Bingo Online » Math Teachers

Long Division Bingo

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:36:23 +0000

Division is often the last of the basic arithmetic operations that students learn. Of course, when students first starting to doing divisions, they will begin with very simple problems such as dividing 4 by 2, dividing 6 by 3, or dividing 8 by 4. The next stage is to learn how to divide multi-digit numbers by a single digit one, and only after mastering this can students advance to long division (dividing one multi-digit number by another). Good and patient teaching is of course essential for students to progress, but by itself it is not enough: students also need plenty of practice at performing divisions.

It would probably be fair to say that in days gone by, some math teachers were not too concerned about finding fun and interesting classroom activities for their students – as long as students practised their sums, the teacher would be satisfied. Teaching methods have fortunately moved on since those days. Today’s teachers know that students who are engaged with their class tend to learn better, and hence interesting classroom activities and educational games are becoming increasingly popular. One such educational game that has become increasingly popular in recent years, is bingo.

It turns out that bingo is ideally suited for use in math class: it’s adaptable to a wide variety of classroom situations and styles of play, it’s incredibly easy for students to play (but still enjoyable), and importantly given the financial constraints that teachers often work under, it doesn’t require expensive materials or resources. The mechanics of the game in educational versions of bingo are basically the same as in normal bingo, but there is one key difference: instead of using bingo cards containing numbers, items relating to the topic of the lesson are used instead. So, obviously in a math class, math problems such as long divisions would be used. Students are then required to write in the answers to these questions, rather than simply mark items off their cards.

So what if you’re a teacher, and you’d like to try bingo out with your students? Well obviously you’ll need some suitable printed bingo cards – but where do you get them? Actually it’s very easy – you can print them yourself using your computer: download some bingo card creator software, and it’s a snap to print as many bingo cards as you want, on any subject at all.

By: Sunil Tanna

Fractions Bingo Cards

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:27:45 +0000

Today’s teachers are no longer satisfied with rote learning and boring classroom activities. As a result, fun, engaging and challenging educational activities are very much in demand, and one such activity that has become extremely popular in recent years is bingo. This is because bingo is ideally suited to educational environments – apart from being enjoyable, it’s very easy to play, it’s extremely flexible and adaptable, and it doesn’t require lots of expensive materials or specialist resources.

The traditional version of bingo is played using bingo cards containing a 5 X 5 array of numbers. Each players goal is to try to get a line (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) of items marked off their card – they mark off items as they are called out by the bingo caller. Educational versions of bingo use broadly the same rules (although teachers may of course vary the rules if they wish), but the bingo cards are instead printed with items specific to the particular subject or lesson – for example, place names in a geography class, historical figures in a history class, authors or book titles in an English literature class, and so on.

While it is true that bingo is can be used in many different subjects, one subject where it has proven especially popular with teachers is math. Usually math teachers will use bingo cards containing math problems, and ask the students to write in answers to these questions (as the questions are called out), but that isn’t the only way to play. You could use bingo cards containing numbers which serve as the solutions to various math questions – when the teacher calls out a math question, students must mark off the square containing the solution. Another idea when teaching fractions and/or decimals is to have cards containing the same number written in different ways – when a teach calls out “a half”, students may tick off a square containing 0.5, 2/4, 3/6, 4/8 or any other other representation of a half, regardless of format or base.

If you’re a teacher and want to use bingo in your classes, then obviously you’ll need to get the appropriate bingo cards. There are specialist publisher who offer preprinted materials, but these are sometimes expensive and also limit your choice of items and themes to those chosen by the publisher. It would be a lot more flexible if you could print the cards yourself – and installing some bingo card maker software on your PC will allow you to do exactly that.

By: Sunil Tanna

Fractions Bingo

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:24:31 +0000

Educational versions of bingo are growing in popularity with teachers. More and more educators are using the game as a teaching tool during their lessons. There are numerous reasons for this, but they include the facts that bingo is easy to adapt to different lesson types and subjects, that the game is very simple to learn (many students probably already know how to play), and given the financial restrictions that most teachers work under – bingo card be played using affordable materials and classroom supplies.

One of the main ways that bingo can be adapted to different subjects is by using special subject-specific bingo cards. As you probably know, traditional bingo cards simply contain a grid of squares, each square containing a different number. Educational versions of bingo use cards containing a grid of squares, however the squares contain items specific to the subject or lesson, such as the names of cities, mountains or rivers in a geography class, the names of historical figures in a history class, etc.

Bingo can be used in many different subjects, but is especially suitable for math. Teachers can prepare bingo cards containing either questions or answers, and then vary game playing accordingly. If questions are used, students must write in the answers when the question is called. If answers are used, the teacher calls out questions, and students must mark off the particular square that answers the question.

Bingo can be used in almost any math class, but is particularly popular for practice at arithmetic, and especially multiplication tables (”times tables”). Many math teachers also find the game a useful tool for practising fractions and decimals – in this case as well as solving problems, students may be required to do base conversion (when the teacher calls out “a quarter”, the student must mark off squares contain 1/4, 2/8 or 0.25).

In order to play any of these variants of bingo, you will of course need the appropriate custom bingo cards. While it is possible to order preprinted cards for many subjects, they can get kind of expensive. A better alternative is to get some bingo card maker software and make the bingo cards using your PC. Appropriate software will allow you to print bingo cards containing anything you want, and with no limit as to the quantity.

By: Sunil Tanna

Fraction Bingo Cards

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:35:38 +0000

Good teachers are always on the look-out for engaging, interesting and fun educational activities to use in their classes. One such activity that is growing in popularity, is bingo. The reasons for this, are that bingo is very easy to learn and play, adaptable to almost any type of lesson, subject or student age group, and is not requiring of expensive specialist materials. In short, it’s an ideal game for use in schools, colleges and other educational situations.

When bingo is played as an educational game, one of the main differences from traditional bingo is that a different style of bingo cards are used. In traditional bingo, bingo cards containing a 5 X 5 grid of numbers are used. However, in educational versions of bingo, each item on the grid is an item specific to the subject being taught – for example the name of a country, city, mountain or river in a geography class, or the names of different plants or animals in a biology class, and so on. Bingo is suitable for use in a range of subjects across the entire curriculum, but is a particular favorite among math teachers. The most common way to play the game is to use bingo cards containing math questions – students must write in the answers to questions that come up, rather than simply tick off squares, but there are other variations too. Another idea is to use bingo cards containing numbers, and in this case, the teacher calls out math problems (or writes them on the blackboard), and the students must mark off the number which is the solution to the problem.

There’s no limit on the kinds of math classes which bingo can be used for. It’s probably fair to say that it’s most popular as a tool for encouraging practice of basic arithmetic, especially multiplication and multiplication tables. That’s not bingo’s only use though! Another popular activity is bingo using fractions or decimals – in this version students may be required to convert between different representations of the same number (e.g. marking off any of 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, or 0.5, if the teacher calls “a half”).

To play fraction bingo, or in fact any other educational version of bingo, you will of course need the appropriate special bingo cards. Once upon a time, it wasn’t possible to get cards customized to your exact requirements, and the closest thing was preprinted cards from a specialist publisher (which were also often quite expensive). Today however you can simply print bingo cards using your computer – download some bingo card creator software, and it’s a simple job to printed as many cards as you want, whenever you want.

By: Sunil Tanna

Bingo Math Games

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:21:46 +0000

Many teachers are looking for interesting ways to spice up their classes. The idea is that by making learning fun, students will pay more attention, progress faster, take in more initial, and recall more later – and many teacher’s experience suggests that this is indeed the case. One such idea is being used in many classrooms in introducing the game of bingo, since it is very easy to learn, and doesn’t require expensive materials. Indeed, bingo is now being used to help teach a wide variety of different school subjects, including not only math, but also English, reading, foreign languages, and even science, history and geography.

The simplest version of bingo for math classes is to play using bingo cards containing numbers chosen by the teacher. Each student is given one such card and told to mark off a square if it contains an answer to a math problem posed by the teacher. The teacher then calls out a series of math problems, and the students have to figure out the answers in order to play the game. This type of bingo can be used for practising addition, subtraction, multiplication (especially “times tables”), and division. It can also used for practising fractions and decimals as well as rounding – in this case, the teacher may call out something like “one fifth” and student be required to find the square containing “0.2″, or the teacher might call out “14.7 rounded to the nearest whole number”.

Another way to play math bingo is to use bingo cards with math problems. In this case, the teacher calls out the problem (or writes it on the board), and the students must find the matching problem on their card, solve it, and write in the correct answer. When everybody is ready, those students who figured out the correct answer, can mark off the corresponding square – those who didn’t, can’t.

In either case, the key requirements to play these games in class are of course the bingo cards containing the items that the teacher wants to use for that class. Obviously, preparing a set of bingo cards by hand for each student would be quite time consuming and a waste of the teacher’s class preparation time – so the best method to make the bingo cards is to use a computer and some bingo card maker software – that way the cards can be printed with very little time and effort.

By: Sunil Tanna