Grades: 1-8
Purpose: Develop vocabulary and spelling skills in a high-intensity movement environment.
Equipment: Scrabble Tiles. These can be made on the computer by typing and retyping 24-point boldfaced letters along with point values in subscript. Then copy and paste repeatedly to generate large volumes of letters. These sheets can be laminated, cut, and stored in a shoebox. Plan on approximately 20 letters per student. Alternatively scrabble tiles can be purchased at most large retail chains that carry the game. One scorecard per student should also be furnished (see page 2 for example). Finally, one hot spot per student should be furnished and will mark their homebase from where they begin and bring back letters.
Game set-up: Scatter tiles an age-appropriate distance away. The farther away the tiles are from students, the harder the workout. For Grade 1, I scatter letters 20-30 yards away. Students are given a set time (e.g., 2-3 mins.) to collect as many letters as possible to form words. (Word length should be identified ahead of time-first graders form 3-letter words while by 5th grade, students can form any length word they want and earn more points for doing so.) The more words and the more rare letters they use, the higher their score will be. At the signal, they use whatever locomotor skill is identified to race down to the tile area and search the tiles for letters they need; a limit to how many tiles they can bring back each time to their homebase should be identified (e.g., 1, 2, 3 tiles/trip). They then return with their tiles, drop them off at their homebase, and make additional trips within the time limit. At the end of the round, students form their words, record them on their scoresheets and tally their points. They can compete against each other for highest score, most words, longest word, etc. Better yet, they can try and beat their own previous scores each round; partners can work together; teams can compete too. Have students return their tiles to the tile area and begin a new round.
Created by: David Kahan, San Diego State University.
Tips: (1) Have students share scoresheets with their classroom teacher or report any consistently struggling students to the teacher. (2) Ask students to develop and share strategies before and after rounds.
Name: ___________________
Grade: _______
Reminder: Words that are 5 or more letters long are worth DOUBLE.
ROUND WORDS SCORE
1 1. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
2. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
3. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
4. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
____ Subtotal
2 1. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
2. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
3. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
4. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
____ Subtotal
3 1. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
2. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
3. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
4. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
____ Subtotal
4 1. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
2. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
3. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
4. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
____ Subtotal
_____ GRAND TOTAL