I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share some games that their HS students like in the classroom. I'm looking for some new ones to incorporate this year, and would appreciate some suggestions!
I don't know what discipline you teach, I teach tenth grade English. My students love Apples to Apples. It is big fun for all of us!
Thanks Dehabel! I teach HS Latin, but I figure I can adapt most games for my needs. Could you tell me about Apples to Apples?
Mine go nuts over apples to apples. From wikipedia with my own comments added in... Each player is dealt seven "red apple" cards; on each is printed a noun or noun phrase, or possibly a gerund. They are pretty random and sometimes silly, so in your hand you might have A Boy's Locker Room, Michael Jackson, London, Snowboarding, Iced Tea, Pond Scum, Peach Fuzz The judge (a chosen player) draws a "green apple" card on which is printed an adjective ("scary", "frightening", "patriotic", etc.), and places it face-up on the table for everybody to see. Then each player (except the judge) chooses a card that they think is the best match for the green apple card, and places it face-down. The judge shuffles the red apple cards, reads them (often aloud), and decides which noun is the best match for the adjective. This decision is subjective; the official rules encourage the judge to pick the match that is "most creative, humorous or interesting". The player who submitted the chosen red apple card wins the round, and takes the green apple card to signify the win. All players then draw red cards until they have seven again, and the role of "judge" may pass to another person (generally going to the next player in line, though some rules have the round's winner becoming "judge"). Some editions of the game suggest discounting the last red-apple card played, to encourage players to place their cards down more quickly. Each player is allowed a one-time only "switch-a-roo", which allows the player to discard their entire hand of red cards for a new set of red cards. The winner is the first player to accumulate a pre-designated number of green apple cards; the more players, the lower the total. Mine also like Blurt! I started playing Travel with my kids too. Also, my kids always want to play Heads Up, 7 Up!
I'm in elementary, but I've done heads up, 7 up as a review game. They have to answer a question before they can guess who picked them.
Thanks, I appreciate it the explanation of apples to apples. I can think of a few ways to adjust it for my needs. Blurt and Travel I'm not familiar with, either. I must admit: my teaching program didn't include info on games, and my co-operating teacher only played a few. I've come up with some, and have learned of others from other teachers, but I'm eager to introduce my kids to some new ones!
Zonked is a fun one - basically jeopardy with a Whammy twist! Set up as a 5 by 6 board (I use a pocket chart) with the numbers 1-5 down the left side, and the letters z-o-n-k-e-d along the bottom. Then you fill in the spots with half index cards with point values anywhere from 5 - 1000 (or however high you want it to be). You reserve about 5-10 cards for the word "zonked." Students pick a letter then a number (aka Z5 - which helps with coordinate plane orientation). You pull out that card and that's how much the question is worth. If they get a zonked, their team's points are erased! It's a wonderful game and any team can win up until the last possible second. It's easy to organize too because I usually type up a review sheet, make a transparency, cut the questions, and put them in. Less work for you! Hope this helps.
In a Pickle is a card game. The cards have various nouns on them. There are 4 start piles in the center of the table. Each person gets a turn to lay one of their cards on one of the starting cards, but only if it can fit inside (not on) that object. Example: Start piles have skeleton, dumpster, baby, orange juice. In my hand I have several cards with one that says shopping cart. Well, the only one that works is the dumpster, because a shopping cart cannot go inside a baby, oj, or a skeleton. Then when someone else is ready to lay a card on that same pile, they are putting something inside the shopping cart, and so on. Once a start pile reaches 4 cards, all play is halted on other piles. Every player gets one turn to put something inside whatever the card says on the maxed out pile. The person who lays the last card with the smallest object wins that pile. The person with the most piles is the winner. What makes it so fun is that the objects are random, and it makes the students think in order to justify their answer choice. Such as a dinosaur can fit in a baby, and a baby can fit in a dinosaur depending how you look at it. Plus this helps my native Spanish speakers grasp the pronouns in & on.
