Let's Play and Learn
How do rules help us?
Photo Credit: Playing the Dinosaur Matching Game by GoonSquadSarah is licensed under CC by 2.0
Learners explore the important role that rules play at home and school, as well as in the games they play. With a deck of playing cards, the learners play simple games that practice math concepts and cooperative play. This unit serves as a precursor to the more complicated game of Mini Bridge.
Learners discover that rules are helpful. Rather than being a roadblock, rules can actually help us to avoid problems. Students learn that cooperation skills involve knowing and following (obeying) the rules.
This introduces the learners to a deck of playing cards, and teaches classification, taking turns, and clockwise movement.
Students learn new card-playing vocabulary, classify by attributes, practice counting, and follow rules to cooperatively play a game.
The lesson teaches learners that games are most fun when the players know and follow the rules. The lesson introduces the learners to geographic locations of North, South, East, and West. They also use playing cards to learn about rank order and greater than and less than.
In this lesson over several days, students learn three games with plenty of time to practice and discover strategies. The three games involve taking tricks, and over time, students learn about trump and working with a partner. They follow directions, display good etiquette, and discuss strategies.