Gordon's Games - Section E (Other Games, Class Games)
(original copyright,1977, by Gordon R. Scott, under the name "Two-Up".)

Section E : (Other games)

  Many other skills can be practised using rules from The Matching Game and The Counting Game.

  Over the years I have made many sets of cards for many purposes. Most could be used with the same rules. Most of the sets contained from 8 to 15 pairs.
  These included:
  - matching shapes to develop prereading skills
  - pairs where one card has a numeral and its partner has that amount of objects; for instance, gummed circles (zero's partner was left blank). (These cards could be used in some of the simpler number games.)
  - pairs of letters, as D, d
  - pairs of letters, taking half the alphabet at a time
  - letters paired with pictures representing the letter's initial sound
  - pairs of words such as:
      but - but, tub - tub, no - no, on - on
      beg - beg, bag - bag, big - big, dig -dig, dog -dog
      bet - bet, bed - bed
  -: rhyming words, antonyms, synonyms, homonyms

  All the above could be played using the rules for The Matching Game.

Up and Down the Alphabet Game ( 5+ ) :   Use a set of cards containing, say, half of the alphabet, with each letter made twice, or a smaller set, just as long as the letters are chosen in order.
  Lay them out as best you can in rows and columns, face down.

  Use the rules for The Counting Game to go through the letters in alphabetical order. You may wish to provide an alphabet for beginners to refer to. It isn't easy to go through the alphabet backwards, starting at m.

The Word Game ( 6+ ) :

  Choose a set of simple words and make up enough letter cards to form every word once. ( 'red' and 'bed' would need 1 r, 2 e's, 1 b, and 2 d's )
  You might start with simple, short, children's names with their capital letter clues.
  Provide the children with a list of the words if you wish.
  Lay the cards out as usual and play a game like The Counting Game except each player must begin by looking for a first letter, then a second, and so on until a word is formed. Then that player must look for another first letter.
  The winner will form the most words.

  (For older children you might use the letters for one large, complicated word and let them play to see who gets it first.)

The Sentence Game ( 6+ ) :

  Enough word cards are made to form four simple sentences of five words each. First letters of first words are capitalized. Last words have a period.
  These cards are shuffled and placed face down in 4 rows of 5, with the words all facing the same way if possible.   Two or more players sit side by side and play this game just as The Counting Game.
  First a player must find a capitalized word. Next that player must find a word that comes naturally after the first. (Players don't have to know the sentence the cards were made for.)
  As sentences are being formed a player may rearrange the cards he/she has.
  Players may also, at any time, remove a word they chose but have decided against. That word is left, face up, to one side.
  If another player can, at any time, show that the word set aside is the next card he/she requires, that player can take it at the beginning of their turn.
  The winner is the first to complete a five word sentence.
Note: Two players might play until one completes two sentences, but those sentences would have to be finished one at a time.

Here are four sentences: (They can be rearranged to form other sentences.)
  1. We have a red car.       2. He can count to ten.
  3. She can write her name.     4. I like to eat apples.

The Alphabet Game ( 5+ ) :

  This is the only game children can play alone, and they do enjoy it.

  Write the letters for the words below, one letter on each card, and keep the words separate. Set out the cards to form the word and carefully turn them face down without changing their order. Choose a writing instrument of a different color. Then, in alphabetical order, print a set of letters on the back, putting one letter on each. Easiest of course will be consecutive letters such as " r, s, t ," but put some in that are more difficult such as " r, v, w ".
  Put an elastic band around the cards forming each word, but leave the cards out of order.
  A child picks up a set and places the cards so the letters forming the word are down. The child then arranges those letters in alphabetical order, turns over each card, and, hopefully, sees a reward.
  It is important to teach the children to mix up the cards before putting them back.
  As with the other card sets, you will want to mark each set differently so the sets don't get mixed up. I made many of the smaller sets, varying the letters on the back of the words.

Class Games:

The Spelling Game (7+ ) :
      Another name for this could be Spelling Challenge.

  The teacher acts as the judge and helper, and sits at the front in the center.
  Initially one child is chosen to be 'up', and this child stands by the teacher.
  Other children who wish to challenge the person 'up' raise their hand and wait quietly.
Quiet is important as all must be able to hear clearly what any person says when it is their turn to talk. (Hands come down to rest the arms when they can.)
  The child 'up' chooses one child whose hand is raised. That child says his/her word (I didn't allow words with capital letters). The one 'up' may ask for it to be repeated and the teacher may assist to assure that the word is heard correctly.
  The child 'up' then has three choices:

1. to tell the challenging child, "Use it in a sentence.", (before choice 2. or 3).
    In this case the teacher must decide if the challenger's sentence really uses the word, and must exercise some discretion when considering the word and the challenger's age. If the challenger can't use the word in a sentence, the child "up" remains at the front and doesn't have to attempt the word. If the challenger can use the word in a sentence, the child 'up' must take choice 2. or 3.

2. to tell the challenger, "You spell it."
    If the challenger spells it correctly (sometimes I had to consult a dictionary ), he/she becomes the child 'up'. The challenger is unwilling to try, or not able to spell it correctly, the child who was 'up' remains at the front and doesn't have to attempt the word.

3. to attempt to spell it, or to decline.
    In this case the child will stay 'up' if the word is spelled correctly, and go down if it isn't. The challenger will become the child 'up' if his/her word is not spelled correctly, even if he/she hasn't had to spell it.

  The game can continue for a set amount of time, or until all challengers have had a turn.
  My preference was to record the name of the last person 'up' so he/she could start the next game, but this did lead to some little people saving their challenges for that moment when they were sure the game was almost over.
  This game was so popular, and productive, that we played it for 10 to 15 min. almost every day after the opening activities. Every year almost all the children were active players, and some individuals showed some surprising growth.
  Spelling correctly became very important. Children would go home and seek out a word and its meaning so they could use it the next day.
  Usually I didn't give help with finding words, but I can remember one little person who lacked confidence. I gave this child 'unique' to learn. "You are unique," I said. The next day this child was chosen, given the sentence challenge back, and then the spelling challenge. Both were handled correctly and I didn't have to help this child again.
  This seemed to be an activity where most could shine, and where most really wanted to learn what their classmates had learned.
  The Spelling Game also provided many opportunities to discuss fair play, and how to be a good sport when winning or losing.

The Arithmetic Game ( 6+, whole class) :

  We played this game much like The Spelling Game. Two children were chosen to go to the front and be 'up'. They stood on either side of me.
  The other children thought of a way to ask a question about a basic fact that would be difficult for at least one of the children 'up'. Then they waited quietly with their hands raised.
  The child chosen last to be 'up' was the one to choose a challenger.
  The challenger stood and gave his/her question in a clear voice. It was up to me to decide if the question was immediately clear to both, and was a proper question.
  On hearing the question, both children 'up' said the answer as quickly as humanly possible.
  (We had several discussions about being a referee, as this was often difficult to judge.)

  I would point to one child if one was first with the correct answer. Then the other child would go down and the challenger would be 'up'.
  If both gave the same answer at almost the same time, I would say, "tie".
  In this case neither would go down, and the challenger would know he/she had to think of a harder question.

  To make this fair for most, a limit was set on the questions asked. For example, to start, the rule might have been to allow adding questions with no numbers over 9.
  When children 'up' started to just call out numbers, knowing the right answer would eventually come, we had a new rule. If a child gave a wrong answer he/she had to wait for his/her opponent to give an answer before having another chance.

  Questioning proved to be a real bonus in this game. (If I was still teaching I might try a Jeopardy like game where the object was to come up with a question for a number.) My method of teaching number facts stressed the relationship between the three numbers in a basic fact. That is 3 + 4 = 7 was naturally related to 4+ 3 = 7, 7 - 3 = 4, and 7 - 4 = 3.
We spoke of two parts in one whole as the basis for all.
  ( I intend to expand on this at another time. It really works well and is supported by research into how we learn, and how we retain what we learn.)
  For this reason, we learned to turn 3 + 4 = 7 into 3 + 4 = ?, ? + 4 = 7, or 3 + ? = 7, as well as the other nine related questions. As children came to understand this they might challenge the two at the front to tell them, "What number, divided by 7, equals 4?"

  Like The Spelling Game, this game was very popular. I know it sounds like most children were just sitting, but it's a game. They were involved, and thinking!
  If I can leave you with one last idea, it is that the games in this booklet demand some deeper thought than simple practise exercises.
  I would advise you to play them yourself with another adult to try to appreciate what must go on in a child's mind to play the games.