Review directions and coordinates.
Differentiated and heterogeneous memorisation.
EQUIPMENT: giant chessboard – name cards and holders – Boletus the Gnome – cloth bag (to hold prize caps) – plastic bottle caps with written coordinates (capital block letters/indelible ink) - 1 box for holding the drawn caps – coloured hoops – coloured cones – small and large soft rubber balls – small toys - sweets – coloured cards with points (15x15cm) – rubber strips (40cm) – soft toy or character that hides a prize - 1 bag of sweets or biscuits.
Main instructions for the children
Sit outside the castle behind a safe (a hoop).
Take a cap out of the bag.
Read the coordinates that are written.
Return the cap with the coordinates to me.
Stand up and find the room in the castle.
Go to get the item that is to be found in the room.
Return to your place and put what you found in the safe so that it is easy for the others to see.
A classmate with a rubber strip can ask you to give them an item from your safe (this is part of the game, so don’t protest!).
Activity details for the teacher
Ideally, the chessboard is prepared before the children arrive (the surprise element is always effective). If the class is quite small, the
children can place the various items on the chessboard squares with your help.
The following are placed on the chessboard (all 64 squares should contain an item); different sized balls, cones, coloured cards with points written on them, rubber strips and small toys (the toys are taken home by the children). Such a richly arranged chessboard is visually arresting and will arouse great curiosity and anticipation in the children. Off the board there is a soft toy and Boletus (one hides a mystery prize – the other a surprise).
The children sit on the ground outside the chessboard behind a hoop, which is their safe. The children put the items they find or acquire in the safe.
Pass each seated child, holding the bag that contains the 64 bottle caps with coordinates written on them.
Each child takes a cap out of the bag.
Each child (after having read the coordinates and returning the cap to you) goes to the indicated square and takes an item. The returned caps are kept together separately so that the same coordinates are not taken twice.
The found item goes into the safe, in such a way that each one is visible to the others. This is done to make it easy for a child with a rubber strip to see and choose what they want to take (a rubber strip entitles the holder to take items from classmates).
The children repeat turns until all of the caps have been used.
Once all the objects are off the board, each child counts their points (this is best done without the help of classmates - if a child has difficulty, you can help them. Points: cones - 2 points; small balls- 3 points; large balls - 5 points. The coloured cards have points written on them that range from 1 to 5.
The child with the highest point count is entitled to a small toy.
Selected children choose between Boletus and the soft toy, with the possibility of winning the mystery prize or a trick (a bag of sweets). The bag of sweets is divided up by the child who won it and distributed to classmates so as to console those who did less well.
Example of prize items to be placed on the chessboard are: small toys (like the ones in children’s chocolates), lollipops, little rubber bracelets, erasers, colouring pencils, small paint brushes, etc.
The children can exchange items if they wish at the end of the activity.
CLOSING CHANT: We’ve learnt a lot and have so much to tell. Now we know all about the castle, and it’s time to say farewell! 1 - 2 - 3 Goodbyeee!”.
In this game, the chessboard is transformed into something new, full of various coloured objects that charm the children and stimulate their curiosity.
Once the game activity has been explained, a ‘safe’ is given to each competitor; it represents a personal and privileged space where items are kept, reinforcing the idea that children can win what is on display.
In addition, there are game rules that make it evident that there is the possibility of being ‘robbed’ of victory (by means of the rubber strips), which has a big impact on the children.
There are children who don’t pay attention when the rules are read, and who will thus find it difficult to accept that the prize has been taken away. There are others who pay a lot of attention to what happens during the activity and remember in which safe the object they would like is located, so to take it away from a companion when the opportunity arises. There are still others who have more interest in the relationship with companions than the prize, and therefore seek to gain the item only as a means to have contact with a friend by giving it away or having it taken.
There are different types of things up for grabs: small toys, trinkets and balls, as well as things that have a symbolic value such as point cards and the strips.
Finally, there are the two ‘surprise’ objects that are hidden by/in the soft toy and Boletus; this choice stimulates the children in two important ways: curiosity mixed with doubt as to which one to pick – only the teacher knows which one contains a real prize and the one which contains a small consolation prize.
In this moment you can observe children who are prepared to take a risk and others who don’t accept the challenge for fear of losing, preferring to get points with the cardboard point cards or other children’s prizes with the strips. Each child adopts the strategy that they believe is winning for achieving the goal they have set.
This gratification of prize winning greatly increases involvement, and the children follow the game with particular enthusiasm, considerably facilitating the recognition and learning of the chessboard coordinates.
In the final part of the game, when everybody counts what they have in their own safe, some have more than they expected, while others have less; many of the
more successful will demonstrate empathy and consideration for their companions, and are ready to exchange and give away what they have obtained.
The display of the items provokes an immediate desire for children to go to them: the chessboard laid out in this fashion is psychologically a symbol of common space that can be possessed, in part by the individual, and also through winning and doing the game activity.
To finish things off, the teacher can bring up the notion of sharing, proposing an exchange of items obtained and a careful sharing of those that remain. The teacher then reveals that everyone wins a final reward (a packet of sweets).
Note: If the course starts at the beginning of the year, in some cases children will not have yet looked at numbers and letters in their normal classes; in this case, a preparatory session will be warranted.