SPONGE Activity 

Sponge activities are management strategies that can serve various purposes. 

For example…

  •  At the beginning of the school year, it will be important to establish a sense of community, to foster positive relationships, and to personally connect with your students. 
     
  • Sponge activities are useful for those times when you have an unexpected block of time to fill, but not enough time for instruction (waiting to be called for pictures, after a fire drill…)
     
  • When a new student joins your class, energizers help break the ice and encourage cooperation among all students.
  • Group problems sometimes arise and interfere with the teaching and learning process. What strategies can help you defuse situations while building esteem and fostering effective communication among students?

  

Telephone Pictionary

How to play:

  1. Before the game, create a booklet out of small squares (the number depends on the class). A stack of square papers can also be used.
  2. Every player takes a paper booklet and writes a sentence on the first page, such as "It's the end of the world." Then every player passes the booklet to their left.
  3. The next person reads the sentence to themselves and folds the paper over and draws a picture of the sentence on the next page.
  4. The papers are again passed to the left. The next receiving person examines the picture and flips it over and writes a sentence describing it on the next page.
  5. This process continues until the students get their own paper back.

Purpose:

            This game is an excellent way to fill an unexpected block of time and build community in the classroom. It forces students to analyze pictures or visually represent a sentence. It can be modified to a specific subject by giving children certain criteria for their sentences.

Student Objective:

TSWBAT analyze a picture to identify meaning using Telephone Pictionary.

TSWBAT represent a sentence visually using Telephone Pictionary.

Citations:

https://www.mbinde.com/games/telephone-pictionary/