Serendipity--The Fun, Fast Review Game That My Kids Can't Get Enough Of

Over the past six years, I have tried every game you can find on the Internet to help my students review--Jeopardy, Grudgeball, Trashketball--you name it, I've tried it. But with every game I tried, I found some flaw or another that made it less than ideal. Kids didn't care much for Jeopardy, Grudgeball and Trashketball had a lot of instructional time wasted on side activities...there was always something.

And that's when I came up with the idea for Serendipity.

Serendipity is easy, fun, fast, and engaging. All it requires from you are review questions and a die (or, even better, one die for each group. I get mine here). I find the kids enjoy it more if there is also an individual whiteboard for each group, though students can write their answers on a sheet of paper as an alternative. The rules are simple:

1. I put a question on my projector, and all groups answer it on their whiteboards. Once a group has answered, they raise their hand and I come and check it.

2. If the answer is right, the kids roll their die. Whatever comes up is how many points they get for that question. (On many questions, I give kids the option of writing down an explanation for why their answer is correct, and if the explanation is correct, that group gets double whatever their roll was.)

3. Once all the groups have answered or a reasonable amount of time has passed, we move on to the next question.

It's as simple as that!

My kids working together to answer a question.

My kids uniformly LOVE this game. They ask for it every day. I couldn't tell you why, though I think it has something to do with the element of chance and the fact that they can never predict who the winner will be--the table that gets every question right may still roll a one every round, while the table that only answered two questions correctly may get double sixes both times. It's always thrilling for them to see a five or a six pop up after they've answered correctly!

After several years of playing this game, I have come up with the following tips and tricks that help it to run smoothly and efficiently:

1. I like to give each table their own die and a box lid to roll at their table. That way, students are not running from table to table passing on their die.

2. I require students to switch writers every question, so that even the most unmotivated student (although these are rare in this game) has to be participating at least one question out of every four.

3. I allow students to go write their own scores on the board. It provides practice in honesty, responsibility, and math. Any student who does not write their score honestly (and the kids will definitely let you know when this has happened), loses the right to go write the score. It's a definite incentive to practice integrity.

I hope your kids love this game as much as I have! 

Cheers,