For the Teacher

Overview of Grade 3, Life Science, Engagement 2

Student pairs take turns answering questions. They earn points and make guesses to try to reveal a mystery sentence.

What You Need

• The means to project this interactive for whole-class viewing
• Grade 3 Core Knowledge Science Literacy Student Readers, Life Cycles, Traits, and Variations (Students should be allowed to use the book to seek answers. Looking up information on demand is a valuable skill to practice!)
• Markers and scrap paper (one blank side) for displaying responses

Advance Preparation

• Download these instructions so you can access them apart from the game. You will need the answer key that appears at the end of the instructions.
• Preassign students to teams of two or three players before you begin.
• Label up to sixteen small squares of paper, each with one letter, starting with A. Include as many lettered papers as you have teams.
• Fold the papers. Have each team draw a paper to discover their randomly assigned team letter and the order of play.

How to Facilitate

• Beginning with the screen following this one, project the engagement in the largest format possible for whole-class viewing.
• The overall goal is to reveal all the letters in a mystery sentence. To guess letters, teams must correctly answer questions.
• Go over the rules with students before beginning. Emphasize the importance of not shouting out answers when it isn’t their turn.
• Use the Let’s Play! button to advance to the game board.
• Start with Team A. The team chooses a number.
• Selecting the tile for the team’s choice will reveal a question and start the countdown timer.
• The team writes their answer on a piece of paper and shows their answer when time is up. They must have their answer ready by the end of the timer countdown. If they are ready early, click the timer to stop the countdown.
  • Before selecting Reveal Answer, first check the team’s answer using the answer key at the end of these instructions.
  • If the team’s answer is incorrect, their turn is over without a chance to spin for points or guess letters in the mystery sentence. (However, they may have a chance to make a comeback later in the game!) Move on to the next team and give them a chance to answer the same question. Restart the timer to limit the new team’s turn.
  • If the team’s answer is correct, select the Reveal Answer button to show the correct response. Then advance to the spinner wheel.
• Spin the points wheel. The result determines how many points the team can win if they guess a letter that appears in the mystery sentence.
• Next, the team gets to guess a letter that they think appears in the mystery sentence. They win the number of points from the spinner multiplied by the number of times the letter appears in the sentence.
• Click Tally the Points to add the team’s points to the scoreboard.
• Carry on with all teams in