ZONK! A Math Review Game for Middle School Math-Have Fun Reviewing Math

A quick middle school math review game no technology required (Except a document camera and a projector)

Middle School Math Review Game

What game can I use to review math with my middle school students?

Technology is great. But I do think that students need time in the classroom that require no technology. A teacher early in my career introduced me to the game ZONK. It helps students stay engaged in a review and creates some friendly competition.

You need some popsicle sticks. About 20 to 25 of them.  On about 18 of those popsicle sticks write the values 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600. On the remaining popsicle sticks write the word ZONK! Place these popsicle sticks in a cup where students cannot see the writing on the sticks. 

You can review any topic that you want. You can use task cards, a cut up worksheet, a released state exam or problems that you write on index cards. You just need to be able to display them under a document camera. If you want to get really fancy, you can create slides in Google slides with problems on them and display that. 

Split your class into 2 to 4 groups. Each group will get a problem to work on displayed for everyone to see. Each group needs to work on the problem in case a group does not give a correct answer and they are able to steal their turn. Once a group gets the correct answer, they get to pick popsicle sticks out of the cup. They can pull out as many as they want and rack up the points. However as soon as they pull out the word ZONK, they lose all of the points they would have collected that round.

My classes loved the competition and it was fun to watch team come up with their strategies. Do they just draw one stick and be happy, or do they keep going and risk it. 

Have you used this game before? How did your students like it?