Show and tell for fifth graders

One of my students, who I am so incredibly proud of, is on the Loveland Titans football team of the Pop Warner League. This past weekend, his team played a quarterfinal qualifying game in Texas and won!

They drove over from Loveland to Tyler, Texas riding on a bus, with the trip lasting almost 20 hours each way. He shared about his weekend with the class and brought in a few artifacts to share.

He talked about the normal things a fifth grade boy would cover:
- The bus hitting a deer at midnight on their way to Texas
- Getting sick on the bus ride
- Winning the game
- The possibility of playing at Mile High Stadium for their next game
- Finding a hobo

The usual. Anyway, I thought he explained it quite well and then he took questions from his classmates. I wasn't expecting many questions, but I was surprised.

"Was the bus air conditioned?"
"Did you eat at restaurants?"
"Did you get to explore Tyler?"
"Was it hot over there?"
"Would you go back?"
"When is your next game?"
"How come your team got to go to Texas to play and (all the other boys who play football for the local league)'s team didn't get to go?"
"What is the difference between Pop Warner and LYAA?"

Even though it took almost fifteen minutes of sharing, it was worth it. I realized that my entire class was completely engaged in the sharing of one student's experience. They wanted to hear about everything he encountered on this trip so they could better understand his weekend.

Considering I have a significant group of ELA students who have limited vocabularies, this was a great opportunity for them to interact with their peers, interpret events and information orally and respond with their own questions.

Perhaps I should pencil in a little more show-and-tell time with my fifth graders.

How do you use Show-and-Tell in your classroom?

Is there an age where it stops being useful?