Have a Snowball Fight

WHAT IS SCIENCE : This is a dandy agency to review a topic, generate ideas or thoughts, blueprint futurity exam questions together with respond them, recap at the terminate of a lesson, laid upward for an upcoming exam or quiz, purpose every bit a pre-writing strategy to acquire students' creative juices flowing, together with and hence much more!

Here's what you lot need:

• scratch/trash newspaper (seriously...dig it out of your recycling bin, salve the scraps that typically acquire thrown out throughout the twelvemonth together with lay them to use!  Just brand certain that at to the lowest degree i side of the newspaper is blank.)
• Time (this activeness tin final every bit long every bit you lot tin stand upward it.  It volition definitely force you lot to your limits, but the students volition honey it together with you lot volition honey to listen together with run into the lengthy listing of ideas that are generated.)

It's a dandy strategy for English linguistic communication Language Learners together with classes of varying abilities because it gives them exposure to some ideas together with sentences that they may non receive got thought of on their own.  And because all of the responses together with writing are done completely anonymously, the added pressure level of existence judged for your responses or non knowing is taken away.  

Here's what you lot do:

• If you lot are using this activeness for exam prep, review or recapping a lesson, you lot tin either laissez passer on the students a topic together with tell them to write downwards i factual argument they know almost that topic, respond a inquiry that could receive got multiple right answers (it's best to avoid questions that solely receive got i right respond for this activity), or receive got the students write downwards i inquiry that their classmates should hold upward able to respond for the upcoming assessment or past times the terminate of the lesson.
• When students are done, instruct them to crumple upward the slice of newspaper into a "snowball".  I commonly tell them to stand upward quietly amongst their snowball until all of the classmates are ready.  (This gives me an slow visual of who is all the same writing/working.)  Once everyone is standing, I yell "Snowball Fight!"
• Students are solely allowed to throw i time.  Then, they must selection upward a snowball that landed close them.  If at that spot isn't i nearby, they must become observe one.  
• They opened upward up the snowball they picked upward together with read what was previously written.  It is of import to stress that students are NOT to brand fun of the responses or writing that was done earlier them.  This activeness is intended to hold upward done anonymously, together with every endeavor should hold upward made to hold it that way.  If an wrong response is discovered on the snowball a educatee picks up, he/she should betoken it out to the flat (kindly), together with hence that everyone tin larn from the mistake.  (I typically randomly telephone band on almost v students subsequently each throw to approximate how the activeness is going together with verbalise over whatsoever of import comments/questions that were made.  I too allow for students to read the snowballs they picked upward if they experience it is a dandy thought that needs to hold upward shared or a misconception that needs to hold upward addressed.)
• At this point, depending on the agency you've decided to purpose this activity, you lot may wishing to receive got students add together a NEW idea/statement to the newspaper snowball they receive got or respond the inquiry together with add together a novel one.  This allows students to portion ideas together with hit upon the ideas of their classmates.  As the activeness continues, it forces them to start thinking to a greater extent than deeply (as they are non allowed to re-create the ideas of the people earlier them - they must come upward up amongst a NEW thought or i that hasn't been shared amongst the remainder of the class.)  

If a educatee doesn't write downwards an appropriate response the kickoff time, it's okay.  Hopefully a classmate volition pick out grip of the error together with respectfully convey upward the misconception that needs to hold upward addressed.  Then, you lot displace on together with receive got a 2nd run a jeopardy at existence successful on the side past times side turn.   And worst illustration scenario, the educatee that is struggling may terminate upward piggy-backing on the thought of the someone earlier them.  For struggling learners, this inward itself is an accomplishment together with a pace inward the right direction, together with hence exactly become amongst it!

Some ideas for how to purpose it:

• Give students an opened upward ended prompt, similar "Write downwards i affair that relates to the movements of the Earth.", "Write downwards i affair that relates to the displace of the Moon."  (Having such a wide topic is skillful because it allows the students to observe at to the lowest degree i affair they know almost that topic.)  As the snowball struggle progresses, they may add together to the listing of facts they know, exactly past times reading the responses of their classmates.   In the illustration of these two prompts, students mightiness terminate upward writing about:
• seasons (caused past times the disceptation together with revolution of the Earth)
• night together with solar daytime (caused past times the public rotating on its axis)
• moon phases (caused past times the relative positions of the Sun, public together with moon)
• the length of fourth dimension diverse movements receive got (365.25 days for the public to revolve around the Sun, almost 1 calendar month for the Moon to revolve around the Earth, almost 1 calendar week from the novel Moon to the kickoff quarter moon, almost three months from i flavour to the next, almost 24 hours for the public to rotate on its axis, etc...)

The listing of details that students may generate are almost endless.  Your students volition in all probability start off amongst the "big picture" ideas, but every bit the activeness continues, challenge them to recollect to a greater extent than deeply together with to start getting into the smaller details of the topic you lot receive got presented them with.