Library Jeopardy!

Program date: 5/09/19

This one went WAY better than I expected, but I have to admit, several of the kids said “What’s jeopardy?” when they came in and sat down. (Fail). BUT they had so much fun once they figured it out!

I ran this a little more like classroom review Jeopardy (please tell me you guys also did that in middle/high school!) so we split the kids into two teams. I tried to do it evenly by grade level, so that I didn’t have 3 fifth graders on 1 team and 7 kindergartners on the other. It was pretty even! I had a few kids come in late so we had to distribute them but overall that part went really well.

We explained to them from the very beginning that they were working as a TEAM, so they had to decide which question to pick TOGETHER and that their answer had to be written on a dry erase board and agreed upon by the WHOLE team to count.

I also ran this 100% not like Jeopardy, in that each team could get points for any question, if they both got the right answer. I didn’t have buzzers (nor did I think that buzzers would be a wise choice) so we did it this way instead!

Here is a picture of the Jeopardy Board:

 I found a random old moveable chalkboard in the gym closet, so I borrowed it and taped up my categories! The actual question is underneath the dollar amounts. When the teams decided on a question together, the other librarian pulled off the dollar amount and read the question. We gave them a minute to discuss (quietly) and write down their answers. Then we had one team at a time read their answer. I kept track of points. Here are my teams:

It was honestly hilarious because they immediately got on a streak of answering the same thing. Which was great when it was the right answer! But not great when I asked them to come up with a team name and they both put “Comets” (our school mascot). They continued to answer the same thing throughout the game, even some wrong answers. It was pretty funny, especially because from where I was sitting no team was eavesdropping on the other. They must’ve been on the same brainwave!

As you can see above, my categories were Books, Weird Body Facts, Animal Facts, Movies and T.V, and my one random Bonus question. The questions and answers are as follows:

Category: Books 

$200: Who wrote the book The Cat in the Hat?

Dr. Seuss

$400: How many magic treehouse books are there?

55

$600: What does the “B.” stand for in Junie B. Jones?

Beatrice

$800: What was the name of the young boy in a Roald Dahl book about a chocolate factory?

Charlie Bucket

$1,000: Which famous children’s author’s real name is Theodore Geisel?

Dr. Seuss

Category: Weird Body Facts

$200: What is the normal body temperature for most humans?

98.6 degrees Fahrenheit

$400: What part of your body contains the smallest bones?

Ear

$600: What body part (other than our fingers) has a unique print?

Tongue

$800: How many miles per hour does a sneeze travel?

100 mph or more!

$1,000: What is the largest muscle in the body?

Gluteus Maximus

Category: Animal Facts

$200: What is the largest animal in the world?

Blue Whale

$400: Name one animal who can sleep standing up.

Horse, zebra, elephant, cow, flamingo

$600: What animal produces the biggest eggs in the world?

Sharks

$800: How many hours a day does the average sloth sleep?

20

$1,000: What is a group of dolphins called?

A pod

Category: Movies and TV

$200: In the movie ‘The Little Mermaid’ what is Ariel’s little fish friend’s name?

Flounder

$400: Arendelle is the name of the kingdom in which film?

Frozen

$600: What kind of animal was Abu in Aladdin?

A monkey

$800: What are the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo

$1,000: What kids TV show has been on the air the longest?

Sesame Street

Category: Random

BONUS $1,000: How many books do we have in the library?

19,645

(The closest guess on this one without going over is the winner)

I should not have given the points to the closest guess because they both were SO low. It was hilarious. They asked me what would happen if they guessed the exact right number and I told them I would get in my car right then and come back with a pizza for the team. That hyped them up REALLY hard even though it was so statistically improbable. It was really funny.

In the end, the team who had been behind came back and won! As their prize, they were allowed to pick something out of the treasure box (filled with small past summer reading prizes, tattoos, bouncy balls, etc).

I will 100% do this program again because the kids had a blast and it was very low-prep and they learned some cool facts! It was a win for everyone!