Rhyme Time – Online Version
EnTeam Academic Game
Purpose
To encourage players to strategize and work together while building phonemic awareness.
Requirements
- Time: 30 – 45 minutes
- Number of Players: 2 or more
- Age range: 5 years old and above
- Space: Online
- Equipment: Webcam with internet access, pencil, and paper
- Prerequisites: None
How to Play
- Divide all participants into pairs.
- Choose a starter word within a word family.
- Set a time limit for each pair to come up with as many words that rhyme with that starter word (15 seconds is recommended).
- Each pair goes into breakout rooms for a fixed time.
- Players go back and forth sharing different rhyming words and writing each other’s words down.
- All pairs come back to the main room to add up scores and present the whole group score.
- The group debriefs what happened and strategizes how to improve their score.
- Choose a new starter word, switch partners if you want, and play again!
Rules
- Each word must rhyme with the starter word.
- Players can only write what their partner says.
- Players can only say one word at a time and must go back and forth.
- You may finish the word you’re writing when the timer goes off (but you can’t start a new word).
Variations
- Give the starter word and have players use the chat box in the main room to type as many words as they can. Ensure all players contribute. Score each word and the score must improve in the following rounds in order to win the game.
Score
- Score one point for each pair of rhyming words. The point earned belongs to both players because they worked together to create the pair.
- For example, if one player says “dog, log, frog” and the second player says “fog, jog”, the score is 2 points.
- Everyone wins if the score improves. If the score doesn’t improve, everyone loses.
Debrief Questions
The purpose of debriefing is to develop strategies that will improve your performance and to recognize how these lessons apply to everyday life. To facilitate a successful debrief, facilitators must observe participants and ask engaging questions that spark thoughtful reflection. If we don’t debrief, we don’t learn!
What happened?
What did you see? What did you hear? What was the score?
What worked? What didn’t work?
How did people feel? What issue(s) came up? What issue(s) remain?
So what?
What did we learn?
How does this experience relate to other experiences?
Why are we doing this? How is it relevant to us?
Now what?
How could we improve our score in this activity?
How can we work together better?
How could we apply lessons learned outside of the game?
Digging Deeper
- Did anyone feel reluctant to share strategies?
- Why? Are you still in a win-lose mindset?
- If we are trying to improve collective achievement, who are you benefitting when you withhold strategies from other teams?
