On Nov. 22, our English Ms. Castillo created a way to incorporate fun learning activities in her sophomore English classes. As the students finished their bell-ringer, they were provided with an opportunity to play a problem-solving game that included candy and bonus points. This brought much excitement to the classroom and a great learning experience for the kids.

The game consisted of a variety of boxes, one for each team. Each box was made for the rankings of each team, first place, second place and so on. The boxes contained various amounts of candy and bonus points based on ranking.

However, the boxes had a lock. To obtain the code to unlock the box, students were expected to complete four clues and get them 100 percent correct. If they were to get one or more of the clues wrong, students were sent back to their seats to attempt to correct their mistakes.

Castillo helped pick out the teams for each group. Team captains were selected by the teacher, and the captains were able to pick the remaining students in their class. The team captain was assigned with also bringing the clue up to the teacher to determine if their answers were correct or not.

Now, what exactly were the clues about? Each clue was a series of grammatical errors and groups were expected to fix run-ons and fragments to solve the clue. These clues were actually on the English class’s upcoming quiz on grammatical errors. This introduced a different way of studying as well as providing them an opportunity to have fun!

The students were so engaged in the game that a first place winner was determined in a matter of minutes!

Sophomore David Martinez saidd, “This was a fun game. It made us learn how to work under pressure and it was a fun way to incorporate English into a game.”

Castillo said that she will be more than excited to try this game with her other classes.

“This game got the students engaged, and it looked like they were having fun.” Students seemed pleased with not just having to do boring school work, and were provided with an award afterward.

Ms. Castillo’s activity provided students with a break from note-taking and helped them possibly understand the subject matter even more.