1) Wheel. I have construted one out of cardboard. The different sections of the wheel have various dollar values, and some are labelled "bankrupt", "jackpot" and "lose a turn". I have punched a hole in the center of the wheel and affixed it to a hook above the blackboard, so that the wheel can spin freely against the board. On the board, I draw an arrow point to the wheel to indicate which section the wheel lands on when it stops spinning. Your wheel should look something like this:
1. Divide class into teams. I use two teams, but more teams with fewer students in each is also possible.
2. Choose a vocabulary word and draw short lines on the board for each letter in the word. If you have chosen the word "kiddushin", draw "_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _" on the board. Tell students what category the word is in (in this example, it is "Life Cycle").
3. Student 1 from Team 1 spins the wheel and guesses a letter. If the letter is in the word, write it above the appropriate space and award that team the dollar value the wheel stopped at for each time the letter appears in the word. For example, if the student guesses "D", and the wheel had stopped at $250, her team would get $500. If the letter guessed does not appear in the word, do not deduct points.
4.If student 1 from Team 1 guesses a correct letter, student 2 from Team 1 can either buy a vowel (buying a vowel costs $250, regardless as to whether the vowel appears several times or not at all) or spin and guess another letter. Any person on the team whose turn it is may solve the puzzle at any time. To solve the puzzle, the team must guess the word and give its correct definition.
5. The game moves on to the next team if any of the following happens: a student guesses an incorrect letter (consonent or vowel), a student spins to "bankrupt" or "lose a turn", a student tries unsucessfully to solve the puzzle.
- There should be several rounds to the game, with Team 2 getting the first chance at puzzle 2 and so on.
-Free spins and Jackposts are worth a $250 dollar value. If the letter guessed after spinning a Free Spin is correct, then the team has a turn in reserve in case they hit bankrupt or lose a turn, or guess an incorrect letter. In the case of a Jackpot, if the team which has spun a Jackpot ends up solving that puzzle, I award 2 points extra credit on the next test.
Bonus Round
After several rounds, the team with the most points enters the bonus round. Chose one word and draw the approprite number of spaces on the board. Tell the students the category of the word, and then fill in each place where the letters "R", "S", "T", "L", "N" and "E" appear in the word. After that, the team can guess three consonents and one vowel. If any of them are correct, fill them in as well. The team then has 30 seconds to guess the word and give its correct definition. If they win the bonus round, give some kind of reward, like a homework pass or extra credit.
