Monday, October 29, 2012

Guess Who?

I haven't posted in a month so I think it is super ironic that this post is entitled "Guess Who?"  But the title has nothing to do with my lack of blogging.  (Although I am hoping you all remember me!)

Here is the true meaning of the title:

My students are working on their questioning skills so I pulled out one of my favorite activities to help with this:

Guess Who?


I bought this game at a garage sale for 50 cents a few years ago.  I hadn't played the game before, but I figured it would be worth at least 50 cents in my classroom.  Well, it has been worth quite a bit more than that!!  The price of the game is $18 at Target.  I am not sure I would pay that much, but many of you may have this game tucked away in a closet at home.

We play this game during our station rotation.  Here are the rules we use:

Guess Who?  A Game of Logic
1) Adult secretly picks a yellow card.
2) Children take turns asking yes/no questions to determine who the mystery person is.  Example: Is it a woman?  Does she have red hair?)
3) The adult answers each question and the child asking the question gets to “slide” down all of the people who cannot be the mystery person.  (example:  If “Is it a woman?” gets a no answer, then you must slide down all of the cards that have the picture of a woman.)
4) Continue asking and answering questions in turn.  When only one card is left, that must be the mystery person!  Compare the final card to the selected yellow card and see if they match.  Of course, they do!
5)  Prep the cards for a new round.  Once the children get the hang of it, they can pick the mystery person and answer the yes/no questions.

Challenge the children to ask questions that will eliminate as many people as possible.  Example: “Does the person have a hat?” eliminates more people than “Does the person have a green hat with a feather?”

After playing this game, the children have a much better understanding of what it means to ask a question.  Hurrah!

Love to all,
Camille