The game is called relay race and it works almost like the relay races you used to play in gym class as a kid. I arrange the kids in rows and each row represents a team. I let the teams pick out a name to represent themselves and we put the team names on the board to keep track of points. Each student has a small whiteboard and a marker. I have a set of cards with the questions or problems on them, with the same questions/card for each row. For example if I have 6 rows in my classroom, I would have 6 cards of each question.
The game starts by me putting the first question card on the first desk of each row, face down. The first person in each row is not allowed to turn the card over until I say go. When I say go, the first person in the row looks at the question and writes down all important information they need to solve on their white board, then passes the card to the person behind them. Students are told to not start working on the problem until they have passed the card to the next person in their row, so that time is not wasted. The second person in the row then proceeds to write down the information for the problem on their white board, and then pass to the third person in the row. By the time the last person in the row receives the card, everyone else in their row has seen the problem and is working on the problem. As students finish the problem, I tell them to keep their board covered so others cannot see their answer, as sharing answers results in a team penalty.
The round is over when the one of the students who is last in their row is finished and stands up. Everyone now has to put their markers down and the round is over. I then have all the students hold up their white boards and I give a point for each correct answer in their row. I keep a key for the questions on a clipboard for quick checking after each round. Points are tallied on the front board.
For the next round, the students that were last in their row now come to the front and are first in their row, everyone else moves back one seat. This assures that it is a different person who is last in the row each time, eliminating any complaints about how the slowest person is last,etc. I also do random bonus rounds which award 2X the points or 3X the points to keep things lively and to give hope to those teams that have gotten themselves really behind. There is also a punishment for sharing answers, the team loses all the current points that they have. This keeps them pretty honest.
My kids absolutely love this game and it works for a variety of topics from solving systems, to solving equations, to graphing parabolas, etc. I usually prepare about 12-16 questions, depending on the topic and that always lasts for the 50 minute class period.
Hope you enjoy!
