Tried it Tuesday: Vocabulary "Headbandz"

Hola on this scorching So. Cal evening to all of you out there! Originally, I was just going to put a post up on my vocabulary game I did with my class. But..I saw a linky party for Tuesday and I think linky parties are SO fun! So I am linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried it Tuesday!

Has anyone out there ever heard of a super fun and entertaining family game called "Headbandz" by Hasbro? I was introduced to this fun game by my good friend, Megan, a while back. She told me this was by far the best thing for rainy days/indoor recess times. I decided to give it a try a couple of years ago and every now and then I even find myself playing with my students during those indoor recess days (especially now because they have a Disney extravaganza edition)!

Then, about 2 weeks ago, I saw my kids playing it on a Friday and thought to myself, "Hmm...wouldn't this be a fun game to incorporate during instruction too?" I came home, took sentence strips and wrote that week's vocabulary words on it...nothing fancy. I struggled to think of how kids would walk around to guess their own word. And then, this baby happened (apologize for the banner not showing up, I am still struggling on minimizing my images and having it shown up correctly):

I have my timer and gong ready. I have kids walk around the room so they aren't constantly leaning to work with their BFFs. Once I hit my gong, students freeze and partner up with the closest person to them. They get 2 minutes to exchange one of the elements on their worksheet in hopes for good and useful clues. Once my gong hits, they walk around again until they hear another gong to look for a new partner. And, repeat the process until it's over. NOW...the tricky part I had to teach my students: Even if the person guesses their words correctly, they are NOT to let that person know because they will take off their headbands at the end of the game and check for themselves, then fill out a reflection on it.

Here's a snapshot of my end result during the game:

Overall, my students loved the game! They definitely liked it way more than Vocabulary Pictionary day. My heart melted when my students asked me if they could keep their sentence strips! One wore it the whole day, which I kind of had to convince her not when she was outdoors because her vocabulary word was "guilty" (Our story for the week was "The Trial of Cardigan Jones). I didn't want other adults and staff members thinking I am giving her the Scarlett letter. YIKES...that would've been bad!