4 Corners - Best Review Game for ANY Classroom

 

At our local skating rink, they play a game called the "Dice Game."  Kids love it. and they play it every session.  They have played that game since I was a kid!  I took the concept and modified it in my classroom.  It is SO easy because their is basically NO preparation and the kids stay focused.  Even though the kids think it is fun, much thinking is involved.


Here's a quick picture of the cards that I made last year for science review.  My students used these at my Science stations to review for an upcoming test.  I had an epiphany on how I could also use it as a game and get my students up and moving and blood circulating (more blood to the brain = more thinking power)!

I taped the each of the headers in a corner of the room.  (Actually in some spots I taped the card to the items that were hanging down from the ceiling.  Do you see the rainbow paper with the dog paw in the picture?  Perfect place to stick my index card.)  So in each corner I had one of the following headers:  volume, length, mass, temperature.  The kids would stand up and walk in the same direction around the room in a circle while I play music.  When I stop the music the students pick the corner nearest them and stand by their card.

Here's where the thinking is involved! (I know you were thinking this just sounded like musical chairs.)  I would draw a one of the cards from my measurement match up or have the leader draw one.  The card is announced (Celsius for example) and if it MATCHES your 4 Corners' Header (Temperature for example), you are out of the game and must go sit at your seat.  I start the music again and the kids circulate in the same pattern until the music stops again.  I draw another card and whoever is standing be that header in now out.  We repeat until their are 4 or less students still in the game.

Now here is where it changes a bit.  I announce, "The 4 Corners winner will be the MATCH to this card.  You must each go to a different corner when the music stops."  I play the music one final time and I announce a card (graduated cylinder for example) and whoever is standing next to the matching header (Volume) is the winner.

You can use the 4 Corners game for ANY subject.  Here is an example of how I used it the first week of Third Grade.  My 4 headers were: even, odd, even, odd.  I didn't have any cards to draw (Who has time for that the first week of school?!?!), so I closed my eyes and pointed to a number on our hundreds number chart.  Easy peasy!  After I felt my students remembered the rules of even and odd, I switched it up and bit and chose two numbers.  They had to decide whether the numbers were even or odd if they added them up.  (2 even numbers added = even, 2 odd numbers added = even, but an even + odd = odd)

Try it this week in the classroom.  Your students will love it and so will you.