ANTICIPATE by drawing a quick sketch of a courtroom on the board. Only draw the perimeter of the room and the judge’s bench. Call on individual students to come up and help complete the drawing by adding what they already know about a courtroom.

EXPLAIN that they will be playing a game that will teach them about the different roles of people in a courtroom.

GROUP students into groups of 4 to 5.

DISTRIBUTE one cheat sheet and one game rules half-sheet to each student, and one game board and one set of cards to each group.

HAND OUT enough colored pencils to each group so each player can have a different color.

TELL students they will be playing a version of the card game “Go Fish” that will teach them about the different people involved in a court case and the role each person has before and during a trial.

SHOW students one of the “job title” cards and one of the “job description” cards, and point out that they match job titles and descriptions on the cheat sheet. If you have time, you may want to read the cheat sheet with the students. 

EXPLAIN that the object of the game is to get the most pairs of cards by matching job titles and job descriptions. Explain that there are two job title cards and two job description cards for each job.  This is because one job description tells what that person does before trial or when they are not in court, and the other one tells what the person does during a trial or when they are in court.  

READ the game rules together with students and answer any questions.

GUIDE students through the game setup:

1. Choose a colored pencil so every player in the group has a different color.
2. Write your name on the players list on the game board and color in the circle next to your name.
3. Deal a hand of 5 cards face down to each player. The player farthest from the classroom door is the dealer (or use any criterion that works in your classroom).
4. Place the rest of the cards face down in a pile.
5. Begin the game.  The player closest to the classroom door goes first. 

COLLECT the game boards as evidence of play.