Ask your fifth graders to write their own short stories (one to two paragraphs in length). Collect the stories and redistribute them. Ask students to critique a classmate's story and provide feedback. Collect and redistribute the stories again. Ask students to revise the story they get based on the feedback and to make some minor changes. For example, ask students to replace five verbs with new ones. Repeat this several times, asking students to replace something else each round. Collect the short stories and read them one by one to the class and at the end ask the class if they can guess the original author. The story will have changed throughout the revision process, possibly leaving its original author guessing too.
This activity helps students to develop their writing, learn to critique and give feedback and change their interpretation based on new information.
Have your students play a game requiring listening and communication skills while assembling something or completing a task. Create assembly instructions (the object assembled can be as simple as something made from a Lego set) or instructions for completing a new task. Or in lieu of written instructions, provide a picture of a completed project and have students create their own instructions from the picture. Pair students up and define their roles. One will silently read the instructions or look at the picture and communicate instructions in her own words, while the other will listen to and carry out the instructions.
This game helps students to practice their communication skills, listening skills and logic.
Create a game where students spell words with letters they draw from a bowl. Create sets of cards (52-78 cards) that are two by two inches and have individual letters of the alphabet on them. A set should have two of each consonant and four or more of each vowel. Divide students into groups. Place one set in a bowl in the middle of each group. Ask students to draw seven cards each to begin the game. Students will use the letters they receive to make words. They will earn one point for each letter used (the words allowed can be limited to words from their spelling list or to words 5-7 letters long). When they have formed a word, they will lay down the cards and record the points earned. If a student cannot form a word or wants to make a longer word, she can use her turn to fish for a new letter. The player with the most points when the cards run out wins the game.
This game helps students learn to spell words correctly.
Write root words and prefixes and suffixes on cards to create a memory game. Memory pairs will consist of root words and a prefix or suffix. Students will overturn the cards, flipping two over each turn, trying to make a match. Matches are collected by the player. At the end of the game, the player with the most pairs wins. The number of root word cards should be equal to the total number of prefix and suffix cards in the game, but students will be able to create a variety of pairs, any that together form a word, and will perhaps form some you did not anticipate.
This game helps students to learn root words and prefixes and suffixes.
Write statements or relationships that can be represented using a graph or chart on index cards and place the index cards in a hat or bowl. For example, a card could say that "5 percent of kids do not like cake." Select a student to begin the game. The student will pull an index card out of the hat or bowl, draw a chart or graph on the board and label it to visually communicate what was written on the card. The first student to guess the statement or relationship gets to draw the next one.
This game helps students to understand visual representations.