The idea of hexagonal thinking fell into my email courtesy of Cult of Pedagogy, and when I saw how WONDERFULLY effective it can be in Science to cultivate critical thinking skills, I was hooked!
Hexagonal thinking, in a nutshell, is a strategy that you can use to evaluate vocabulary and science related concepts and consider the connections between concepts and to explain the nuances in the relationships between concepts/terms.
To implement this strategy, you first want to select a set of compelling vocabulary, concepts, and examples for a particular topic/unit is developed and each term is placed on a hexagon shape. Consider key ideas of your recent class work, as well as interesting ties across disciplines and to the modern world.
Have students work in small groups to evaluate each term and establish their own pod, chains, groups and/or connections between terms. Then have the groups elaborate/explain the groups and connections that they made. Following the sorting activity, have students gallery walk to look at other team’s work; science is collaborative work!! Encourage them to bring back ideas to their own table for implementation.
There is a lot of discourse, negotiation in discussion during this work…it’s a dynamic classroom situation! Connections can be made in any direction AND on 1, 2, 3 or even six sides. All answers are correct as long as students explain their rationale. Provide students with blank hexagons too…this way they can create NEW possible connections that weren’t anticipated!
Here’s How We Did It
To implement hexagonal thinking, I start with THIS SLIDE DECK which is a step-by-step guide explaining the task and explaining what students should look for and do while sorting their hexagons.
Hexagonal thinking student instructions
Students then get to work sorting. I have them explain their connections using post it notes.
Preparation
The thought of preparing AND CUTTING multiple sets of hexagons can be overwhelming. There are MANY different ways you can painlessly implement without spending crazy amounts of time cutting.
Option #1: Students write the terms and THEN cut them.
Hexagonal Thinking Template: Write and Cut
Option #2: Print terms on this pre-formatted Google Slide and then cut with Cricut or Silhouette with THIS .svg file!
Option #3: Go DIGITAL!! Students drag and drop digital hexagons on a Google Slide Document.
Use hexagonal thinking as a pre-assessment tool as the inherent nature of visible thinking can reveal student understanding of vocabulary and concepts prior to instruction, or use it as an assessment review to reveal misunderstandings that students might have. The collaborative nature of the activity also leverages reciprocal teaching as students support each other during the discussions and decisions while sorting.
However you choose to use it, you’ll definitely be ✨Using Your Smarticles✨
In our efforts to integrate Next Generation Science Standard MS-PS4-1, we had the BEST time building and exploring our own wave machine!! As a result, we created a Wave Machine!! The machine, constructed from relatively easy to obtain supplies, allowed us to visualize and model mechanical waves as we identified the patterns that make up the amplitude, frequency and wavelengths for our exploration phase of MS-PS4-1: Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move. Here’s a video of our creation:
The directions for creating this SUPER fun and colorful wave machine were found in this AWESOME stem resource:
The components are CHEAP and easily obtained. First, I used bamboo skewers, duct tape, two scraps of lumber and Sculpey clay. I made my machine about 12 feet long. Stretching out the duct tape along my classroom floor I then put down the skewers (3″ apart) To keep consistent spacing between the skewers, I used an index card. Next, I sandwiched the skewers between another 12 foot long piece of duct tape. Rolling the clay end pieces took the longest amount of time. I slid them onto the end of each skewer and viola! It worked. The soft clay had a tendency to slide off the ends of the skewers so after the first trial, I baked EACH piece of Sculpey clay and reassembled it by hot glue-ing the on so that it would be a permanent tool to use year after year.
MS-PS4-1: Explore
Using this wave machine was a GREAT phenomenon for student engagement and exciting their curiosity. After we introduced the machine, we dove more deeply into the aspects and features of waves including Amplitude, Frequency, Wavelength, Crest and Trough using this FREE simulation tool of an Oscilloscope.
As you play a note on the synthesizer, a wave appears in the panel above. **NOTE, you need to turn the dials to 1 otherwise no wave will show**. To guide students in their exploration, I provided them with an interactive notebook page with specific directions. Students were to play and snip the image of a HIGH tone, a LOW tone, a QUIET tone and a LOUD tone, In doing this, they were able to start making the connection between the shape of a wave that is produced with all of these sounds….the springboard that allowed them to start identifying wavelength and amplitude and start understanding the concept of frequency. Here’s that page:
This page even includes a video that takes students step-by-step through the process of the investigation!!
MS-PS4-1: Explain
Next, students were provided with the digital interactive notebook page below which dove more deeply into the anatomy of a wave including amplitude, wavelength, crest, trough, frequency.
To reinforce and give students a chance to practice identifying the components of a wave, these Boom Learning cards were also EXTREMELY helpful!
Hopefully you’ll find this idea OR these resources to be useful tools to add to your Next Generation Science Classroom. Either way, thanks for
Teaching Kinetic Energy is a LOT of fun! After all, there’s nothing middle schoolers like more than movement. 😱
To give our students something to REALLY get excited about, we created this Kinetic Energy Popsicle stick chain reaction and the students were like WOW! 🙌🏻
Make Your Own Kinetic Energy Chain Reaction
After watching VIDEO after VIDEO demonstrating how to create these chains (and all of them made it look so easy) I realized it WASN’T so easy! As a result, I modified several of the suggestions and came of with this very ‘doable’ strategy….easy enough for a sixth grader (or sixth grade teacher) to do!!
✨A carpet square <<recommended but not necessary>>
✨An extra set of hands to stabilize and hold the chain as you build
✨Patience and persistence! <<definitely necessary>>
Step #2: Design the base
Arrange 3 popsicle sticks in a fan and clip the base with a binder clip.
Kinetic Energy Chain Step #1
Next, weave a 4th popsicle stick under the center stick of the fork and clip it to the other end with a binder clip.
Step #3: Begin the weave pattern
After Step #2, you’ll be weaving sticks at 2 angles. 11:00 and 7:00.
Start with an 11:00 facing stick and weave it under and then over the two right hand ‘prongs’ of the original fork. **By 11:00 stick, I mean a stick at this angle–> \ **
Continue with a 7:00 facing stick and weave it under and then over the two ‘prongs’ on the lower side of your chain. **By 11:00 stick, I mean a stick at this angle–> / **
The next stick is always the hardest! Weave an 11:00 \ stick Fit under the stick farthest to the right and balance it over the tiny remaining piece of the right hand side of the fork.
After this point the weaving gets MUCH easier.
Use a 7:00 stick / and go under and over the bottom 2 popsicle sticks on the bottom right hand side of your chain then use a 11:00 stick \ and weave it under and over the 2 popsicle sticks on the top right hand side of your chain. Repeat.
Step #4: Release!!
When you’re happy with the length of your chain, release!! Chains can be made as LONG as you want provided you don’t run out of popsicle sticks (✨or Smarticles✨)
In Part #1 of this CER Series, we took a look at ways to help your students recognize the components of a CER by sorting a series of claim, evidence and reasoning cards. In Part #2, we’ll take a look at how we can support students in the process of writing their own CER Report by providing them with an easy investigation AND sentence starters to support their writing.
To write a CER, students need to have evidence or data that they look at to make a determination. When I teach the CER writing process at the beginning of the year, I isolate ALL of the Science and Engineering Practices so that students are learning the practices out of context first and then later when we begin our studies, they can apply the practices to actual content. For the CER, we conduct an investigation on the absorbency of paper towels and collect data. This investigation provides them with a table of data that they can reference in their CER in the evidence section.
Once they have data, it becomes very obvious to students which paper towel is the most (or least) absorbent, so they are able to establish a claim. A claim is their assertion. It’s what they know or what they discovered. It should be the answer to their investigative question. To get students writing their claim statements scientifically, I use a series of sentences stems or sentence starters as shown below.
By using sentence starters, you can help students avoid writing in first person and aid them in creating a more sophisticated sounding CER Report. These starters also serve as a prompt for the content that needs to be included in each section of the report. With a sentence starter, their claim for the paper towel investigation sounds like this:
IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE NAME BRAND PAPER TOWEL IS THE MOST ABSORBENT PAPER TOWEL.
Next, students move on to the evidence portion of their writing. Again, students are provided with sentence starters and are encouraged to list ALL of the relevant evidence that they collected that supports their claim. I encourage my students to write their evidence in a paragraph including the labels (ml, g, mm, etc.) This section should only be a report of the data. It should not explain the results or make the connection back to the claim…that’s the job of the reasoning section. In the case of this paper towel investigation, their evidence section would sound something like this:
THE FOLLOWING DATA WAS COLLECTED. WHEN THE DOLLAR STORE BRAND OF PAPER TOWELS ATTEMPTED TO ABSORB 30 ML OF WATER, THEY LEFT BEHIND AN AVERAGE OF 15 ML OF WATER. THE SCHOOL BRAND OF PAPER TOWEL LEFT BEHIND 20 ML OF WATER AND THE NAME BRAND PAPER TOWEL LEFT BEHIND 5 ML OF WATER.
The final section of a CER is the reasoning. In general this is a very difficult section of students to write and I find that their ability to write reasoning improves as the depth of the investigation and their scientific knowledge expands. In the case of this paper towel investigation, we aren’t exploring the science behind absorption, but rather reporting what we see, so the reasoning portion is a little shallow. This is OK. This CER is our starting point and it is their first time. The initial goal of this CER Report is to have students make the connection from the data to the claim explaining WHY the data supports the claim. For the paper towel investigation, their reasoning would sound something like this:
IT IS CLEAR THAT THE STORE BRAND PAPER TOWEL IS THE MOST ABSORBENT PAPER TOWEL WHEN COMPARED TO THE DOLLAR STORE BRAND AND THE SCHOOL PAPER TOWELS BECAUSE IT LEFT BEHIND THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF WATER.
If you’re looking for a CER template, here’s what I use. It’s a digital interactive notebook page that I use for ALL of their CER reports throughout the year.
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning or CER is a science and engineering practice built into the NGSS model. The CER is essentially a report, and these reports help foster a student’s ability to analyze data that they’ve collected and make the connection between data and understanding. After a few years of adopting this Science and Engineering Practice, I’ve found a few strategies to help you in your instruction. This post is the first in a three part series evaluating ways to support your student’s understanding of the CER Report AND supporting their ability to effectively write them.
Strategy #1. Evaluate Existing CER Reports
Providing students with existing CER Reports scaffolds their understanding of the model of writing that you’re expecting and solidifies their understanding of what each section should sound like. I like using this matching game and partnering students to work together to identify Claim statements, Evidence statements and then Reasoning statements. The game is a series of ‘slips’ containing examples of EACH element of a CER.
First, students are asked to identify claim statements. Students are guided to look for factual statements. I encourage them to recognize statements that state a finding, a discovery or a simple statement of a fact. You can scaffold student’s ability to recognize fact vs. opinion statements using this helpful resource. As students identify the claim statements, they shade in the oval with the exclamation point.
Next, students are provided with brief statements that represent either qualitative or quantitative data. They quickly catch on that evidence is data that is collected or observed in an investigation. Often students gravitate towards the slips with numbers because they represent ‘data’, but data can be observations as well. They will need guidance on recognizing qualitative vs. quantitative data. Here’s a FREE RESOURCE to support their understanding of these two terms. As students identify the evidence statements, they shade in the oval in the center with the bar graph.
The reasoning, for some reason <see what I did there?> is the hardest part for the students to write. In reality, it’s the most important part. It is in the reasoning that the students make the connection between the evidence they have connected and the claim they made. I like to think the reasoning does the heavy lifting. In this CER matching activity, the reasoning statements are written like summary or discovery statements that restate the message communicated in the claim. As students identify the reasoning statements, they shade in the oval with the brain.
In this particular sort, the final task is for students to pair up the claims they’ve identified, with the matching evidence and reasoning. There are 9 CER reports in total. This will give students a GREAT start towards writing their OWN CER reports. In part 2 of this CER series, I’ll share with you some sentence starters and teaching strategies to get them rolling with their own reports! Stay tuned.
If you haven’t heard the news, NASA landed a Rover called the Perseverance on Mars on February 18, 2021. This is indeed exciting and I, along with millions of other people, held my breath as NASA shared live footage of the landing. Along with the landing, came images of the Perseverance parachuting to the surface of Mars, and as the striking image of the red (orange) and white parachute came into view, news that there was a hidden message within the parachute was revealed.
The general design of the parachute looks something like this:
Within 16 hours, the internet figured out the solution to this parachute puzzle. Hidden within this chute are binary digits….the mysterious 0s and 1s that make computer processors work. The digits are organized in a way that reveal a hidden message, that message being: DARE MIGHTY THINGS. The outer ring of the chute is a latitude/longitude designation (34°11’58” N 118°10’31” W) for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA. Knowing these messages were ‘in there’ I was determined to figure out how and where.
The FIRST person to devise a reasonable explanation of a solution was on Twitter. Here is the solution image that was shared:
while helpful, it wasn’t enough for me to truly ‘get it’. I needed to see and understand why a letter WAS a letter, so off I went designing my own. After many hours, I developed this solution ‘wheel’.
by adding the binary digits DIRECTLY to the wheel I was able to figure out the lighter sections represented 0s and red sections represent 1s. I also noted where each letter starts by placing green 0s in those spots. Finally, to determine the corresponding letter for the binary code, I realized it was a good ole substitution (Caesar) cipher <more on these ciphers later in this post>. If a binary digit was converted to a decimal, it returned a number. I used a spreadsheet with the BIN2DEC formula to convert the binary numbers into decimals. The decimal number corresponded to the position that a letter has in the alphabet. A=1, B=2, etc. and with this technique, I was able to truly see the solution….and best of all, to share it with my students by guiding them through the solution with a solution solver spreadsheet! Get a copy of the spreadsheet solver here
https://youtu.be/5kPzR-uVYhI
With all this perseverance over the Perseverance puzzle, I became inspired to share some of my FAVORITE cipher strategies that I’ve used in Escape Rooms, Breakouts and Scavenger Hunts over the years.
Six Ciphers for Your Students
Creating codes and ciphers for students to use can be a GREAT tool to engage students in learning. Incorporated into Escape Rooms, Breakouts or even Scavenger Hunts, adding an intriguing puzzle lends to that element of mystique or surprise that is often enough to inspire students to dig in and try just a little bit harder.
Below are some FUN Ciphers to try with your students.
The Polybius Square
A polybius square is basically a grid (usually 25 x 25) that is filled with individual letters of the alphabet. The X axis has numbers and the Y axis has numbers. To provide a clue a letter, you identify the two intersecting numbers that represent the secret letter on the grid.
Substitution (Caesar) Cipher
The most common version of a substitution cipher is using a number to represent the position of each letter in the alphabet, such as that used on the Mars Rover Parachute: A=1, B=2, C=3. This can be made in MANY different ways and can be created by replacing letters with symbols or letters with letters.
Cardano Grille
I always think of this as the peek-a-boo technique. After identifying text, a page in a book, a letter or even a grid of text, the Cardano Grille is an overlay that has holes in it. The holes reveal the hidden message or word that is contained within the entire page. It can be a physical item or a digital item like the one below. This is a set of Boom Learning Cards customized to create a digital escape.
With a little experimentation, you can create red lens “reveal” activities for students. While these work best with printed images, you can still create a digital red lens “reveal” where students hold either a translucent red cellophane lens over the computer monitor, or even use a digital red lens to reveal hidden messages in content. Here’s a pixel red lens example:
The Pigpen captured my attention as an incredibly creative way to hide a word that encourages students to use creative symbols to decode that word, and once they learn the cipher strategy, it’s a GREAT way to encourage them to write their own. The Pigpen Cipher is developed by understanding how to interpret these pictoral representations:
To identify a letter, students are given a mystery symbol like this: ? and they use the grid to figure out the letter. In this case, the box is E because in the upper right hand corner of the cipher image above, the E is surrounded by a box. To create your own Pigpen Ciphers, here’s a tutorial:
Scytale Cipher
This last cipher strategy is completely ‘hands on’ but it’s such a fun way to engage students in an escape or breakout room! The idea is to have a strip of cloth or paper ( I used cash register tape) that fits around a stick or cylinder (I used a paper towel roll) in a certain way. When wrapped around, the symbols/number/letters will line up in a certain way to reveal a hidden message that simply isn’t visible when looking at the strip alone.
I hope something here inspires you to try some ciphers with your students!
While not ideal, I’ve learned to adapt to (and sometimes adore) digital simulators and online interactive tools. Science teachers know, hands-on is best. But in these times, it’s not always a possibility. Adjusting my curriculum to a distance learning approach yet aspiring to remain true to the Next Generation Standards and the 5E Model has been a challenge. Fortunately, I was able to locate MANY digital simulation tools to support my instruction.
Here is a list of some GREAT FREE simulation tools that you can use, and in some cases, some resources that will help you integrate these simulations into your instruction.
#1. PHET(free) These fun, free digital interactive simulations sourced through The University of Colorado at Boulder gave us quite a scare recently as support for the Flash player was abandoned by Adobe. Fortunately, the developers have been hard at work revitalizing these resources as HTML5. Covering Physics, Chemistry, Math, Biology and Earth Science, there are SO MANY free options to support your curriculum.
Here’s a FREE RESOURCE to support MS-PS1-7 using PHET:
#2. CK12(free). The CK12 Exploration Series offers a LARGE variety of simulations in Physics and Chemistry to support learning. The sims list the NGSS standards that they are aligned to and many come with companion worksheets.
Here’s a FREE RESOURCE to support MS-PS1-2. Physical/Chemical Changes using the CK12 Interactive
#3. Physics Aviary (free). These free Physics Aviary labs and experiences were designed to run anywhere and be cross platform. While their reach extends into High School (particularly Physics) I found many of them extremely useful in my Middle School classroom due to their simplicity and how they are designed to isolate specific goals. My favorites were the games that allowed my students to ‘virtually’ measure with a ruler, practice using a triple beam balance and reading a graduated cylinder.
Here’s a FREE RESOURCE showing how to integrate the Physics Aviary games into a digital interactive notebook.
#5. Gizmos. (free 30 day trial). While not free, Gizmos makes this list because it provides hundreds of well thought out simulations to support discovery AND provides digital companion worksheets to support their interactive labs. One feature I really appreciate is the fact that the worksheets can be downloaded and edited to fit your own needs.
#6. MergeExplorer. ($99.99 Subcription) It’s no secret that I’m a HUGE MergeCube fan. This little cube is billed as providing you the ability to hold a hologram in your hand. And that’s really what it does! Their MergeExplorer app is available on both iOS and GooglePlay. In it, they’ve built dozens of instructional materials with companion interactives viewable on the Merge Cube. Students can investigate a smoking volcano, examine a great white shark, and hold the earth in the palm of their hands. They can even dissect a digital frog!
#6. CoSpacesEDU. (Get a FREE trial using code: COSMARYHO). Upon first glance, one wouldn’t think CoSpacesEDU would make it on this list of simulations as CoSpacesEDU is considered a AR/VR Building Platform. But once you’re in there exploring, you realize how great it CAN be to support learning by creating your OWN simulations…or even better, by having students create them! CoSpaces allows you to create ANYTHING you can imagine from virtual water cycles to Rube Goldberg machines. It even supports the uploading and labeling of 360 photos. Imagine providing a photosphere image of a location you’re studying with labels and links embedded in that image! Teachers can virtually share these interactive images with their students to demonstrate concepts that otherwise night not be accessible to them.
Other Possibilities:
While exploring for SIM ideas for this post, I came across these other promising possibilities. While I’ve not used them myself, I thought it would be helpful for reference purposes to list what I stumbled across:
When virtual reality meets ELA class you get a BUNCH of engaged and excited students! That’s what happened for us these past few weeks as we explored Plot Structure using CoSpacesEDU and Makey Makeys.
To get a visual picture of exactly what we did, imagine a virtual world designed by students in CoSpacesEDU. CoSpacesEDU is an awesome 3D creation tool that allows students to design virtual reality environments. The students designed virtual world showing a scene from a novel that they’ve recently read. In the virtual world, information panels were coded to pop up on the screen when certain keystrokes were made. In the case of our project, the panels explained either Exposition, Rising Action (1,2,3) Climax, Falling Action or Resolution. These key strokes were controlled by a cardboard control panel that allowed the user to ‘touch’ a brass fastener serving as a button. Connecting the PC to the Control Panel was a Makey Makey device communicating to the PC which keystroke is represented by the push of the brass buttons on the control panel.
How We Did It
Step #1: Drafting the Plot Elements
The project started with a novel. Students used a graphic organizing sheet to brainstorm seven components of their novel (Exposition, Rising Action #1, Rising Action #2, Rising Action #3, Falling Action and Climax) and write descriptions of each component.
Step #2: Designing the Scene(s)
Students then began creating their scenes in CoSpacesEDU. Needless to say, this is where we saw an EXPLOSION of creativity! Students added historic castle scenes, school classroom settings, black and white historic cities, cat-filled fantasy worlds, water worlds with waves and boats or depicted young boys riding their bikes through the wilderness. They added animated dragons, giant flying ravens and beloved fictional characters with their well-known pets. A LOT of creative space was given for students to generate their scenes before diving into the coding aspect of the project.
Step #3: Coding the “Pop Up” Elements
For the code, students were introduced to this general coding block sequence:
This coding sequence is essentially what allowed the Makey Makey to control the experience through the control panel. To guide students in assigning the correct letters on their keyboards, they were given this set of key assignments:
Step #4: Designing the Control Panel
The control panel was basically a piece of cardboard. On it, students were asked to label their project “Plot Structure” and then add the title and author of their book, draw a plot curve and label the 7 elements of plot: (Exposition, Rising Action #1, Rising Action #2, Rising Action #3, Falling Action and Climax) Next to each label, they needed to poke a hole and add a brass fastener. Students were encouraged to embellish/decorate the control panel as they saw fit.
Step #5: Connecting the Makey Makey (and doing a LOT of testing!)
The Makey Makey was essentially the driver of the project. On the back of the control panel, students attached test leads. Each test lead was then connected to a wire on the Makey Makey. Looking closely at the Makey Makey you can see the letters WASDFG. If the student coded the W to be the exposition, the wire went from the W in the Makey Makey to the brass fastener next to the Exposition on the back of the control panel. That way, when the Exposition button was touched, the Exposition panel would ‘pop up’ on the computer screen due to the code they added in CospacesEDU that states: When “w” key is pressed, show info panel…..
When the projects were finished, students kept connected to their test leads and conducted a gallery walk around the room visiting their peers projects and providing them with constructive feedback.
The students were thrilled to have the opportunity to do something ‘hands on’ They were definitely uninspired with the digital worksheets/notebooks/video instruction they had been immersed in for the past few week. I was just glad we were
In the midst of exploring distance learning tools to engage students, I stumbled across Boom Learning Cards. My first impression was that it was WAY to babyish for Secondary students (Middle through High School) as many of the early adopters of the platform focused on Elementary topics. However, after a little exploring, I discovered MANY developers and users on the site that are creating content PERFECT for Secondary Educators. I have been making BOOM learning cards to provide resources for distance learning and found that the students have really enjoyed the interactivity.
The BOOM Learning platform features interactive flash boom learning cards that allow for self-correcting, interactive features such as fill in the blank, drag and drop, click to respond and multiple choice. I have found them to be the perfect compliment to and great for use in supporting your curriculum, expanding understanding, use as a supplement/homework assignment and PERFECT for distance learning.
What really had me hooked was the ease of getting my class set up in BOOM. Boom Learning talked nicely to my Google Classroom so I was able to import all of my students. They logged in and accessed their first assignment with just a click on the class URL. The student reporting on Boom Learning is great! I can see who attempted the cards, how many attempts made, time spent and progress towards mastery.
I encourage you to give BOOM Learning a try. There are SO many card decks to choose from, but the best is CREATING YOUR OWN! (Warning, it CAN become a little addicting!) This week we are studying Magnetism, here’s the card set we are using:
Whatever you discover, I hope you like BOOM cards as much as I do! I can honestly say that the feedback from my students was terrific. They thought they were fun and a great way to learn! (Those were THEIR words, not mine!) Getting started with Boom Learning Cards will help you sail through the back to school period and be really planned and prepped!
As distance teaching became a necessity, I noticed that students were clamoring for interaction, engagement and connection with each other AND with their teachers.
A good portion of my distance teaching strategy wasn’t the ‘assign them work and then check if they did it’ strategy. Just like inside the classroom, relationships came first. Attending to student’s socio-emotional needs was imperative!!
To help maintain and foster classroom community with my students, I found that games helped. While on our Google Meet (or Zoom Meeting), just sharing, connecting and spending a little ‘fun’ time together went a long way to support socio-emotional connections.
Game Ideas
If you’re looking for some ideas, here are some games that I played with my students that genuinely helped foster connections and supported a fun connection with my kiddos!
✨ Scavenger Hunt✨
In this game, students retrieved designated items. First, you spin a spinner and then have students retrieve an item starting with the correct letter or select random items. The first 3 students to show the requested item wins! Download this FREE direction sheetfor suggested game play and a link to a digital spinner!
✨Bingo✨
Students can create their own bingo cards or you can provide them with digital cards to fill out. I chose to play emoji bingo and created a spinner with DOZENS of Emojis on it. Check out the downloadable game here
✨Scattergories✨
With this game you spin a spinner and a letter is revealed, then a category is revealed. Set a timer for students to brainstorm as MANY items as they can in that category. Scoring rewards the most unique items that are brainstormed as a designated student reads their list, anyone with a matching item crosses it off. Unique items earn a point. This interactive online resource includes a letter selector, timer, category selector and more! Grab FREE game directions here
✨I Spy✨
There are many fun ways to play this game! Have students all visible in grid mode and then spot an item in the background in a particular students home. First student to guess the item wins.
This is a super fun game for those risk takers in your group AND it supports math skills! It’s a game of luck and a ‘little’ bit of skill. Students avoid getting “Snaked” during a 5 round challenge of dice rolls. Here are free downloadable directions!
✨Parachute Game✨
This game is a slightly more positive spin on the age old “hangman” game. Students work as a group to see if they can identify the missing word BEFORE all of the parachute cords run out! Download this FREE game here
✨Close Up Images✨
The Close Up game is just that, students are provided a close up image of an item and they see if they can guess what the item is! Check out the downloadable game here
✨Would You Rather✨
Would you rather is a game of choice. By giving students two choices, and assigning a “1” or “2” to them, students can vote during a video conference by holding up one or two fingers. Or you can work your way through every student in attendance and provide each students with an individual question. Some questions to get you started are:
Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?
Would you rather eat chips or candy?
Would you rather never be hungry again or never be thirsty?
Would you rather be a famous singer or a movie star?
✨Conversation Starters✨
Students love to TALK! Get them going by partnering them up with a link to thisConversation BOOM Learning deck and watch them go!
✨Nonsense Phrase Guessing Game✨
Hop on over to thinkablepuzzles.com and grab a list of nonsense phrases for students to guess. Abe Ban an appeal = A banana peel! Have students sound it out (if you’re patient with a little craziness) or of have them type their guesses in chat. Your kiddos will have a great time!
