I generally tend to hate anything gimmicky. I feel like it's not authentic and loses focus on what's important. But there is a review game I play occasionally with kids and I find generally successful. I'll go over the bare basics and add my own twists. And as is true of most of my ideas, this one is stolen from another teacher. The concept is simple and I don't have to prepare any Jeopardy questions. I don't have anything against Jeopardy (yes I do), but I'm too lazy to organize all of that. Here it is: Print out one horse for each group and a review packet. On the board, tape (or magnet) the horse on a pre-drawn table. Each group is represented by a horse. A group gets to move their horse forward one space if they complete one page of the review packet (or topic or unit-- you decide). Whoever has moved their horse the furthest will be the winning group. Generally I would hate this idea because it feels a little gimmicky and it's competitive. Students often don't learn in competitive settings because they care more about winning than about learning. So I've implemented a few twists that make this game really worthwhile. While your horse does move up one if your group finishes a section, it also moves up for groups displaying excellent group work, perseverance, or patience with each other. Even if there is a group that is slower because they are helping each other, their horse still moves forward b/c they are working together. Horses can also move backward if all of them are unfocused, checking their phones for updates, etc. (This gets some groups quickly into gear). I make sure that the first horse moving forward is because of excellent group work. I say loudly what the reason for their horse moving forward is. Lastly, I have them choose (appropriate names for their horse). First group to start working gets to choose and name their horse. It's silly but for some reason oddly motivating. I will try to update this pic when we're actually in play*
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