The review game ZAP, Buddha fountain, Peanut butter chicken with panko recipe

Math ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I recently read a tweet where someone mentioned Algebrasfriend's blog. I looked it right up I discovered @algebrasfriend's post about the review game ZAP.  I got (stole?) a ton of her ideas and added some of my own. Feel free to do the same here! What I love about it is that it is not specific to any one topic, so any discipline and/or any math course can use it.

I made 28 cards. I wrote questions on the back of about 20 of them with points listed if they got them right, ranging from 50 points (easy) to 300 points (hard). This left 3 cards to "ZAP" another team's entire score (only if they got the next question correct--then they got those points, too), and 5 cards that had random things written on them: "find another student to bring into class within 30 seconds" was definitely the most fun. Others had to sing the school's Alma Mater, hold a handstand for 5 seconds, or make an ugly team face.

I broke teams up into groups of about four students and had the first group start by picking a card. If they got it right, they got their points and then the next team went to pick. If the team did not get the question right, the next team got the opportunity to win the points (this guaranteed that all teams were working, even when it was not their question.) Whichever team got the question right (in order, allowing each sequential team to try), the next team would be the team to pick a card. By the way, I'm not 100% sure of the rules...I made my own! So make yours :)

I created my ZAP board by first getting poster board and then using double sided tape to attach envelopes. I bought these envelopes at the dollar store a hundred years ago and was glad to finally find a use for them. I cut some left over stock card paper I had and wrote questions on the back of them that corresponded to a review sheet. I numbered the problems so that I could quickly pull the proper problems up on the Smart Board. I always find that when I play review games, students want the questions to practice at home. So I also put the handout on our school site. Here is a copy of the handout in case you want to use it for your Pre-Calculus (or even Algebra 2) class. It is a review of Algebra 2 and correlates to Larson Pre-Calc with limits 6th edition, sections 1.1 - 1.3 and A.3 - A.6.


Student's gave a great suggestion after they were ZAPPED. They suggested to ZAP only the number of points listed on the card...so if students pick a 100 point card right after a ZAP card and they get it right, they get 100 points and can ZAP any team by only subtracting 100 from their score rather than ZAPPING their entire score.

Play ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I always look for things to make me feel "zen" and grounded. Last spring, I ordered this Buddha Garden Statue and my husband built a fountain around it. He placed flameless candles with timers around it that go on at dusk. It definitely relaxes me and makes me feel calm when I see it. The fountain does not seem to be on in this picture but it normally is!

Eat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think most recipes that I post will either have peanut butter (or some nut variation) or chocolate or both since that is mostly what we eat in my house. The other night I made peanut butter panko chicken  from www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com The peanut butter sauce recipe is so good that I could have used it alone and dipped grilled chicken in it like Thai chicken satay. But for this recipe, I dipped chicken breasts in flour, then peanut sauce, and then browned panko crumbs. Then the chicken is then baked. I made the coconut noodles shown in the recipe, but my family preferred the first time I made it, when I only put peanut sauce on the noodles.

Have a great week!
~Lisa