Phonics is a popular method of teaching children to read that is based around the child learning to connect sounds with letters or groups of letters. For example, the child would learn that the hard “k” sound is associated with the letters “c”, “k” or “ck”. To be fair, using phonics as a method of teaching reading has not been without controversy, particularly in the United States of America, at least since the mid 19th century, and especially since the reemergence of phonics in the 1950s.
Those teachers who do use phonics, generally use them in a variety of different classroom activities, not just when students are reading from books or writing. For example, phonics and phonics-based skills can be incorporated into many different classroom activities and educational games, including, for example, bingo.
Phonics bingo is played like the traditional game of bingo: Each player (student) is given a card containing a five by five grid of squares, and aims to mark of a line of items (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) in response to items called out by the bingo caller (teacher). The different however between phonics bingo and traditional bingo, is that the cards, instead of being printed with numbers, are printed with words appropriate to the subject of the lesson. Additionally, game play may be modified in a variety of different ways.
Some ideas for phonetics bingo include:
1. Partial word bingo – The teacher says something like “find the word with ‘pin’ in it”, in response to which the students would have to find “spin”.
2. Blending bingo – The teacher reads out a word slowly, for example “sss-nnn-aaa-p”, and the students must find the corresponding word.
3. Rhyming bingo – The teacher reads out a word, and students need to find the word that rhymes with it.
4. Silent E bingo – The teacher reads out a word like “pin” and asks what what word you would get by adding an E.
It should also be remembered that phonics is not a complete solution to learning reading. Students must also learn to recognize some common words which can not be sounded out (the most common list of such words is known as Dolch Sight Words). Many teachers also emphasize learning to sight read other common words (such as “is” or “it”) as this can improve reading fluency. Therefore as well as playing phonics bingo, you can also play sight word bingo in class.
By: Sunil Tanna
Easter (also known as “Pascha” or “Resurrection Day”) refers to both the Christian religious feast celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, and the season of the church year beginning with Easter Day and lasting either 40 days until Ascension Day (traditional Easter Season) or 50 days until Pentecost (modern official Easter Season). The date of Easter within the calendar varies from year to year, because its date is based on a complex calculation based on the cycle of the moon – this is because of the feast’s links to the Jewish Passover. Several methods of calculating the date of Easter have been used over the centuries, this has in fact been a matter of controversy among Christians. Today, Easter falls sometime between late March and late April each year according to Western Christian traditions, and between early April and early May according to Eastern traditions.
Although Easter has its origins in Christianity, the period is also celebrated today as a secular holiday. The period is often marked by sending greeting cards, and giving and consuming confectionery including chocolate eggs, candies, marshmallows, etc. Another activity that is popular during the period is for children to paint the shells in boiled eggs with brightly colored paint.
Different countries have different traditional ways of marking the holiday. In the United Kingdom, it is traditional to eat hot cross buns (spiced buns with a cross marked on the top) during the Easter period, and for families to exchange chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday. In the United States however, chocolate eggs are delivered by the Easter Bunny (a rabbit character) who hides them while children are sleeping.
Easter is often marked in schools, and it is also an occasion at which both families and church groups come closer together. While there are many traditions already associated with the holiday, one thing that you may wish to consider is the possibility of playing educational games. These games provide an opportunity for educating young people about Easter traditions as well as being fun for people of all ages.
Ideally the games that you select will not only be educational and fun, but simple to learn, easy to play, and affordable (no expensive materials required!). One game that I would suggest is bingo. Pretty much everybody already knows how to play bingo (and if they don’t they can learn quickly), plus there are no major expenses since you can print the bingo cards yourself using your computer. Obviously you want the game to be themed around the holiday, but you’ll be surprised at just how easy that is: you can simply download free Easter bingo printables, or purchase affordable and easy-to-use bingo card maker software which you can use to print customized (on any topic at all) bingo cards whenever you want.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most people are familiar, or failing that at least aware of, the game of bingo. We’ve probably either played the game ourselves, or seen others play the game. What many people do not know however is that the game of bingo, with only a few minor modifications, can be adapted for educational use, and has been introduced by many teachers into their classrooms.
As you are no doubt aware, the traditional game of bingo is played using bingo cards printed with squares, each square containing a different number. Players mark off squares from their cards as numbers are called out, and the winner being the first player to achieve a winning pattern (the required pattern may vary depending on the variant of rules being used, but is typical one or more lines of marked off squares across the card).
Educational games of bingo are basically played in the same way, with the teacher acting as bingo caller, but instead of being printed with numbers, the bingo cards are often printed with items specially chosen by the teacher, for example:
* In a game of math bingo, the squares on the bingo cards may be printed with mathematical problems, and students must mark off squares by writing in the correct answers.
* In a game of foreign language bingo, the squares of the bingo cards may be printed with French, German, Spanish or Italian words that the students must recognize when the teacher calls out words in English (or vice-versa).
There really no limits on what teachers can come up with, but the common element required for all these ideas are bingo cards printed with items of the teachers of choice. Here there are really two options. The first option is to prepare the cards by hand – a tedious and potentially time-consuming task. The second option is to use a computer, because, with the help of some bingo card maker software, it’s a surprisingly easy job to print custom bingo cards.
By: Sunil Tanna
