Need some classroom games! Help!

[MushyMushy]

I need to come up with some classroom games for a 6th grade class of 20. I'd prefer word games since it's a language arts classroom. One thing I came across is a Thanksgiving memory game where they go around the room and say, "For T-giving dinner I'm going to have..." then go through the alphabet naming foods.

What else? I know there are a lot of creative thinkers on here. Can you help me out?

 

[paigevz]

Synonym/Antonym. Start with a word, and the first child has to give a synonym, or as close as possible to something similar. The next one gives an antonym of that one's synonym, or as close as possible to something opposite. The next gives a synonym of the new word and so on.
Example:

The word is "Star"

First child: Sun

Second child: Moon

Third child: Rock

4th child: Cloth

5th child: fabric

6th child: metal


And so on. It's a lot of fun, and a lot of discussions ensue about why a word belongs or doesn't.

 

[Piglet's Pal]

Have a contest to see who can make the most words out of the word T H A N K S G I V I N G

 

[Mickey1122]

I need to come up with some classroom games for a 6th grade class of 20. I'd prefer word games since it's a language arts classroom. One thing I came across is a Thanksgiving memory game where they go around the room and say, "For T-giving dinner I'm going to have..." then go through the alphabet naming foods.

What else? I know there are a lot of creative thinkers on here. Can you help me out?

I like the idea of an alphabet game. I also like "Foodology." You say a food, and the next person must respond with a food that starts with the final letter of the previous one.

Probably not what you are looking for, but I have to recommend it: Text Twist. It is a word game on the computer (Yahoo Games or something like that) where you have to unscramble words. It is like jumble, and really makes you think.

 

[Cindy B]

Have you ever done a progressive story? I have with 6-7th grade learning disabled Language arts class and they enjoyed it.

Lesson objectives: Creative writing, reading, writing story elements, following directions, context clues, inference

Supplies: Paper, pencil

You will need to take the paper and write the header on the front: For Thanksgiving I will.... (or anything like that). Tell the first student they write only one line and then fold the paper over and pass it back to the next student with only telling them the last word of the line. (the student will use that word to back the next line). The paper gets passed along the classroom with the folds until everyone gets a turn.

Then after everyone contributes a line, the paper is unfolded and the story is read aloud. Its usually pretty funny.. with some creative results. I did have to warn my class to make it school appropriate though.

 

[Cindy B]

Another one I use is classroom scattergories: I've done this in all grades from elementary to high school. It works better in an upper elementary/middle school setting since they know how to spell!

This can be either an individual game or group game

Lesson objectives: spelling, word sounds, context information

Supplies: paper (for each each student or group) pencil, 26 sided letter die (optional) , timer (optional)

On the board/flip chart I write four categories

I usually try to tie in the lessons with the categories and with a "fun" category for them

Here are the ones that I usually use:

Famous person (I stress that it can be someone they learned about in Social Studies)

Food/Beverage/Snack (fun category)

Verb (language arts-I also say they can use foreign language verbs as well)

States/Country/State Capital (Social Studies)




The Rules:

You create a word from the categories that begins with beginning letter. For the category famous person, they write a persons name and continue on for all categories. I usually give them about 2 minutes to come up with categories. I go over the categories with them so they know the meanings of the words.

Letters can be picked with a letter die, or selected by teacher. After the letter is written, the students then write words.

Rules:

Alliteration is encourged. You get one point for each word, so a two word answer. The other object is creative answers--if there are same answers, everyone is out with that same word... to make it fair.

The groups or students go over the answers. If in groups, the scoring is easier. If individual, I usually pick one student to read all of his answers. I then reverbalize the answers to the entire class and I ask if anyone has something different

I usually do two - 3 rounds of this.. and they have great fun. Its trickier in a learning disabled room because the kids have some spelling issues. (this is when a group activity works better). If a full learning disabled room, I sort of give creative license if the words is spelled wrong, I get them to just verbalize the words.

 

[MushyMushy]

Thanks so much guys! These are awesome!

 

[Sinderelli]

This is not technically a game, but it is a lot of fun. Have your students write cinquain poems about Thanksgiving. they are really easy and fun to do, and each one is unique. The students should follow this pattern:
First line- The title of the poem (Thanksgiving)
2nd line- Two verbs ending in -ing related to Thanksgiving (such as: cooking praying)
3rd line: 3 adjectives to describe the topic (um....noisy crowded delicious)
4th line: a 4 word phrase or sentence about the topic (Blessings are all around)
5th line- A synonym for the topic (Feast)

The poem would look like this:

Thanksgiving
Cooking Praying
Noisy Crowded Delicious
Blessings are all around
Feast

...or something like that! It would be really fun to do it with a particular food item, family member, etc.

 

[MushyMushy]

Thanks, that's a great poetry idea! I might do that with them during class one day AND do the games on another.

I found this game at Borders called Word Sweep, based on Websters dictionaries. What you do is read three dictionary definitions in a row and the players have to guess all three words. It was a board game, but I don't see why it couldn't be adapted to just use a regular dictionary.

I'll have to let you all know how these turn out. My cooperating teacher is talking about just letting them watch a video or something, but I'd rather get them interacting and involved.

 

[MushyMushy]

Have you ever done a progressive story? I have with 6-7th grade learning disabled Language arts class and they enjoyed it.

Lesson objectives: Creative writing, reading, writing story elements, following directions, context clues, inference

Supplies: Paper, pencil

You will need to take the paper and write the header on the front: For Thanksgiving I will.... (or anything like that). Tell the first student they write only one line and then fold the paper over and pass it back to the next student with only telling them the last word of the line. (the student will use that word to back the next line). The paper gets passed along the classroom with the folds until everyone gets a turn.

Then after everyone contributes a line, the paper is unfolded and the story is read aloud. Its usually pretty funny.. with some creative results. I did have to warn my class to make it school appropriate though.

I did this today and the story ended up being really funny. One question though. How do you do it so that it doesn't take forever? The kids were soooo slow with it! They got bored while they waited for their classmates to write their lines.

We also did a spelling game, which they begged me to let them do.

We also did the food game. OMG... it went great until one of the kids listed little wienies as his food. Then we all lost it.

6th graders!

 

[Cindy B]

I did this today and the story ended up being really funny. One question though. How do you do it so that it doesn't take forever? The kids were soooo slow with it! They got bored while they waited for their classmates to write their lines.

We also did a spelling game, which they begged me to let them do.

We also did the food game. OMG... it went great until one of the kids listed little wienies as his food. Then we all lost it.

6th graders!

good question about the length issues. I've done this in a resource replacement setting and the max is about 8-12. I guess you could have started two pages on either side of the room with the same heading and end up in one setting. I guess you can also set a time limit (one minute timer or something like that)

Or you can do it in small groups.. depending how the room is set up. I've done it with resource room and they love it.