The Great Coin Caper - 5th Grade and the Dewey Decimal System

I still teach the Dewey Decimal System to our students.  I know there is a movement toward genrefication in school libraries, but I still find the Dewey system relevant for our lower school students.  I start introducing it casually in 2nd grade, teach more formal lessons in 3rd and 4th grades, and occasionally review in 5th grade.  I certainly don't expect students to memorize the DDC, but rather have a general idea of how the system is organized, and what subjects are found in each of the divisions.

One of my favorite ways to review with our fifth graders is through playing games.  Throughout the year we'll have quick scavenger hunts or play bingo, or (my favorite) play The Great Coin Caper.  This game is a Dewey Decimal version of the game Clue.  Our boys LOVE this game.  I expected to spend only one class period playing the game, but found that most of the boys didn't have a clue about how to play the game Clue.  We spent the first session going over the ins and outs of the game and had just enough time left to get started on a game.  The second class period was devoted to actually playing the game. 

I have three sets of this game, and hoped to get a fourth so each table could be 4 or 5 boys instead of 5 or 6 per game, but sadly learned that Highsmith is no longer making the game.  Surprisingly the most difficult part of this lesson was learning how to play the board game.  Figuring out the correct Dewey classification was the easy part.  That really spoke to me about board games and our students, but that could be its own blog post.

All in all the review was a rousing success.  The boys had fun and I was able to informally provide review and access their learning.