Money in the Bank

In between breaks for my Thesis I decided to blog about a class activity I decided to do about three years ago. I am not sure how original it is but it is very effective for history teachers especially when teaching about ancient Roman and Medieval soldiers, gladiators and even villagers at a market.

I dubbed it Money in the Bank ( three guesses where the wrestling fan got the idea for the name of this game ). Basically the game is getting students to design their own knight or villager or soldier, whatever the them is for the lesson or scheme. Using the board, write down the amount of money the students have (usually around 1,000 gold coins/euro/etc.) Then write up a series of items and their cost beside them. e.g. Sword 100 coins, armor 250 coins, Bow & Arrow 150 coins etc. Write up a creative selection of items. once the items are written up, have the pupils (on their own or in pairs) cash in their money on different objects. They are only permitted the objects if they do not go over their bank account. This way they create their own unique knight or gladiator without too many ridiculous features.

It is a class activity I highly recommend and can be adapted into a family’s weekly meal during the Celtic era or even for the Emergency in Ireland during WWII.
English teachers could use it for media studies too and can be adapted for almost any subject really.
What is even better about the game is that it greatly promotes students’ numeracy and literacy skills so there is no reason why it would not go down well on schemes and lesson plans.

#5j16, #class-activities, #edchat, #education, #history, #middle-ages, #money-in-the-bank, #roman