Your Ideas
If you have spent some time on this site you might have an idea, resource or lesson that you would love to share. Please write below and let me hear your ideas!
If you have spent some time on this site you might have an idea, resource or lesson that you would love to share. Please write below and let me hear your ideas!
Life is a Game....Play it! 
Here is my first idea to start gamifying my classroom:
I asked myself what is the hardest thing for me to get them to do? I didn’t even blink before I said, “they don’t like to write!” Let me say, I like the writing program we are using but doing the revisions and the editing is hard for them. It is very structured and has been helping two of my children with written output issues finally be successful. The drawback is that it is not very imaginative or creative. Since the program is working I don’t want to tweak the actual writing lessons too much so I am going to use both structural gamification, content gamification and also a learning game about Alaska and the Iditarod Sled Dog Race to make this more exciting. My plan is to make writing a little less like a chore by making it part of a game:
1. Make some structural gamification changes:
a. Grading- replace our “grades” with a miles traveled system. Currently, they have six grades a week. I am going to make them worth 10, 10,10,10,10 and 50 mile points.
b. Level system- I am going to have a level system- they will move to the next level (Checkpoint on the trail) when they earn 85 miles (70% or above for the week) They will have a chance to earn bonus miles at times but I am going to make this random so I can reinforce skills with extra assignments.
c. Badges- at different levels the kids will collect badges for getting to that level and I think at other levels I may build in some rewards just for getting to that level- have to work on how to tie this to the theme
2. Make some content gamification changes: Other changes- When I can I will work on changing our writing assignments to reflect the ongoing story. For example if they were asked to Describe a food I would change it to Describe a typical meal for a sled dog on your team/ Letter to the Editor would become write a letter to the Editor of the Anchorage Daily News about the welfare of Sled dogs
a. Introduce the Iditarod sled dog race then have the kids make themselves an avatar musher, a sled and a dog to move around the walls of the classroom. The classroom with have “checkpoints”, a start line and a finish line. The checkpoints will follow the checkpoints and spots on the real trail. This will give the kids a role and the ability to participate in the context of a story.
b. Mystery and curiosity will be built in at certain checkpoints- At each checkpoint I am thinking of having the kids pick a card that would have them do an activity educational in nature:
1. A math sheet that they need to calculate the amount of dog food they would need for the race and how they would have to ship it to different checkpoints.
2. Research polar bears and how they are being affected by ice melt
3. Watch a video about whales and seals then experiment with blubber (Crisco) and ice water to see if it really does keep them warm!
c. Rewards would also be built into the race. Certain checkpoints would have rewards. Maybe hot chocolate at one, a break from homework so they can get much needed rest or the ability to get some new dogs!
d. Challenges might come into play also but I haven’t figured out how to build them in without negating the miles they are earning by doing their writing. A challenge would be things like: Moose attacks your sled and kills a dog you need to stay here for a day/You left your mail back at the last checkpoint return their to get it/ The sea ice is slowing down your team- you will need double the miles to reach the next checkpoint.
I am going to try and put this all together and start this in December. The challenge is getting all the materials together and getting the “game” part to work the way I am thinking in my head. One of the videos I watched talked about board games and how the rule book is so important. I think I will have to think about having a rulebook to explain all of this to the kids.
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Reinforcing Geography of the US
At the end of our unit on the Geography of the US we will be having a Geography fair in the afternoon. After we return to the classroom I would like to have a game hour and play games that have to do with the subject: Ticket to Ride, Scrambled States of America, Stack the States, Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?. I also have gathered several puzzles of the USA that they can work on.
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I was going to an art lesson focusing around Hieronymus Bosch later this week. I had the kids each take a turn playing this game today. They are very curious about the pictures they saw today and want to know more!
The Hieronymus Bosch Invaders Game http://www.artsology.com/bosch-invaders.php
Hieronymus Bosch was a 15th century painter from the Netherlands who created unusual fantasy characters in his paintings (you can learn more about Hieronymus Bosch here). In this game, his creatures will start invading via a parade of both small and large sizes. Click once to eliminate a small invader, and click 5 times to eliminate a large invader (and score points for both). However, you must eliminate these invaders before they reach the left side of the screen … if they do so, life points will be taken away. The game is over when the invaders knock your life score down to zero.
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