Learning Landscape Network

** Tip: While King of the Tire was originally designed for spelling, it can also be adapted for elementary math by simply asking students equations, for example, 4×4, instead of spelling a word.

Created by: Project H volunteer designers, in collaboration with educators in and around the San Francisco Bay Area

Last one standing is the King of the Tire!

Age group: Grades K-5, Ages 4-9

Number of students recommended: 25 students maximum

Subjects/skills learned: Spelling, basic math (Could be adapted to address other subjects such as math, history, science, geography, etc.)

Object of the game: Spell words correctly to remain standing on the tire; …more

Telling a story as a team

Age group: K-8

Number of students recommended: 25

Subjects/skills learned: General, Vocabulary, Spelling, Grammar, Literature,

Object of the game: Working as a class to created a comprehensive story.

Setup: No set up.

Game Play: Ask each of the students to sit on a tire. Starting at one end, each student makes up a sentence for a story (for example, “My dog went to the market this past Saturday”). The following student must continue the story by making up the next full sentence (for example “He wanted to buy green tomatoes for his sister”). Each of the students, …more

An active quick-fire question-and-answer game

Age group: Grades 1-4

Number of students recommended: 25

Subjects/skills learned: Any subject or combination of subjects (math, English, science….)

Object of the game: To think quickly and correctly answer questions on an individual basis.

Setup: No set up needed.

Game Play: All of the students start by sitting on the tires. The teachers call out to start, and all the students get up and move throughout the playground (similar to musical chairs). When the teachers call out stop, all the students must find a tire and sit down. Randomly the teacher chooses a row or column and ask that …more

Create a story as a class while learning language basics

Age group: Grades K-5

Number of students recommended: 20

Subjects/skills learned: Vocabulary, grammar, spelling

Object of the game: To create a story by selecting words by part of speech.

Setup: As the teacher, write a short story with twenty-five blank spaces to be filled in by the class (mark which part of speech these missing words need to be- nouns, verbs, etc). Using chalk, write a series of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs on the tires (ideally corresponding to the number of each that you need to complete your story). Have the students line up in …more

An active quick-fire question-and-answer game

Age group: Grades 1-4

Number of students recommended: 25

Subjects/skills learned: Spelling and vocabulary

Object of the game: To think quickly and correctly answer questions on an individual basis.

Setup: No set up needed.

Game Play: All of the students start by sitting on the tires. The teachers call out to start, and all the students get up and move throughout the playground (similar to musical chairs). When the teachers call out stop, all the students must find a tire and sit down. Randomly the teacher chooses a row or column and ask that group of 5 students to answer …more

An active quick-fire question-and-answer game

Age group: Grades 1-4

Number of students recommended: 25

Subjects/skills learned: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, geometry, etc.

Object of the game: To think quickly and correctly answer questions on an individual basis.

Setup: No set up needed.

Game Play: All of the students start by sitting on the tires. The teachers call out to start, and all the students get up and move throughout the playground (similar to musical chairs). When the teachers call out stop, all the students must find a tire and sit down. Randomly the teacher chooses a row or column and ask that group of …more