LICENSE PLATE GAME (or, “GETAWAY CAR”)
One visualization activity that really helps kids with their ability to picture in their mind’s eye is the License Plate Game. This classroom favorite gets kids to memorize the license plate number of a “Getaway Car” before it’s out of view. It also builds visual-sequential memory, and helps cement in the strategies of chunking together numbers for easier recall, and making the letters into a word, phrase, or sentence.
Here’s how to play:
While it isn’t entirely necessary, you may wish to take the license plates and color copy them, and laminate them onto card stock. Start with License Plate 1, which is the easiest. Don’t let the students see the license plate yet.
Put the license plate facing outwards behind you so that it covers your lower back. Make car noises as you walk briskly around the classroom and out the door. Close the book so that License Plate 1 is no longer visible and immediately come back in the door. Depending on the number of students doing this, you can check over their shoulders to see if they correctly wrote down the license plate number.
Each group of license plates helps with a slightly-different strategy. These are given here.
License Plate 1—Practice Example
License Plate 2—Missing Vowel Mnemonic (RBT should make them think of “rabbit”)
License Plate 3—Missing Vowel Mnemonic (CML should make them think of “camel”)
License Plate 4—Missing Vowel Mnemonic (WHL should make them think of “whale”, “whole, or while”)
License Plate 5—Missing Vowel Mnemonic (TRP should make them think of “trip”, “trap”, “tarp”)
License Plate 6—Missing Vowel Mnemonic (GRP should make them think of “grip”, “group”, “gorp”)
License Plate 7—Missing Vowel Mnemonic (FRM should make them think of “farm”—which is most easily pictured—or “firm”, “form”, “from”)
License Plate 8—Mini-Word plus Number Mnemonic (GAL is a word, and 9-2=7)
License Plate 9—Missing Vowel plus Number Mnemonic (HRS should make them think of “horse”, “hers”, “hearse”; 925 sounds like working hours 9:00 to 5:00)
License Plate 10—Missing Vowel plus Number Mnemonic (JNK should make them think of “junk; and 4+2=6)
License Plate 11—Acronym Strategy plus Number Grouping Strategy (KMF could be the abbreviation for “kiss my feet”; 283 could be remembered most easily as 28-3)
License Plate 12— Acronym Strategy plus Number Grouping Strategy (IAF could be the abbreviation for “I am funny”;”; 648 could be remembered as 64 divided by 8 is 8)
License Plate 13 through 20—Practice and Discussion License Plates. It’s fun to see what mnemonics and abbreviations the kids come up with for these! Emphasize use of the learned strategies, but recognize originality!