they create. If they get stuck on a number for 2 tries with no remainder, have them move their game piece forward one space to get out of the "quicksand." Continue to play until time is up or until someone reaches the end. This is great for discussing factors and multiples of numbers. This is a great activity to use just before you create new cooperative learning teams. The old teams need some type of closure activity to express appreciation to each other. Give each student one Flip-Flop Book and have them fold it in half the long way (like a hotdog). Ask them to write their name in the large rectangle. Then have them cut on the solid lines between each of the four small sections. They pass the Flip-Flop Book around the team and open a flap. Under the flap they write an appreciation statement. Finally, they sign the top of the flap and pass it to the next person. No one may read another team member's statement except the person named on the Flip-Flop Book. For this activity, you need one Buddy Venn Diagram for every pair of students. Assign partners and distribute the worksheets. Ask the students to write one name above each circle. Then they pass the sheet back and forth as they write words and phrases that describe themselves. For example, if Sara and Billy are doing the activity together, they would each write their name above one circle. Sara might begin by saying, "I like chocolate ice cream." If Billy agrees that he likes it too, then Sara writes "chocolate ice cream" in the middle. If Billy did not like chocolate ice cream, she would write the words in her circle only. Then Sara passes the paper to Billy who names something about himself. He might say, "I have one brother." Together they decide where to place the statement. They continue passing the paper back and forth, taking turns as they write statements in the appropriate places on the Venn Diagram. Showdown is a cooperative learning structure that directly involves all team members in a structured learning situation. For this activity, you'll need to print one copy of the Plural or Possessive Showdown task cards (or the Plural Noun Cards - Basic or Advanced). In the Plural Noun Showdown, you'll have to fix up the cards a bit since the apostrophes seem to have been lost in the conversion to Adobe Acrobat format. Take a black pen and add the apostrophes to the nouns which have a noticeable space before the "s". Then make one copy of the task cards per team and have the students cut the cards apart. The cards are placed face down in the center of the team. Everyone needs a piece of paper or a small chalkboard or whiteboard. One person becomes the first leader and picks up a card. Without showing it to the others, he or she reads the sentence aloud. The others write the underlined noun on their chalkboards in possessive or plural form (determined by the clues in the sentence). As each person finishes, they place their chalkboards face down. When all boards are down, the leader says "Showdown!" and everyone shows their answer. The leader checks the answers according to the sentence card. For the next round, a new student on the team becomes the leader. The teacher moves about the room, monitoring the activity and making sure students are getting the correct answers. Showdown is a cooperative learning strategy that can be used in many subjects. The directions below are similar to the ones in the Possessive Noun activity above. For this activity, you'll need to print one copy of the Finding Fractions Showdown task cards for each team. Have the students cut the cards apart and place them face down in the center of the team. Everyone needs a piece of paper or a small chalkboard or whiteboard. One person becomes the first leader and picks up a card. Without showing it to the others, he or she reads the sentence aloud. Everyone tries to figure out the answer to the problem (i.e. "What is 1/3 of 12?") and writes their answer on their board without talking. As each person finishes, they place their chalkboards face down. When all boards are down, the leader says "Showdown!" and everyone shows their answer. Team members discuss their answers and try to come to consensus about the correct answer. The leader writes the answer on the task card so the teacher can check it as he or she moves about the classroom. For the next round, a new student on the team becomes the leader. Classifying Foods on the Food Pyramid Introduce the Food Pyramid to students and review the types of food that belong in each category. Place students in teams of 4 and assign each student a number from 1 to 4. Give each team of students one Food Pyramid along with a sheet of the Foods to Sort (page 2 of the same PDF file). Have students cut the foods apart and place them face down in a stack next to the pyramid. Ask Student #1 on each team to turn over the top card and name it's food group. If the other team members agree, they give a thumbs up sign and Student #1 places the card in the appropriate spot on the pyramid. If they don't agree, they discuss it and come to a consensus about its placement. Allow them to use their health books or other sources of information in the event of a disagreement. For the next card, Student #2 leads the discussion. Have students continue taking turns as they flip over a food card and place it on the pyramid. When all teams have classified all their foods, choose a Reporter from each team to share the answers from one food group. Daily Nutrition Log and Evaluation After teaching students about the Food Pyramid, give each person a Daily Nutrition Log and have them write down all the foods they eat in a day. In class the next day, work with the students to help them classify their foods into the correct categories. Have them figure the total number of servings in each group. Then give each student a copy of the Nutrition Log Evaluation and ask them to compare the number of servings they had in each group with the Recommended Daily Servings. Ask them to write an evaluation of their diet for that day. An easy way to do this to have them write a topic sentence and one sentence explaining how they did in each food group. For example, "I realize that I need to improve my diet. In the Bread and Cereal group I was supposed to have 6 to 11 servings, but I only had 3 . . . etc." As an assessment of their understanding and awareness of good nutrition, challenge your students to eat a balanced diet for one whole day. Have them complete another Nutrition Log for that day and analyze it to see if they met their goals. Ask each student to bring to school one food label showing nutrition information. You will also need one label to use as an example. Give each team member one copy of the Food Label Comparison worksheet, and place a transparency of the worksheet on the overhead projector. Demonstrate how to complete the chart using information on the sample food label. Ask each person to complete the information for their own food label in column 1. Then everyone passes their food labels to the left and completes column 2. Continue until all columns are filled. Finally, each person takes turns reading one column of answers on their chart. The rest of the team checks to see that they have the same information, and they resolve any discrepancies by referring to the food label in question. Obtain a nutrition chart from a local fast food restaurant. You will need at least one chart per team. Before you let the students see the chart, give them a copy of the Fast Food Analysis worksheet and ask them to write down their favorite meal from that restaurant. Then give each team one chart and have them look up the amount of salt, fat, and calories in their favorite meal. Discuss the optimum amounts for their age group, and have them compare their favorite meal to those amounts. Then ask them to use the nutrition chart to plan a nutritious meal at the same restaurant. Allow them time to pair up with a partner and discuss their meal choices. Cooperative Project Evaluation Students may work in cooperative teams to complete a project, but individual grades should be given based on individual effort and performance. After having a group complete a project together, ask each person to fill out the top portion of the Cooperative Project Evaluation Form. Each person completes their form individually. Then have them pass their forms around the table so that each team member can read every description and sign to show their agreement. When everyone gets their own paper back, have them complete the last two sections to reflect on ways they could improve. After you collect them, read each person's evaluation, add your comments, and assign an individual grade to each student. This is a research and presentation project designed for the study of alternative energy sources. Duplicate an Energy Investigation booklet for each student. Form "expert groups" by dividing your students equally among the energy sources you want to investigate (solar energy, geothermal energy, hydroelectric power, wind energy, nuclear energy, fossil fuels, etc.). Give students about 2 weeks to investigate their topic independently, reminding them to make an entry in their research log each time they work on their project. Help them find appropriate web sites on the Internet (I have gathered a collection of energy sites on this page: http://home.att.net/~candlers/energy.htm). You may want to collect the booklets and give them a grade on their research before letting the expert groups meet together to plan their presentation. This practice holds students accountable for doing their own preparation instead of allowing them to sponge off their teammates. Have them create a "thinking map" or graphic organizer with the material they have gathered. Then ask each group to develop a 15-minute presentation to teach the class about their energy source. Each person should contribute something tangible to the presentation (a poster, a model, a multi-media presentation, etc.) The rest of the class should take notes on the advantages and disadvantages of each energy source during the presentations. You can use the Cooperative Project Evaluation form to evaluate student performance on this project. Finally, research the current percentages of each energy source used in the world today. Have the students represent this as a circle graph on the last page of their booklet. Then have them make predictions for 100 years in the future. Will we still be this dependent on fossil fuels? How will those percentages change, and what information leads them to this conclusion? Word games are both fun and educational. A Scrabble tournament is one way to involve the whole class (or a club) in the excitement of a well-known word game. You can visit the School Scrabble Program webpage for information about how to stage an official Scrabble tournament, or you can play the simple version described below in which pairs of students play against each other. Many families have a Scrabble game hidden in their closet somewhere, and students are often willing to bring in their game for the class tournament. (You can also order a School Scrabble set which contains 6 Deluxe Scrabble boards and a videotape.) Prior to the Tournament: Before you actually start the tournament, you need to teach the rules of the game. Don't assume that kids know how to play, even if they own a game board. Most kids today don't seem to know the basic rules of the game, let alone the finer points. I introduce the game by using a transparency of 1/2 inch graph paper on the overhead projector. I draw out 7 letters for myself and 7 letters for the class. I write the class letters in huge blocks on the board with the number values clearly shown. I let the class play against me and I record our plays on the overhead. We use this as an opportunity to clarify the rules of the game. The next day I set up the data projector and the computer game of Scrabble (available for about $10.00 from Scholastic). I let the class play against the computer using the Numbered Heads Together strategy. Students in teams put their heads together to come up with a word to beat the computer. I call on each team to share their word and the team with the best word gets to come up and play it. If I didn't have the computer game, I would plan one day of practice play that didn't count for points. Scrabble Tournament Directions: The directions for setting up the tournament assume a class size of 28 students. A full tournament would take 4 class periods, but a modified version can be played by in a shorter amount of time. Print out the PDF file called Scrabble Championship before you read the rest of the directions. If you have fewer than 28 students you can set up fewer gameboards or allow some students to play alone instead of with a partner. Set up 7 game boards and divide the 28 students into 14 pairs. (I always pair a weak student with a strong student to even out the teams.) Assign each team (pair) a number from 1 to 14 and record their names on the Scrabble Tournament Standings chart (page 2 of the PDF file). Label each gameboard with a letter from A to G by making a small "tent" from an index card and setting it up next to the board. Assign teams according to the Scrabble Championship diagram shown in the PDF file. On Day 1, set a time limit such as 30 or 45 minutes for the teams to play each other. Have students use a calculator to tally their points after each play. When the time is up, assign points for the players at each game board as follows:
Winning Team (Pair) - 3 points Before Day 2, fill out the Tournament Standings Chart with the points earned by each team on Day 1. Assign new seating according to the diagram for Day 2. Basically, the teams numbered 1 to 7 stay at the same table while the teams numbered 8 to 14 move over one spot. Follow this procedure for Day 2 and Day 3. At the end of Day 3, tally all the points for each team. Pair up the top two teams at Tournament Table A, the next two teams at Tournament Table B, and so on. The only players who are trying to win the championship at this point are the two teams at Table A. However, the others are evenly matched and will enjoy playing each other to win 1, 2, or 3 points which will contribute to the final ranking. Before you begin this activity, each student should create a Mr. Gallon from the pattern pieces, following the directions on the Mr. Gallon Overview.. Discuss the overview sheet with your students and do a few simple problems (such as the ones on the activity sheets.) Sing the Mr. Gallon Song to provide further practice. Then give each team one Mr. Gallon Roundrobin activity sheet. Ask one person on the team to cut apart the cards and place them face down in the middle of the team. Have them go around the team, taking turns flipping over the top card and explaining the parts of Mr. Gallon. The other team members can give a thumbs up if they agree with the answer, or coach them to find the correct answer if they are wrong. For the Mr. Gallon Showdown, give one activity page per team and ask someone to cut apart the cards. This time the students will work the problems on their own at the same time. Each person will need a small white board, chalkboard, or a piece of paper. The first person on the team flips over the top card. Everyone works the problem on their board individually without talking. As team members finish, they place their boards face down in front of them. When everyone is ready, the leader says "Showdown" and everyone turns their boards face up to show their answers. They discuss their answers and the leader writes the team answer on the activity card. For each round, the role of leader rotates to the left.
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