"I Have, Who Has"

"I Have, Who Has" is one of the best classroom activities I've led.  It's great for assessment and can be used  for a variety of subjects.


"I Have, Who Has" is played using cards or slips of paper you or your students create, or ones made professionally.  Here's how it works:


Students sit at their desk, each with one card that contains a statement followed by a question.  The first students starts by standing and reading their card.  They sit while the student whose card contains the answer stands and reads their own card to the class.


For instance, in a geography lesson, the first student may start with, "I have Denver, Colorado.  Who has the capital of Florida?"  As they sit, the other students have to read their own card and figure out the answer.  The student with the answer will stand up and read their card:  "I have Tallahassee.  Who has the capital of Michigan?"  The activity continues in this fashion with students rising one at a time to respond to the question asked by the preceding student.  Once everyone has gone, if more review is needed, simply shuffle the cards, pass them out and start again.


It's incredibly flexible.  It can be used for math ("I have 72.  Who has 11 x 11?"), science ("I have water.  Who has CO2?"), history ("I have Shirley Chisholm.  Who has the first female astronaut?"), vocabulary ("I have 'kerfuffle.'  Who has a synonym for 'favorable'?") or any number of subjects or ability levels.  You can even have students use books, atlases, dry erase boards and markers, or paper and pencils to figure out the answers.


"I Have, Who Has" is break in monotony students will enjoy because they get to work collaboratively on an oral activity, practice their recall of facts, and get some movement by standing and sitting.  As stated, you can make your own cards (I suggest using notecards or laminated paper so that they will last) to personalize your own review sessions, or you can invest in ready-made cards and reproducible books for your class.

***Update:***

Mathwire has some free, printable sets for math activities.  You can use I Have, Who Has? for one-digit multiplication (here is a second set), fractions, addition and subtraction facts, coins, and even geometry vocabulary and algebraic expressions.  Enjoy!