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World Education Games: Registration Now Open!

February 1, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment6640 views

What it is: Holy cow, I am SO excited! Today registration is open for World Education Games!! If your students have never participated with World Education Games (like World Math Day), this is the year. They will thank you for including them in this fun world wide contest. February 1st, that’s today, registration is open and the official warm-up training period for students begins. On March 5h students can participate in World Literacy Day, March 6 is World Math Day, and March 7 is World Science Day. March 22nd Global award presentations begin with the Official World Education Games Awards. The World Education Games is an annual global online olympics to get students from age 4 to 18 excited about learning. The fun comes in the friendly competition between countries as students compete to represent their country in the games. There are 3 days of games focused on literacy, math and science. The games are a great way to help students in speed, accuracy and general fluency in core computation, number and spelling skills. World Science Day has been designed to encourage curiosity and excitement in science while helping them answer knowledge, application and reasoning questions. Each game (a competition against other students from around the world) lasts just 1 minute. Students can go head to head as often as they would like, but only the first 50 games are counted toward the competition point tally. World Math Day was launched in 2007 and my students have taken part in this fun competition each year. Since then, Literacy and Science day has been added to the games. SO much fun!

How to integrate World Education Games into the classroom: World Education Games are such a fantastic way to encourage students to practice foundational skills. In the past, I have hosted an “opening ceremonies” at my school and done it up like the Olympics with flags, songs, etc. We go over what the World Education Games are and then make a big deal about the handing out of usernames/passwords (like lighting the torch) and then we kick off our training portion. Students get excited about participating in this fun day and we get lots of “training” in before the big day. On the actual day, we wear red, white and blue and play against kids from around the world. This is great fun in a one-to-one setting or a computer lab where all students can participate simultaneously. Don’t have that option? Because the games are 1 minute long, students can play 5 games each on classroom computers in a rotation.

Since your students are competing against students from around the world, why not use the competition to practice using a map and identifying countries? Since we have a one to one iPad program, we do this digitally with a Google Map. Each time a student competed against a country, they would come up to the board and put a “pin” in the map. Don’t have devices for each student? Use an interactive whiteboard or the paper map and actual pins on a class bulletin board, these options are just as fun!

Don’t forget closing ceremonies at the end of World Education Games. Make up fun medals and give them out to top performers, hardest trainers, etc. Think outside the box on these. Not all kids are speedy in their fact recall…find a way to honor their participation and hard work…did they see huge improvement or growth? Honor those achievements!

The World Education Games are available for free on any internet-connected computer and as a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10 app.

Check out the Resource page for teacher and student guide, a world map, a poster, and for School-in-a-box information.

Tips: Schools participating in the World Education Games can also work toward giving other children the opportunity to start school. World Education Games has partnered with UNICEF to make this happen. During the games, host a fundraiser to purchase “School-in-a-Box” Each $236 donation is enough to send 80 kids to school! What a great way to help kids understand what a privilege education is and model compassion and empathy for others.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using World Education Games in your classroom.

Death in Rome

October 20, 2010Kelly Tenkely2 Comments6726 views

What it is: Death in Rome is an interactive history experience from the BBC. The game takes place in the year 80AD where Tiberius Claudius Eutychus is found dead in his apartment. Students must put their sleuth skills to work as they investigate clues scattered around the room to solve the mystery. They have until dawn to crack the case. In addition to clues in the room, students can “talk” to modern-day experts for additional information, and interrogate witnesses.

How to integrate Death in Rome into your curriculum: Death in Rome is a fantastic exercise in critical thinking, reasoning, and deduction. Students will learn about ancient Rome, using clues to solve a mystery, and find out how engaging and interesting history can be. Death in Rome would make a great partner activity. Students can work together in teams to solve the crime. When each team has cracked the case, they can share the strategy they used and the clues that tipped them off to the solution. If you don’t have access to a lab setting, solve the case as a class using a projector or interactive whiteboard. Students can take turns at the board acting as investigators and leading the investigation. As the game progresses, those students at their seats can make note of the clues and offer conjectures as to what the clues reveal about the death.

Tips: Because of the subject matter, this game probably isn’t appropriate for students under the age of 10. I recommend playing through the game yourself to decide if it is appropriate for your age group. Older students will enjoy playing investigator!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Death in Rome in your classroom!

iPlay Math Games

September 12, 2009Kelly Tenkely6 Comments3318 views

What it is: iPlay Math Games is an outstanding collection of printable math games for grades k-12. Math games can be searched by grade level or skill. These math games are printable pdf files and can be played with common items (dice, cards, and other manipulatives). iPlay Math Games helps students build math skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, algebra, long division, measurement, graphing and exponents, problem solving, puzzles and games, geometry, probability, reasoning, logic, numeration, patterns, and counting.

How to integrate iPlay Math Games into the classroom: iPlay Math Games is an excellent collection of printable math games that can be downloaded and printed out for the classroom. Use these games as math center activities, and to reinforce math skills being learned. These games are a great way for students to practice math skills sans worksheet.

Tips: iPlay Math Games has not always been a free resource, take advantage of the new free status!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using iPlay Math Games in your classroom.

Mind 360

March 23, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3160 views

What it is: Mind 360 is a website version of the Nintendo DS game Brain Age. The games on Mind 360 are aimed toward sharpening memory, increasing focus, build logical reasoning skills, increase alertness and awareness, boost productivity, and exercise the mind. Each player gets a virtual personal brain trainer that helps build up brain function. Students (or teachers) can play games and increase mental fitness by strengthening key cognitive functions including memory, attention, executive functions, thinking and reasoning, and visual perception. Mind 360 has teamed up cognitive psychologists with game designers to boost mental health while having fun. The brain training programs are tailored to the individual user. Students also have the option to play against other students while building their mental strength. The games are split up into the skill that it is building. There are memory, attention, logic and reasoning, virtual perception, and exectutive function games. In the training section, students can choose a student fitness program to help boost grades by “enhancing those cognitive skills required for overall better learning including attention, memory, thinking & reasoning, and more.” The virtual personal coach will guide students through the program with constant personal feedback. What I like about the Mind 360 website is the break down that each game and skill comes with. Each game shows which cognitive skill it is improving, how to improve brain health, scientific studies, FAQ’s, and a glossary. For teachers, this makes it simple to quickly find a game that meets your individual learners needs.

How to integrate Mind 360 into the classroom: Mind 360 would be an excellent way to start each day. Many of the games take 3-5 minutes to complete (not including all the levels) making it ideal for a brain boosting start to the school day. In the computer lab setting Mind 360 is a great site to bookmark for students to work on as they finish work. Many times my students will ask to play on Addicting Games, Mini Clip, YouTube, etc. This is a great game site that students will enjoy but is serving the greater purpose of increased learning. Mind 360 is also a great site to bookmark on classroom computers. Students can take turns visiting Mind 360 throughout the week so that each student gets to exercise their brain at least once a week. These games are a lot of fun and when students start keeping track of their progress, they will want to continue play using their account at home. I am of the opinion that if students are going to play games, they should be games that increase learning in some way!

Tips: Mind 360 is currently in Beta, right now you can register and play the games for free but it looks like they may eventually charge for some of their games or features. Mind 360 says that it is appropriate for high school and college students, however I think most of the games are appropriate for even primary grades. For primary students, I would create a few classroom accounts for students to play on so they don’t each have to sign up for accounts. Be sure to sign up for your own account, this is a great way to keep your brain in shape too!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Mind 360 in your classroom.