It’s back to school time again and after all of the first days of school activities have ended it’s time to get into the curriculum for the new school year. Like every other year, you’ll likely start with a review of last year’s material. If you’re tired of the same book work you’ve been using for years, try a hands-on approach to reviewing essential skills before diving into this year’s content. Both you and your students will have more fun, and they are likely to retain the material a whole lot better!
A great resource when looking for review games is the trivia game Eggspert. Simply customize your own questions and create teams of students to play a Jeopardy-type game. No time to create questions for your review? Borrow the year-end review from the grade below you! As the students are answering, you can assess them orally or keep track of answers on a spreadsheet to identify which concepts are strengths or weaknesses for your students.
Another game that is very popular with the older students is called Ask the Expert. This game requires five student experts. These experts go separately to the front of the room to be questioned by the other students. Tell students what topic their questions should be based on and remind them of how to ask higher level questions. Then choose one student at a time to ask one of the experts a question. If the expert answers correctly they get to stay at the front of the room. If he gets it wrong, the person who asked the question gets to take his place. This game is individually competitive but it allows the teacher to see truly what the kids know and where they are weak within the standards because they are working individually.
SmartBoard games are also an easy way to do a quick and easy assessment of students and a free account with Smarttech gives you access to thousands of ready-made lessons and interactive quizzes. If available in your school district, SmartBoard responders can enable the teacher to quickly determine which students still need more practice on last year’s standards after a quick interactive quiz.
Reviewing last year’s material is an integral, though not always exciting, part of the teaching process. You can use these activities this fall or any time during the school year to ensure student growth and academic success.
