Ball Toss Boogie

Purpose

Students respond to a question or text, collaborate with friends, and justify answers by throwing and catching a ball.

Materials

• Prepared question, concept, or visual related to content
• Beach ball or crushed piece of paper to throw

Instructions

1. Organize students into a large circle or small circles of 5-6.
2. Pose a question, present a concept, or display a visual and ask:
   • What is one thing you learned today about _____?
   • What words are associated with _____?
   • What is one thing you remember from yesterday about _____?
   • If this visual could talk, what would it say?
3. Point to a student and toss the ball.
4. Student catches the ball, offers a response, then points to another student and tosses them the ball.
5. Continue pointing, tossing, and talking until every student in the circle has responded.
6. Observe students’ thinking and clarify/verify as appropriate.

Classroom Management

• Role-play appropriate and inappropriate ball tossing to clarify behavior expectations.
• Ask students to echo your instructions for “Point! Toss! Talk!” with hand motions to show they understand the instructions.
• Consider using a crushed piece of paper as the ball for each group to minimize preparation time and promote appropriate throwing.

Differentiation

• Promote access by previewing the question and using response/thinking stems.
• Promote response support by encouraging students to develop a quick sketch/visual response.
• Provide response support by allowing students to “phone a friend” in their group to collaborate on a response.

Think It Up!

• Have students think more deeply about the concept by responding to a Think It Up prompt as an exit ticket or journal entry:
  • Predict how this concept might be assessed on a test.
  • Make a connection among all the responses.
• Encourage students to use lead4ward’s Thinking Stems (English/Spanish) to frame their responses, if needed.