Review Games: Bingo

So, today we went old school with review games in my class…we played Bingo!  We kept to the classic game on paper, I paid for the lifetime subscription to Bingobaker.com several years ago and it is definitely worth the $20 I spent.  I believe the subscription is now $24.95, but it opens up many more perks than the free version.  I discussed this super-cool-edu-tool on an episode of the PAECT Pod which you will soon be able to access HERE.  You can either print paper cards or play virtually on any Internet-connected device, however, computers work better than phones for this.

I have my Google Doc of key terms, which gets copied and pasted into Bingobaker and the website does the rest, creating and shuffling the terms into useable Bingo cards.  This unto itself is worth the nominal fee.

I was not able to get my hands on any Bingo chips for the game, so we used highlighters and dry-erase markers to mark the cards.  We played a bare-bones style, pulling the words out of a hat, though I must say the hat was rather stylish.  After the first player hit a Bingo, the class had the opportunity to keep playing on the existing paper cards or switch to virtual cards.  The decision was unanimous, keep the paper cards going.

The students were into the games, we played for prizes that I have acquired at various educational conferences, stickers, sticky notes, mini-journals, pens, and other such tchotchkes.  We started with a traditional straight-line bingo, then continued to play on the paper cards for the rest of the period.  I did cut prizes off at a limit of two per student, I need to keep my stockpile of prizes for a while yet.  The students enjoyed the old-school review, I grasped what we needed to brush up on before the upcoming quiz, and we all enjoyed the day.

Rainy Saturday Post

So it is a dreary, rainy, Saturday afternoon.  The weather forecasters said the rain was to have cleared out by now, but they were wrong.  I have numerous activities and outdoor chores I wanted to work on today, but the weather is not cooperating.  Both stations on TV that carry westerns are playing The Big Valley, which is not one of my favorite western shows, no offense meant to anyone, I loved it as a kid, but my preferences have changed over time.

Since I could not get outside to complete what I needed to do, I posted my classroom podcast, read part of a library eBook, enjoyed some espresso with frothed Half and Half from United Dairy Farms, played with Charli, our puppy, did some prep work for my Honors US II Summer Reading Project, and decided I needed a break.

My daughter started working on her blog again and asked about mine.  I had to admit I do not write to this space much anymore with my podcast and the PAECT Pod taking up time, along with many life commitments.  Due to my regret, embarrassment, or shame of not using this site, I thought what better way to take a break than to ramble on here.

We all need down days such as today.  I have many activities and chores to complete outside, but sometimes we just need to take time to relax.  Writing is one of the ways I relax, however, I have not made enough time to do so for a number of years now.  I hope to get back into the practice soon.  This is the first step.  Now, time to turn off all electronics and spend some time with the family and hopefully see the end of the rain soon.