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This is an activity that can be adapted to all purposes for reading and all grade levels. A deck of old playing cards must be "re-faced." Short articles or clippings from The News-Journal need to be glued on to the face side of the cards, leaving only 8 WILD and SKIP cards with type-written labels. Make sure the numbers are still visible in the corners of the cards. Students begin this game by passing out 5 cards to each person. Most often this game is played in pairs, but can also be played with more.

How to Play the Game:

1. Each player gets 5 cards.

2. The first card is turned and one player reads the face of the card aloud to all other players.

3. Each player will then get no more than 5 minutes to read the 5 cards in his/her own hand silently.

4. The non-dealer resumes play by placing a card on top of the first card that is the same category or same number.

Categories are determined by purposes for writing: opinion, informative, persuasive, humor, or whatever the teacher would like to focus on with his/her students.

5. The next player may then challenge the other player´s card by asking him/her questions about the article. That player must justify the category by giving a short summary.

6. Play continues by matching the category, drawing one card from the deck or using a Wild Author card to change categories.

7. Continue play according to all other rules for the original UNO game.

The Attraction: As a teacher of the deaf in a multi-age classroom, I love this activity because it motivates my students to read the newspaper. The newspaper can be very daunting for my students because of the small print, high vocabulary and sheer multitude of words. I can modify the game by changing the category from writing purposes to parts of speech, attitude or any other language arts skill I am teaching. The attraction for the students is the reward. They enjoy and revel in the victory of winning. They do not even realize they are learning new content, evaluating writing and communicating what they learn because they just think they are playing a game.

Katie Allman
2-5th Grade ESE-Hearing Impaired
Palm Terrace Elementary

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