+ The quizzes are simple and give immediate feedback
+ Includes a math glossary written in humorous and kid-friendly language
+ Based on California Department of Education Standards
+ Activities are broken into basic and advanced levels
+ Simple for students and teachers to navigate
I wish it had a way to embed the games into a blog, wiki, or website, so you could streamline the activities and quizzes for the specific content you're teaching at the time.
It also calls a rhombus a diamond...always a pet peeve.
There are several other sites like Numbernut created by the same company, Andrew Rader Studios.
This is the second of many posts dedicated to formative assessment activities that you could use in your classroom. In the first post I described an activity called 3 Musketeers. Today's activity also comes from Robin Fogarty and Brian M. Pete, presenters both on (In)Formative Assessment.
One note before I share the activity. Robin Fogarty, Brian Pete, and Douglas Fisher (professor of Language and Literacy at San Diego State, and a presenter on effective group work) advise that the most effective groups sizes are 3-4 students per group.
ABC Graffiti
The groups must come up with describers, definitions, or synonyms for the topic or term that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Creativity points for the letters Q and X. Give a time limit of 3 minutes.
You've been teaching on a topic, let's say it's local government, and you want to get a feel for what your kids know about local government so far. Use ABC Graffiti as a fun way for students to brainstorm concrete and abstract ideas about their learning. You can use it as a way to monitor their knowledge, assess their understanding, and as a guide for instruction modifications.
You'll need:
A large sheet of paper for each group.*
Markers are nice, but any writing utensil will work.
*Technology integration idea: Create a Google doc template and have small groups make a copy of the template. Student groups can type in their answers.
What to do:
Assign roles: materials gatherer, scribe, encourager, and roving reporter (used as an idea spy if needed, and you decide when reporters can rove to steal good ideas from other groups).
Each group has a large sheet of paper. The scribe draws a rectangle box at the top of the page (this is where the topic or term will be written).
Students write all the letters of the alphabet (nice and big, use the space) down the left side of the paper and onto a second column if needed.
Provide the groups with the topic or term. The scribe writes the word you provide in the box at the top.
All group members give suggestions as they work together. Give them 3 minutes.
Example
The topic is Local Government
A: American way
B: Ballot
C: Congress
D: Democracy
So on.
A higher order thinking skill is prioritizing or ranking. Ask the groups to find on the graffiti sheet the top three most poignant words that describe the term. Have the reporter report the group’s top three to the whole class. Record the top three of all groups. Create a word wall. Facilitate discussions.
Bonus ideas:
Have students write a sentence or quick write about the term.
Have students create a compound word with part of speech and definition. This can help create a sense of ownership with words they create. For example, the words Democracy and Vote can be creatively combined to form Votocracy n. A system that allows for people to vote on important decisions.
Robin Fogarty and Brian M. Pete presented (In)formative Assessment at the 2010 Wildly Exciting conference I attended earlier this August at Grand Valley State University. They were very entertaining and informative. If you get the chance to see them, do so. You won't regret it.
They had wonderful ideas and activities that they shared. I want to share them with you.
Two notes before I begin. Fogarty and Pete maintain that to get the most out of these activities, based on Spencer Kagen's cooperative learning structures (see below for video), students should move from activity to engagement to involvement. That is to say, students should begin with the activity; which leads to engagement with peers; which leads to involvement with the learning.
The second note is a quote from Brian Pete who said, "The learner is the one doing the talking." In essence, create more rich talk opportunities for your students.
3 Musketeers
Imagine you've just taught something to the class, and you want to see if they are getting it.
This activity is a way to get your students up and moving. "I don’t want the blood to be in your feet or your seat, but in your brain so you can maintain."
Activity:
Students get up walk around and put their hands in the air and “high five”. When three students high five each other at the same time they become a group. Three students per grouping is ideal. Adjust as needed. Once the groupings are established, determine who goes first by having them discover something about each other (birthdays, pets, lives closest to school etc.) For example: The student with a birthday closest to today, either past or future, will go first.
Engagement:
Each musketeer will share with the small group what information they recall (sharing with each other). Then have the small groups report whole group.
Q: But what if the next group that goes says, "That's what I was going to say."
A: Ask them to either paraphrase, repeat, or add to what was just said.
Involvement:
Small group discussion with application of the information. Before you have your students return to their seats ask them this, "With whom would you share this information you just learned?
This encourages students to self-reflect and conceptualize an audience other than themselves for this information. They will take ownership of the learning.
