Teacher Tuesday - Trashketball

Today I'm sharing one of my most favorite ways to review material.  It's loud, competitive and can get a bit rowdy BUT the kids love it, it keeps everyone engaged and it's adaptable to any subject area.  I figured with Thanksgiving Break and then Exams/Christmas Break coming up that lots of us could use a fun way to review.  

So here we go!  Here's what you'll need...

- a small basketball (or koosh ball, tennis ball, etc.)

- a trash can (or basket or actual hoop)

- 3 signs for points

- a powerpoint or smart notebook presentation with 5 question "rounds"

- copies of 

Here's How I Setup/Play

- Move your desks around to create groups/partners

- Tape down three papers to the floor designating a 1 point, 2 point and 3 point shot area (1 closest to the target, 3 farthest away)

- Set your target up... I usually place the trashcan on top of a desk

- Create your groups, pass out the blank answer sheets and then put up the first slide.  As a group students need to answer the five questions, bring their answer sheet up to you and if they're all correct they earn shots.  The first team to get all the answers correct gets 3 shots, the second team gets 2 shots and the remaining team(s) get 1 shot.  

- And this is where the fun begins :) They can decide who takes the shots and what point value they're going to go for. Keep score on the board and after every team has taken their designated shots move onto the  next round of questions.

You can play as many rounds as you want and you can play with your whole class divided into groups/pairs OR play with 3 groups at a time and then have the winning team of a designated number of rounds play the winning team of another number of designated rounds... almost like a bracket.

This is such a fun and easily adaptable activity... you could have them answer multiple choice questions, listen and fill in the blanks for vocabulary, work problems out, etc.  

The kids LOVE this and I hope you do too!

Happy Tuesday, friends!!!