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Task:
The following websites provide a wide range of educational games for your classroom adoption. Play as many as you can and pick a few that have great potential for your classes to use. While you are playing them, put on your “critic” eye glasses. Evaluate them from the perspectives of school administrator, classroom teacher, students, and parents. Can playing the games help students obtain the academic goals or learning outcomes you set forth for them?
PINK CAT STUDIO
The pink cat studio has a variety of literacy based education games that meet the SC Kindergarten Standards. The games are developmentally friendly and can be used a variety of devices.
Positive:
I love how you can track student progress and online learning groups to assign specific games. This would work well when delivering personalized instruction in a small group setting. Students from specific small groups would be assigned games to meet their needs. I think tracking student progress is important when trying to use games in an academic setting. I want to know if the game is improving student academic achievement.
Negative:
You must pay a subscription fee for a single teacher license and another fee to pay for the teacher tools. The games don’t appear to have any leveling up or addition gamified experience other than the content being taught. You can only preview games.
Games: Addition to ten is a game that allows students to finished addition sentences. When the answer is correct the buttons turn different colors.
Standard: Students can decompose numbers 0- 5
CITE: https://www.pinkcatgames.com/home
ABCYA
ABCYA.com has a variety of computer games for different grade levels and academic needs. Each game has interactive opportunities and gamified features.
Positive:
You can play all the games without a paid subscription. The games are organized by grade level and subject area and you can search a topic to find a variety of games that meet your needs. You can also search the common core standard and find matching games.
Negative:
ABCYA.com only works in a web browser and you need a paid subscription to use the app. You can do leveling up but you have to sign up with IXL Math.
Games:
Fuzz Bugs is a sorting game that allows students to create patterns using a fuzzy bug. There are a lot of special effects for when a student is correct which really motivates them to continue practicing.
Alphabats helps students complete rhyming word puzzles and the bat moves and get excited every time a student is correct.
Standard:
Students can create AB, ABB, and ABC patterns
Students can create rhyming words
CITE: https://www.abcya.com/
PBSkids
The PBS kids games are organized by subject area and all of them incorporate the characters from PBS cartoon shows. There are tips for parents and ideas on how to incorporate the activities in distance learning.
Positive:
I love how the games make the characters come to life and it feels like they are talking to you when you play. There is amply opportunity to make corrections without failing. The detail is very appealing to the games. These games would be a great introduction or review for a topic taught in class.
Negative:
You can only play these games in a web browser so there is no app for tablets. I must review the games to see if they match a specific standard or grade level because they are broken up by subject area only.
Game:
Pinkalicious and Peterific This activity allows students to use characters from a story they have previously read and re create the characters, action, emotions, and setting.
Standard: I can retell parts of a narrative.
CITE: https://pbskids.org/games/
Turtle Diary
Turtle diary has a variety of games, experiments, and puzzles for kids of all ages.
Positive:
You can search by grade level. There is a variety of printables, activities, and teacher tools that can enhance the games being played and it is all free. I loved the two player games because in Kindergarten we always need practice sharing and taking turns. Not all of the games in the two player were content based but I would still use them when teaching cooperative learning.
Negative:
You can only use the games through a web browser.
Game:
COMPOSESHAPES This game had the ability to move up levels and practice creating larger shapes using attribute blocks. The game was very particular about how the shapes went in the box and I think that will be a struggle for young students.
Standard: compose and decompose 2d and 3d shapes
CITE: https://www.turtlediary.com/