Write Your Own "Who Has" Game



We started the really good stuff after playing a game of "Who Has." You know. "I have ... Who has ..." and so on. We talked about how well the game works, that it its easily stored in an interoffice mail envelope labeled with the version of the game, and where different versions of the game are available. We talked about how it might take a long time to play the game the first time but that once a class has learned to play, it is really fun and valuable: The kids don't feel like they are studying math, but, feel as if they are playing.

As I said, after we played the game, then we started the really good stuff.

The purpose of this page is to suggest having a class write their own "Who Has" games. Writing the first game might take a long time, but, once a class has learned to write a game, that too becomes fun and valuable: The kids don't feel like they are studying math. The students feel they are creating THEIR OWN GAME! The teacher realizes they are creating with their mathematics.

Here's the procedure.



Teachers may swap games within grade levels especially when more than one version of a certain topic has been created. Parents might at Back-to-School Night play the game written by their children. Games written in December may be used in June to review the year's material on that nearly useless last day of school. A proud memory may be awakened when years from now a student finds a game he or she helped to create still in use. But, the most important part about writing a "Who Has" game is not the playing or the sharing of the game, but the thinking and editing and creating that occurred when the game was first created.


Select the version of "Who Has" you wish to use, make the jump, print the page.



© 6/25/2005, A2, www.mathnstuff.com/papers/games/whohas/write.htm
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