Find Someone Who...
Build a Community of Learners in ALL Levels K-12!
Big Idea:
"Find Someone Who" is an activity in which students try to find a person in class who knows certain information or who matches a description. This is a great way to get students moving around the room while activating and sharing knowledge, or even simply getting to know each other!
Directions:
1. Prepare approximately twenty "Find Someone Who" questions, statements, vocabulary terms, math problems, etc. that relate to given topic. Make items differ in difficulty level.
2. Input items into a BINGO-type of grid or a checklist.
3. Students take the grid or checklist around the classroom with them and conduct brief interviews with each other to find someone who can answer each item. Students who know an answer must write the answer on the questioner's sheet and sign their name. Ideally kids will only have each person sign their sheet once, however you can of course customize the rules to fit your class size and objective.
4. You may want to make it a competition by offering a prize for the first one to finish. If using a BINGO grid, you could declare a winner for the first one to get blackout.
When to Use:
- At the beginning of a lesson to introduce material
- As a review game
- To practice asking and answering questions in an ELL or foreign language setting
- For practice using vocabulary in a unit of study
- To practice solving math problems
- For memorizing scientific formulae or elements of periodic table
- To retell aspects of history, geography, government
- For any other creative use not listed here!
Strategy Variations:
- Ice breaker: Use at the beginning of the year/quarter/semester as a way for kids to get to know each other. Require that they introduce themselves before asking questions! Have them search for certain personal characteristics, hobbies, likes/dislikes, etc.
- Jigsaw: Each student has to explain, diagram, demonstrate one concept on the grid/checklist. After being given a bit of time to prepare, each student shares their work with a partner or small group.
- Partner Up: Each student receives a card with one piece of information that has a matching card with someone else (a vocab term on one and it's meaning on another, for example). Kids must ask around until pairs find each other. Once pairs are together, they can find another matched pair. Each pair takes turns explaining/reading their cards to the other pair, then they go find another pair to do the same with them.