Brain Breaks Part 20: Loterí­a

Do y’all remember that glorious Monday in December we all woke up to find that Google had a “Doodle” for that day that was made to celebrate the traditional game of ¡Loterí­a!? Sigh… I remember it like it was last week…

That’s because we played it AGAIN last week in my classes!!! The best part about Google’s Doodles is they never disappear! They save them for all of eternity!

If you click here, you can still go and play with your students.

One big change you’ll notice is that when you click “Random Match” to be paired with any random person in the world (THAT WAS THE BEST PART ABOUT THE GOOGLE DOODLE!) you sit there and wait for a good 30 seconds… Only once did we have someone join us (a couple weeks after the 9th of December when it came out and I decided to start using it as a brain break). That is OK though! It will still start the game and you’ll be playing “solo”.

This is what I do to still make it “fun” or competitive, as well as “short” because remember Brain Breaks should only be 30-60 seconds (ok maybe 90 seconds) long! They should be short breaks in the rigor of listening/reading in the TL.

• Set a card limit in advance… Your goal is to YELL Loterí­a in 9 cards or less (you can choose any number you’d like
• Have two students stand at your board and they compete (each representing a different side of the room) to try and tap (with a feather or another soft object) the card that is called (if you even have it on your board) before the other person does
• Have 1-3 students log in on a chromebook or on their phones if you are unlucky enough for them to have those in the room and y’all play against each other with the random code that google gives (THIS TAKES LONGER)
• Have students yell “lo tenemos” or “no lo tenemos” (referencing first the classic Wooly song “No lo tengo” if you have the card or don’t while one student is at your computer putting the “bean” on the cards quickly

There you have it! I love this because it was SO engaging for those couple of days and this way it is still a novel little treat I can insert on random days in class!

I hope you’re having a great week!

Until next time!

HAPPY TEACHING!

Love,

La Maestra Loca