One of the ways I love to review math content and encourage my higher students to coach/tutor the other students is to create math review games , where I form teams of mixed abilities.  One of the first games we played as a grade level this year was the B-Ball Challenge.  The original intention was to incorporate the basketball net, but time escaped us.  Still students had the ability to review multiplication and division concepts in preparation for the first benchmark test of the school year.  I chose the basketball theme since I know so many of my students love the game – as do I!  The teachers were the refs for our game, and we each wore our black and white stripes.  In addition, I brought out my voice amplifier for the real surround sound effect, and the kids were besides themselves!

Here’s how we played the game.  The highest 5 students for the grade level were given the role of coach and given a tie to wear.  All of the others students were assigned a player number for their respective teams.  Coaches could only coach students to the correct answer, but could not actually answer any questions or a foul would be called.  Coaches would also send up players for each “play.”  These players would have a set time limit to solve or answer the question on their boards.  Correct responses earned a point.  Incorrect responses could be “rebounded” if someone from their team had correctly solved the problem on their board on their “team’s bench”.  In addition, if a player did not know how to solve the problem on their board and they were on the “court,” they could ask their coach to call a “time out.”  Then the coach would be able to coach the player to help them get to the correct answer.  Coaches had up to 4 player strips for each player, 3 time-outs, and 2 rebounds, so they had to use their strips strategically.  Since all players were writing on their boards and coaches were always coaching, we had maximum participation during each play.  Teams got a point for correct responses.