A few engaging review activities for ELA come in handy around this time of year, as the calendar takes over and students pop off to random awards ceremonies, spirit events, and slideshows. Sometimes you see them for one day in a row, sometimes two, but getting in a groove is definitely a challenge!
So in case you’re in search of creative review activities that will get students looking back over all that they’ve learned before a final project or exam, or just before heading off into the summer horizon, here are six. I’m going to base them on a fun review choice board I made for The Lighthouse seasonal section. So Lighthouse members, be sure to snag it if you like the sound of all this! And if you’re not in The Lighthouse yet, it will be opening up in June for new folks, so be sure you’re on my email list so you don’t miss the invitation.
ELA Review Activity: The Sketchnotes Version
Student Directions: Look back through all of your materials. Concentrating especially on the areas you feel you know least well, create a sketchnotes version of the key concepts we’ve covered. Use colors, icons, text, and drawings to bring out meaning (this will also help you remember the information better).
Teacher Notes: New to sketchnotes? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Sketchnotes in the ELA Classroom.
ELA Review Activity: The One-Pager
Student Directions: Look back through all of your materials. Concentrating especially on the areas you feel you know least well, create a one-pager of the key concepts we’ve covered. Divide your paper however you wish in order to hit on whatever you think was most important.
Teacher Notes: Snag my free one-pager templates over on TPT if you’d like to give your students an easy starting point – 600 five star reviews can’t be wrong! And if you’d like to see some one-pager models, head on over to this post for visual inspiration.
ELA Review Activity: Craft your Own Game
Student Directions: Look back through all of your materials. Concentrating especially on the areas you feel you know least well, design a review game alone or with a partner. Your game can be of any type, as long as it helps the players review our materials. When you’re done, find players to play with you.
Teacher Notes: Want to see some examples of review games? Check out this review quiz game for any material, this game for reviewing citation format, and this rhetorical analysis board game. (Lighthouse members, they’re all in your Gamification section!).
ELA Review Activity: The Podcast Version
Student Directions: Look back through all of your materials. Concentrating especially on the areas you feel you know least well, write a script for a podcast version. Record your podcast using Vocaroo or your device, and then play it back to yourself to help you study. If you have time, listen to a partner’s.
Teacher Notes: New to student podcasting? This could be the perfect time to run through my free PD, Camp Creative: The Easiest Roadmap to Podcasts in your Classroom. I’ll send along all my best tips, tricks, and tools straight to your email. You can sign up here.
ELA Review Activity: The Flashcards
Student Directions: Look back through all of your materials. Concentrating especially on the areas you feel you know least well, create flashcards for yourself focusing on key information you want to remember. Find a partner and run through both your own and your partner’s set of flashcards together.
Teacher Notes: While Slides or notecards will work in a pinch, Canva is an ideal platform for students to create their flashcards. Canva already has beautiful flashcard templates waiting for your students, and they can easily add complementary visuals to cue their memories of ideas and concepts. If Canva is feeling intimidating, consider signing up for my free mini-course for educators, Canva Confidence.
ELA Review Activity: Partner Quiz
Student Directions: With a partner, look back through all of your materials. Divide up the key areas you want to review and write questions for your partner about those areas. Then take turns quizzing each other with your questions.
Teacher Notes: When students minds work to call up information they want to remember (retrieval practice), it helps them retain that information. Partner quizzing – if a little noisy at times – can be a really useful review tool. Flashcards are in the same camp…
