Board Games for the Win #SOLC

 

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Two Writing Teachers

Each month we have an early release day.  This gives students a compressed schedule (25 minute classes) so teachers can have professional development time in the afternoon.

Back in November, I decided to bring Apples to Apples Junior and Uno for my small groups (grades 6-8) to play on an early release day.  Uno was a huge hit, especially with my students who are new to the United States.  It was easy for them to pick up the rules and play.

Apples to Apples Junior became a favorite for 6th graders.  I let the "judge" sit in my rolling chair as they decided which nouns submitted best matched the adjective card they pulled.  I was secretly pleased that they were learning or reinforcing some juicy vocabulary as they played.

In January, I discovered we had the game Trouble in our basement.  I wasn't sure how it would go over with my very particular middle schoolers.  

It was magical!

When my "too cool for school" 7th grade group of boys entered the room that day, one called out, "Oh wow - throwback to elementary school!" They immediately wanted to know how to play, but one student kept adding rules.  I went along with it because what he didn't realize was that one rule was helping us win!  I swept the game with a bunch of Double Troubles and rolling 6s.  The boys were borderline sore losers, but they definitely enjoyed the competition.

Fast forward to today.  The four boys in that same 7th grade group patiently waited for two of them to complete a running record for me.  Then they jumped into their game with a mature vengeance.  There was a tiny argument about someone over-jumping their roll, but overall it was a clean game. 

I'm thrilled that some old fashioned board games are interesting to today's students (phones were barely out!).  I don't know how long the Trouble game streak will continue, but students are willing to engage in reading and writing during the other four days of the week to earn the opportunity to play a game on early release days.