Who is Your Founding Father - Revolutionary War Game |
| In this innovative game, students determine the "Founding Father" by evaluating the accomplishments of Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton on a significance scale of 1-10. As students evaluate each accomplishment, the "father" responsible for the accomplishment moves forward. For example, if a statement such as "How significant is it that this person wrote the Declaration Independence?" appears, and the student judges it "9," Thomas Jefferson would move forward nine steps. |
| Use this Activity: |
| Discuss and Engage: Students will love playing this game! It's fun and it actually teaches them a lot about the accomplishments of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton. Before playing, tell students they will be evaluating the accomplishments, and in some cases, the shortcomings, of four founding fathers to determine which could be considered "THE FOUNDING FATHER." Tell students there are no right answers, but they will be asked to judge events that appear on the screen on a 1-10 scale, one being unimportant and 10 being crucial. Each event will apply to one or more founding fathers, and depending on the 1-10 score given, those founding fathers will move forward accordingly. For example "This founding father was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army." If a student determines that this event is of major importance, and chooses "9", George Washington will receive a score of 9 and move up nine paces. There are 25 total statements. Whichever founding father is closest to the finish line after all events have been displayed is THE FOUNDING FATHER. Students can then print out a certificate. |
| Whiteboard and Explanation - I highly recommend you project this game on the whiteboard and play it once in front of your class, soliciting students to score the various events on a scale of 1-10. In this manner, you can guide them on what events should be considered of high importance and which may not be so important in the course of American history. |
| Enrichment - This activity is perfect for students who have finished class work. |
| Collaborative Learning - This game can serve as a great opportunity for students to work in pairs or small groups. |