3 Activities for an End of Term Review!

Stop the yawns. Put an end to indifference. Revive those often-deadly skill reviews with these activities!

Flashlight vocabulary Review

For this activity you will nedd to bring to class 3 or 4 flashlights and paper to write all the vocabulary words, and place them around the room. Review definitions or have students find the definitions. Then divide into groups of 3 or 4. Call out the definition. ON 1 students aim their flashlight on the word. Say 2 they shine their lights on the right word ( this is a nice strategy so they don't follow any group--this way they can't copy and think for themselves).

Baseball Review

The rules of baseball are adapted in this activity that provides review practice for students. With a little creativity, the lesson can be adapted to almost any subject or skill.

Before the Lesson Prepare a long list of questions that provide information recall or skill application.

Set up a "baseball field" in your classroom. Identify the locations of home plate, first base, second base, and third base. You can use actual bases if you can play outdoors or four desks to play un the classroom.

The Lesson

Arrange the class into two teams. Flip a coin to determine which team will be "up to bat" first. Pose the first question to the first batter. If the batter gets the question right, s/he goes to first base. If the second batter correctly answers the next question, s/he goes to first base, forcing the student on first base to move to second and so the game goes. Which team scores the most runs?

If a "batter" misses a question, that batter is out and the next batter gets a chance to answer the same question. Three misses and the other team takes the field.

Snakes and Ladders (or Chutes and Ladders) is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" (or "chutes") are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped or hindered by ladders and snakes, respectively.

How to play:

For this game, the teacher must prepare as many questions as the number indicated on the board. If the teacher decides to play with a table like the one on the illustration, he would have to prepare 36 questions. Each player starts with a token on the starting square (usually the "1" grid square in the bottom left corner) and takes turns to roll a single die to move the token by the number of squares indicated by the die roll. To remain on that square the student must answer the question the teacher will make correctly, otherwise, he has to return to the former square.  If, on completion of a move, a player's token lands on the lower-numbered end of a "ladder", the player moves his token up to the ladder's higher-numbered square. If he lands on the higher-numbered square of a "snake" (or chute), he must move his token down to the snake's lower-numbered square. Image source: blogs.agilefaqs.com