I love board games. It brings me great JOY to get my students excited about a new game
too!
Recently I discovered a game called "Hit or Miss" and I think it has
great potential for use in the classroom (or played as a family!)
I find
this game particularly useful for my friends who are English Learners, but I
think most kids in fifth grade or older would have fun playing. The game helps
students practice language skills and categorization. It looks like
this...
You can click on the box to link to Amazon,
although neither the Gamewright people or Amazon are considered in this
review--and I am sure that the game can be found at other places too. Still, this game is already a KEEPER in my room.
You will notice the word "Adult" in the
lower left hand corner. Next to that it says "Ages 10 and up." That had me
confused (especially being an adult who often behaves like a ten year old). If
you are playing this game with children, you definitely need to
take out a
few cards, which might, perhaps, start a discussion that you don't want
to occur. There are a few cards in particular that I feel are potentially
problematic). In fact, depending on your students, you will need to select some
cards and omit some others to have a collection that is appropriate for use with
your group. (Frankly, you may choose to
discard a few cards altogether.
Sometimes I wonder what the game designers were thinking!) After selecting the
cards that work for your kids, I think this has the potential to be an educational (and fun) game!
First, I am a big fan of any game that goes back into the box
easily. Just look. It could earn kudos from Jodi at Clutter-Free Classroom.
Everything has a place. Plus, for some reason, the kids are completely enamored
with the little notepads. (Do you think my own love of office supplies is
rubbing off on them?)
The game comes with
LOTS of "category" cards. As I mentioned, you will need to take out some of the
cards--for various reasons. A few are inappropriate, and others just won't work
for your group, based on prior knowledge (or in my students' situation, the lack
thereof).
For example, this
group of cards worked well with my sixth graders.
If you are having
trouble reading these cards, it is not your eyesight, it is my photography
skills. The categories pictured are:
Candy brands, Ocean animals, Musical
instruments, Things in outer space, Items used by a magician, and
Famous
superheroes. If you think your students would be able to come up with four
or more items in a category, it is a good card to use for your
group.
This next group of cards was confusing. (Again, photography
not cataracts at work).
The categories here
are:
Household appliances, Signs of spring, Things done at a wedding
reception, Bills people pay every month, Reasons for giving greeting cards
and
Problems associated with getting old. Each category caused us to
put pencils down and talk about the vocabulary associated with the category. The
next time we played, one of these categories came up. The knowing looks and
pleased smiles gave me that "Yep! I'm a teacher!" feeling.
This group
of cards left my group with blank stares. (CAMERA is getting worse, I
think)
The
categories here are:
Things in a post office, Categories of books in a
bookstore, well known statues/monuments, Things in "The Wizard of Oz," Things in
a post office, and
Tropical places. The benefit is that these cards
led to discussions that helped me get to know my kids better. And, these cards
allowed for some on-the-spot discussion. Talk about teachable moments... Not
one of my students in my small group had been in a post office, a bookstore, or
a bank, and not one had seen
The Wizard of Oz. "
Well known statues and
monuments" and
"Tropical places" were
completely unknown to
them.
And then my favorite bunch.
This group of
cards had us laughing hysterically--so loudly that one of my STUDENTS working in
another group asked us to keep our voices down. It's important that you set
ground rules. "
Things you do when you are sick" started out tame, but led
to some "off color" (colour if your name is Jen) humor, but lots of laughter
too. And, "
Things a baby does" caused giggles but, surprisingly, led to
a precious discussion including "You have a baby sister too?" and "Don't you
hate it when babies do that..." This is community-building at its best. Best
laugh: "Things with wings" was answered with "... Ummm... KFC?"
Truth:
The "
Famous Toms" card was meant to elicit names like Tom Cruise, Tom
Petty, Tom Jones, Tom Thumb... etc.--not likely to be offered by any sixth
graders I know But when one of my kids said, "Toms? Like the shoes?" I was the
one who could NOT stop laughing (Admittedly, I am not always the best role
model...)
I found this
"left over list" that was still in the box and I am sharing it so you can see a student's
thinking... We were just learning how to play and had practiced hitting AND
missing the categories.
This is how the game is played:
1) A card is
selected. The timer is turned over. Inevitably someone shouts out "Go."
2)
Students rush to write down as many items as possible that fit under that
category...
In this case the category was "
Ice cream flavors."
3) When time is up (
Inevitably someone shouts out... Time's up!), the person who started the
category rolls the dice. There are three choices: HIT, MISS and
JESTER.
4) If the dice lands on "HIT," the goal is to choose a word you
are pretty sure everyone included on their list.
In this case, the
student decided everyone would write chocolate--and seven out of seven kids
did! That's seven points!
5) If the dice lands on "MISS," the goal is to
choose a word on your list that you're pretty sure no one else selected. In this
case, the child picked "strawberrie" (heehee), being quite sure no one would
pick that flavor. He was surprised when three students HAD included strawberry!
He got four points for those students who had not included it and a look of
satisfaction from the three kids who had written strawberry on their
lists!
Here's another
example.... In another game, the category was
"Things in the sky." Most
kids wrote: airplanes, helicopters, blimps. hot air balloons, etc... but one
savvy student wrote "Moisture." EVERYONE missed that one... and he got points
for each miss!
7) If the dice lands on "Jester," the player may choose
"HIT "or "MISS" with the selection governed by how he/she felt about the
category.
8) The "real" scoring is a bit complicated. The player rolling
the dice gets points for hits or misses, but the other players can get points
too (Here I refer you to the scoring guide, because our playing time is limited
and we generally play according to "the easy rules" as described as
above).
With a little
adjustment (and strategic card selection), I think this could also be a great game
to play at home--even with younger kids.
This game doesn't seem to lead
to "bad feelings" about who did better, who is smarter, etc. because there are a
few different elements in play. Better still, kids were practicing language AND
building community. That's a big pay-off for a game that comes in a pretty
small box.
And I will always vote for any game that leads to fun and
laughter!
PS Lovely, loved friends... I
haven't forgotten about your sweet words or your oh-so-appreciated
recognition {blushing and feeling VERY humbled}. That topic is on
my tomorrow's post-list, but it is definitely on my today's
appreciated-list! 
