Spin the Bottle

There is no kissing in this game. :)

Instead, its purpose is to review a story your students have read and know well. You'll need a cheap water bottle with about an inch of water in it and groups of 4 to 5.

You'll need around 40 questions about the story. I generally create some easier ones (who is...) and some harder ones, and several in the middle. Not infrequently, I write the questions, but sometimes I also choose to have the students as part of a different activity write their own comprehension questions about the story.

In the middle of each group, the students will put the questions and the water bottle. One student will spin the bottle. The student at whom the bottom of the bottle points will ask a question of the student at whom the cap points. If the student answers correctly, s/he get to keep the question. Alternately, you can have them keep track of the points but put the question back in the middle or into a discard pile for repetition. The student who answered will spin the bottle.

I always let my students have the text in front of them. The purpose of the activity isn't that they have the story memorized. Instead, the goal of the game is that the students are re-reading an already-familiar text, repeatedly ,in an effort to look for the answers to the questions.