Games in the Classroom Part 3

How Differentiating can be Incorporated into Gaming Time…

If you visited my brick and mortar classroom, you would see every kid working on something at their own level during each subject of the day. I was known as the Differentiating Queen! Everyone thought what I was doing was so difficult, but really it wasn’t. In a later post, I’ll share my differentiating secrets, but today we’re just going to focus on gaming and differentiated instruction. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I don’t do games the way most teachers do. You can learn more about how I play  games by visiting my posts on Part 1 and Part 2 on Games in the Classroom. The games that I typically play with my student are not skill focused. They are game focused. That might sound backwards, but it allows me to pull in any skill I want my students to practice while we are playing the games. There is so much flexibility with doing it this way, if I so choose, I can have 4 students playing a game practicing different skills from 4 different subjects!

A quick review….

Most of the games I play with students are slightly altered traditional games whether they are board games like Sorry, Trouble, or Candy Land or active games like Baseball, Kickball, or Darts. I also play games that I’ve created, but for the most part they are some type of variation similar to traditional games. The slight alteration that I make with these games is that prior to a student's turn, I have the student answer some type of problem or demonstrate some skill they have learned. For the most part, if they get the answer correct, they take their turn. If they are incorrect, they wait for the next round to try again. Not every game works that way, but most can.

Now for the differentiated part…

There are 2 types of groups:

1.  A small group of students that are all working on the same skill (addition facts to 5). If that is the case, I may use a set of flashcards with addition facts to 5 on them to have the students answer during the game.

2. A class or small group that is not working on the same skills or even at the same level. I often find this in my center groups as they are chosen by the student. If that is the case, I could choose to pull out of my files a baggie of flashcards with addition facts to 5 that John is working on, another set of flashcards with sight words that Marcus is working on, and another set of flashcards with cvc words that both Juan and Sue are working on. I would place the three stacks of flashcards in front of me. When it is John’s turn, I will pull from the addition stack. When it is Marcus’ turn, I will pull from the sight word stack. When it is Juan’s turn I will pull from the cvc word stack, and the same for Sue’s turn. Yes, I have a lot of flashcard sets. I didn’t go out and make them all in one day. I accrued them over time (like we do the stuff in our garage!) After I create them, laminate them, and usually use them, I put them in labeled baggies and file them in file folders marked with their skill. You may not be prepared with all these different stacks of flashcard skills and that’s ok too! Don’t stop reading! I don’t always use flashcards. My favorite thing to use is a small dry erase board. It doesn't matter if I’m working with the whole class, I can differentiate a game to work on a specific skill for each child’s turn with a dry erase board. I like dry erase boards because they can be a bit more interactive as well for the student.

Below are a few examples of how I differentiate for students with a dry erase board playing several different games.

·         If we are working on spelling, I can allow the student to use my dry erase board to spell the words I tell them. For some students, I might give them easy words like dog or pig while other students might get words like truck or even thunder. Students get points for each letter they get correct in the word.

·         While playing 4-Square with 2 students, I have one student complete a multiplication fact on the board by drawing an array. For the second student, I write a word problem that he needs to read and solve. When each student answers correctly, he can insert a game piece into a chosen slot.

·         During the first round of playing kick ball, four students come up to Home plate. The first student is shown a picture of a plant cell and is asked to find and define the word nucleus. The second student is asked to read the word honesty and give an example of a time when she chose to demonstrate that trait. The third student drew a picture to demonstrate what it means to divide 12 by 2. The forth student was shown a list of numbers and asked to find the only prime number in the list.

The most important part of playing games like this with your students is that you have to KNOW your students very well. You need to know what their strengths are, their weaknesses, what motivates them, what discourages them, how to read their body language, and how to best support them to be successful in what ever the are learning.

·         You need to have accurate assessment data that you understand in order to have a clear picture of what your students’ academic strengths and weaknesses are.

·         Observe them as they play, when they talk to their friends, and have conversations with them to find out what motivates them and what discourages them. Watch their body language as they interact with other students in various situations.

·         Research, study, observe and reflect on the cognitive phases that students go through as they learn subject matter, so you can understand how to move them through those phases successfully.

Why do all this for a game? First, you can’t differentiate effectively unless you know what your students need to learn. Second, during a game where you are having students practice skills that are new to them, if they are struggling they may become discouraged. You need to know what motivates them, because games are meant to be fun, even when the purpose is educational – especially when the purpose is educational. If you know your students’ body language, you can determine if they are having fun, getting discouraged, feeling that the questions you are providing are too hard or easy, etc. The games that I’ve shared with you are so flexible that within the game, if a student is struggling, throw in some questions you know he or she will be able to answer to boost his or her confidence. If a student is getting bored because the questions you are providing are too easy, raise the level of difficulty and say, “This one might be hard…” When they get it, make a big deal to congratulate them and keep increasing the level of difficulty until you hit the level your student needs to work on. If students are getting bored with the game in general, you might change your voice and tell them they have… “Mooooved on to the BOOOONNUUUUUSSS ROUND!” Last, you have to know what baby steps students need to take in order to move them from point A to point B. Continue to learn how students learn through research, study, and observation! Observation is meaningless without reflection. Reflection is the putting together of the puzzle pieces so that something can be better understood.

You might think after 3 posts, I should be done talking about games, but I’m not. J My next blog post topic is a continuation of Games in the Classroom – To Compete or Not To Compete… Please be a commenter. I want to hear from you. You all have wonderful ideas to share with others. Don’t think that we’ve already heard them before, because somebody hasn’t!! I look forward to collaborating with you!

Teacher Jen

Games in the Classroom Part 2

How to create games simply...

In the past, I thought games had to be difficult and time consuming to make or expensive to buy premade. I remember making Bingo games for my students to practice sight words. I had to write in all those boxes the different sight words I wanted my students to practice and in different spaces on each game board for each student. With 24 students – THAT’S A LOT OF PREP WORK! Even for a small group of 8 or 4 students, that’s still too much work for me! I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of money to spend on premade games especially when they are specific to a particular skill for students to practice. I teach numerous standards. If I had to buy a different game for each standard, I would be broke! Over the years, I have learned how to simplify my gaming experiences without affecting the fun level for my students. Wait… I take that back, I believe it may be more fun for them, because even the same game can be different every time we play it! There are several ways that I created games and I’m going to share this with you so you can enjoy them with your students too.

Traditional Board Games

                Most likely many of you have games like Sorry, Trouble, 4 Square, Candy Land and/or many more. If not, you can find them pretty cheap at yard sales. What I do for any of these types of games is just add one step in the process. Before a student’s turn, I show the student a flashcard that displays a subject related skill the student is working on. The flashcard might be a sight word, an addition fact, a science or social studies term to be defined, or anything else the student is working on. If the student answers the problem shown correctly, they take their turn. If the student answers incorrectly, they miss their turn for that round.

Created Board Games

                Created Board Games are fun to make when you have the time and you can attach them to themes that your students are studying. I’ve used many materials to do this including file folders, large pieces of construction paper, butcher paper, tag board, dry erase boards or even copy paper. There are many other options you can use that may be more available to you. You can do this as quickly as drawing a circle or S-shape on the material used with a Start and Finish space as well as blank spaces in-between or you can spend time on making the game board “pretty.” If you’d like a pretty game board, but don’t have time to create them, check out my Teacherspayteachers Store as I have many at very reasonable prices. For game pieces for each student, I like to give each student a small sticker that will fit in the square of the game board. That way, when the game is finished, everyone earns a prize as I let them keep their stickers!

Created BINGO Games

                There are a ton of different types of BINGO games out there (Number, Letter, Sight Word, Shape, etc). Wouldn’t it be so much better to have 1 BINGO card that would cover all of these? I think so and that is how I play with my students. I provide my students with blank BINGO cards, if you don’t have one, you can find them online to print out or you can download the “pretty” ones from my TpT store. Yes, this BINGO game is played slightly different from the tradition game, but it is still just as fun! I provide my students with a blank BINGO card and some type of markers (beans, paper scraps, small stickers, or blocks.) Students take turns providing answers for questions of skills they are working on. If a student answers the question correctly, he or she can use a marker to cover any space of choice on the game board. If the student answers incorrectly, he or she misses a turn. The goal of this game is to cover the entire board. I typically continue playing the game until all students have covered their game board as my goal is for my students to get the practice they need in the skills I presented versus “finding a winner.”

Activboard Games

You can also create game boards on an Activboard flipchart. Make sure to lock down the game, then you can use clipart for game pieces for each student. If you’re playing with a large number of students, you can just type each student’s initials on the board and he or she can use that as his or her game piece. You can also find Activboard games at my TpT Store. Activboard games can be used in multiple ways.

1.       As a whole group: Interactively passing the pen to each student as it is his or her turn.

2.       With partners: Students can use the board or just the software at a computer they share.

3.       Individually: Students can play games with self-checking answers.

Other website games

                There are tons of games online that students can play that focus on specific skills. If you can’t find one that practices the skill your students are working on, you can make any game into an educational game even if it wasn’t intended to be that way. Just find a game that would be fun for students to play and then play it in the manner I described playing the traditional board games. For example, the below website is a puzzle students can put together online. For this game, all my students are on the same team working together to put the puzzle together, but in order to accomplish this task, they must first correctly answer a question. If they provide me with the correct answer during their turn, they may move one puzzle piece to the board.

http://www.thekidzpage.com/onlinejigsawpuzzles/kids-jigsaw-puzzles/12-piece-jigsaw/08-28-06-playground.html

Active Games

                As fun as games are, they are even more fun when kids can get up and move around. I like to play “life size” games. Again, you can do this several ways. First, you can play a traditional game like baseball, kick ball, or “Mother May I,” just have students follow the same pattern as previously discussed. Ask the student a question before his or her turn. If he or she answers correctly, they may hit the ball, kick the ball, or move forward 5 steps. If incorrect, that student will miss his or her turn. One of my favorite ways to play in this manner takes almost zero preparation at all! Grab about 20 or so sheets of construction paper from the shelf and lay them on the floor in a game board manner. The students can be their own game pieces as they move around the game board. This is a favorite! PS: If you have a carpet with squares in a circle in your room, you don’t even need the construction paper!

There are so many ways to create fun games for students that will take very little preparation on your part, but are still effective in reviewing, practicing, applying, and learning new skills. Be creative and find several that work for you and your class! I’m going to leave you with a couple of additional tips that can add to the simplicity of creating games in your classroom.

1.       I’ve mentioned flashcards a lot today because that is one way that I present the skill I want my students to demonstrate knowledge of during the game. Of course you can take index cards and write out sight words you want your students to read, addition facts you want them to know, etc, but I find that printing worksheets I find online and using the paper cutter to cut each word or problem out that I need to be much faster. You can laminate these for durability if you choose and stick them in a baggie labeled with the skill and you’re done!

2.       One thing I didn’t mention is a dry erase board. I have small dry erase boards cut into 1 ft X 1 ft squares from Home Depot for each of my students, but I frequently use one during game time to display questions, pictures, or problems my students are to complete before they can move their game piece. With kindergarten I might draw a square at the beginning of the year and they tell me the name of the shape. In first grade, I might ask them to draw me a shape that has 3 sides and 3 angles. The possibilities are endless and using a dry erase board in this fashion really frees you up to differentiate your game time as well. We will talk more about that in my next posting.

Maybe you do some of these things already or have more great ideas that you would like to share. I would love to hear from you and I’m sure my readers would too, so please share in the comments section below! For more information about games, be sure to check out Games in the Classroom Part 1.

Teacher Jen



Games in the Classroom (Part 1)

You’ve probably noticed if you follow my TeacherspayTeachers store that I am a big advocate for Games in classrooms, especially with younger children, but I encourage all teachers even through college to incorporate games into learning time. I think the more fun you have while learning, the easier the information being learned is absorbed and understood. If you do it right, games can be the application of what was learned and therefore the students are learning the skill or concept at a higher level. Usually, they don’t even know they are learning! I’m not saying the teacher should “entertain” students all day. There are times when discussions, direct instruction, differentiated instruction, and other teaching strategies will better meet your students’ needs. What I am saying is that the use of learning through games is just as important as each one of these strategies used at the appropriate moment.

Class discussions are effective when you want students to feed off of the information that others have and build on those ideas with their own. It creates a community of students that respect each other’s opinions when used correctly.

Direct instruction sometimes gets a bad rap, but is effectively used when students need specific information given to them or to reinforce discoveries they have made on their own.

Differentiated instruction is the more recent buzz word in a teacher’s vocabulary. It too is an important strategy for teaching when students are on different levels of understandings, which is ALWAYS!

Of course there are many other important strategies like small group instruction, tutoring, collaborative learning, and many more, but I’m not going to define these as my goal is to prove how using games is equal to the use of strategies teachers already use in their classrooms.

Games can be effectively used as a practice of skills, review of skills, the application of a skill or even during the learning process. Games can also be played in whole groups, small groups or even in solitaire. They can easily be differentiated for students learning at different levels, working on different skills, or even different subject areas! They are very versatile and fun, which is why I love them!

Using games to practice skills/concepts is a fun way to help students master skills/concepts they are working on. After you’ve taught a new skill, choose a game that will allow students to practice the skill in order to move toward winning the game. An example of this would be to use a blank Bingo board game in a math center after students have learned addition facts. Show the students an addition fact, have them use manipulatives to figure out the problems if needed, and then cover one of their squares if they figure out the answer. In this game, students win when they fill up their entire board.

Using a game to review is similar to those used to practice skills/concepts. When students play the game, they have already learned the skill/concept and the game is used to help refresh these ideas and solidify their understandings. An example of this would be to use a standard board game, like Trouble. Show the students a sight word they are reviewing. If they read their word correctly, have them move their game piece the correct number of spaces according to their POP!

Games can be used to a have students apply what they know about a skill/concept in order to move toward winning.  An example of this would be when students are learning place value. When working with a small group, have students roll 2 dice or more depending on the number of digits in a number your students are working on. When it is the student's turn, tell the student where to put each die on a place value chart. You might tell the student to put the 4 in the hundreds place, the 3 in the tens place, and the 1 in the ones place. Have the student read the number as a whole. If the student completes the task correctly, he or she can write the number down on a smaller place value chart. At the end of the game, have students find the number on their list with the greatest value. That student is the winner!

Games can be used during the learning process to teach students a skill through trial and error. In this situation, you don’t want students to be punished for making a guess or mistake as that is how they are learning, but you do want students to be made aware of their error and to challenge them to remember what they learned for next time. An example of this would be a game I use to teach self-correcting reading skills called Beat the Tiger from teaching Cupp Readers created by Cindy Cupp. In this game, the tiger wants the student to win, but if a error is made and is not self-corrected by the time the student moves on to the next sentence, the Tiger gets a point. If the student doesn’t make an error or if the error is corrected before moving on, the student gets the point. A discussion about the results, goals to improve, and/or celebrations for good work are all essential for a learning game to continue to be fun!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t share all the information I have about Games in the Classroom with you in one Blog post. As you can see this one is quite lengthy. I have 2 more posts coming out later on this subject. Follow my Blog, Twitter, or Facebook to be updated on the latest Blog posts. If you don’t already, I also encourage you to follow my TpT Store as I have several game products there and will be coming out with more soon!

 I hope you make it your goal to try to incorporate games into your learning sessions with students this year. If you do, you will fall in love with them as I have! Share your wonderful gaming experiences in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you!

Traveling

Well for the past 4 days, my little family has loaded up the car and traveled around the south east coast. We stopped in Columbia, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Today, we are heading to Florence, South Carolina. Then, we’re off again to Savannah, Georgia; Titusville, Florida; and Ormond Beach, Florida. Summers can do that to you. Everyone thinks the purpose of summer is to relax and rejuvenate for the following school year, but often we find ourselves even busier! All of this traveling has put me in the mood to offer another FREEBIE!  The title of this Game-tivity is Travel Games! Teachers, I think this would be a great use of your students’ time on the bus heading to a field trip and homeschoolers can use this on those fun road trips as well!

I also want to let you know that I have a special 20% off SALE going on until July 14^th when you buy my American Flag Number Book. This is not your typical number book. It is designed to be an interactive book that stimulates discussion with your students about numbers and helps to build number sense and problem solving skills. Let me know how you like it. Please post a comment below and rate me on my TpT Store!

I hope you and your students enjoy these great opportunities! Let me know what you think! Please post below your own great ideas that you do while on the road! Let's make traveling and Travel-rific time!

Happy 4th of July Week!

My family has been celebrating the 4^th of July for just about the entire week. Last Sunday at church, we sang good old fashioned gospel music and patriotic anthems. We went to the little airport in Montezuma on Wednesday to watch an hour's worth of fireworks and enjoyed the 28^th annual BBQ at our neighbor's house today. All of these fun events have inspired me to create a few new items, which I’ve just recently added to my TpT store. The first, Watermelon Numbers, I have posted as a FREEBIE for today ONLY! I hope you don’t miss out on this great opportunity. Watermelon Numbers is perfect to use with younger students who are learning number sense, one-to-one correspondence, and basic number comparisons, combinations, and deconstructions. Check it out!

The second is a book that I am really proud of! The title is American Flag Number Book, but it is NOT your typical counting book! This book challenges students to look at objects and see numbers, building their understanding of what a number is and encourages students to problem solve. I have had fun creating these materials for you, I hope you and your students enjoy them too!

I hope you also had a wonderful 4th of July! If you did something special, I would love to hear about it, just leave me a comment below! Also, let me know what you think about the products above! I hope you enjoy them both!

Teacher Jen

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

Grab a cup of joe and let's chat!
This isn’t my first time as a blogger, but it’s been a while. Life got a little crazy in a good way. I had my first child, moved and changed jobs all at the same time. Parts of that were sad, but I knew that God was directing my path and I have never had a more wonderful experience, bumps in the road included. I’m excited about getting back into blogging as well as sharing my resources with teachers through my Teacherspayteachers (TpT) store. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my teaching career, it is that collaborating and sharing build a community of effective teachers.

That’s why I’m excited to share today a FREEBIE! Since we are in the midst of summer, I thought this would be great for all the teachers with children and homeschooling parents! I believe that learning doesn’t stop when school ends. In fact, summer is just the time to bring all that “education” to life in the real world! I don’t know about where you are, but here in Georgia we have been experiencing 100° + temperatures! My family has been visiting the pool quite frequently as I bet many of you have been too! Therefore, what better place to learn, than the POOL! Check out POOL GAMES and ENJOY!

I'd love to hear what learning experience your share with your children during the summer. Please take a moment to post in the comments below! Let's learn from each other!

Teacher Jen