Practice Structure Wheel

This post has been in my drafts for over two years so I'm glad to finally flesh it out.

I found this cute spinny pencil thing in the summer of 2015 at Dollar Tree. I knew I had to have it but I didn't know what for. It sparked an idea of making some kind of wheel where students could spin to decide what game we would play.

Let me back up a little. I make powerpoints linked from a home screen to different problems that also show the answer. I mostly use them to play pong, my original and favorite review game, but once they are created, you can use the problems for any game structure. I usually only play pong for concepts that are somewhat simple since it takes a while for teams to shoot and such. But I turn almost every worksheet into some kind of activity.

My students naturally sit in groups/teams so when we do these games, each student had to work the problem. They all have to have the same answer so if not, they discuss. They do all work on their desk and leave it there until I show the answer. If the answer is correct, then one person goes to shoot or play whatever the game is.

My two other favorites are balloon pop which has now morphed into Grudgeball which I actually call The X Game and Trashketball. For trashketball I draw a 2 point line and a 3 point line on the floor in front of my trash can with a dry erase marker. I set out some copy paper. I keep score of the shots each team makes and....that's all.

Now I can't really use a wheel for just 3 games so I've been looking for new ideas this summer. I haven't used any of them but they will all still work with my linked powerpoints.

Here goes:

• Basketball Pong
• Connect Four
• Door Busters
• Tic Tac Boo Yah
• 1-100
• Raffle Ticket Relay- I put several poly envelopes on the board...some with half homework pass, extra point, candy, etc. As students complete a portion of a worksheet (Or a station), they get a raffle ticket (I just rip off a piece of paper with a number). At the end of the activity/worksheet) ...i use random number generator in calculator to pick winners and let them choose an envelope -Katherin Ruse

That gives me a total of 8. My plan is to get a piece of posterboard, divide it into the 8 sections and label them. Then I can put my spinning pencil in the middle, hang it, and spin for whichever lessons I have what I call 'pong powerpoints' for.

Another two structures that I use work for worksheets instead of my powerpoint games are Cornhole Toss and Treasure Hunt.

Cornhole Toss- I'll let her explain it all but it does require pretzels or something like that so I've only played it once because um...I'm not good at planning ahead.

Treasure Hunt- Students work on a worksheet that is somehow divided into sections, something like 3-4 problems per section. This powerpoint is displayed. As they complete a section, they raised their hand and I come check their answers. If the section is correct, they get to click a treasure chest. Only one has the actual treasure. The powerpoint has 10 different screens so if someone does find it, just choose a new screen and keep playing. This is the only game I usually give any candy for but even before they know that they get really excited to play.

Basketball Pong:

Structure Wheel:

For more ideas, check out Shelli's link.