Bleeding Kansas Bingo

Overview: Students review Kansas Territory people, objects and topics by playing a custom bingo game.

Kansas History, Government, and Social Studies Standards

Standard #3: Societies are shaped by beliefs, ideas, and diversity

Benchmark 3.1: The student will recognize and evaluate significant beliefs, contributions, and ideas of the many diverse people and groups and their impact on individuals, communities, states, and nations.

Objectives:

Content

 Students review Kansas Territory people and events.

Skills

 Students recall information to answer questions based on their knowledge of Territorial Kansas’ history.

Essential Questions:

 Who were some of the important individuals in Kansas Territory?

 What were some of the major events of the Kansas Territory era?

 Where did the major events of the territorial era take place?

Previous Knowledge: This game is most effective when played at the end of the class unit on Kansas Territory. Students should be familiar with:  People: Charles Robinson, Clarina Nichols, James Lane, Samuel Jones, David Atchison, Sara Robinson, Samuel Pomeroy, John Brown, Samuel Reader, William Matthews, Border Ruffian, Jayhawker, Abolitionist  Places: Lawrence, Shawnee Mission, Topeka, Massachusetts, Pottawatomie Creek, Wyandotte, Missouri  Events: Bleeding Kansas, Wakarusa War, Bogus Legislature, Pottawatomie Massacre, Sack of Lawrence  Topics: Underground Railroad, Free State, Emigrant Aid Companies, Wyandotte Constitution, Propaganda  Objects: Ballot Box, Slave Shackles, Herald of Freedom newspaper, Samuel Reader’s painting Battle at Hickory Point, Petticoat with bullets, Sheriff’s badge, Admit Me Free flag, Southern Rights flag

Some of the people named in the game are covered in Read Kansas! Lesson M-14, “Territorial Characters,” which is included in this trunk.

Many of the topics in the game are also covered in greater detail in the textbook The Kansas Journey, chapter 4, “Kansas Territory: The Saga of Bleeding Kansas.”

Playing the Game

Game play is similar to typical bingo; however, there are no numbered boxes (B-1, I-20, etc). Instead, the cards have the names and/or pictures of people, topics, events and objects related to territorial Kansas. Not every answer appears on every card.

 Hand out bingo cards and plastic markers to the class. Each student should have at least fifteen plastic markers.  Shuffle question cards.  Read question from the top card. Students look for the corresponding answer on their bingo card and place a marker on that square. The teacher can choose to give the answer if students are unfamiliar with the person or topic.  Keep out the questions that have been read for checking correct answers at the end of the game.  When a student creates a row of five correct answers, the game is over.  To play another game, work through the rest of the unused questions, then shuffle the deck and start again. The game can be played multiple times to reinforce learning.