Competition in the classroom can be a powerful tool to engage students! I often use class competition games in my US History classroom – you could say it is part of my classroom culture. Most kids are competitive by nature and adding a little classroom competition can lead to higher motivation and success on many levels.
Of course, you don’t want to jump straight into classroom competitions games without firm expectations and boundaries in the classroom. It’s important to have built trust in your classroom and for students to show they understand, respect, and follow classroom rules.
For example, you probably have an expectation of respecting others. Students need to feel safe that they won’t be belittled or feel bad for losing a game. It’s important as a teacher to build that classroom culture before you add the competition.
Once your students are demonstrating that they can follow classroom rules, it’s time to bring in the excitement! Here are a few classroom competition games I use with students – all of which are great for US History EOC Review and STAAR Review!
Digital Games
Digital games are by-far one of my students favorite ways to bring competition to the classroom. You can use these games if you are 1:1, have classroom computer carts, or students have cell phones.
My favorite digital games are Blooket, Gimkit and Quizlet Live. You can create your own game on these platforms, or choose from the pre-made games (did someone say less planning?) I like to give the winners Jolly Ranchers. I love that these can be played throughout the year as a way to help you spiral your review!
Class vs. Class Competitions
Nothing gets a classroom of students united quite like competition against other class periods. There are tons of ways you can incorporate this classroom competition. Oftentimes, I challenge my classes to compete against each other for the highest test averages and highest term averages. You can also have them compete in things like most homework turned in, most points in a game, and more.
Teacher vs. Teacher Competitions
If there are multiple teachers in your school that teach the same subject and grade level, then try doing teacher vs. teacher competitions. Even students who act like they hate my class will suddenly be my biggest cheerleader when competing against other teachers.
You can compete over semester grades, attendance, assessment scores, and more. Plus, a little “trash talking” is fun when we are in on it together.
School vs. School Competitions
This one can be a bit harder, but if you have a teacher friend at another campus you can work with, this competition can really amp up your kids! For instance, you can compete against them in a digital game or earn higher grades on an assessment. This classroom competition has some extra challenges, but it can be a fun way to rally your students together.
Timeline Races
One of my absolute favorite classroom competitions for US History is timeline races. This activity is made for competition! Students race to put unrelated events in order in several mini-timelines. You can have them compete in groups or compete across class periods to see who can do it the quickest.
My students always love this activity, and it makes for a great review. Plus, you don’t have to worry about creating it yourself! I have done-for-you timeline races for early US History and Modern US History. All you need to do is print and cut.
US History STAAR. Standardized tests. End of course exams. Whatever you call them, those pesky standardized tests seem to haunt us all year long! There is always a lot to teach and little time to do so. That’s why for US History STAAR review, we spend all year spiraling content.
Content Races
Content races are super versatile classroom competitions, and they can be used with just about anything. Put students into small groups and ask them to complete a task in a designated amount of time or to be the quickest (while also being correct).
For example, students can race to complete primary source analysis, vocabulary matching, map activities, and more. You can spin pretty much any average classroom activity into a fun content race.
Envelope Races
Lastly, my students also enjoy this envelope race classroom competition. Students are given an envelope full of terms (dates, battles, people, court cases, documents, etc.), and they take turns pulling out a term and describing it to their group. Their group mates have to figure out what the term is based on the description (kind of like Heads up).
The goal is to finish all the terms in the envelope first! Students get really competitive, and I love to see their confidence grow as they “show what they know” to their classmates!
I created done-for-you envelope races for Early American History and Modern American History. I have all the terms ready to go – you just have to do the cutting! Once you have this created, it’s a great “go to” when you finish an activity early and need a quick time filler.
Classroom Competition Takeaways
Competition helps keep students motivated to keep learning and getting better in your classroom. When you add movement and fun to your lesson, students want to come to your class because they know they will have a blast. It helps create a tight classroom culture when students are all competing for success.
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