If your school year is anything like mine, it’s standardized test and exam season (woohoo). You are probably beginning to wrap up your content and getting ready to enter the final weeks of school – otherwise known as the weeks of attempting to keep attention and review everything when everyone really just wants to be done. 🙂 In that vein, I’m sharing four quick and easy (to prepare and implement) review activities that could be adapted for use in any subject or grade. They are perfect for end-of-the-year review, but I use them all throughout the school year too. I hope you find something you can try right away!
1. Index Card Experts
I learned this at a conference I attended this fall and have used it so many times since. Basically, you put a bunch of concepts on index cards and distribute them to students. The student then has a set amount of time – maybe 5 or 10 minutes depending on the complexity – to review the material and make notes on their assigned concept. They, in turn, become the “expert” on that one thing. Then, have all students stand and face a partner. Play quiet music while they take turns following this pattern:
- Student 1 shares everything he knows about his concept. (Remember, he’s the expert. He should know a lot.)
- Student 2 repeats back at least one fact she just learned from student 1.
- Student 2 shares everything she knows about her concept.
- Student 1 repeats back at least one fact she just learned from student 2.
When you see the students are wrapping up, stop the music and have all students find a new partner and repeat the above. Do this as many times as you need to to get through all the concepts and/or until the class seems to be losing interest.
I’ve done this with vocabulary words, literary terms, symbols, etc. I know my mom uses it occasionally in her 4th grade Social Studies class to review key terms from a chapter.
Pro Tip: If you don’t have enough different concepts for every student in the class, I recommend using a different colored index card for each concept so that students know to avoid students with the same color card as them once they start sharing.
Variation: Have students switch index cards after “meeting” with each partner. This eliminates the “expert” element of the activity, but it does help students review/learn more concepts.
2. Table Talks
In small groups, have your students write at least one (I usually do two) discussion questions on a given topic. (Each group should have a different topic related to the same lesson – I assign chapters of a novel, but you could also do it with key concepts, pages of the textbook, historical events, etc.) Once they have written their questions, students rotate through the room going to each table and discussing the questions in the time allotted – 5 minutes is typically just right. (I like to tell students to break up from their original group now so that each discussion is with a different combination of students, but you could also have them move through together.) During this time, the teacher should move through the room and listen to the conversations / add to them when possible. When everyone has had a chance to think about every question, students should go back to their original table and discuss their own questions. Each table then presents their answers and leads a short whole-class discussion on their topic/chapter/etc.
Pro Tip: Have students write their questions on different colored post-it notes. They – weirdly – love this. 😉
3. Silent Discussion / Chalk Walk
This is kind-of a variation on the above, but it works a little differently and serves a different kind of learner. Basically, I prepare ahead by hanging several pieces of large butcher paper around the classroom and writing one key question that I want to be discussed (again, about a novel, theme, or topic) on each. Then, I give each student a marker (if there are six questions, I try to distribute six different colored markers) and ask them to move around the room writing their response to each question on the paper. They are encouraged to respond to their classmates’ responses, but only in writing. The room must be absolutely silent.
Once everyone has answered every question, I ask the people with “green markers” to gather at one question, the “red markers” at another and so-on. Those people read all the responses and prepare a summary to share with the class.
Variation: Give students post-it notes to write their response and ask them to simply stick it on the butcher paper.
4. Fishbowl
This is actually adapted from my days of being a Young Life leader and is, admittedly, more of a “game,” but my students really love it, and they definitely learn from it! It’s great for things like standardized or unit test review where there is A LOT of information to cover… Basically, you put a bunch of terms etc. on little scraps of paper and drop them in a fishbowl/bucket/hat/whatever. (The more the merrier. You need A LOT.) Then, you get the class to sit in a circle and count of with every other student being on a team.
The game itself is pretty familiar: Each player draws a word out of a hat and tries to get his/her teammates to guess what it is. Teams get one point for each word they guess correctly and try to get as many points as possible in a certain amount of time (I recommend no more than 30-60 seconds to keep it fast-paced). Where it gets really fun is that each “Round” has a slightly different set of rules.
Round 1 – Student tries to get the teammates to guess the word by describing it using as many words as he/she wants EXCEPT the word (or any variation of it) itself. (Like Taboo)
*Play until all words are used up, then put them all back in the bucket to continue.*
Round 2 – Student can only use ONE word to describe the term.
*Play until all words are used up, then put them all back in the bucket to continue.*
Round 3 – Students can use NO words (only gestures, acting etc.) to describe the term. (Like Charades)
By the end, you’ve got a room full of engaged and happy kids that have all heard the term (and its definition/description) at least three times!
So, there’s a glimpse inside my bag of review-season tricks. What do you have up your sleeve?!? I’d love to hear your go-to review activities in the comments!
E
P.S. If you found this helpful, you might also like: 3 Ways to Check Reading
