Many times teachers use games as a way to review for an assessment. However, I have found that students also enjoy games as an introduction to a new unit. It gives me a hook for the unit and the kids love them and are therefore excited about the unit, and best of all, it allows me to do a pre-assessment without the kids even realizing they are being assessed!
To introduce my data analysis and statistics unit, I had my kids play classroom feud, based off of family feud. I made a powerpoint template that looks like the family feud game board. Then I transformed my room into a game show! I lined my desks up in two long rows facing each other and had a podium in the center for the kids to come up to. (I set up the buzzer system our academic team uses on the podium for the full effect.) I taped sheets of paper to the front of each desk with the names of the kids who would sit in that desk throughout the day and then we were ready to play! As the kids walked in, I had the first slide up on the board, with the theme music playing. They went NUTS!
Some of the questions that were asked were 6th grade standards, and others dealt with 7th grade standards. This is where the pre-assessment came in. I wanted to see how well they remembered what they learned last year as well as see if they had any knowledge of the 7th grade standards.
To keep things fun and point values high (why only get a few points when you can have thousands of them?!?! Especially when the points don't REALLY matter haha) I told my kids I went to the local grocery store and surveyed 2000 people. This part was hilarious because while that never, ever happened you wouldn't believe how many students said comments like "OH! My grandma said she saw a math teacher there, I didn't know it was you!" I went along with it and they think it's totally awesome the community was involved with our math class! We went through each of the questions, each student getting the opportunity to come up and use the buzzer.
I kept the rules the same as regular family feud, 3 strikes the opponent has the opportunity to steal the points, and I told the kids if I heard them sharing answers and telling teammates what to say that would be an automatic strike.
I have attached the powerpoint and survey questions. If your content fits along with the topic feel free to use the exact powerpoint and questions, but if not you can also use the powerpoint as a template and change the answers underneath, just leave your email address in the comment window and I will send you the original. Either way, feel free to use away!
