After addition, it would be fair to say that subtraction is the basic of arithmetic operations. Indeed, many students learn the two concepts of adding (addition) and “taking away” (subtraction) together. Of course, it’s usual for students to begin by learning how to do simple subtractions such 3 minus 2, 4 minus 3, 5 minus 2, etc., and then gradually progress towards being able to subtract numbers with multiple digits and carrying numbers between columns. High quality teaching is obviously one of the main foundation stones to this learning process, but regular practice is also very important.
While repetition and practice are of course important, it’s also certainly true that too much repetition can bore even the most diligent student. In the old days, many teachers weren’t too concerned about this issue – as long as the students were doing the work required of them, the teachers knew they were learning, and were therefore satisfied. Teaching has fortunately progressed considerably since those days. Nowadays teachers generally actively seek out interesting classroom activities for their students, because they know that such activities can be very effective in encouraging learning. One particular activity that many teachers are using in their classes, is bingo.
Bingo is ideally suited to use in math classes; it’s almost infinitely adaptable, it’s extremely easy to learn and play, and you don’t need expensive resources or materials. Educational variants of bingo are very similar to the traditional game of bingo, however bingo cards containing items relating to the subject of the lesson are used, instead of ordinary numbered bingo cards. Obviously in the case of subtraction, the items on the cards would be subtraction problems, and students would be required to write in their answers to these, rather than simply crossing items off the card.
The only thing that I haven’t yet explained is where teachers can obtain their subtraction bingo cards. The answer is a bit of a surprise for many teachers: they simply print them from your computer! With the help of some affordable and easy-to-use bingo card maker software, teachers can print unlimited bingo cards on any subject that they want.
By: Sunil Tanna
Pretty much everybody knows how to play bingo right? Each player gets a card containing a grid of numbers (usually a 5 by 5 grid with a special “free space” square in the middle), the bingo announcer calls out numbers in random order, plays check off the corresponding numbers from their bingo cards, and the first player to get an agreed upon pattern (usually a line of five in any direction regardless of whether it’s horizontal, vertical or diagonal), is a the winner. You can buy ready-made bingo cards, so why would anybody make to make their own bingo cards?
The answer lies in the fact that themed variants of the standard game have become massively more popular in the bingo cards. In themed versions of bingo, the bingo cards are not printed with numbers, but instead are printed with words, phrases, or even math problems.
Probably the most popular themed versions of the game are those based around particular holidays such as Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween or July 4th (US Independence Day). In these variants, they are printed with words or phrases relating to the particular holiday in question, so items like “Angel”, “Santa Claus” and “Yule” would be used for Christmas bingo, whereas as words like “Heart”, “Love” or “Romance” would be used for St. Valentine’s Day bingo.
Versions of bingo using custom bingo cards are also popular in education. Teachers can prepare them based around any subject or lesson plan, and can also vary game play, for example by calling out “clues” and requiring students to find the corresponding word or phrase. In language classes, bingo calls can be made in one language, and students required to match the corresponding word in another language.
In math classes, these can be printed with math problems in each square, and students can be required to write in the correct answer when an item is called, rather than merely tick off a square. Of course, even the standard game mechanics can be suitable for classroom use in the right situation – for example, an essential part of learning to read fluently is learning to quickly recognize common words (known as “sight words”) – and this can be practiced by playing sight word bingo.
By: Sunil Tanna
Bingo is a very simple game that anybody could learn, even young children. This simplicity also means that the game can be adapted to classroom use. As a result, many elementary and other K-12 school teachers are now using specially modified versions of the game bingo as a teaching aid.
Bingo can be used in the teaching of many different subjects, including reading, English, foreign language, math, science, history and geography. Here are a few examples of how it can be integrated into lesson plans:
* When teaching reading, bingo can be played using bingo cards printed with letters or words. Students might be required to check off squares from their card when the match a word read out by the teacher (”sight word bingo”), or contain the letter that the teacher’s word begins with (”phonemic awareness bingo”).
* In English classes, bingo cards with words are again used. In this case students might be required to find the matching word for the teacher’s definition (”vocabulary bingo”), or when they contain a particular part of speech beginning with a letter chosen by the teacher (”a verb beginning with S”, etc., – “parts of speech bingo”).
* In language classes, bingo cards can be printed with French, German, Italian or Spanish words. In this case, students might be required to match these against English words read out by the teacher. You can also reverse this, and use bingo cards printed in English and have the teacher say words in the foreign language.
* In math classes, bingo cards can be printed with numbers chosen by the teacher, or even with math problems (students must mark off squares by writing in the correct answers). When using numbered cards, students must solve a math problem to find the matching square, and this math problem could be a simple addition, subtraction, multiplication or division sum, a problem involving fractions or decimals (”find the square containing one and a quarter” is called out by teacher, and students must match this to a square containing “1.25″, etc.), etc.
* Bingo can also be used in history, geography and science classes. In these cases, the bingo cards are printed with items appropriate for the subject, and the students must match them to clues given by the teacher (for example: “this is a country in Western Europe, it has coasts on the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, and its capital is Madrid”).
By: Sunil Tanna
