Monday, January 13, 2014

A really FUN review game

My students can be VERY competitive with each other.  Last week I took advantage of that and split the class into two teams to unscramble a pile of letters into important sentences they need to remember.


This photo shows the statement:  CELLS SHRINK WHEN WATER DIFFUSES OUT.  Somehow no matter how many times we go over it, no matter how many examples, experiments, specimens we go over, someone still wants to blame the diffusion of salt for the "shrinkage."  Hopefully this game helped cement this sentence into their brains.
Also included was a practice round sentence that said BIOLOGY CLASS MEETS IN ROOM 613, and two more transport related sentences:  STOMATES ARE FOR GAS EXCHANGE and CELLS RECOGNIZE SIGNALS BECAUSE THEY HAVE MEMBRANE RECEPTORS.

We took the sentences in order of difficulty.  Each team of 13-14 students was able to solve the puzzles within several minutes.  The longest sentence took about 7-8 minutes for the teams to solve.

What an enlightening activity.  Some students were easily able to unscramble individual words, some were really good at putting the words in the correct order, some students naturally took over the organization of the line once the problem was solved.  It's always so fun and interesting to see the students in a new light.

The kids really enjoyed this game.  I think I'll do it again.  What kind of fun and creative games do you play with your students?

3 comments:

  1. This is a great activity! ...Competition is a good thing! I love your blog colors, clip art, and layout. It makes me smile. I found you on TPT board and I am also trying very hard to blog more and interact with a new group of teachers. I would love some feedback on my blog as well.
    Best of luck!
    Jen
    http://appletreelearning.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thanks Jen! I'm on my way now to check out your blog!

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  3. Thanks Jen! I'm on my way now to check out your blog!

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