PE_6-Game Classroom

I thought I'd try the learning games sites out because I know that gaming is one of the classes I'll be in soon.
One site that caught my attention is called Game Classroom. Since this is also a free site to use, I thought I'd like to try it out before I showed the students what is on this site.
It looked interesting because it has games and homework help listed on its site.

Catch the Fly would probably hold my student's attention better than some of the other games included in the math section. This is one of the skills we will be working on in math class next month. I think this would be a good game to play even to introduce the lesson. The lesson we have in our math book is boring and flat.  I usually look for alternative activities to introduce coordinates and grids. This can be used on the SmartBoard with small groups of students who are lost with graphing.
This site is a good review site in that kids can review these skills on the laptop, and when and if they miss one, it's quick to tell you because the frog "dies". The  game is fun for a while, but I can see how kids would lose interest in it after they figured out the grid.

It uses all parts of the grid and kept my interest.

I will keep this gaming site in mind to use with my kids, but I think I will continue looking for something that is a little more interesting, has more to it, and even makes more noise, if you can believe that. 

Batter Up!, another Game Classroom game, started out as an interesting game. You first design your uniform, then you tell the pitcher you are ready to play. This is a figurative language game. I can see my 13 boys getting excited about playing this game...for a while.

Once the pitcher pitches, you have so many seconds to make a decision about the type of figurative language it is displaying. In this example, "The snakes slithered silently in the grass." The choices usually include the correct answer but sometimes it includes, "None of the above."  as a choice. If the player doesn't answer within a few seconds or gives an incorrect answer, then a buzzer goes off and the chance for a homer is reduced to a triple play, and so on until a strike registers.

This game is fun for a while, but it becomes tedious when the questions are repeated and the crowd's cheers and noises are looped sounds. I began watching the crowd and noticed they resembled Lego people. The people walked up and down the stairs of the stands with one color of shirt/pants, but "sat down" with something else on entirely.
If I play this at school, I'll play with a small group of students on the SmartBoard who don't really have a grasp on recognizing figurative language phrases and sentences.This will become boring for the kids who have the concept already.

There are many more games on this site. The ones I previewed were OK. The skills they teach are necessary for and on the grade levels they say they are. I will keep posting about this site.