The Flyswatter Game

Anyone who is a teacher has most definitely heard “what are we doing today?” and “this is boring.” Let’s face it…a majority of kids would rather be doing something else for six and a half hours a day.  Unfortunately for teachers, standards have increased and more is expected of both teachers and students.  We all know kids love playing games, and I have a fun and easy (yes, I said EASY) game to help students with vocabulary.

I teach US History to students with learning disabilities in reading and writing, and many are also diagnosed with ADHD.  Words do not come easy to them, especially social studies words.  However, I need to prep them to pass the New York State Regents Exam which is essentially one big vocab test.  I work from a list of 100 words.  I know this sounds like a lot, but I break it down to 20 words every 6 weeks.  We do vocab review every.single.class.  My students must get sick of my voice repeating the same words over and over.  The Flyswatter Game, as we call it at my school, is a favorite for everyone and really helps kids learn necessary definitions.

Materials:

2 fly swatters

white board/chalkboard with markers/chalk

Directions:

1. Write the vocab words scattered around the whole board.

2. Break class into two teams.

3. Call one student up from each team with backs to the board.

4. Call out a definition.  Once the definition is said, the students can turn around, find the word, and swat it. That team earns a point.  Continue until you are ready to end the game.

Suggestions/Variations

1. I like to use different colors on the board since it is more eye appealing to students. I will also use colors that go with holidays or use our school colors on big football/basketball game days.

2. I think circling the words makes it easier for students to pinpoint the actual words.  This is especially helpful for students with disabilities.

3. If your students are not very familiar with the words, you can erase the word once swatted.

4. Sometimes, my classes do not like to be on teams or we might be short on time.  If this is the case, I play “King of the Hill Flyswatter.” I call two people up, and the winner stays up until he/she loses.

5. One year I had a class that played boys against girls for the entire year.  It was no Duke/UNC rivalry, but it made for some friendly trash-talking.

6. If one team is winning by a significant amount I will randomly choose a point value for a word.  For example, if a team is winning by 11 points I might make the next word worth 12 points.  This helps both teams stay involved in the game until the end.

7. In US History we play President Swat too from time to time.  I put pictures of different Presidents on the board, and they swat the President during a particular event that I call.

That’s it…I told you it was easy.  Now do yourself and your students a favor and get swatting!