The lesson teaches learners that games can be fun if the players know and follow the rules. The lesson introduces the learners to geographic location, and the concept of rank order and “greater than,” “less than” using playing cards.  

The learner will:

• use playing cards to identify number order.
  
  
• compare numbers to 10 as greater than and less than.
  
  
• determine geographic location by North, South, East, West.
  
  
• play a card game by established rules.
  

Anticipatory Set:
In large letters place a “K”, “Q” and “J” on the display board.  Hold up King, Queen and Jack playing cards. Ask which letter might represent each card and why. (The letter is the initial consonant of the name of the person on the card.) The students may or may not know that the “J” stands for “Jack.” Explain that according to some authorities “Jack” represents the first born son of the King and Queen. Add the remainder of the letters to the initial consonants on the display board so the students can read the words King, Queen, Jack.  Ask the students to tell you which of these three people would be considered the most powerful person in most fairly tales. (Although the rank of a King and a Queen are pretty evenly distributed in many fairy tales, historically the King was considered the most powerful person in the domain.)

Teacher Note: While this lesson may be more appropriate for 2nd graders, an early learners’ alternative is located at the end of this section)

 

• Arrange the learners into groups of four. (They could also be instructed to get into their original groupings assigned in Lesson One/Lesson Two.) Once in their groups, give each group one deck of playing cards telling the “Deck Holder” to locate and set the Jokers aside, and wait for instructions.
  
  
• Tell the “Deck Holder” to spread the cards out, face up.  Point out to the students the words North, South, East and West posted on the classroom walls.  Tell them that these words represent the geographic direction they are facing.  Assign the students in the group a “suit” of cards dependent on their seating orientation, i.e. all students facing west are assigned “Hearts,” all facing South are assigned “Clubs,” etc.
  
  
• The students are to pick up from the pile of cards all cards that belong in the suit they were assigned.  Ask if they remember what they discovered in the previous lesson about the number of cards in each suit (13).  Have each student count their cards to verify that they all have 13 cards of one suit.
  
  
• Ask each student to lay out all their number cards in a row in front of them, starting with the lowest number.  (Some students will note that they do not have a “1.”  Tell them to begin with “2.”  Tell them that it's O.K. to help each other order the suits.  Ask the students to observe the number of suit symbols on each cards and help them discover that the number of symbols correlates to the numeral on the card – for Hearts: a five has five hearts in the middle, a 10 has 10 hearts in the middle, etc.
  
  
• Then have them add the Jack, Queen and King to row of their ordered cards after the “ten” card.  They will discover one card left over – the Ace.  Some learners may know the name of this card, but some will want to call it an A.  To those who do know the name of the card, pose the question: Is there a number “1” in the corner of this card?  No, there are no ones  - it is called an Ace.  It has a “A” in the corner.  Tell the learners that in most card games an Ace has a greater value than a King!  Maybe it is because it is the first letter in the alphabet, maybe for some other reason, but typically it is the highest value card in most card games.  So in rank order, the Ace should be placed before the King.
  
  
• Have the learners “read” across their row of cards chorally, saying the number/name of each card from least to greatest.
  
  
• Ask the learners to push two cards, the 3 and the 10 up out of their row.  Ask clarifying questions to compare the “rank” of each card, such as “Which card is greater”? (10) Which card is less? (3)  Can you tell by the number of symbols on the card? (the greater card has more symbols.) Repeat this with several times with two different cards.  Are the answers the same when comparing number and face cards?  Discuss why or why not.  (The face cards do not have a corresponding number of symbols in the center so the children must remember the rank.)
  
  
• The final activity of this lesson is to introduce a game that is intended to reinforce the concept of the ranking of cards from the ‘greatest’ to the ‘least’. (The concept of ‘greater than/less than’ can be introduced or reviewed by asking the learner, “Is a King greater than or less than a nine?”  “Is a three greater than or less than a ten?”  Is an Ace greater than or less than a Jack?” etc.)

Teacher Note: It might be easiest for the learners to grasp this game if one group is used as a demonstration group.  Under guidance from the teacher, this group plays through a few rounds while the other groups stand around the demonstration group to observe. This would also be an excellent activity to do with older students from other classes mentoring younger children.

• The rules for this game will require that:

1. All cards, except the two jokers be placed into the card pile.
   
   
2. The cards are to be “shuffled,” which means that they are going to be mixed up face down.
   
   
3. The “Deck Holder” is to deal (give) (This is an ideal time to introduce the word deal/dealer) a card, face down, to each group member including himself/herself. The group member with the card of greatest value wins the round and collects all the cards from the other group members. (If there should be a tie for the top card, each of the players involved in the tie is dealt a second card to determine whose card is greatest.)
   
   
4. Once a round is completed, a new “Deck Holder” is announced (rotate the deal clockwise). Once again the “Deck Holder” will deal each player a card face down and continue following the procedure explained in #3 above until all the cards in the deck are gone.
   
   
5. When it is no longer possible for the “Deck Holder” to deal each player in the group a new card, the game is over, and each player should then count the total number of cards he/she has been able to collect.  The player with the most cards is declared the winner of that game.

• As appropriate, continue to play additional games giving each group member an opportunity to win the game.
  Allow time at the end of this lesson to review all the terms introduced so far, namely rules, cooperate, deck of cards, clockwise, attribute, classify, the back and face of a card, shuffle, and Jokers, King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J), Ace (A), and deal/dealer.
  
  Early Learners Alternative
• To teach the concept of card rank to early learners, arrange the class into groups of four. Once in their groups of four, give each group one deck of playing cards telling the group to remove all the cards that have letters on them.  If necessary, show them which cards have letters.  Have the group place these lettered cards back into the card box.
  
  
• Tell them to match up all the remaining numbered cards placing the cards with the same number into piles, and to then order the piles by the numbers on the card (2 -10). Point out to the students that the more suit symbols in the center of the card, the higher the value; the higher the number, the higher the value.  Ask the learners to tell you how many cards there are in each pile (four). Ask them to tell you which number is larger/greater, a seven or a three? A six or a two?, etc.
  
  
• In their groups, have the learners continue to practice taking turns picking  two cards from the deck and deciding which of the two is of greater value.
  
  
• Once it is determined that the learners have a grasp of rank with the numbered cards, conclude this lesson by introducing the face cards using the Anticipatory Set and the bullet points four, five and six above.
  
  
• Allow time at the end of this lesson to review all the terms introduced so far, namely rules, cooperate, deck of cards, clockwise, attribute, classify, the back and face of a card, shuffle, and Jokers, King (K), Queen(Q), Jack (J), Ace(A).
  

Ask the learners by asking them if they are willing to try and remember two more names for the cards in a playing card deck.  Those cards with the number 3 in the corner are referred to as the trey of their suit (i.e. the 3 of diamonds is called the trey of diamonds, etc.).  Those with the number 2 in the corner are often referred to as the deuce of their suit (i.e. the 2 of clubs is called the deuce of club, etc.).

Continue to use cards each week during the school year to teach math and reinforcing card vocabulary.  For additional math games using cards see the Bibliographical References.