Bingo For Teachers: How to Spice Up Your Lessons
Bingo is a fun and creative way to learn. What better way to turn a drab and boring lecture on the history of the United States than by turning it into a fun and exciting bingo game?
If you have not tried using bingo in your lessons in the classrooms, it would do you good to give it a try. Bingo can give you and your students a fun time learning, and there's a better chance that they'll retain more of what they learn when they have fun while learning it.
Bingo can be twisted into many different variations that will suit your lesson plan. If you are a math teacher you can use math bingo. Here bingo cards contain numbers that are answers to math problems. These problems are written on small pieces of paper, and one by one drawn out from a container. Whoever answers the problem first by identifying the answer from his or her card gets to mark that number on his card. The process of winning is the same as that of any regular bingo game; that is, whoever gets to complete a horizontal, vertical , or diagonal line and shouts 'Bingo' first wins!
Bingo is also a good ice breaker, especially during the first day of school. Name bingo is a good way to help the kids learn each others' name and to know something about their new classmates.
Vocabulary, trivia, and spelling can also be incorporated into the game. The vocabulary or trivia word are written in the spaces of the cards instead of numbers. These will serve as answers to questions that will be drawn out one by one from the container. Whoever answers correctly can mark the answer on his card ,and wins when he completes a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line.
There are many ways to create bingo cards for classroom use. The easiest way would be to buy cards from your local department or hobby store. These bingo sets can get pretty expensive though considering that most cards can be used for one time only.
A better alternative would be to make your own. You can include your kids in the making of your cards, and this activity will not only be fun and enjoyable, it can also improve their creativity. A drawback to this is that it can take a considerable portion of your time, time that would be better spent doing other things, like making your lesson plan.
The best option would be to go online and find sites or software that will allow you to print bingo cards for free or for a minimal download fee. This is pretty easy to do since there are now a lot of bingo card making software available online today.