I’m on a quest for one hundred percent engagement.  If our kids were more interested in what we do at school, then they will perform better in our classes.  This vocabulary game is definitely fun, and it once again takes very little prep for the teacher.  You can even have a student help organize the game and make the clue balls.  Are you ready to learn how to facilitate Love it or Chunk it?

First , you make clues about your vocabulary words.  You can do definitions, synonyms, antonyms, sentence completions, and etymology quite easily.  This is what you will read to the students for their questions.  Second, write each word largely on a sheet of colored paper or copy paper (I almost always have a student do this step).  Third, ball them up and throw them around the classroom.  Your kids will probably be more than happy to help you do this final step.

When you’re ready to play the game, split the class into two teams (you could use more if you have more clues to choose from — I recommend one team for every ten questions so if you plan on asking thirty questions, use three teams).  Have each team send one student up to the middle or front of the room.  I have a black line on my floor where students stand for games.  Read the clue and say the magic word “Go.”

Students will begin opening each crumpled ball to check the word inside.  If they’re not sure about it, they can show it to their team.  The team can say “Love it!” or “Chunk it!”  If the student agrees with his or her team that the ball contains the correct answer, then they yell “Love it!” at the teacher.  If the answer is correct, then that student gets a point for his or her team and two more students come up to face off.  If the student’s word or answer is incorrect, then the student has a thirty second wait penalty.  If the student agrees with his or her team that the answer is incorrect, then he or she may ball it back up and chunk it across the classroom.  Students can also get penalties for picking up more than one ball at a time.

Students love this game because it involves movement, and it is a competition.  Kinesthetic learners in particular need to get up and do things.  Movement helps them focus!  Why not use a game that makes them think and move?

Love It or Chunk It? can be played in any subject area for vocabulary or anything else that would require looking for pre-determined answers.  Math teachers could have students solve an equation and hide the answer in paper balls all around the room.  Geography teachers could use maps of the fifty states, and science teachers can use properties of a species.  There are so many ways to incorporate Love It or Chunk It? into your classroom.

I hope you Love It!

D’Lee, aka Mrs. P