Learning To Count with Cards

A deck of cards can be made into an interesting counting game. First, remove the face cards. Place the remainder of the deck face down on the table. Two or more students pick a card in turn. The student with the highest number on his card adds up the values of all the cards selected. If all students agree with the answer, the student collects the cards. If an error in addition is made, the student with the next highest card offers an answer. This keeps the students interested in adding the numbers for themselves. In the event of a disagreement, the teacher guides the students to the correct answer and puts those cards aside until the deck is reshuffled.

Kids seem to like this activity because of the element of chance, followed by examining the cards to see who gets to try to win the round by adding them up. Since there is an element of chance to see who gets to speak first, the students with better addition skills don't have an unfair advantage that spoils the enjoyment of the game by the students with lesser skills.

I hope that you have found my tip interesting. I am always looking for additional methods, information and resources that are useful in special education, so if you know of any that I don't have links to, let me know about them. If you have a helpful tip that you would like to share, but don't have a web site, send it to me, and if I publish it, I'll include your e-mail address with it so you can get feedback. Have a great day!

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