PENNY PEDAGOGIES

Don’t quite know where to start with all of these awesome resources? This is the category for you! EMC² Learning’s Penny Pedagogies take the very best parts of simple, game-based learning techniques and apply them to easy to learn, easy to use staples of the everyday classroom to help teachers add an instant “cha-ching” of life and engagement to any course or content area. And the best part is, they can be stacked together in any combination you’d like — so check back often because we’re always coming up with new ways to “change” the game!

PENNY PEDAGOGY COLLECTIONS:

Emc2 Resources

Bite Sized Bios

Are you new to Penny Pedagogies and not quite sure where to start? Bite Sized Bios brings fresh twists to the classic A–Z challenge! Students race to build themed lists tied to key topics, but each version adds a new wrinkle—like numbers, emojis, or limited sets of building materials. Quick, creative, and endlessly adaptable across content areas.

Micro Marketing Mayhem

Pitch perfect! EMC² Learning’s Micro Marketing Mayhem collection is a fast-paced, theme-flexible activity lineup where teams fuse content with creativity to design wild products. Sell sneakers, launch toys, or pitch all sorts of shady Shark Tank ideas inspired by your content area. Pick a theme, set a customer, and close the deal!

Share Out Showdown

Share Out Showdown turns awkward, high-stress classroom presentations into a fast, fun competition. With each activity in this collection, student teams fuse content knowledge with creativity to craft quick pitches, then face off in a spirited showdown of ideas. Pick a theme of your choice and put students back in the spotlight where they belong!

Wacky Word Associations

Spark your students’ curiosity with an engaging resource line that challenges them to think outside the box and make surprising links between concepts they’re learning. Wacky Word Associations makes a great review activity OR an alternative assessment, and is perfect for building lateral thinking skills and exploring ideas in a whole new way!

EVEN MORE PENNY PEDAGOGIES:

Each fully editable resource in the collection below is totally unique to itself. Stack some pennies together to make a huge change in your classroom!

Write On Track

All aboard! Write on Track challenges students to construct an ever-expanding chain of connected academic vocabulary tied to a fixed central topic. With every new word, students must think critically, justify connections, and stay on track so their route can keep growing.

99 (Word) Problems

If you’re looking for word problems, we’ve got news for you, son: we’ve got 99 (Word) Problems, and every one is fun! Ninety Nine (Word) Problems challenges your students to channel their inner emcee as they remix higher order mathematical thinking into ANY content area.

Dog Tag Details

Students report for duty in Dog Tag Details, a military-inspired protocol where squads compress big ideas into sharp, tactical summaries. Using a structured intel format, teams identify critical concepts, defend their decisions, and prove they’re ready for deployment.

Forbidden Figures

What happens when a letter disappears? Chaos reigns in Forbidden Figures, where random letters become taboo! Conjure up all sorts of creativity, precision, and deeper thinking in a fast-paced laugh-out-loud challenge that turns a simple review into serious brain work.

Microlab Quartet

Go big with Microlab QUARTET! Scale the conversation up to four voices, giving students structured turns while preparing them for larger group dialogue. Built-in 30–90 second timers help teachers grow speaking stamina as conversations expand toward full-group discussions.

Microlab Duet

Scaffolding for the win! Microlab DUET adapts the original Microlab protocol for pairs, giving every student more speaking time and tighter dialogue. With built-in 30–90 second timers, teachers can easily build conversation stamina while upgrading everyday discussions.

Plot Twist

In Plot Twist, students invent believable data to create graphs about real content. The numbers may be fictional, but the thinking is very real. Students become data storytellers, turning ideas from the unit into visual trends, explanations, and gallery walk discussion.

Take it Outside

Take learning beyond the classroom walls. In this photojournalism challenge, students head outdoors to capture real-world evidence of their thinking. They curate a portfolio of purposeful photos that document understanding, creativity, and connection… one shot at a time!

Prime Time Rhyme Climb

Prime Time Rhyme Climb challenges your students to apply their content knowledge by writing original rhymes that showcase their learning. Inspired by research on processing fluency, this activity makes content mastery more accurate, more believable, and more memorable.

Doodle Dance Party

Get your groove on with the Doodle Dance Party! Dive into texts, draw bold visuals, and share your creativity in this high-energy mashup of music, art, and learning. Perfect for sparking imagination and boosting engagement, it’s a plug and play classroom jam session!

Like I Was Five

Ever tried explaining photosynthesis to a five-year-old? Get ready to simplify, visualize, and collaborate! In this colorful Penny Pedagogy, teams turn tough topics into playful presentations, unlocking deeper learning and communication skills. Simple ideas, big results!

Sketchplanations

Get sketchy with Sketchplanations! Teams will upcycle random doodles into content-related masterpieces, then defend their creations with quick-witted explanations. This hilarious, creativity-boosting review is perfect for reinforcing key concepts in a fun way!

Mnemonic Mania

Boost memory and creativity with EMC² Learning’s Mnemonic Mania! This fast-paced activity challenges students to craft catchy mnemonics for tough concepts, blending humor with higher-order thinking and visual flair for a learning experience they’ll never forget.

Rollin’ in the Doh

Get ready for a Play-Doh Palooza! In this hands-on activity, students will mold and shape Play-Doh to visually represent key concepts they’re learning. It’s a creative fusion of content and art where attention to detail and imagination bring knowledge to life!

Memory Joggers

Race against the clock in Memory Joggers! In this activity, quick thinking and collaboration are key as teams recall key lesson details and write down words starting with random letters. Ready, set, jog those memories — the team with the strongest teamwork wins!

Tier Pressure

Feel the “Tier Pressure” as you boost critical thinking and communication skills! In this rapid ranking activity, student teams rank items from “S” to “F” and defend their choices. Score points for creativity, critical thinking, *and* for reading your teacher!

H.O.T. Question Cookout

Turn up the heat on learning with the sizzlin’ H.O.T. Question Cookout! Students become Grillmasters, crafting creative, higher-order thinking questions in a fun, competitive setting. Perfect for sparking deep discussions and boosting critical thinking skills!

Wrong Answers Only

Wrong Answers Only flips quizzes upside down! In this group activity, students will identify incorrect answers in multiple-choice questions. Think fast, defend your choices, and dodge the truth. The more wrongs you can spot, the more points you score—risk it all!

Microlab

Five minutes. One game changing pedagogy. The Microlab is perhaps the single most versatile resource available in the EMC² Learning library. Once you’ve mastered this conversation protocol, we promise it will quickly become one of your favorite go-to class activities.

Six Word Memoirs

Little sentences. Big impressions. In Six Word Memoirs, students have will try their hand at crafting micro-sized stories that go WAY beyond a simple summary of the facts. After all: who said you need fancy words and long sentences to get your message across?

Mutation Mayhem

Student writing comes ALIVE! In Mutation Mayhem, your classroom becomes a living laboratory on the hunt for all sorts of little details. Lengthen and strengthen your students’ attention to details while chasing down all sorts of elusive writing prompt mutations.

Dublin Details

Double down on details with this clever game of cooperation and content recap. In Dublin Details, your students will need to be nimble, clever, and quick as they work together to make a break through your curriculum in hopes to capture the elusive leprechaun.

Recap Rap & Snap

Are you ready to bring the noise to your next lesson plan? In Recap, Rap & Snap, your students will square off for a spirited remix of everything you thought you knew about what we’re learning. Flip the script on traditional group work and get ready to rock!

Emoji Kitchen

Do you remember when you were told not to play with your food? In the Emoji Kitchen, you can throw that idea right out of the window! Fire up your students’ imaginations with all sorts of crazy recipes featuring wild ingredient mashups and some of their favorite emoji!

Sign Language Slang

Did you know that more than 500 thousand Americans use Sign Language every single day? And in this activity, students will try their hands at creating new signs, symbols, and slang words to help this wildly versatile language make sense of your course content.

Survey Surprise

Can your students guess what’s on your mind? Equal parts content review and Family Feud, Survey Surprise is a clever way to drum up all sorts of student interest as you activate prior knowledge and prepare for any lesson imaginable. Survey says? Game changer.

Collaborative Number Collage

If you’re looking for a low-prep, high-energy alternative to traditional review, the Collaborative Collage has got your number! This activity blends the hands-on fun of sketchnoting with the giant-sized excitement of an oversized anchor chart (in miniature).

Collaborative Letter Collage

Pick a letter, any letter — and watch your students spring to life with all sorts of colorful artwork and creative explanations inspired by this simple muse. The Collaborative Letter Collage is easy to learn, and it’s a great way to spruce up classroom decor!

Coins For Content

This is an awesome spin on the 6 words memoirs. Students have a target budget that they spend to carefully craft a sentence or two in order to share their content. They need to spend as close without going over as they can. Perfect fun in groups or individuals!

Artificial Intelligence Artwork Anarchy

The Age of Artificial Intelligence has begun! And in this head-to-head challenge, students will be battling the bots (and their classmates) in an effort to defend humanity and protect the intrinsically human skills of creative thinking and persuasive speech.

Sixty Second Sketch and Share

Remember how much fun it was when you were in kindergarten and you had the chance to draw and paint all sorts of colorful projects and pictures in school? What happened to that creative spirit?! Sixty Second Sketch and Share is a playful way to spark engagement.

Adjacent Faces

Can you think in three dimensions while making all kinds of connections between the different things that we’ve been learning about! In Adjacent Faces, your students will have the opportunity to use printed templates and custom design their very own 3D dice.

Haiku Hijinks

They say dynamite comes in small packages. And in Haiku Hijinks, your students will have the chance to explode with creativity as they compete against a series of random number generators in a game of who-knows-what before the timer runs out. Tick tick boom!

1-2-3 Wonderings

If you’re looking for a creative and low prep activity that you can “count” on to add instant life and creativity to any review day, then we’ve got your number. 1-2-3 Wonderings turns a simple game of numeracy into a scavenger hunt through your course content.

Linking Lyrics

If you’re looking for a Penny Pedagogy that’s guaranteed to be music to your students’ ears (and super easy to incorporate into any lesson plan) Linking Lyrics is a certified banger! Just push play to add this pulse pounding activity to your teacher playlist.

Acrostic Chaos

Acrostic Chaos turns your ordinary review day into a battle of wits between teams of students flexing their creative muscles in a fast-paced showcase of bite-sized poetry. Give a click to take this high energy Penny Pedagogy for a spin and let the chaos begin!

Spooky Costume Creator

Trick or treat! The Spirit Halloween costume meme has been taking social media by storm. And here at EMC² Learning, we wanted to cook up an easy to use template that could help educators join in the fun. Just give a click to join in on this fully editable costume parade!

Image Battle Royal

Get ready to rumble with the Image Battle Royal! This low prep, high energy showdown puts your students right in the heart of all the action in a challenge to flex some serious mental muscle while scouring the open internet to find just the right photo for your content.

Apples and Oranges

Looking for a quick way for students to squeeze their creative juices into a fun and fast paced contest of ridiculous comparisons? Apples and Oranges is packed with all of the essential vitamins and minerals you’ll need to give any content recap activity a fresh twist!

Hexagonal Thinking

This tricky technique all begins with a simple shape: the humble hexagon. This versatile six-sided figure finds its way into all sorts of board games to help gamers create modular boards that change from game to game. But guess what? It works for learning content, too!

Concept Shape Connectors

Want to challenge students’ abilities to make connections between all sorts of items related to your course content? Your classes will love pushing their creative limits with this fully editable array of Concept Shape Connectors. Simply pick a shape and pick your sides!

Content Crosswords

Content Crosswords is inspired by the world’s favorite word game. Using the fully editable templates, students have the chance to complete an *entire Scrabble game board* by creating drag-and-drop word combinations to share a bit of insight about what they’ve learned.

Roll Them Bones

Ahoy matey! Roll Them Bones is a low prep, high stakes review game that will challenge student crews to work together to summarize course content while trying to navigate all kinds of stormy seas that come their way. All you’ll need is a galleon full of six sided dice.

Block Party

There’s a surprising amount wisdom in the theme song from The LEGO Movie. Because when students have the chance to fuse content knowledge with creativity, “Everything is Awesome.” This simple pedagogy will have your classes building all kinds of cool ideas in no time!

Rolling Recaps

In Rolling Recaps students get the chance to work in teams for a clever bit of “Roll Playing.” All you’ll need is a bunch of six-sided dice and a topic! Whatever number each team rolls (between 4 and 24) will be the exact amount of words they’re allowed in their answer.

Novel Novella

Novel Novella makes use of a random genre spinner and challenges students to dream up all kinds of creative takes on your course content in hopes of penning the next chart-topping bestseller. Rapid iteration and collaborative creativity makes this the “write” play!

Haiku Hullabaloo

Just five syllables. Then seven more syllabus. Infinite options. The Haiku Hullaballoo is a Penny Pedagogy that challenges students to fuse content knowledge with creativity and discover their inner poet using three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Beautiful, no?

Informational Improv

William Shakespeare once wrote that “all the world’s a stage” and that the men and women who set foot upon it are but mere players in this wonderful display of everything that life has to offer. In the Informational Improv, your students get their chance to be the star!

Picture This!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this Penny Pedagogy is definitely worth its weight in gold. Picture This will challenge your students to come up with all kinds of clever and creative photo captions inspired by your course content. This activity is a “snap!”

Argument Archaeology

Argument Archeology turns students into excavators of some rock solid learning, and uses a playful team against team timer setup to challenge these competing groups to discover as much information as they can before time runs out. Your content is a goldmine! So dig in.

Content Compactor

Can you describe everything you know about a subject in a single paragraph? Fair enough. Now can you do the same thing in just a single sentence? What about trying to cram all of that information into no more than one word? Welcome to the action-packed Content Compactor.

Penny Pedagogy Score Card

Penny Pedagogies are fast, easy ways to liven up any lesson plan, so it always pays to carry a few of them in your pocket. And here’s the best part: you can even stack a bunch of these activities together to create some exponential “change” in your classroom!

Extend-a-phors

A simile is a what it’s called when two dissimilar items are compared by using a phrase that uses the words “like” or “as.” A metaphor, meanwhile, pushes thinking to an even deeper level without using either of those two magic words. This game does the same!

Stand-Up Showdown

Looking for a hilarious spin on team-based review? In Standup Showdown, students will have only just a few minutes to work with their teammates to dream up as many clever new jokes, puns, and one-liners as they can. Then they’ll the stage to show their stuff!

Manuscript Minute

Welcome to Manuscript Minute, the collaborative game where aspiring bookworms get to show what you know in a micro-sized showcase of all sorts of insight. Can you fill the time without any hesitation or repeats?! Grab the mic and show the world what you can do!

Zeugma Brain Workout

A zeugma is a figure of speech in which the same word applies to two others in two totally different senses – like “He left with his hat, and his dignity,” or “my license and my pet goldfish recently expired.” Get the hang of it? Now let’s see what your students can do!

Information Line

The Information Line takes the familiar concept of a traditional timeline and challenges students to add a second layer of metacognitive reflection to their findings to help them really lock what they’re learning into the deeper archives of their minds. Print and play!

Double Entry Diary

No, you’re not seeing double. But the Double Entry Diary will have your students thinking twice about all kinds of course content. This resource helps students record ideas from texts in one column, and their reactions in the second for a double dose of deeper learning.

Subject Matter Sudoku

Turn any traditional review activity into a multi-layered brain teaser that’s sure to keep your students guessing (and laughing!) right up until the final bell sounds. Subject Matter Sudoku blends course content with the familiar gameplay of this addictive puzzle game.

Linking Logs

Watch your students’ knowledge stack right up with Linking Logs, a pedagogy that’s all about making connections between each new layer of everything that they’ve learned. This resource includes printable handouts to help your learners make sense of their understanding.
Emc2 Resources