3 Fun ELA Review Games You Can Use With Almost Any Lesson

What if some of the best activities for your ELA classroom are hiding inside resources you've never thought to open?

In this episode of the Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast, Caitlin and Pat are kicking off a brand-new series: Hidden Gems of EB.

They're digging through larger EB units to uncover games, activities, and lessons that can stand completely on their own. And even if you're not an EB teacher, you can still use these ideas because Caitlin and Pat walk you through exactly how each one works.

First up: three simple ELA games you can adapt for different texts, vocabulary words, and skills throughout the year.

Grab some sticky notes, painter's tape, and maybe a clean fly swatter because these are games you can actually use.

HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

1. Turn story review into a little friendly competition with Connect Three.

Connect Three originally comes from EB's "All Summer in a Day" unit, but you can use it to review almost any text.

Split your class into two teams, draw a 5 x 5 grid on the board, and give each team a different color of sticky notes. Teams answer review questions to earn the chance to place a sticky note on the grid, trying to get three in a row while blocking the other team.

Once students know how to play, you can bring it back throughout the year with completely different questions.

2. Make vocabulary review more active with Word Toss.

Word Toss combines vocabulary practice with the energy of a basketball game.

Students work in teams to identify vocabulary words based on definitions, synonyms, or antonyms. Correct answers earn a chance to "shoot" a crumpled piece of paper or lightweight ball into a trash can from different point lines.

Then, wrap up the game with a quick individual check so you can see what students actually know after all that excitement.

3. Use Conflict Knockout for much more than conflict.

In Conflict Knockout, students listen to a short scenario and race to identify whether it represents person versus person, person versus self, person versus nature, or person versus society.

But the game format doesn't have to stop there.

Once students know the rules, you can adapt the same setup for figurative language, point of view, sentence types, parts of speech, or almost any skill that asks students to identify or categorize something.

That's what makes these games true hidden gems: you can pull them out of their original units and reuse them again and again.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Connect Three from the "All Summer in a Day" Short Story Unit
• Word Toss from Vocabulary Games for Any Words and the "Ghost" Novel Unit
• Conflict Knockout from the "Amigo Brothers" Short Story Unit
• "Blackout at the Dome" Community Builder
• Presentation Expectation Posters
• "The Lightning Thief" Novel Unit
• EB Teachers ELA Portal
• EB Teacher Community

MORE FROM EB ACADEMICS

At EB Academics, we help middle school ELA teachers create engaging, rigorous classrooms without spending every evening and weekend planning.

Inside the EB Teachers ELA Portal, you'll find ready-to-use reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, novel, and short story resources. And as this Hidden Gems series proves, many of those resources include flexible activities you can pull out and use far beyond the unit they were originally created for.

Visit ebteacher.com/portal to learn more about the EB Teachers ELA Portal.

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If you found a game you're ready to try, make sure you're subscribed to the Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast because the Hidden Gems of EB series is just getting started.

Next up, Caitlin and Pat are digging into hidden hook lessons that can help do some of the heavy lifting when you're launching a new unit.

And if you're enjoying the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a quick review. Your review helps more middle school ELA teachers discover practical ideas they can bring straight into their classrooms.

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