(Not Your Normal) Jeopardy!

Jeopardy might be one of the long standing review games that have stood the test of time in the classroom. When I first started teaching, I was opposed to playing Jeopardy in my classroom because it's what everyone does.  I'd seen it played in which teachers named the categories based on various topics of study (i.e. "Indians", "World War I", "Russian Revolution").   Their clues were questions such as "In what year did the U.S. enter WWI?" or "Who was the President that led the United States into WWI?"  I wanted to be different. I didn't want to use the same old review game with the same old test questions (just without the multiple choice answers).  But, I found out that while many students would probably have said, "Oh, but we just played Jeopardy in math," some of my students were asking me if we could play Jeopardy in history class too.

 

Here are questions I began to ask myself:

• Should I play Jeopardy in my classroom because a handful of students have asked me (with full excitement) if we could?
• How can I use Jeopardy in my classroom in a way that will engage all kids, even those that are tired of the same old review activity?
• Is there a template that I can use?
• How can I challenge my students?
• How can I encourage kids to think creatively about the content, rather than spit out facts?

Here's what I came up with:

First, I decided that I would play Jeopardy. Second, I found a SmartNotebook template of Jeopardy, that while not perfect, is pretty good. Third, I decided to take my categories to the next level. My clues require students to use knowledge from other content areas, think outside the box, analyze images, and use what they've learned in my classroom in unique ways.

NOTE: Be sure to make it clear to the students what is expected from them in terms of their responses before you start the game.

Here are some examples of the categories that I have used, and some sample clues to go with it:


New Republic Math: Why not throw some math problems into the mix?

 

The correct response:  What is 7 (10-3)?

 

The correct response: What is 11 (2+9)? 

 

The correct response: What is 5 (2/1 +3)?

American Indians in Poetry: I use native poems that give hints about the particular tribe to get students to guess the author's native group. For the Pueblo, this is my clue:

Before and After: A traditional Jeopardy! category that requires a particular response.

The correct response would be: "What is King James Monroe?". 

The before is King James, and the after is James Monroe. 

The correct response here is "What is Alexander the Great Compromise?" 

 The correct response here is "What is John Adams Family" or "What is John Addams Family?"

 The correct response here is: "Who is Thomas Jefferson Davis?"

Rhyme Time: A traditional Jeopardy! category with a rhyming response.

 Correct response: "Who is a Tariff Sheriff?"

 Correct response: "What is an Improvement Movement?"

Correct response: "What are Harriet's Chariots?"

"SS" in Social Studies: All of the responses have a double "ss".

 

Correct Response: "Who is Ulysses S. Grant?"

Correct response: "What are Tennessee, Mississippi, and Missouri?"

Home is Where the Heart Is: Again, I've used this to have students find American Indian tribes, but it could be done for many different things! Students could guess the location, a group that lives in that location, or various other content related to specific locations. Here's what the clue looks like:

Eat this, Not that: For an American Indians unit, my students had to know the main source of food for various Indian tribes.  I used picture clues to get the students to guess which tribe I was talking about. (The main source of food for the Kwakiutl Indians is salmon and for the Lakota it's buffalo.)

Out of Place:  For these clues, I simply list 4 items and the students have to write down the one that doesn't belong with the others.

What'dya Order: For these clues, I list 3-4 items and the students have to write them down in chronological order.

Date me, Please: The answer to these clues are a particular year or date that students must know.

He said, she said: Challenging quotes actually said by famous people that the students study, but with only a simple hint as to who said it.

 

The hint here is "nurse". The correct response is "Who is Clara Barton?"

 

The hints here are "continues the attack" and "wins". 
The correct response is "Who is Ulysses S. Grant?"

"NEWS"worthy: All of the responses in this category contain at least one of the following directional words: north, east, west, or south.  The clues are intended to be headlines, and students must guess where they came from or where they are talking about. So for instance, the clue might be "Refuses to Secede with the Rest of the State; Staying in the Union". The correct response would be "What is West Virginia?"


While I don't play it often, I will play Jeopardy once or twice a semester. I like to play the theme song as students walk in the classroom so that they know what's coming. The kids love it.

What Jeopardy! categories do you use? I'd love to hear from you!