Our 1st grade students paid their first-ever visit to the Hub in order to practice asking and answering questions about the rooms of the house – a theme they have already covered in their classrooms. They had a great time and can’t wait to come back to the Hub! We played a series of games using the projector. To read a description of the activity, keep reading!
1. A student “hid” a small cutout of the teacher by putting it on the projector screen “inside” one of the rooms of the house. The teacher does not look where the cutout person is, and asks the class “Is she in the kitchen?” “Is she in the bathroom?” etc. The students practice responding “Yes she is,” or “No, she isn’t.” Then, the teacher can select a number of students (2 or 3) to sit with their backs to the projector, facing the class. They take turns asking the same questions, and the classmates answer until someone guesses correctly. The winner can then be rewarded with the chance to “hide” the cutout person for the next round (after the new students are seated facing away, of course).
2. Then, to mix up the game, the teacher hides the cutout person behind the projector screen so that upon lifting the screen, the cutout is in one of the rooms. (I put little dots on the wall behind the projector screen to be sure the person lined up with the projection correctly.) For this round, students compete as a row to guess the location. Beginning at one end, the teacher gives each student in the given row a chance to ask one question (“Is she in the bathroom?”) and the teacher only answers once the question has been formulated correctly. The students have to pay attention so they do not repeat questions! If the row guesses the correct place, the teacher can raise the screen revealing the cutout person. We played this game six times, with two opportunities for each row (starting on opposite sides). That way every student asked at least one question.
3. Finally, we played a competitive game based on the board game “Clue.” This one involved more preparation. I projected a slightly-modified Clue board onto the wall (with the correct rooms of the house that we were using), and posted a large sheet of butcher paper over the projection. I traced the rooms, and cut around them to make little lifting doors for each one. I hid different printout characters behind the doors (we used teachers from our school), and then stuck three game pieces (one for each row of students) with sticky tack to the center of the board. The objective of the game was to reveal which characters were hiding in each room.
One student from each row came forward at a time and the teacher asked them a quiz question about the topic (Which room do I use to brush my teeth?, etc.). The first to raise their hand and answer correctly won the chance to roll a die (we have a giant one which makes things more dramatic), move the corresponding game piece toward a room, and upon reaching a room, revealing if anyone was inside by lifting the paper. To mix up the quiz questions, I used some sound effects from youtube of a shower, food cooking, people eating, etc. and asking which room matched those sounds.
Obviously you could modify the game for older students: for example you could let them peek secretly into the rooms and complete a list of who is hiding where (or simulate the full game by hiding weapon and suspect cards in the different rooms) and have the groups racing to compete a top-secret investigation card.
Check out the powerpoint we used on Google Drive!