Showdown helps students compare their knowledge and can also be used before a test. Place students into groups of three to five. Each student should have his own pen and paper. When you ask students a review question, they can write their answers secretly on their papers and flip them over so that no one else in their group sees. Next, say, "1, 2, 3 Showdown!" The students should flip over their papers and compare answers. If there are discrepancies, students can discuss what the correct answer should be. To make it more competitive, groups can compete with each other to see how many rounds they are able to go with each group member having the correct answer.
Toss-A-Question allows students in groups to challenge other groups. Each group should think of a question from the current unit of study and write it on a sheet of paper. One member of the group crumples up the paper into a ball and tosses it to another group. That group answers the question on another sheet of paper and play continues until a group has its original question back and every group has answered every question. Discuss answers with the class. The group with the most correct answers is the winner.
Rally table asks students to quickly write down as much as they know about one topic. Assign each student a partner and give each pair a piece of paper. The partners should use different-colored pens. Give the students a prompt, such as "the types of mammals" and have the partners pass the paper back and forth. Each time a student gets the paper, he can write down an answer to the prompt. Play continues back and forth until one student cannot think of any more answers. If the other student can think of more, he can write them down. At the end of the game, count up how many answers each student had in each pair to determine which student is the winner.
In groups of three to five, students can play a game of Fact or Fiction. As a group, they should think of two facts from the current unit of study and one believable made up fact that relates to the unit. Groups can pass their questions to other groups. When a group has another group's prompt, they can determine which they think is the piece of fiction. Whichever group is able to trick the most students in the winner.