Crash Card Connections
Purpose
Students crash vocabulary and visual cards down into stacks, communicating connections.
Materials
Set of visual and vocabulary cards per group
Instructions
- Organize students into groups of three or four.
- Provide each group with a set of 10-20 cards containing visuals and vocabulary words (or ask students to create the card set using sticky notes or index cards).
- Distribute cards so that each student has a set.
- Leave the last 2 cards face up in the center of the table as the “discard” decks.
- At the teacher’s signal, students take turns (in random order) “crashing” cards down onto the 2 “discard” decks, stating the connection their card has to the last card played (similar to the game “Slap Jack” with playing cards).
- Students continue “crashing” cards and stating connections until every card is played.
- Teacher sees and hears students connections and clarifies/verifies as appropriate.
Classroom Management
Role play appropriate/inappropriate card “crashing” and how to communicate the connections.
Differentiation
Promote access by encouraging students to use journals/notes, assigning a specific set of cards that students preview with a supportive peer/adult, playing the game with one supportive partner instead of 3-4, and/or adjusting the pace of the game.
Think It Up!
Choose a Think It Up question as an exit ticket or a journal entry as evidence of learning.
Encourage students to use lead4ward’s Thinking Stems or Spanish Thinking Stems to frame responses.
- Pick up two random cards and compare/contrast how these two concepts are similar and different.
- Select a word card and create/develop a visual for that card.
