Playing With Matches

Fire up your students! 

MATERIALS - Index cards

Especially useful for  - Classroom Management (assigning seats, grouping, creating classroom community) 
Facilitating learning through recall, review, reinforcement, application of information and concepts studied
Assessing students’ prior knowledge of study topics
Introducing new study topics

 Instructions for a matching activity:
 Find Your Seat Game 
On one index card, write an item related to the study topic you wish to teach.
On a second index card, write an item which can be matched  to the item on the first card. 
Give each student an index card.
Place the “matching” index card at a seat around a table or at a desk, however you have arranged your classroom. 
To find their seats, students match their index cards with the index cards at the seats. 
Once seated, the lesson might start with students  reading their two  matching cards aloud to the whole class. 

Examples of matches:
Card #1 which has the Hebrew Letter Tav matches with card #2 which has the word “Tav” written in English 

Card #1 which has the Hebrew word “Eloheinu” matches with card #2 which has the English translation, “Our God.” 

Card #1 which has the words, “We shake it in the Sukkah”  matches with card #2 which has the word “Lulav “ in Hebrew or in English. 

Card #1 which has the words, “God promised him a very large family” matches with card #2 which has the word “Abraham” in Hebrew or in English. 

Do it !  Students demonstrate their knowledge of a study topic by making a correct match.

Understand it! Students are guided by the teacher to understand the activity in a broader context. “This Find Your Seat Game will help you to recall  the Hebrew letters that you learned this month.” 
“Listen for the word ‘Eloheinu’ when we say our food blessings.” 
“When we visit the Sukkah, you’ll have a chance to shake the Lulav.” 
“Correctly matching this information about Abraham is a form of Torah Study.”  

Learn it!  By matching the information on the cards, students recall,  apply and retain information. They can then build on this information in future lessons. 

Live it! Judaic Studies and Hebrew are the foundations for lifelong Jewish living and learning. The “Playing With Matches” activity format helps students to become knowledgeable about Jewish traditions and practices with which they will personally engage.