Review Series: Trasketball Tournament
This post is for those of us who are still in school for several more weeks.
Who have to survive not only May but part, almost half, of June as well with these hyped-up, ready-for-summer teenagers.
I want to roll myself into a blanket burrito and take a nap just thinking about it. 🤣
If your students are like mine, then I know at this time of year you are pulling out all of the bells and whistles to make it through the day.
To help you, I have some fun and engaging review games on the blog for you this week!
And because nobody has the mental bandwidth to be cutting things, gluing stuff, and turning your classroom into a life-sized version of The Floor is Lava game, these games are low prep and super easy to implement. (Side note: If you are turning your classroom into a massive game of The Floor is Lava, I bow to you. You are my queen, and I want to be you when I grow up!)
The first game is an oldie, but goodie…
The classic Trashketball game!
To add a little excitement to it, I turned it into a tournament.
How to Set It Up:
Have three sets of 10 questions. I like to use the quizzes from my Standards Review resource because there are 10 quizzes to choose from, Google Forms grades them for me, and it makes the game move a little faster. I use one 10-question quiz for each round.
>>ELA Unlimited members, download the resource here.
>>It’s also available on TpT. Click here to check it out.
2. Put students into eight groups.
3. Come up with match-ups for three rounds. Here is what mine looks like for the first round.
4. Grab an empty trashcan and ball up three sheets of copy paper.
5. Count about ten steps from the trashcan and place a piece of tape on the floor. This will be the line students stand behind to shoot.
How to Play:
Each group will work on the set of questions together.
For each question the team gets correct, they earn a shot at the trashcan.
Once everyone finishes their first set of questions, start the first round of the trashketball tournament.
Students can select one person from their team to shoot, or they can split the number of shots between the group members.
One group attempts all of their shots before the other team goes.
Whichever team scores the most shots wins the match-up and earns three points. If they tie, they both get one point.
Keep up with the total points won on your whiteboard.
Groups get a new question set for round two.
You will follow the same steps. The only things that are different are the match-ups and the points earned by the winning team. For round two, the winning team for each match-up earns six points. If they tie, they earn 2 points. For some reason, increasing the amount of points they can earn each round makes the activity super exciting!
If you notice that teams were making the baskets pretty easily in round one, you can move the tape line for rounds two and three. It makes it a little more challenging.
The third round is the final round. For this round, the points are tripled. The winning team earns 18 points. If they tie, they earn six points.
Add up the points earned from the three rounds. The group with the most points wins the tournament! If there is a tie, you can have a shoot-off! Give each team five shots at the trashcan. Whichever team scores the most basket is the winner. If they tie again, move your tape line back a couple of steps and give them five more shots.
Game Day Tips
Here’s What I Learned From Running This activity in my middle school classroom
1. Have a piece of paper where you keep up with how many shots each team earns. I kept this on a clipboard for easy reference while we were playing.
2. I kept up with shots attempted and made on a small whiteboard.
3. Have one student rebound the ball and get it back to the shooter. This keeps you from running all over the place.
4. Make sure everyone who is not shooting is sitting down somewhere. This will help with crowd control while you’re playing the game.
I hope this is something that provides a little engagement and helps you make it through these tough end-of-year days.
Resources to Help You
Trasketball Tournament on TpT
Ready to host your tournament? Download the slides and instructions on TpT!
ELA UNLIMITED
Love this idea? Want to go ahead and download other creative and engaging resources?
Try out ELA Unlimited! When you join, you will gain immediate access to the complete library of resources (including the review quizzes to use with the trasketball game!)
ELA Unlimited Members, click the button for instant access to the review section. You will be able to get this resource plus the other great review activites! 👇
