Winning Review Wheel

Lesson Plan #: AELP-LPS0204

An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan

Submitted by: Ghezwa Reames
Email: ghezweka@yahoo.com
School/University/Affiliation: America Reads - Head Communications Tutor, Iowa City, IA

Date: November 8, 2002

Grade Level: 5, 6, 7, 8

Subject(s):

Language Arts/Process Skills

Duration: 45 minutes

Description: An assessment board game to be used in the Language Arts classroom. The game is versatile enough for reviewing any novel study.

Goals:

Students will be able to reinforce content knowledge.
Students will be able to reinforce vocabulary.
Students will build proficiency in English usage skills.

Objectives:

Students will be able to use their text to find proper English usage examples (ex. punctuation).
Students will be able to review and define key vocabulary terms from the text.
Students will be able to identify main characters, along with their significance and role in the text.
Students will identify major plot themes.

Materials:

small playing pieces (colored paper clips work great)
one die
timer
pencils
classroom texts/novels
Gameboard
Scorecards/Recording Booklet Templates

Procedure:
(This game can be used as a review activity after students have finished reading a story or novel.)

Divide students into six teams. Each team receives a recording booklet which has categories for Usage, Plot, Terms, and Roles (see Materials ). Students will have 5 minutes to fill in the categories. Each team works together to fill in the sections, but they cannot talk with another team. Students are free to refer to the story/novel to help complete the categories. When the timer sounds, students stop writing and place their pencils inside their desks. The following is a brief description of each category. Teachers may want to model one example to help students get started:

Plot - Details about the main idea of the story, and may include one sentence that is all encompassing about the main idea.
Terms - Vocabulary words that came up during the process of going through the story, whether in discussion or chapter quizzes, or general things to know.
Usage - What the class has been studying during this unit in terms of English instruction (similes, semicolon placement, verb/noun agreement, etc.) Students find an example from the text and write it out and label it (simile, noun/verb agreement, etc.).
Roles - Who were the characters in the book and what role or significance did they have to the story (list name and role)?

Each team selects a playing piece and places it on their Start oval. One member from each team rolls the die; the team that rolls the highest number goes first. Now the game begins! An example of how the game is played:

Team A rolls the die. The number 5 is rolled. The team to the right of them, Team B, selects a category (for example, Plot). Team A must refer to their recording booklet and state what they wrote for Plot, line #5. The other teams decide if the response is correct. If so, then Team A moves their playing piece 5 spaces. If two or more teams disagree with the response, then Team A loses a turn. Either way, Team A must cross off line #5 under Plot and cannot use that response again. (If a 6 is rolled, then the team to the right selects the category and the line number.) The first team to the center of the board wins the game! Other teams may continue to play to determine 2nd and 3rd place.

[ Note: In the above scenario, if Team A happened to roll a 5 again on their next turn, Team B could select the category of Plot, knowing that Team A has already used that response. Team A would be forced to say "pass" as they have no answer to give. If teams are playing strategically, they may do this purposely so that their classmates cannot move forward faster than them!]

Assessment: Collect the recording booklets at the end of the game to asses each team's understanding of the material. Observe team cooperation and general attitude. Since this is a review activity, teachers would likely follow-up with a more general assessment method (multiple choice quiz, essay, etc.).

Special Comments: The gameboard is original artwork by the lesson plan author, but similar versions may be easily constructed with two sheets of 8 x11" tagboard.