Age group: K-4

Number of students recommended: 25

Subjects/skills learned: General, Vocabulary, Spelling, Grammar,  Literature,

Object of the game: Testing current knowledge of the English language at different level of difficulty!

Setup: Write on the first tire of the first row, the type of question (example: spelling) and then put the numbers 5, 10, 20, 50 on the following tires in the same column. Repeat this step for each columns of tires, changing the subject to test.  The numbers (5 through 50) correspond to the skill level of the question being asked. Divide the class into two teams, and have each team line up facing the row of functions.

Game Play: The teacher first flips a coin to decide which team will start. The first student from the first team will pick a column (Grammar) and a level of difficulty (5, the easiest). The teacher will ask a question corresponding the level of difficulty (for example, for a grade 3 student an easy question could be ‘ what is the synonym for hard” ). If the student answers it correctly (for example: easy) , he/she goes and sits on the correct tire and remains there for the duration of the game. If answers incorrectly, the child will go to the back of their team’s line and they can play again. At this point, the first student of the other team gets a chance to answer the same question correctly. If no one answers correctly, no one is awarded the points and the teacher announces the correct answer.

The teachers goes back and forth between the teams to ask questions until all the questions for each tires have been asked.

Game Conclusion: Once the questions have all been asked, the teams add up their players (for example, if sitting on a 10 tire and a 5 tire – team gets 15 points). The team with the largest number of points win.

Examples: The subject for the row is spelling. The students chooses the hardest number, 50, the teacher ask a student to spell ‘university’, and the student spells it correctly. Since it is correct, the student goes and sits on the tire.

Tips and Variations:

• Put smaller number on the tires (1,2,3,4) for the younger students, so at the end of the game it is easier to add together.
• Adapt for one spelling only, instead of putting the type of question on the first row of tires, add another number to the row (for example, 5, 10, 30, 50, 100). Then just have a list five questions for each level of difficulty.