Placemat Activty
A placemat activity functions as a great brainstorming or review activity in the classroom. It involves students working together in small groups to provide information or concepts about specific topics.
A placemat activity involves dividing a sheet of paper into different categories. Usually four or five are sufficient, but this can be adapted to whatever number of categories are needed. After the paper is divided, students should write down the different categories as headings. After this, students can work in groups to fill in the categories with terms, concepts, information, and ideas. Typically the best way to do this is to have each student work on one category in each group, and after a set period of time, have groups rotate the placemat, to allow students to work on a different category. Once every person has had a chance to work on each category, groups can look for common themes/trends among categories, or share their writings with the class. The discussion component of this activity can vary depending on what components you want to focus on, or what you ultimately want students to get out of it.
A placemat activity involves dividing a sheet of paper into different categories. Usually four or five are sufficient, but this can be adapted to whatever number of categories are needed. After the paper is divided, students should write down the different categories as headings. After this, students can work in groups to fill in the categories with terms, concepts, information, and ideas. Typically the best way to do this is to have each student work on one category in each group, and after a set period of time, have groups rotate the placemat, to allow students to work on a different category. Once every person has had a chance to work on each category, groups can look for common themes/trends among categories, or share their writings with the class. The discussion component of this activity can vary depending on what components you want to focus on, or what you ultimately want students to get out of it.