Teacher note: Group by Zodiac signs¶

This “unplugged” activity will give students practice on “tracing through” elif statements.

Summary

Twelve students stand in line side-by-side holding up signs with zodiac sign dates on them. The rest of the students start at one end of the line, and, for each sign, check to see if their birthday falls within that zodiac sign period. If it does, the student stops and stands behind that sign. At the end, all the students will be grouped according to their zodiac signs!

 Zodiac Sign Date Sign characteristics Aries March 21 - April 19 Active, Demanding, Determined, Effective, Ambitious Taurus April 20 - May 20 Security, Subtle strength, Appreciation, Instruction, Patience Gemini May 21 - June 20 Communication, Indecision, Inquisitive, Intelligent, Changeable Cancer June 21 - July 22 Emotion, Diplomatic, Intensity, Impulsive, Selective Leo July 23 - August 22 Ruling, Warmth, Generosity, Faithful, Initiative Virgo August 23 - September 22 Analyzing, Practical, Reflective, Observation, Thoughtful Libra September 23 - October 22 Balance, Justice, Truth, Beauty, Perfection Scorpio October 23 - November 21 Transient, Self-Willed, Purposeful, Unyielding Sagittarius November 22 - December 21 Philosophical, Motion, Experimentation, Optimism Capricorn December 22 - January 19 Determination, Dominance, Perservering, Practical, Willful Aquarius January 20 - February 18 Knowledge, Humanitarian, Serious, Insightful, Duplicitous Pisces February 19 - March 20 Fluctuation, Depth, Imagination, Reactive, Indecisive

To prepare

• 1 if sign:

if birthday falls between March 21 to April 19:

• 10 elif signs (Taurus to Aquarius), leaving out the last one (Pisces): this will be your else condition. For example:

elif birthday falls between April 20 to May 20:


And so on.

• 1 else sign:

else:


Directions

1. Have 12 volunteers line up side by side.

2. Give each volunteer a sign, making sure the leftmost student has the if sign, and the rightmost student has the else sign. It’s best to keep the elif signs in the correct order.

3. Have each student start at the if sign, to check if his birthday falls within the dates on the sign.

4. If it does, have that student stand behind the student holding the sign.

5. Otherwise, have the student step (right) to the next sign, to check if his birthday matches that one.

6. Let him keep going until he finds a sign that matches his birthday.

Wrap up questions

• Ask the students how many steps they had to take to find their zodiac sign. Emphasize that for some cases, fewer elif conditions are checked than for others.

• For the else sign, why was the zodiac sign dates for Pisces unnecessary? (It was the only option left)

• Ask the students to rewrite the else sign so it becomes another elif sign. Point out that the else is optional.