I absolutely loathe having free time in my science class. The way I figure it, if I have some "free" time, then there is probably something worthwhile my students could be learning. This is also the time when they start acting up and/or annoying the heck out of me! But there are always those occasions when MOST of my classes needed the entire class period to complete something, but 1 or 2 classes had an extra 5-10 minutes. In these rare instances, I don't want to continue instruction, for fear that all of my classes will end up at different points by the end of the week and I won't be able to keep up with it all. Can you say...nightmare!?!?
So enters in the best kid-friendly, time filler ever! (ok...well, it's really good in my opinion. I can be a bit dramatic at times.)
94 Seconds!
It's one category, 1 letter, 1 word and 94 seconds to reach the highest score.
If you have an ipad in your classroom, just project that puppy on the screen, divide your class into 2-3 teams and game on. And the best part in my opinion is that it's educational, yet the students don't even realize it.
How the game works: Once you start the game, it will give you a category and a letter of the alphabet. The students must come up with a word that could be classified into that category that also begins with that letter. For example, if it said "fruits" & "S", some possible answers would be strawberry, starfruit, or star apple. In fact, the more creative the answer, the greater the chances you have of earning more than 1 point for your answer. Otherwise, a correct answer earns you 1 point. The goal is to earn the most points within the 94 seconds. I have seen different categories, such as chemical elements, fruits, vegetables, countries, state capitals, musical instruments, trees or shrubs, types of music, body parts, fish, and many more! If you get "stumped", you can always "skip" the problem, but doing so takes away 3 seconds from your 94 seconds.
It tests your knowledge, activates your gray matter and is most of all - fun! My students get so competitive and I love watching them run through the categories in their brain, looking for an answer that meets the criteria.
The learning continues....
Do you have any educational games that can be used as whole-class time fillers?
So enters in the best kid-friendly, time filler ever! (ok...well, it's really good in my opinion. I can be a bit dramatic at times.)
94 Seconds!
It's one category, 1 letter, 1 word and 94 seconds to reach the highest score.
If you have an ipad in your classroom, just project that puppy on the screen, divide your class into 2-3 teams and game on. And the best part in my opinion is that it's educational, yet the students don't even realize it.
How the game works: Once you start the game, it will give you a category and a letter of the alphabet. The students must come up with a word that could be classified into that category that also begins with that letter. For example, if it said "fruits" & "S", some possible answers would be strawberry, starfruit, or star apple. In fact, the more creative the answer, the greater the chances you have of earning more than 1 point for your answer. Otherwise, a correct answer earns you 1 point. The goal is to earn the most points within the 94 seconds. I have seen different categories, such as chemical elements, fruits, vegetables, countries, state capitals, musical instruments, trees or shrubs, types of music, body parts, fish, and many more! If you get "stumped", you can always "skip" the problem, but doing so takes away 3 seconds from your 94 seconds.
It tests your knowledge, activates your gray matter and is most of all - fun! My students get so competitive and I love watching them run through the categories in their brain, looking for an answer that meets the criteria.
The learning continues....
Do you have any educational games that can be used as whole-class time fillers?
Thanks for sharing this! I'll check out the game. Also, I'm jealous of teachers who have a projector always set up and ready to go - by the time I find a projector and get it set up (and find the adaptor for my ipad) the 5 minute window is often gone.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a game off the top of my head, but I love vi hart math videos on yourube.. (start with doodling in math class, doodle music, or candy buttons) Physics minute is good too.
Usually I save vi hart stuff for days when the schedule is turned upside down - last day before christmas holidays, halloween, etc, school dance or afternooon tribes activities. It saves me from trying to start something new with one class then playing catch up with whichever 2 or 3 groups who miss math that day.
They are also good as a "here is something cool" - I always warn the kids that she talks really fast, and that they won't understand it all. The biggest issue in my gifted classes is that many kids blurt out questions when they don't understand a term - usually their timing means that they shout out "I don't get it" just as the next sentence explains the new term.
The videos can either be a 5 minute "check out this cool thing" or an introduction to a full period activity (great for snow days too!)
Usually there are a few kids in each class who have seen all the videos already (and love them - happy to re-watch), and a couple more who go home and watch them all that night.
I know that I am too sensitive to student complaints ('I'm bored .... or "we did this last year" or "I've already seen this ...) but somehow these clips can be watched over and over.
(Someday I really need to start my own blog - when I comment, I tend to ramble, thanks for the platform!)
Sarah