Vocab and concept review

I strongly feel that when my students engage in focussed, collaborative team work, they can take their learning so much farther.  I also am a big believer in active learning rather than "sit and get".  One way I get my students to activley engage in the key learnings of a unit is to have them do puzzle maps.  I purchased blank interlocking puzzle pieces from Scholar's Choice. (I did this to save time and because I am not that good at making such things myself!)  I then write key ideas, terms and concepts on the pieces.  I incclude formulas, graph trends, pictoral representations, etc.  I  group my students into teams at my class tables and give each a set of the puzzle pieces.  I ask them to work together to fit the concepts/ideas/key terms/formulas, etc. together in a way that shows what they know.  They all end up pushing their chairs aside, stand around the table and discuss the possibilities. I keep it ambiguous on purpose- I want to hear what questions and ideas they share with each other.  I want to see what key ideas they can readily link together and which ones they cannot.  I find out quickly what I have to reteach and what is good to go.  I want to see what their understandings are and what their justifications are for grouping certain ideas together. Sometimes I will stop the class and hold an impromptu discussion on how different groups are sorting the pieces.  I can put different ideas on the smartboard with my document camera for the kids to compare.   It is so simple, yet it stretches their learning and is another way to have them work with the key vocab without giving a worksheet.


 This is the one I made for my grade seven's ecosystems unit.  I use this review strategy for all of my grade seven and nine units.

What the box looks like to purchase- there are ones without lines too, but they are harder to find.