Submitted by Andrea Cope, Texas

Idea posted July 29, 2004

I have four sets of risers in my room, and each riser is a country. Because some of my classes are huge and others are not, some countries have four people while others have nine. When anyone suggests that isn't fair, as the larger groups have more people to earn points, I point out that we are trying to create the world we live in, which is also not fair, so they'd better get used to it. I like having four countries per class because so much of what we do requires four groups. It simplifies my life.

The first thing they do is choose their initial ambassador, who chooses their country out of a hat. I have six extra countries than I need in the hat so the last group isn't slighted. I try to choose countries that are easily researched, interesting, and have a connection to the population of our school.

It would work great with fourth graders, but I'm a big fan of anticipation. I save it for fifth grade and let the lower grades follow excitedly along, waiting for their turn.