TME Tuesday: Center - WAR

Well, Day One of centers is over. Day Two is not going to happen as I am taking a day off today, but Day One went very well. Some of the students that don't usually engage easily completed all of the "Must Do" tasks and most of the "May Do" tasks with good levels of independence. The complainers complained. As one of our centers, we played WAR with the cards I made this weekend. I made two more decks (color-coded, of course) when I got to work, and I plan on using them for the rest of the week (once I get back to work tomorrow).

Anyway, here's what we did. One of my groups learned how to play WAR and then went into the centers. Another one of my groups just learned how to play WAR. That group will do the centers on Wednesday.

Here's the therapeutic music experience plan for our WAR game.

Therapeutic Music Experience

Center - WAR Music Notation Review Game

Mary Jane Landaker, MME, MT-BC

 

Purpose: To increase recognition of music notation symbols; to address social interaction skills within a competitive game format; fine motor; symbol recognition; hand-eye coordination;

Motor	Academic/Cognitive	Social/Communication
Fine motor coordination – pincer grip; hand-eye coordination – placing cards in directed locations	Symbol recognition; music notation recognition; Rule-based play	Rule-based play; play with peer(s) within game parameters
Emotional/Behavioral	Musical	Other
Patience with peers; sportsmanship expectations	Notation review and learning

Source: Original adaptation of common card game, War. Game rules retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_(card_game) on January 8, 2018. Adaptation and Procedure © 2018 by Mary Jane Landaker, MME, MT-BC.

Gameplay (retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_(card_game) on January 8, 2018.

The objective of the game is to win all cards

The deck is divided evenly among the players, giving each a down stack. In unison, each player reveals the top card of their deck – this is a "battle" – and the player with the higher card takes both of the cards played and moves them to their stack. Aces are high, and suits are ignored.^[1]

If the two cards played are of equal value, then there is a "war".^[1] Both players place the next card of their pile face down, depending on the variant, and then another card face-up. The owner of the higher face-up card wins the war and adds all four (or six) cards on the table to the bottom of their deck. If the face-up cards are again equal then the battle repeats with another set of face-down/up cards. This repeats until one player's face-up card is higher than their opponent's.^[1]

Most descriptions of War are unclear about what happens if a player runs out of cards during a war.^[1] In some variants, that player immediately loses. In others, the player may play the last card in their deck as their face-up card for the remainder of the war or replay the game from the beginning.^[1]

Game designer Greg Costikyan has observed that since there are no choices in the game, and all outcomes are random, it cannot be considered a game by some definitions.^[2] However, the rules often do not specify in which order the cards should be returned to the deck. If they are returned in a non-random order, the decision of putting one card before another after a win can change the overall outcome of the game.^[3] The effects of such decisions are more visible with smaller size decks as it is easier for a player to card count, however the decisions can still affect gameplay if taken in standard decks.

Materials: Game cards – music note cards.

Environment: Space for groups to engage in game play with appropriate personal space and game play

Song/Chant/Words:

None necessary, can use music in the background if desired.

Procedure: R = Reinforcement opportunities; C = Redirection/Cue opportunities; A = Assessment

1.      C=explain game rules to group members

2.      C=Pass out card sets to group members (minimum of 2 group members per card set to maximum of 5 group members per card set)

3.      A=assess whether group members are able to engage in game play with limited interaction from non-group members

4.      R=reinforce social interactions within game play expectations

5.      R=redirect inappropriate game play

6.      C=when engaging in game play with group members, play within the expectations of the game

7.      C=when engaging in game play with group members, make mistakes identifying symbols to see if group members can find the mistakes.

8.      A=assess whether group members are able to sustain attention to complete the game

9.      R=reinforce all attempts at good sportsmanship

10.  R=redirect all poor sportsmanship through discussion

11.  Continue game play until group members are finished with the game, when group members no longer attend to the game, or until time runs out.

Therapeutic Function of Music:

Music does not play an active role in this experience. Music is the format for the game cards in that the end goal is symbol recognition.

Adaptations:

·         Use teams instead of individuals to play the game

·         Change the number of symbols that you use during the game to increase the number of times that group members get matching

Extensions:

• Play a round robin game where winners move onto another level and losers also play others – match game members based on speed, recognition of symbols, and understanding of game play

 
Funny thing happened when I used the Wikipedia link - something that has never happened before. Word 365 opened up a "researcher" function that said, "Are you SURE you want to use Wikipedia?" and then referred me to find other resources for my material. Since I wanted some game rules and not something more stringent, I remained with Wikipedia. I feel perfectly fine using Wikipedia for my game rules - I don't need a primary source for this type of thing. How nice, though, that Word 365 is looking out for students these days. Too funny!

Enjoy!!