Turkeys in the Oven Game – Writing Linear Equations

Looking for a fun game to give your algebra students practice writing linear equations from a graph? Check out this Turkeys in the Oven Game. If it’s not Thanksgiving, feel free to change the theme to something more seasonally appropriate!

Last Friday, I decided my Algebra 1 students needed a day of reviewing calculating slope and intercepts and writing linear equations.  I wanted them to do a bunch of practice problems, but I also wanted it to seem like a game.  In October, we played Ghosts in the Graveyard, and it ended up being a lot of fun.

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I decided a game of “Turkeys in the Oven” would be appropriate.  Here’s what a game of Turkeys in the Oven looks like in action:

This picture is from first period.  I drew the first two ovens myself, and a student volunteered to draw the second two ovens.  If you know me in person, you probably know that I am not the best artist in the world.  So, I am pretty proud of how these ovens turned out!!!

I typed up ten challenge cards for my students to work through.  Each challenge card featured a picture of a graph and a place to write the equation, slope, x-intercept, and y-intercept.  If the x-intercept was not clearly visible, students also had to show their work for figuring out the x-intercept.  They HATED this part!!!

Each group had a dry erase pocket, and they would slide the challenge problem they were currently working on into the pocket.  Seriously, I can’t say enough good things about these dry erase pockets.  

If you don’t have a classroom set of dry erase pockets, you could also use heavy duty sheet protectors. But, I highly recommend investing in a classroom set of the pockets since they are so much more durable.

I got the images for the graphs from released state test questions from previous years.

Here are the 10 challenges I created:

I also introduced a new aspect of the game this time.  I made a tracking sheet that each group brought up with them when they came to get their answers checked.  Whenever they would complete a challenge, I would mark off the appropriate number on the sheet with an aqua blue sharpie.  

Originally, I had planned to use my stampers for this, but it turns out the ink has dried up in them.  Sad day.  But, a marker did the trick.

This tracking sheet served several purposes.  

1. It gave students an idea of how many problems they had completed.
2. It gave me an idea of how many problems students were completing.
3. It kept groups from doing the same easy problems over and over and over to earn more turkeys.
4. It allowed me to give a grade to the groups based on how well they participated in the activity.  

This time, I found turkey clip art and gave a turkey to each group after they finished a problem successfully.  Students would write their group member names on the turkey and tape it to the oven of their choice.

Groups could put their turkey in whichever oven they chose.  When there were five minutes left in class, I announced to the students how many points each oven was worth.

As a twist, I made my four ovens worth these values: ten, twenty-five, fifty, and negative ten.  The negative points was a fun twist.  I’m thinking that maybe I should make the negative value higher next time!

Still confused about how this game is played?  I suggest you read Kim Hughey’s original blog post about the Ghosts in the Graveyard game.  She is the teacher I learned this activity from!

Reading this and it’s no longer Thanksgiving time?  You could use the same set of challenge cards and just change the theme of the game to match the season.