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More Information on NUMERO®

WHAT IS NUMERO®?

NUMERO® is a game originally made purely for fun. It was only after NUMERO® had been played by many individuals and started to spread to schools that its educational value was realised. This is now a main feature of this great card game.

NUMERO® provides a level of enjoyment that is shared across generations. In its simplest form, it represents the deal introduction to basic number operations for young children. In its more complex form, it presents real mental challenges to adult minds. In between, there is a variety of stages suited to everyone; the common link being that NUMERO® is FUN to play.

NUMERO® provides the mental gymnastics that we all require, as well as providing an outstanding learning tool for children developing mathematical skills.

NUMERO® may be played at many different levels, depending on the age and ability of those playing-but everyone should progress through the levels when learning how to play. This web site can be used by the individual player or for teachers and facilitators working with groups of users. It sets out, in simple form, the basics of the game, then expands to show how the game of NUMERO® can be carried right through to become an enjoyable challenge for more able students and adults.

NUMERO® is simple to play. There are three GOLDEN RULES which apply to all stages of the game. As with any game, the more it is played the more capable people become. With NUMERO®, playing the game not only provides an opportunity to develop basic mathematical skills, but also develops powerful thinking and problem-solving skills and strategies. See the How to play NUMERO® section on this website.

NUMERO® IN THE CLASSROOM

While NUMERO® has proven to be very popular purely as a game for all ages from 6 to 80+, teachers soon realise that it is much more than a game. Indeed, as a teaching technique, teachers and principals have hailed it as 'transforming'.

However, to make the best use of NUMERO® in the classroom, we would pass on the findings of experienced NUMERO® enthusiasts.

REGULARITY OF USE

Those who see NUMERO® primarily as a game, tend to think of larger blocks of time-40 minutes or longer, once a week. The best results though, with teachers seeing NUMERO® as a teaching technique, rather than 'just a game', have come from virtual daily sessions of anything from 12 to 20 minutes. (We are all familiar with dart players at the 'local', where regular use means that the moment a dart hits the board they know what number is needed for the next throw.)

This regular use, however, does bring up the question of time allocation. If too much time is used for preparation or packing up, this will certainly restrict its use. (Any teaching aid that requires lengthy preparation will soon be consigned to the bottom shelves of cupboards!) If, at the end of a NUMERO® session, children have to re-sort their packs, removing Wild Cards, this must detract from its effectiveness, popularity and use. Of course, if sets of NUMERO® have to be shared among various classes, this problem must be coped with. Where a class has its own set, the benefits of NUMERO® are much more evident.
NUMBERING OF PACKS

As soon as a school receives its cards, all packs should be numbered. That is, all cards in one pack will be numbered '1', another '2' and so on. Further, we suggest that different class sets should be identified, so that one class would use, say, a black marker, another red, and so on. Then, if cards happen to be dropped on the floor, or even outside, the number will tell immediately to which class set and which pack it belongs.

Numbering packs may be a rather onerous task, but the effort spent will be saved many times over.

NUMERO® readily caters for different ability levels in the one classroom so that while one pair might be playing with Number Cards only (using addition only), others could also incorporate subtraction, others multiplication and division, and others fractions.

If the packs are numbered, and a class has its own set, at the end of the allotted time, the teacher may just sayS 'All stop playing. Put your hands down on your desks. Pick up the stack of cards you have won. Count them to see who has won your game, then put all your cards straight back into your pack.'

The packs are then collected in just a few moments, and the class can continue with the rest of the mathematics lesson or whatever. At the next NUMERO® session, each pair is simply given the same numbered pack, containing the Wild Cards they are using.

So, without any wasted time, all students are immediately able to begin playing, at the correct level for their ability.
TIMING OF USE

Some advocate the regular use of NUMERO® at the beginning of the mathematics lesson, with many teachers using it in place of the traditional 'Mental Arithmetic'-some claiming 'My students do as many calculations in one session of NUMERO®, as they would do in a full week of traditional mental!'

However, other teachers have recently explained how they use NUMERO® on a daily basis for about 15 minutes at the end of the mathematics lesson. These teachers tell us how students are quick to let them know when it's time for NUMERO®, and say that their mathematics lessons have never been so productive, as children do their best to ensure that nothing delays their NUMERO® time!
CHALLENGES, RECORDS AND MOTIVATION GENERALLY!

Class teachers have used NUMERO® in a wide variety of ways, with great success.
1. A NUMERO® LADDER (or 'BUMPING BOARD'): Names are placed in a list in random order, and children may challenge the name one or two positions above them, changing places on the Ladder if the challenger wins. (Others just have regular competitions, to get a 'Class Champion' in each Term.)
2. INTER-CLASS COMPETITIONS: These have proved popular, where class members are graded into two divisions, and then pairs are drawn at random. Great prestige is felt by the class that wins most games and becomes 'Champion Class'!
3. CLASS RECORDS: A NUMERO® corner on the blackboard shows BEST TAKES (number of cards won-or at higher levels, points scored-in a single TAKE). HIGHEST SCORE (number of cards won-or at higher levels, points scored-in a full game).
4. CHALLENGES: There are three titles available (NUMERO® CHALLENGES 1, 2 &3) which provide one-off hands of NUMERO® where the player must suggest the best possible move. This can be most effectively on a school or even class basis, where the teacher sets the challenge weekly and children work out their best solutions. One with even greater potential is where children are encouraged to set challenges for the rest of their class, having already worked out the 'best play'. If a number of students prepared separate challenges for the class, the challenge that had least children able to work out the 'best play' would be declared the 'Top Challenge'. This website contains a NUMERO® Challenge section where a challenge is provided regularly to challenge NUMERO® players around the world.
5. NUMERO® CLUBS: Students in both primary and secondary schools are now enjoying lunchtime NUMERO® clubs, where students from a mix of classes, join together-not 'doing Maths' but 'having fun!'. Adults too are now showing that NUMERO® is not just a game for children, nor just a teaching strategy for the classroom, but a challenging and fulfilling game, in adult NUMERO® clubs.
TEACHING JUNIOR PRIMARY

Some teachers of Junior Primary classes have found that though children really love playing NUMERO® once it has been learned, the easiest way to teach it is in small groups, or with parent helpers where possible. Others have used the 'Buddy System', bringing older children in to play NUMERO® with the younger children on a one-to-one basis. This serves to clarify rules even more clearly with the older children, as well as boosting their self-image.
VERBALISING

This aspect of NUMERO® is seen to be so important by some teachers that they have instituted a 'Class Rule' that if children forget to say the BUILD aloud, it is disallowed and the card/cards used, separated as DISCARDS.

TEACHING AIDS

The NUMERO® instructional CD (or video) is an invaluable aid

for teachers-not so much for classroom use as for teacher preparation. As a teacher is ready to take a class, or individual children, to the next level of NUMERO®, it enables that teacher to ensure that he/she knows each level thoroughly, before introducing it to the children.

The video may, of course, be used with the class, but it is important that you don't just let them watch the whole video, or they will be more confused than they were to start with. Show them only the relevant section, referring to the level that you wish them to learn, and even then, be alert to stop the video at any point to ask or answer questions.
The NUMERO® Rules Chart-in one form or another-should definitely be visible when introducing a class to NUMERO®. These rules may just be printed on the board, or our Rules Chart displayed, but one way or another, it is imperative that the rules are clearly visible while children are learning the game.

WHAT DOES NUMERO® TEACH?

NUMERO® can quickly become an integral part of any class mathematics program from junior primary grades through to secondary mathematics classes. In it's early levels NUMERO® develops:

basic number recognition of 0-15
basic number facts - all four operations
speed of recall

As the game develops and players move to more difficult levels with the introduction of Wild Cards additional concepts and skills are developed and reenforced including:

fractions
decimals
percentages

At its higher levels with the introduction of more wild cards and scoring NUMERO® continues to challenge minds and develop concepts such as:

squared and cubed roots
multiple equations
point scoring

At all levels of NUMERO® there is a high level of problem solving and strategy which moves from basic stages with young students to complex moves that will challenge the brightest mathematical mind.

NUMERO® continues to challenge. Because the game moves with a players mathematical development it always provides a new and unique challenge to the players and like all 'great' games just keeps on keeping on.

How to Advertise on the NUMERO® Site

The Drysdale Family Charitable Foundation Trust launched its official NUMERO® web site, with the support of Virtual Synchronicity, in January 2002 to support the mathematical aids NUMERO® and to meet the needs of the Internet user.

The Drysdale Family Charitable Foundation Trust (herein refer to as the “Trust”) was formed in 1999 to manage proceeds from sale of NUMERO® in the form of royalties. The Trust is a subsidiary of the Alzheimer's Association WA; a public benevolent institution which has as its mission “To represent and support individual with dementia and their carers, and advance their interests at a personal, community and political level”. In 2001, the Trust received its endorsement as a deductible gift recipient from the Australian Taxation Officer and donations above $2(Aus) to the Trust are considered tax deductible within Australia.

The Trust offers advertisers an excellent opportunity to access a large Australian and International audience while also targeting a specific market in both numeracy and healthcare. Specific areas of the NUMERO® web site is available for advertising. Please contact us regarding advertising and sponsorship on this site or for more information about how an advertising package can be selected to meet your online advertising requirements.