How To Review Material

You just completed a chapter with your class and you need to review it to make sure your students understand it and/or get them ready for a test. What should you do? How can you make it interesting and fun and the students will learn? Try to incorporate a game to review the material in your classroom. There are lots of ways to review. Here is a game I use quite frequently since the students enjoy it so much and it really helps to review what we have been doing in class.


Review Game

The objective of the game is to be the first player to score 10 points. Have a player roll the die on the floor in front of the class. If the die lands on a blank space, they do not answer a question. If the die lands on “?”, they are asked a question by the teacher. If the player answers correctly, they receive a point (you can use tokens, write it on the board, etc.). If they are not correct, they do not receive a point. The first player to score 10 points is the winner. You can play this game individually or in teams. For an added challenge, you can also have “Lose 1 Point” and “Take 1 Point” on a side of the die. When a player rolls “Lose 1 Point”, they must lose 1 point. If a player rolls “Take 1 Point”, they may take a point from any player they choose.

Make a die out of a large juice carton and put a ? mark on some (at least 3) of the sides of the die.







Here are some other games that you might find useful:


Baseball

Divide the class into two teams. Establish in the classroom, a first base, second base, third base, and home. Determine in advance how many innings will be played. Team #1 is up at bat first and line up along the chalkboard. The first player is asked a question from the teacher, if they are correct, they advance to first base. If they are incorrect, they go to the end of the line and it counts as an out. The second batter is then asked a different question. Each correct answer allows the batter to advance one base. The game continues like baseball until there are three outs. After three outs, Team #2 has their turn at bat. Whichever team has the most runs, wins.



Basketball

Need: one small ball (or two balled up pieces of paper), two chairs, one trashcan.

Directions: Put a trashcan against a wall. Divide the class into two teams. Have students line up in two teams behind a chair (to keep them from getting too close to basket). Ask the first person in Team #1 a question. If they are correct, they get to try to make a basket. If they make a basket, their team gets a point. If they do not get a basket, their team does not receive a point. After the first player has his turn, he then goes to the end of Team #1’s line. It is now Team #2’s turn. The team with the most points wins.



Tic Tac Toe

This game is for 2 players or you can divide your class into 2 teams. Draw a large tic tac toe grid on the chalk board. Establish which team will be X and which team will be O. Ask Team #1 a question. If they are correct, they get to put an “X” or an “O” on the tic tac toe grid. If a team is unable to answer a question, the other team may have an opportunity to answer it and score an "X" or "O". If no one is able to answer the question, play continues as before. The first player or team to get three in a row wins!



Last Man Standing

All students stand at their desk. Start at the first row and work your way around the room and ask a question to the students. If they answer the question correctly, they remain standing. If they are not correct, they sit down. If they miss the question, anyone from the class can guess. The “Last Man Standing” wins.



Are You Smarter Than A CCD Teacher?

Need: 2 pieces of paper, 2 pencils, coin, chalk board, chalk

Directions: Name a topic/subject that both the CCD Teacher and students are familiar with (this game would be great for a review of a lesson). Give a piece of paper and a pencil to the CCD Teacher and to the students. The students and the teacher will write down 10 questions with answers on their paper about the subject. Flip a coin to find out who goes first. Whoever wins the toss reads a question to the other(s). If they answer correctly, they get the point and someone keeps score on the board. If they are not correct, who ever asked the question gets the point. Continue until all questions have been asked and answered. Whoever has the most points wins.



True or False

Need: 2 containers, one marked T and the other marked F

Ask each student a True or False question. Have the student carry an object and put it into the correct container to answer the question. They can use a large spoon, two chopsticks, salad tongs, an object between their knees and walk with it to the containers and drop it inside, balance it on their nose or on top of their head and drop it into the container, etc.



Bingo- Just Google “Make Your Own Bingo Cards” and find tons of sites to create your own Bingo game.

Life Size Game Boards- The next time you play a game using a game board, do something totally different, try doing a life size game board. You can do them in your classroom, gym, parking lot, field, wherever you have room. It is a great way to review what you do in class!

Free PowerPoint Games- Make your own PowerPoint game (Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, Password, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Twenty Questions, Guess The Covered Word, variations of the game Hollywood Squares, Weakest Link, Concentration, etc.) to review material and play it with your students.

FREE Catholic Games- Lots of games to review any subject or just change the game to fit your own needs.

thereligionteacher.com- Review Games (scroll down for these)

teach4theheart.com- 7 Review Games that Won’t Waste Your Time

educationworld.com- Reviving Reviews: Refreshing Ideas Students Can't Resist | Review Games

teachhub.com- Fun Review Activities, Classroom Games to Do Now

weareteachers.com- 11 Vocab Review Games to Make the Learning Stick

onestopteachershop.com- Using Active Review Games In The Classroom

interventioncentral.org- Games, Contests & Puzzles: Entertaining Ideas for Educating Students

iteslj.org- Ten Ways to Turn Lessons into Games



The following games are from teachersnetwork.org


Bounce Back

Bounce Back is a game that my student teacher, Russ Deets, and I created one day in desperation, when we decided that our students needed something new and exciting to do. Here is how it works: We divided the class into two groups. The students organized their groups so that each student had a number. Then we asked a question of the first student in group A. That student could answer for 5 points or he/she could bounce the question back to student 1 in group B. The student in Group B (student 1) would either answer for 5 points or bounce it back to student 1 in group A. If student 1 got it right they would get 10 points.

Then the challenge went to the 2nd student in each group – but group B got to start the next time. The kids love the game because they get to take chances, trying to earn more points by “bouncing” the questions back.



Bluff

This is a great game that is also played by many departments in my school. Again the class is divided into two groups. The teacher takes turns giving each group a question. When the teacher gives a question to group A, all the students who think they know the answer stand up. Then, the students in group B get to decide which of the students in group A should answer the question. If the selected student can answer the question, that group gets as many points as the number of people who stood up, but if the student cannot answer the question, then group B gets to answer (any student in that group can answer) and group B will get the same number of points. The fun part of this game is that student try and bluff the other team into thinking that they know the answer so they can push their points up! The teacher then alternates the teams who get to answer the question first.



How do you review material in your classroom? Share your best games that you use to review or drill material. Please comment and I will add it to the post.