Tag: pbs kids

Lucky Star Game Show for SMART boards

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Lucky Star Game Show for SMART boards3524 views

What it is: Cyberchase is an animated math series on PBS Kids. Now, Cyberchase is making math even more fun with an interactive game show called Lucky Star.  The game show is a free download for the SMART Notebook software. Lucky Star was designed for kids in 3rd-5th grade.  The game show has kids competing for top scores while building important math skills.  Lucky Star has 150 questions that focus on problem solving, algebraic thinking, number and operations, geometry, measurement, and more.  The game show includes an on-screen think pad (a drop down area where students can work the problems with the pen.  The game show also includes some great virtual manipulatives that students can interact with on the interactive whiteboard.  Want more? Create your own questions tailored to your curriculum using the Cyberchase characters and props.  You can customize the game for your students needs.

How to integrate Lucky Star into your curriculum: Lucky Star is a fun way for your students to practice math. The ability to create your own questions that are tailored to your math curriculum means that this is game can be used all year. The game show makes for a great math warm up to get those brains thinking math.  Use Lucky Star as a fun class competition, split your students into teams for a little friendly math competition.  Your students will love the game show feel that Lucky Star has.  Any time I play games with my whole class, I really play it up.  Act the part of Game Show host and get into the game with your students.   Hold weekly competitions or semester long competitions to see who can get the top score.  Hold a fun math themed party for all of the “contestants” at the end of the competition.  When I taught second grade this meant bringing out all of the kids favorite math games and calling them by their class number all day instead of their names.  To mix it up, I might call on student number 10 by saying “I need 5+5 to line up third in line”.  It was a fun way to have fun with math and celebrate the hard work of all of my students.

Tips: I couldn’t get the Lucky Star Game Show download to open in ActivInspire (for Promethean) even using the Smart Notebook option.  I also couldn’t get the download to open in SMART Notebook’s interactive viewer. If anyone has a trick or luck with either of these let me know and I’ll update the post accordingly!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Lucky Star in your classroom!

Goldburger To Go: Rube Goldberg Machines

Kelly Tenkely7 Comments on Goldburger To Go: Rube Goldberg Machines8968 views

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What it is: I am always finding fun activities on PBS kids site, today I ran across Goldburger to Go!  Rube Goldberg designed machines that made simple, every day, tasks into complicated activities with the help of his contraptions (think Wallace and Gromit).  The students task is to design a machine that will help serve lunch.  The machine isn’t working properly and students must discover which pieces of the machine need a little tweaking.  As students complete the machine, they can test it out and get hints and clues about could be keeping the machine from working.  

How to integrate Goldberger To Go: Rube Goldberg Machines into the classroom: Students are fascinated with machines that work together to perform tasks.  Goldburger to Go is a fun way to challenge your students to think about cause and effect and to consider how all the working parts operate together.  The puzzle game is a good way to get your students thinking about and discussing different types of energy.  Use this website with the whole class using an interactive whiteboard and discuss the types of energy as they occur.  Walk your students through the scientific process as they hypothesize what is going to happen and experiment with adjusting the machine accordingly.  The website also lends itself nicely to studying different kinds of simple machines.  The built in hints help guide stumped students in their thinking.  Goldburger to Go would make a fun center activity or even to play individually in a computer lab setting.  This is one of those thinking games that my students could spend hours playing.

Tips: Students can create and build their own real-life Goldberg machines with fun activities and suggestions found here.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Goldburger to Go: Rube Goldberg Machines in your classroom.

PBS Kids Video Player

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on PBS Kids Video Player2519 views

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What it is: PBS Kids has a new video player.  This is the most kid friendly video player I have seen.  Students click on the PBS character that they want to watch video clips for.  Then, they can select the episode clip they would like to watch.  Students can watch clips of Curious George, Super Why, Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street, Martha Speaks, Clifford, Arthur, Mr. Rogers, Steve Songs, Word World, Between the Lions, Lomax, Dragon Tales, and more.  Each video grouping has an accompanying website that has fun learning activities and games for kids to complete.  Videos can also be browsed by their topic.  This makes it easy to find a video that relates with what students are learning in class.


How to integrate PBS Kids Video Player into the classroom: This collection of videos is appropriate for the primary classroom (prekindergarten to first grade).  Use these videos as an introduction to new units as an anticipatory set.  All of the PBS materials are high-quality and educational.  Super Why and Word World are especially great for literacy and language building.

Colorado is currently in deep freeze mode (it is cold!).  As a result, we have a lot of indoor recess days ahead of us.  These videos would be great to show during those recess times with the classroom computers set up with the matching games and activities.


Tips: Be sure to take a look at the website that accompanies each video group.  The websites are full of fun games and activities where students can practice reading, math, and science concepts.

Leave a comment and share how you are using PBS Kids Video Player  in your classroom.