30 Amazing Teachers ~ Janae

Hi Everyone!

I'm Janae from The Sharpened Pencil!

I'm thrilled to be a part of Cassandra's 30th Birthday Celebration and honored to be one of her 30 Amazing Teachers!!!  She is such a beautiful person inside and out, and I am blessed to know her!

I met Cassandra about a year ago when I was introduced to the Arizona Teacher Bloggers group and now we blog together over at Hello Sunshine!  She has been extremely helpful with my transition to 3rd Grade.  I'm looking forward to meeting other amazing teachers through this fun celebration!  :)

I'm a Canadian girl living in the heat of Arizona and I absolutely love it!  I taught 1st grade in Idaho for seven years, 2nd grade in Arizona for three years, and am now surviving teaching 3rd grade.  You can read more about me here.  

Today I want to share one of my all-time favorite games with you! 

I learned about this game two years ago, and it has quickly become a class favorite!  I love it because it can be used for ANY subject and ANY grade level.  It keeps everyone engaged, focused, and quiet.  ;)  

The Set Up:

Buy some foam pieces and glue magnets on the back.  I bought my set from Hobby Lobby.  Write a variety of numbers on the back of each piece.  Use whatever numbers work best for your class to do mental math with.  When I was in 2nd Grade, we used 2-digit numbers, mostly multiples of 10, with a few ending in 5.  This year, I have mostly 2-digit and a few 3-digit, ending with a 0 or 5.  My co-worker in 5th grade used more 3-digit numbers.  Whatever works for you!  Write an X and ZONK on a couple of them.  

The Game:

I like to play this as a review before a math assessment, but it can be used for any subject!  Prepare questions for your students to answer using worksheets, task cards, and/or whiteboards.  I play boys VS girls, and keep score on the board.  Put all the foam pieces on the board.  Display your first question.  EVERY student answers it.  I set a timer to ensure we get through the questions.  When the time is up, choose a boy or girl to answer.  If they answer correctly, they come to the board to choose up to three foam pieces, and record the score.  If they answer incorrectly, the other team gets a chance to steal the points.  If the second team answers incorrectly, I explain the answer and move on to the next question.    

The Rules:

A student can choose up to three pieces.  They can stop at any time.  If they choose an X, their turn ends, but can keep the points they have already chosen.  If they choose a ZONK, they loose all the points for that round.  If a student talks out, they lose 10 points for their team.  You can add points to a team if they are cheering for the opposite team.  Silent cheers, of course!  ;)

It really is our favorite game!  

So easy, engaging, and exciting!  

I hope you have a blast playing it with your kiddos!  :)