Tuesday, July 26, 2011

This or That? Game


This is a great game for the beginning of the school year. By playing just a couple minutes a day, each student will get a turn to be in the "hot seat". There they can express their preferences and get a chance to see how well the other students know them.


Donations are accepted
This flipchart game has been my most popular.  I hope you enjoy it!  If you find any resources on this blog useful, please consider donating $1 to $3.  Any money I receive this way will be used in my district to purchase resources for technology integration. I and my students greatly appreciate your support!  I would love to hear how you use the resources too.

Details for how to play are found in the flipchart, but essentially the student who's "it" draws some random pairs of words like "Talk" or "Write". The student secretly records which one most fits his or her personality. The class votes on which one they think will be selected.

The flipchart has two slides, one showing three cards and one showing just one card. I like to play it with three, but if you want a quick round or if you're playing with Votes instead of Expressions, the slide with one card works well.

Some possible modifications to the activity are:
  • Don't use Expressions or Votes. Just have students write their guesses down and the student who is "it" can tell them what he or she picked. One teacher in my district played this way and the class loved it.
  • Remove words pairs that don't work well with the ages of your students.
  • Make new word pairs about things that are specific to your school or community. Also, you can make words that fit what you're studying. How about a version based on the book you just read or on the social studies lesson you just completed?
The activity is loosely based on my party game Take Your Pick, published by SimplyFun. Since 2006 it has been one of their top selling games. I have played that card game with students for years and it has always proven to be very popular. In 2010 I created an expansion for the game called Take Your Pick II with Melinda Newcombe, an English teacher at the high school where I work.

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