Hide and Seek (Ablative)

    This easy game has worked well to re-enforce how to use the ablative case.  To play it you need two teams, little whiteboards and markers.  You also need two small objects to hide in your room. I used two plastic spiders but anything that fits in your hand should work.  To play, send a representative from each team out of the room.  Then, with the help of the class, hide the two objects somewhere in the room. Hide them in different places. Afterwards, everyone in the class writes a prepositional phrase to describe where each object is: sub mensa, a sella,  a Iano (by my poster of Janus) in armario, etc.
         Next, call the two students back in and using the directions from the rest of the class on the white boards, students look for the objects.  When a student find the object, they win a point for their team.  Now send two different students out and repeat the process.
    This game is a hit in my class because everyone has task, no one is simply waiting for a turn.  Students are either describing or looking for the objects.  It works well to help cement the idea that prepositional phrases tell the reader "where" something is located.  It has a 20-30 minute run time. 
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Tips to make this game work:

•  It may be a good idea to label some of the items in your room with a large sign before you begin if students haven't learned the Latin words for wall, closet chair, window, door etc. 
• Before the game, make sure that students have practiced putting endings on ablative words and have had some practice creating phrases.  Otherwise, the writing of the phrases can take too long leaving the students waiting to come back in and look out in the hall for a very long time.