There are a few things that I look for in a game. One is that it is engaging and students will be willing to participate in it. Secondly, is that the game will help students communicate better. The third is that the game can add movement to the students’ day (since they sit all day long). Lastly, and the best reason, is that the game is low-prep.
I want to share with you two ways you can use Post-its in the classroom for games. You will want to add these games to your lesson plans because they:
- Are low-prep
- Fun and engagaing
- Serve a purpose
- Allows the teacher to formatively assess
Option #1
The first version of this game works well for spoken languages but can be modified for ASL. It is designed to review or practice nouns. Place the class in teams of 3 – 4 students. On the Post-it notes, write one word per Post-it note. Set these out in front of each group. So if you have 4 groups, you will need four sets of Post-it note cards. The teacher will sign a word. The groups will find the word on the Post-it note and then place it next to the word in the classroom. If the teacher signs CHAIR, the students will find the Post-it note with the word chair written on it and place it on any chair in the room.
To save time, the teacher does not need to prep the cards. Remember I like low-prep games. Place a list of words you want to review on the board and the teams will fill out the Post-it notes.
Alternatively, you can give each team a different set of words to get more review in and to ensure students are not just copying others in the classroom.
Option #2
This option takes a bit more time because it involves Gifs. To set up the game you will place one Gif vocabulary word on each slide in a slide deck. Give students as many Post-it notes as you have words. If you have 10 words, give each student 10 Post-it notes (or use teams). Show the slide. Give the student 30 seconds to think about what they want to write. Make sure students put the answer and their name on the Post-it note. Call for pens down. Have students walk their answer to the board and place it under the correct number (if you’re on number one, the post-it goes under number one).
Go through the answers and discard the wrong responses. Continue doing this until you have gone through all of your vocabulary words. The person or team with the most correct answers wins.
To save yourself A LOT of time, purchase the already made Gifs from ASL Hands on Deck. They are major time-savers.
To get more out of your review game, use the word in sentences. You can even have the students translate the sentence instead of just writing down the word.
Have fun!
The most important thing is to have fun when you are playing games.
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