Games

[]

=
This is a blog created by librarian Scott Rice. In it he has several free games meant to be used in a classroom library. He has games like Keyword Konundrum which teaches students that using the wrong word in a search engine will give you incorrect results. There is also an Information Literacy Game which has students use different library resources and ensures they know how to cite them correctly. He also has another game coming out called the Library Adventure Game. These games are meant to be used in the library classroom. Students sometimes struggle with how to perform a proper keyword search, so the Keyword Konundrum would be an excellent way to show them what they are doing wrong; it would be particularly beneficial in an upper-elementary or middle school setting. The Information Literacy Game is a great way to introduce students to all of the different resources in the library. This would be a great game to play during that tour of the library we usually give freshmen. =====

Kimberly Blessinger
= = GAMES JeopardyLabs http://jeopardylabs.com/ Want to go beyond PowerPoint created Jeopardy games? Then try JeopardyLabs. Jeopardylabs.com is a website where you can create your own Jeopardy simulated games for your students. It is free and there is no registration. All you have to do is setup and edit a ready-made template. Although the website proudly touts that “This is not…PowerPoint!” it allows you to insert pictures into the template just like PowerPoint. One of the features is that up to 10 teams can play on the same game. But the best part is that you do not have to fret trying to keep track of the score and managing the game simultaneously. JeopardyLabs has plus/minus buttons that you click as you answer the statements. JeopardyLabs can be shared with others which means you can search the site for games to use that other people have created. It can be used to test students on novel units, vocabulary, or specific concepts you are currently teaching. What's great is that it can be used later on for review as much as you want. JeopardyLabs is a great resource to use in whole group, small group, or paired settings. -Jocquetta Perry

Games-Tumblebooks [] Tumblebooks is a website that has taken over 130 picture books and turned them into ebooks! This is a wonderful website that allows students (emergent readers and struggling readers) to interact with stories in many ways including Audiobooks, Quizzes, Puzzles, and Games. Although puzzles and games are not the main focus of this website, they still have their moment in the spotlight as they reinforce concepts from the books. The games include: Word Catch, Spell Hop, Match the Sentence!, and memory games. Word Catch and Spell Hop are spelling practice games that test spelling skills of students using vocabulary words from the story. Match the Sentence! is a game where students match sentences and illustrations from the story. Memory Games allow students to interact with characters and objects from the stories while strengthening their memory. Overall, Tumblebooks is a very well rounded website that offers enrichment and skill building for students and acts as a great addition to any reading program. It should be a must-have in the library of every early childhood center and elementary school. Felicite Piper = = =Games=

[|http://www.puzzle-maker.com] Puzzle maker is a free web site for educators wanting to create crossword puzzles or word finds to reinforce key concepts. The key benefit of this website is its ease of use. While there are many sites that allow educators to create games that reinforce lessons—few are so user friendly. In terms of the word search, all one needs to do is create a list of words relevant to the lesson and the site creates the word search. On the other hand, this site allows enough customization to create crosswords with your own clues. This allows the educator to make the clues—which are the true keys to the teaching part of the lesson—as complex or simple as need be for the targeted students. On the other hand, the website does the difficult, if monotonous part of creating the puzzle.

Triona Marlatt

Quizlet.com []

Quizlet is a free website for students, teachers, librarians or anyone wanting to create a review game for vocabulary, concepts or key terms. Users can create flashcards, word match games, or set up an online study group with this website. As a teacher I use this resource to review for TAKs vocabulary, by creating a word match game and then requiring each student to create an account and play the game.

It is also a great resource that connects to the social networks facebook and myspace. Users can create a quiz or set of flashcards and then post it to their social network page where they can share it with others. It also can be attached to a blog. In a library setting this resource would be good to review the Dewy Decimal system by creating flashcards or a game. The librarian could then use a projector to allow students to participate and run up and point to the correct answer while the librarian clicks on the correct answer. Quizlet could also be used individually in the library setting or on a librarian’s blog to encourage students and teachers to use it as a resource for studying, but still have fun with it because it is a game.

Denae Gerik

Starfall []

This is a free website to teach preschool (as young as 2 years old), kindergarten, special education, homeschool, English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL), and first grade children their ABC's and to read with phonics. It also offers exciting phonics games and online interactive books. Starfall has been compared to a //Sesame Street// program, since it teaches kids their ABCs and the basics of reading through the use of audio and visual phonetics, games and animations. Interactive books include //The Little Hen// and decorating a virtual character. This website offers not only child-friendly simplicity, it also opens access to learning exercises in a way that entertains children similar to the way PBS has for years. The child-friendly icons let children enjoy "playing" on the computer by themselves while they are actually learning. They are also mastering computer skills that are necessary for their future in school and life.

This site also provides links to visit **[|The Starfall Store]** for low-cost books and phonics journals and to **[|Kindergarten Reading and Language Arts Curriculum]**. The lesson plans motivate kindergarten children by creating an atmosphere of fun and enthusiasm, providing opportunities for child-directed instruction, and facilitating the needs of English language learners and struggling readers learning alongside their friends and classmates. This website would be great for elementary students to visit, explore and learn while at the library. They could even look for books such as //The Little Hen// to check-out and take home to read with their parents.

In the classroom, this website would be a great tool to use for centers in which students work individually at their own pace. This would help prepare students for upcoming grade levels and expectations.

I also found the following website which offers links to several different types of games and puzzles for all grades:

[]

Sandra Verney

[]
 * Games**

This site has the following tabs going across the top of the web page: Books and Authors, Games, Blog, Videos, Your Opinion and Your Profile. Each one is interactive for a variety of age groups. In the books and authors section it contains a variety of genres with different book titles for the students to check out. The website gives a brief synopsis of the book, the author and when it was published or when it will be released. If you click on the book title then it takes you to a section where it lists all of the books in the series, a bit more about the author and a fun game to play. In the games section, there are arcade games, quizzes and polls, puzzle games, a make your own section for instance from the Goosebumps series you can make your own monster. There is also a writing game section as well as an e-card section. The blog is called Ink Splot 26 and today on the blog they are having a live chat with Gordon Korman. In the video section, they have author interviews, as well as a section just for teenagers. The site also contains a message board as well as a place to leave your opinions. This site could easily be used in the your classroom. You could take the book that someone has done a book talk or another book that your class has read. Then you could have your students choose a game from the scholastic web site dealing with that book. You could have your students post to the message board about their favorite author, book or character. There are a variety of things for the students to see and do on this website. By having the students search out the information themselves about authors, soon to be released books while playing fun educational games. This website is a win win situation for the classroom and library setting.

Violet Thomas

Fun Brain [] The site has a web book section and educational games section dealing with math, reading, and grammar. It also has a section for educators and fun arcade type games. Students can enjoy reading the web books online plus get more information on other books. For example, the site lists additional books by the author or other books in that series. And with a click of the button they are linked to the author’s website where they can find fun information on the author, current and upcoming books, contact information, and more. This is a great website that serves as an alternative way to introduce books to students but also allows them to enjoy fun educational games. This site can easily be used in the classroom. Students can read the available books alone or with a partner. After reading the online book they can look up information on the author, type out a summary of the book, or do a book talk about it to the class. The teacher can also have the students practice grammar skills with the mad libs in the grammar section of fun brain. Students get to practice grammar skills while at the same time have fun learning. This website also offers other fun tools and games such as the funblog section. Students can click on the calendar to find out fun facts about weather, history, science, etc. the funblog is also broken up by age and gender but students can click on any they wish to see. Aside from the educational games students can also play fun arcade type games. The games are easy to play so even pre-school children can play them but fun and entertaining enough for older kids. Web books and educational games are some of the things offered to students on the fun brain website but there are also great tools for educators and parents. The site offers a link for teachers to find more information on more specific topics of interest. This free website is a great tool to use in the classroom or in the library.

Carolina Cowan = = = **Games**  = [|www.quia.com] Allowing for the ability to share resources with other educators makes Quia a wonderful tool for teachers, students and parents. Resources range from art, history, language, chemistry, mathematics, science and others. Quia is a privately managed educational technology that assists in brining multidisciplinary resources into one central place. Educators are allows to share each others ideas, websites tests and notes being used throughout different areas within a subject. = Once a profile has been created Quia allows for the management of resources, files and calendars. It also allows the user to create and manage quizzes, activities and surveys. One of Quia’s strong features is the ability to create original quizzes through the use of Question Bank or upload questions being used by other colleagues within the same subject area. Compromising so many tools for the sharing of information, Quia created at step by step tutorial for users wanting to maximize all available resources. = = Tools for students and their parents include an interactive calendar consisting of dates when assignments, special projects, quizzes or test may be occurring or due. For students that learn visually or in a more auditory fashion, Quia allows educators to add images or audio. Another tool is a virtual bookstore what allows for books on all topics and subject areas. = = The educator is in total control of the content. He or she has different way for allowing others to view the material. Profiles can be created by the person in charge for classes or student themselves may create their own usernames and pins. What ever manner is selected, parents are encouraged to become involved by them too creating a profile with a username and pin to view content, check daily assignments through the virtual calendar and keep current with activities and news. = = The way I personally used Quia successfully was to go through the websites amazing tutorial. This tutorial takes the user step by step through all features and tools. Once I felt comfortable with the site I began to upload and create question for my eight-grade American History class. Once the virtual calendar was done, noting important due dates, quizzes and tests, I created profiles for all my students. It created a username and pin for each individual student. The website offered a 30 day free trial. As a librarian, I would add it to the library website and try to get other teachers to use it. = = **Claudia Chirinos** = =Games = Order in the Library [|http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valmstrum/s2s/utopia/library4/src/library4.html]

This site has a tutorial and a game to help children learn how to use the Dewey Decimal System. Students watch and read a short tutorial about how the DDS is organized and then play a series of games to practice their shelving skills. This site is appropriate for students in grades 2-5. Students enter their name and choose an animal avatar. They then have he option to read the tutorial or go straight to the games. There are several levels of games, each progressing in difficulty.

In the library setting, this game can be used after a library lesson on the DDC. It might be a good idea for the librarian to have a few students work on the computer while he/she works with another small group in a station. This would be a good site to add to the library website. Students could easily access from a link on the library website and practice the DDC with the game at home or school. =Kim Irwin= = = =Games= Goosebumps []

Through this general link, the user can access the Goosebumps main web page sponsored by Scholastic. The Goosebumps page has several activies for the user based off of the popular book series. Students can not only find information about the books; they can click on links for games, activities, news, online video games, and more. Students can help to write a chain story, create monsters, escape from Camp JellyJam, and make a monster soup.

These pages and games are very basic. I would say that they would be enjoyed by upper level elementary school grades through middle school. I think that these games would be fun for students after they have read some of the books in the Goosebumps series. These activities and games help to reinforce the "fun" aspect of reading. Teachers and librarians can use this page as a reward for completing the reading. I especially like the chain story. Not only will students be reading a book, but by adding to the story they are writting and helping to create.

In addition to the above web site, I found the following link for an additional website through Scholastic on goosebumps. [] This web page is an actual game that users must register to play. It takes the user to a series of maps and clus to help the gamer solve the mystery. It is fun. This game not only reinforces the books, but it also requires basic thinking and problem solving skills. It is a win, win!


 * Cory A Abbott**

The 39 Clues [|www.the39clues.com]

Intended for use by students ages 8-12, this online game takes the story from the popular book series of the same title and combines online gaming, book reading, and card trading. Users can collaborate with others to share information, complete missions, and seek actual prizes. In the media kit, available at [], Scholastic lists over 760,000 accounts made worldwide since the site's inception in September of 2008.

In the library setting, I see great potential for much more than an after-school book club. Students could not only read through the series together, but become allies in the online game. The card trading and collecting aspect of the game could be a tangible reward system for library patrons, but also allow them to continue in their online missions. Students can play "skill sharpening" games together in "Area 39" as well as complete Missions together. I could see this becoming a phenomenon for late elementary students in the same way that the Harry Potter series took over the discussions of high school book clubs.

I made an account in order to explore the site further, which you can do for free! I think being involved with the students in that way would be a bonus; perhaps breaking through some of the apprehension students may have around you. Therefore...Lab Agent Kellysbride, of the Ekaterina family branch, ready for clue hunting action!


 * Amanda Redding**


 * Games

Computer Games in the Classroom? What's the World Coming To!**

Website: []

I loved this article! With our world being so highly technical, children at such early ages are on the computer. Even my 4 year old wants to play on his favorite cartoon characters game sites.

This article discusses the facts that computers are a technology that will always be in the classrooms and that children love to play video games, so why not combine the two in the classroom. It discusses that teachers use games on computers to reinforce lessons that have been taught; for example math drill and practice games, games helping students to spell, and increasing critical thinking skills.

I, personally, use computer games in my classroom for drill and practice, as rewards, and as a "chill out" time. I believe that computer games do help students to learn even though sometimes they don't even know it! Children need to be challenged and engaged- games are a fabulous way to do it!!!


 * Stephanie Williams

Games

Games for Kids in the Stacks- Scholastic Books

Website: []**

Scholastic books has a website for elementary kids featuring some of their favorite books. Of course there are puzzles and games, but the site can also be useful to librarians and classroom teachers for promoting reading. Each book has a link to a "Meet the Author" page. Students can hear excerpts from books, and listen to book talks as well. This is a good site for a child who has read one book, and is looking for more by the same author. There are many educational and fun games to explore here.

Back to the games: The categories are: Arcade games, Puzzle games, Quizzes and Polls, Make your Own, Writing Games, E-cards, and Downloads. Some of the books included are **Chasing Vermeer, Bone, Deltora Quest, 39 Clues, Goosebumps, and more.** A teacher might assign the website in class or as homework to learn more about a favorite author or story and to share with the class. Kids are often interested in reading books based on peer reviews. A teacher might group classmates to collaborate on a Book Talk or book report.


 * Jeannine Marshall

Games The Librarian's Guide to Gaming Website: http://librarygamingtoolkit.org/tools.html**

This site gives information on how librarians can incorporate gaming into the library. A toolkit for building games into the library gives the mission of the game, details about running the program, cost and the impact of the program. Under the "Best Practice" specific examples of gaming opportunities are given. A few of the examples are: After School Gaming Club, Game Night, After School Tutorials, Scrabble Club, Board Games in The Classroom, and Monopoly.

The games discussed provide opportunities for students to apply a wide range of literacy skills from reading texts to using critical thinking skills. Games such as Apples To Apples and Scrabble involve visual and textual literacy. Other games mentioned such as Illiad involve reinforcement of historical aspects to certain time periods. Through gaming school libraries can provide resources to support classroom curriculum the same as through books and magazines.
 * Rebecca Jones**

Tenille Docampo

Games Fun Brain (teacher, librarian and student guide to great and enriching games for science, math,and english) Website: [|http://funbrain.com] This is a wonderful FREE website where school age children (grades K-8) can explore and challenge their math, science, and grammar skills. I was immediately impressed as a saw versions of arcade games for math and reading. There were also super fun games like "proton don, math gorillas, math car racing, the plural girls, and math baseball." The games had fun and interactive graphics, were easy to access, learn, and progress up in skill level. Since the website is for a larger age range, a child doesn't really hit a "glass ceiling" of knowledge for awhile depending on their age and grade level. They also added a "cool factor" to the website by including movie reviews, web books, comics, and even games of Sudoku! I also had another favorite aspect of this website, it has an area to blog! They post a website blog that gives neat facts about things such as weather, history, art, etc....and invite the user to make their own blogs on relate educational topics. The blog is extremely easy to set up and follow. I felt that this website was age appropriate but still challenging enough in its content to allow for critical thinking. I also really like the "teacher" section of the website that offers lesson plans, labs, gradebook templates, curriculum guide, standards finder for subject areas, and great ideas for interactive homework that students could even look forward to doing! This website was used at a middle school in DISD (where I used to work teaching Biology) and once a week the students would have assigned time in the library to access the website and progress their literacy, math skills, and science comprehension. The librarian would meet with the department once a month to make suggestions for possible lesson plans and interactive media to support the content. The librarian also helped to support the beginning of a class blog that lasted the entire second semester discussing the subject content. I feel that this website is a great tool for any teacher or librarian (hopefully together) to use to make some of the most difficult subject areas (the core courses) come alive and become relateable, accessible, and interesting to the student, especially during TAKS time when the students are bogged down and discouraged with busy work and drill/kill to enhance their skills for the state exams!

=Arcademic Skill Builders= [] Arcademic Skill Builders provides free games for students in elementary grade levels. Games are available that help students work on mathmatics (addition, multiplication, ratios, etc.), language arts (spelling, punctuation, parts of speech, etc.), and social studies (state capitals, etc.). This is a free and easy to track gaming site and it is not sophisticated. Pros: it is visually attractive. The colors are vibrant and the site has a professional look. The games look like cartoons and should appeal to young students. The games can also be played on a Wii. Cons: it is unlikely that students would go to the library to use this site without teacher direction, even though it has games. There is not a great variety in the games and students are likely to tire of the games quickly. Occasional use to target specific skills would clearly be the best use of this site. For example, if three English as a Second Language students in a fourth grade class were having trouble with verb tenses, the teacher could have the students practice on this site (or a Wii if available). Because the games are fun (and not black and white worksheets) the students are likely to engage in the games. The extra practice is less likely to be viewed as a punishment or as extra work. These games would also be good for sponge activities for those advanced students that finish early and start trouble if they aren't kept busy. Because many libraries have more or better computers than classrooms, many teachers may need to send students to the library technology center in order to have them use the site. Teachers could arrange regular gaming time for their students or if an agreement can be reached, the librarian could have students sign-in to log their time on the games and pass it along to the teacher. Jenny Roman


 * Games**

**Library Skills Game**

This website aims at developing elementary school students' library skills. This game is created by Bardonia Elementary School Library. This game focuses on letting students be familiar with the Dewey Decimal System. The game questions include the categories of the Dewey Decimal System, what call numbers if the user wants to find out a particular kind of book, etc. During the game, if students don't answer correctly, they can try again until they get the answer. And in the end of the game, students can get their scores about their library skills. If students are not satisfied with their scores, they can go back the game. This game is designed well and easy to follow up.
 * Website**: []

I think this game is very good in helping elementary school students master the knowledge about the Dewey Decimal System. Librarians can integrate this game to the library lesson for elementary school students. As this game is self-paced, it will not cause too much pressure for elementary school students. Also, in order to let the kids be familiar with the Dewey Decimal System, giving students sufficient time to play this game is also needed. Teachers in elementary schools also can use this game as part of teaching basic library skills. For example, before asking elementary school students to conduct some research in the library, teachers can let students play this game to have some basic knowledge of Dewey Decimal System.


 * Hsiu-Mei Hsieh**

This website has many games to help with many different skills. It's put on by THINKFINITY.org which is an excellent aggregator site for lessson plans and online resources. The games that pop up each time are just a bit different. There are so many that often they revolve. Here are some of the highlights: "American's on the Move." This is an online collection with interactive games about the history of transportation. "Power Up" is a game in which you have a budget and must consider the cost, amount of power and environmental cost of your enegry sources. "A Touch of Class" is where the student classifes living things into categories. Each time the categories change and the students must re-think the classification. "Beyond the Classroom" is a resource in which challenging games are mixed with virtual field trips, book clubs and recipe creation. "Concentration" is a game that can be adapted to the user. One can match words, numbers, or dots based on the skill of the user. One of the more interesting things about this site is that it has a companion site about "Thinkfinity at your library." [] It has book report help, games, homework help, maps, activities and book lists. One can also browse the resources by subjects such as: the arts, social studies, literacy, math, reading/language arts, science and geography. In all, this resource is an extremely valuable one. Students can use these resources and teachers can use the lesson planning materials in addition to using the games in labs for practice.
 * Games for school and library skills**
 * Website: []**
 * Suzanne G. Shields**

=Games for Schools - FreeRice= =[|www.freerice.com]=

====FreeRice is a vocabulary game website designed to donate grains of rice to the UN World Food Programme ten grains at a time while users learn vocabulary. As an English teacher, this is a great website for students who finish typing essays early or complete their research before others to visit in order to build vocabulary and instill a feeling of doing something good for others. It keeps idle students during class, or even after school, busy and learning. Recently it seems the site has expanded to not only give ten grains of rice for every normal, although sometimes quite difficult and unusual, vocabulary words, but there are also sections for grammar and foreign languages among others. The grammar section allows students to choose between two sentences, one with a mistake and one without. Foreign language teachers could use the German, French, Italian, and Spanish quizzes as review of common words and preview of not so common ones. There are also math and science sections now, a geography section, and even world art. Some of these addicting games would even be a great review for college students (especially the art) or to use as a SAT prep. The more students play at guessing the vocabulary, the more some will seep in and become known. Since missed questions are repeated later on, it gives second chances for those who just have no idea what a firebug is the first time around. (Term for a pyromaniac... in case you were wondering.)====

Kristina Krengel