Summer Reading School Visits: A Silly Game

I find 4th through 6th graders a hard group to entertain for 30 minutes or more.  Yet, this year I was bestowed with this task for a few classes while also promoting summer reading.  Once again, I brought along my silly game to share summer reading program information while also challenging the students to think. 

After a short introduction about me, my library, and the summer reading program, I then I broke the class up into two groups (usually down the middle of the room).  I asked the teacher to choose one student from each group to be my scorekeeper. I kept score by giving each scorekeeper a card from a handy-dandy deck of cards (left over from summer reading a few years back).  Each time their group won a challenge or answered a trivia question the scorekeeper got a card.  At the end of our class time we would add up the face values of the cards and the group with the highest count won the game.  This added a fun random element to the game.  Not every group who answered the most questions had the highest value in cards. 

To play the game, I would pick random students from each group to pick a card from a stack of index cards containing a trivia question or a silly challenge written on it. The card would have a summer event for me to describe followed by a question or challenge.

Here is a sampling of the trivia questions and silly challenges I presented to the students:

The theme for this year's summer reading program is "Libraries Rock!"  Name ten musical instruments.  

What is the official start date of the summer reading program?  What is the first day you can start receiving prizes?

One week in June we are having a Blanket Fort Night event (nothing to do with the Fort Night video game).  Build a miniature fort with a piece of cloth, craft sticks, and pipe cleaners in the time allotted.  

You can earn points by posting two types of books reviews.  What are these two types?  (A written review is worth 25 points and a picture/video review is worth 50 points.)

There are six badges you can earn by completing activities.  Each activity is worth how many points?  (25 points)

One week in July there will be a Lego Mindstorm event.  Build a robot with your bag of Legos.  

How many points do the children of city need to earn for an ice cream party?

How many points do you need to receive a virtual ticket into the grand prize drawing at the end of summer?

One week in July we will be creating with Roominate Village kits.  Build the tallest structure with the Straw Connectors in your bag.  

How many points do you need to get your free book and other goodies?

In July there will be five sessions of Paint to Learn at the library.  Use the Playdough to create the most imaginative animal.  

One week in August we will be playing with Cubelets, a mini robotic toy that are made up of a bunch of small cubes.  Make a rectangle out of Pentominoe pieces.  

One week in August there will be a Minecraft Build Competition.  Ask several Minecraft trivia questions found at FunTrivia.Com.  

REFLECTION:  This game is an easy way to fill up time while still giving out information.  It can get a little chaotic, but mostly runs smoothly.