ReadWriteThink: Play Ball! Read and Write Sports Trivia: Learning Beyond the Classroom

For Ages 11–14
Play Ball! Read and Write Sports Trivia

How many feet are between home plate and first base? What was Babe Ruth’s batting average? Using baseball as an example, this activity has children look at and compare trivia questions to see how they are written. They then write their own questions and play a trivia game.

Time
30 to 45 minutes

What You Need

Computer with Internet access and printer
Baseball Booklist
Baseball: Quiz for Kids
Baseball Websites
How Not to Ask Trivia Questions sheet
Index cards

Why This Is Helpful
To learn to write well, children need to understand the idea of audience and purpose. They need to learn to think about who will be reading what they write, how they can write in a way that best explains what they are trying to say, and what their reason is for writing. Writing trivia questions can help improve these skills in a fun way.

Here’s What To Do
Before beginning this activity, you may want to read a fiction or nonfiction book that includes information about the sport or topic you and the child will be exploring. For baseball, you might choose a book from the Baseball Booklist. You can also read up on a current baseball player or team by searching online and reading articles in recent newspapers and magazines.

1.	Have the child you are working with play the Baseball: Quiz for Kids.
2.	Ask your own set of trivia questions, using questions from How Not to Ask Trivia Questions sheet.
3.	Talk about the questions in both of these quizzes, asking the child what he or she thinks about them. Talk about why the questions in one quiz work better than the other for a trivia game.
4.	Tell the child that the two of you are going to create your own trivia game. Share the Baseball Websites. Working together, come up with a list of 20 trivia questions. Remember that the questions should have short, factual answers. Write each question on one side of an index card and the answer on the other. You may choose to let the child come up with some questions on his or her own while you work on your own questions. Let ability and interest level be your guide.
5.	Test your memories by playing the baseball trivia game. Put the cards in a container and take turns drawing out questions. When a player gets an answer wrong, the card goes back in the container. The player with the most cards at the end wins.

Glossary

Audience
The person or group of people that the message of a piece of writing is meant for. Most pieces of writing have more than one audience.

Purpose
The reason or goal someone has for writing a particular text. Common reasons for writing include to express feelings or ideas, to convince someone to believe something, and to provide someone information or instructions. The purpose will often determine the choices the writer makes about how and what to write.

This activity was modified from the ReadWriteThink lesson plan “Play Ball! Encouraging Critical Thinking Through Baseball Questions” available online at:
www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=934.

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Reading Starts With Interests

Last Modified: 8/24/2009 10:02:32 AM