Hello teachers. I was hoping we could start a collection of lesson plans, whether they are written by us or not. I think it's a great idea to share no matter what age or subject you teach, because great ideas can always be manipulated to fit another classroom. Thus, this post will serve as a directory to various lesson plans. I'll provide a link to each post containing a unique lesson idea that you share.

If you get your idea from another website, please give credit where it is due!

Table of Contents:

1. Scavenger Hunt
2. History of YOU
3. Classroom Mix and Match
4. Will the Winner Lose?

Systems Scavenger Hunt

Although I've seen this idea used in several locations and in several workshops, you can see a fully developed lesson plan here.  More specifically, the pages I used were 16-22.  Don't worry... there are only so many pages because of the graphics used for the lesson.  LOL

So the idea of such an activity is to create a loop of questions and answers. A question and answer are on each sheet of paper, but the couples are not matched. For example, I might have sheets set up like this:

Page A: Question 1, Answer to Question 2
Page B: Question 2, Answer to Question 3
Page C: Question 3, Answer to Question 4
Page D:  Question 4, Answer to Question 1

Obviously, you can have as many questions as you'd like, but I limited the example to 4 for simplicity's sake.

You hang each one of these sheets somewhere around your classroom, but they should NOT be numbered.  The idea is that a student can start on ANY problem and work their way through the problems in the correct order.  For example, if a student started on question 3 in my example, they'd work the problem out and get the answer to question 3.  Of course, that's not listed on Page C. It's listed on Page B.  The student would glance around the room and try to find the matching answer, which should lead them to Page B. 

Once there, they'd be working question 2 (ignoring the answer to question 3 below it.)  They'd get the answer to question 2, and look around the room... finding it on page A.  Then the student would move to page A and work question 1.  They'd find the answer and look around the room, which would lead them to Page D.  Then they'd work question 4, and it'd lead them back to Page C.

Sorry if it's confusing to explain, but if you glance between my explanations and the list of the pages, hopefully it will make sense.  

Essentially, if a student makes a mistake, they will end up on a page twice without completing all 4 problems, and they will know they've done something wrong, allowing them to backtrack and find that mistake.

At first, these are a little annoying to set up.  You want your questions and answers to make a full 'loop', and you also want to quickly assess your students answers.  Thus, I suggest the following:

1.  Design your questions and answers on an answer sheet first.

2.  Label on your answer sheet, the questions and answers as I have in the example above.  Basically, 'off-setting' the numbered answers and questions.  (Add '1' to each question's number and assign the resulting number to be on the same page.  Then when you get to the last question, assign it the answer belonging to the first question.)

3. RANDOMLY assign each page set a letter.  Don't put it in order like I did, because students will figure this out too easily.  I'd suggest something more scrambled like: 
Page D: Question 1, Answer to Question 2
Page B: Question 2, Answer to Question 3
Page A: Question 3, Answer to Question 4
Page C:  Question 4, Answer to Question 1

4.  Then place each problem and answer on its own sheet of paper.  Label them with the letter you assigned. The students, as they work their way around the room, should write down the letters of each page they went to... in the order they went to them.  Then, checking their answers is extremely simple if you keep your answer sheet with you.

For example, your 'string' of letters would be 'DBAC'.  However, students might not start at page D. They might have started at page B. In that case, a student starting at page B should give you the string 'BACD'.  Likewise, a student starting with page A should give you the string 'ACDB'.

Hopefully this makes sense. I know it SOUNDS like a lot of complicated work, but it's surprisingly a lot simpler than it sounds.

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My reflection:

I tried this with my algebra classes and was a little nervous about it.  I let them work in pairs, and pushed all the desks into the center of the room.  They were to pick any problem to work on, and their aim was to bring me a correct string of letters by the end of the period.  It was a VERY quick and easy assessment, and the kids.... LOVED it.  I thought it would be utter chaos and that students would cheat, but they didn't!  I told them that the first person to do the whole route correctly would win a prize, and they actually took this a lot more seriously than some of my other assignments.

I'd highly recommend it for just about any topic and any age group.  I've seen it done myself in high school and in college.

(Side Note:  Just make sure your 'answers' are large enough to be visible from opposing sides of your classroom.)

History of YOU (Icebreaker projects)

Grade: 7

This is a lesson that my cooperating teacher did in the first week of class that I thought was kinda neat. As I mentioned in my article, primary sources are an important thing for history classes, and interviews are one of the common ways of getting that information... so he had the students pair off and interview each other about their lives (name, nickname, birthday, age, where they are from, what elementary school they went to, a bit about their family, favorite subject, area of history they like most, interesting fact about them). Then the teams must present their findings to the class.

It was a good way to help students get to know each other and for the teacher to get more than physical descriptions to help learning students' names... and in seventh grade, which is often the first year of junior high, I think it is a great way to help them transition into a new setting.

Alternate method of doing this, which might be good in a class that has a few kids that are not good in groups, is to do this as an individual timeline project. Have the students do a timeline of major events in their life until this point and present it to the class on their own. This is also a good project to reinforce the idea of chronological progression and how to use a timeline since gods know that seventh graders are horrible at getting this concept.

You can also chose to do both projects since they are different enough and promote different concepts. Just saying.

Singelli :

I find this really interesting. I want to teach history. Last semester I was student teaching, and my cooperating teacher had a similar idea that we worked on and used in class. We used it as a review tool leading to a Great Depression and start of World War 2 test. 

We gave half the class either a date of a significant person's name, and then the other half of the class either got an event or a fact about that person. The students then had to match up the date or the person's name with the event or fact about that person. They then had to present their match to the rest of the class, and we gave all of the students a handout with all of the correct matches. It was an interesting way to see the students interact and test their critical thinking skills with one another. 

I'm not completely certain where my cooperating teacher got his idea from, however, he said he got it from a workbook he got a teacher's convention over the summer. If anyone is interested in more I could e-mail him for more specifics. 

I really like the idea and would want to use it when I get a classroom of my own. 

I always struggle to find interesting things to do with my kids in their math classes. Kids hate math anyways, and what's more redundant and disheartening than reviewing for a test?  In my search to find ways to engage my students, I came across a game called "Will the Winner Lose?"  This game can be used for ANY subject and is extremely simple to set up.  I've played it a few times with my students, and they LOVED it.  It's also an exceptionally easy task to manipulate for the needs of your classroom.

Basically, take two stacks of index cards, and on one set, write review questions. On the other set, write the most random things you can think of, be they positive or negative.  For example:
-Your team gets 200 points if each person balances someone else's shoe on their head and does five jumping jacks
-Your team gets 50 points if you can all collectively and successfully dance the Macarena
-Your team loses 100 points
-Take an extra turn
-Sit and quack like a duck, flapping your arms for thirty seconds, and the opposing team will lose 20 points

The more inventive and crazy you are with this, the more fun the students are going to have. For mine, I had several common dance songs saved to my computer for easy recall on the review day.

To play the game, students must be broken into two groups. The first team to play will draw from the question stack, and if the student (or team, depending on how you want the game to work) answers correctly, he or she draws a scoring card from the other stack of cards. Instructions on the card are then followed.  Drawing a card does NOT necessarily mean points will be gained, so kids are constantly on their toes. Of course, I'd probably make sure there were more positive cards, than negative ones.

If the student answer incorrectly, the other team has the right to 'steal' the question.  If that student gets the question correctly, they draw a scoring card, follow the instructions, and then it is their team's turn to draw another question.


This game really kept my kids on their toes, and they always ask if they can play it.  It's versatile and GREAT for quick and easy assessment.  Another thing to consider:  I told my students that they would only get credit for the activity if every student in their group wrote down every problem and solution. In this way, they had something written down to take home and study as well.