Literacy Cherries

I LOVE to play board games at home, but I also enjoying using them in my classroom. In addition to encouraging cooperation, turn taking and a variety of other social skills, I find I can often use the games to work on math and literacy skills. So, every Friday, I am going to post a Friday Game Night post, giving tips on how to use a particular board game in your classroom. Here’s this week’s Friday Game Night Tip:

Hi Ho Cherry-O!– Part 2 (Literacy)

I often see Hi Ho Cherry-O played in Preschool and Kindergarten classrooms to work counting, colors and turn taking. Here are some adaptions to use this preschool game in the elementary school classroom, and touch on some literacy standards too! For each adaptation, you will need to write a digit (0-9) on the bottom of each cherry with a fine tipped Sharpie.

1. How Many Words are in Your Sentence – Do you ever struggle trying to get your kids out of those “I like pizza.” 3 word sentences?  Play Hi Ho Cherrios (with the numbered cherries) and have students write one sentence for each cherry they have.  The sentence must have the same number of words as the number on the cherry.  This is also a great time to talk about using sentences of different length within a paragraph – to build up interest.

2. Rhyming Words – Working on rhyming?  Before each round, give students a word.  Then during their turn, they will collect and add up their cherries, however may “points” they earn tells them how many rhyming words they need to come up with for that original word given before the round began. 

3. Syllable Words – Build critical thinking while working on syllables.  Once students have a conceptual understanding of syllables, play Hi Ho Cherrios (with the numbered cherries) and tell students in order to keep the cherry they win, they must come up with a word that has that many syllables.  (ie. If the cherry they win has a 4, they must come up with a 4 syllable words like ‘impossible’).

 

I hope some of the ideas will help you use Hi Ho Cherry O! in a new, different way. Find more ways to use board games in your room by clicking HERE. Keep playing games and watching your students learn.