Monday, February 25, 2013

Mind Soccer...Baseball Style

Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.
Rabindranath Tagore

Being a huge fan of all things baseball, I set out to change up Mind Soccer just a bit. As fun as mind soccer is, once Spring Training begins, so does my itch for my St. Louis Cardinals. After searching to see if anyone had the same idea as I had, I came up empty handed and started on my way to making a new notebook file (I don't know how I would live without my SmartBoard). In appropriate Mind Soccer inspiration the only rule stays the same...Keep the Ref happy.

So the compilation of review questions begins, a notebook file complete, eager students ready to learn the new tweak to their much coveted game, and an eager teacher awaits the first round of Mind Baseball. The game board is a baseball field, the eraser is replaced with a base runner and a six sided die depicts the fate of the team. On the sides of the die are the following phrases: single, double, triple, home run, single out, and all runners out. Students roll the die and advance their runner, if they answer the question correct. If they get it wrong, the other team gains possession of the questions since a wrong answer is a strike out. Next player is up to base and same follows. Three strikes your out rule applies or the role of the disastrous 'all out' changes the team up to bat. Runs scored are calculated with runners run across home. Runners stranded are, we'll, OUT.

Now here is where it gets interesting. While a team is up to bat, if they miss a question and the other team takes possession of the questions, any question the get correct, turns into an out for the team who is up to bat. Once 3 outs are accumulated the teams switch from fielding to batting. And the game continues until time runs out. Since this is a notebook file, each day the students continue to play until the teams play 9 innings (or less, your choice of course).

This is a game we are still in 'Spring Training'. Once we have a few practice rounds, I will post a video to show the fun!

2 comments:

  1. I love this! I'm a big baseball fan, too! Did you create the die in your notebook software?

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  2. Ms. Sheehan,
    Yes I did! Using an interactive die, you are able to edit the faces to the text that you wish to use. I simply searched for dice in the search menu and then inserted the one that I have. Let me know if you have any other questions. I also use these die for comprehension activities, math, and so much more!

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