Teen Go Fish
Task
Materials
One deck of cards with the teen numbers (11-19), 4 of each number.
Play
- The students play in a small group of 4 or 5. The cards are shuffled then dealt 6 to each player and the rest of deck is placed face down in center of the group.
- The goal of the game is to make pairs of cards with the same number. Players start by placing any pairs already in their hand in front of them.
- The first player chooses a number in their hand and asks another player if they have that number, for example: âDo you have any 14âs?â If so, that player gives all cards with that number to the player who asked for it, who places any pairs in front of them. If not, the player asked replies, âGo Fishâ. The player who asked then takes one card from the middle stack.
- Play goes around the circle in same manner. Once a player discards all their cards, they draw a card from the middle pile during their next turn and are allowed to ask another player of they have a matching card.
- Play continues until all cards are used and paired up.
The winner is the person with the most pairs.
IM Commentary
The teen numbers are usually hard for Kindergarten students to learn, especially 11, 12, 13, and 15. Students can practice these numbers daily by choral counting and pointing to a number chart or writing them together.
English Language Learners will need to have a picture representation with the numeral on the card so that they can count the objects if they do not yet know the numeral name. It is also important to stress the âteenâ ending as English Language Learners often have trouble with pronunciation and say the teens as decade numbers. For example, they would say 40 for 14 or 60 for 16.
Solution
The winning student will have the most pairs of teen numbers for example, 14/14, 15/15, 17/17, 19/19, 13/13 and while the other student has only 16/16, 11/11, 12/12.
After students are experienced and fluent with the âteensâ, they can play this game with higher number cards.
Teen Go Fish
Materials
One deck of cards with the teen numbers (11-19), 4 of each number.
Play
- The students play in a small group of 4 or 5. The cards are shuffled then dealt 6 to each player and the rest of deck is placed face down in center of the group.
- The goal of the game is to make pairs of cards with the same number. Players start by placing any pairs already in their hand in front of them.
- The first player chooses a number in their hand and asks another player if they have that number, for example: âDo you have any 14âs?â If so, that player gives all cards with that number to the player who asked for it, who places any pairs in front of them. If not, the player asked replies, âGo Fishâ. The player who asked then takes one card from the middle stack.
- Play goes around the circle in same manner. Once a player discards all their cards, they draw a card from the middle pile during their next turn and are allowed to ask another player of they have a matching card.
- Play continues until all cards are used and paired up.
The winner is the person with the most pairs.