JEOPARDY in the classroom!

I love it when I find a great resource that becomes a part of my weekly routine.  Today, I'd like to share one of those resources with you!  It's an online Jeopardy game that I discovered a few years ago.  The games go along with the stories and curriculum taught in our California Treasures Language Arts program, and they're a fun and engaging way for students to wrap up all of the standards they've learned about throughout the week.  
For example, last week's story from the student anthology was Mice and Beans by Pam Munoz Ryan (love this book!)  So I went online to http://www.mrsziruolo.com/1resources.htm  and clicked her Jeopardy PowerPoint for Mice and Beans.

This is what the Jeopardy game page looks like:

It's a PowerPoint, so the buttons are all interactive.  I use my projector and laptop and project it on the "big screen" so all of my students can see the game board.  After a topic and point value has been selected, it changes to a darker color (very handy!)

My students sit in cooperative groups of 4 (and for 32 students, that makes 8 groups!)  We play this game as a group activity.  Each table group gets a turn.  They get to choose from four topics:  Word Work, Grammar, Comprehension, and Vocabulary.  The questions are taken from the standards that were taught from the Treasures Language Arts program, not direct questions from the story.

For example, here is a question from the Vocabulary category:

 

(The white bar across the top is the answer - this doesn't flash on the screen until you push the arrow key.)

I usually put the question on the board, have each group "put their heads together" and discuss the possible answer.  It's so great to see them working together in this way.  Usually, the answers are pretty easy to figure out, but every once in a while, there will be two or three students in a group with different opinions on the answer, so they have to work it out until everyone agrees.  Then, I choose one person from the group to give the answer.  If they win, they earn as many points as the question was worth.  It usually takes us about 30 minutes to get through a game, but they LOVE it. 

When it gets down to the last four questions, I will usually have "The Lightning Round", and choose one volunteer from each of the four highest scoring teams.  Then, those three students compete against each other for the overall team winner (which in my class equals a Super Star ticket, and moving up to PURPLE, or Super Star Status, on our classroom chart!)  

It's a fantastic FREE resource, and the PowerPoints can all be edited to meet the needs of your class! 

Thank you, Mrs. Ziruolo!