Asymptote Bingo

We're starting rational functions next week in Algebra II, but I knew my kids weren't super strong with asymptotes yet.  Truth be told, we still have a hard time recognizing that vertical lines will be an x=____; horizontal will be a y=____.

So, we played some Bingo on Friday, and I'm hoping for a solid start on rational functions tomorrow.

We play Bingo a good deal in Algebra II, so the kids are pretty familiar with my set-up by now.  Here's how we do it:

1. On a personal whiteboard, draw four horizontal lines and four vertical lines, creating a 5x5 game board.  Mark the middle box as your FREE SPACE!
2. Fill in  your board with these equations.  You may fill them in however you'd like, but you must use all 24 boxes--so keep track as you go!

Now we're ready to play!

I showed a graph of a function and then told the kids to cross out the correct asymptote.  The first several functions were strictly exponential and log functions--which we've already studied.  Anytime someone got a Bingo, s/he got a piece of candy (thank you, dear parents and guardians).  We played all hour, which gave nearly every kid a chance to get at least one piece of candy.  I kept track of the equations we had used and had the students call off their equations so I could check their answers.

After awhile the students started asking, "When are we going to get to the ones with two or three equations?  I need one for a Bingo!"

Mwahahahahaaaaa!  They were asking to learn about rational functions, and they didn't even know.

Before they knew it, they were analyzing the asymptotes of rational functions without any real instruction from me.  Just good progressions from what they already knew to what they needed to learn.

And now I feel at least a little better about their knowledge of asymptotes.

If you want the Notebook Bingo file, click here.