PE_7_Game Classroom

This is another Game Classroom activity. Clara's Fraction Ice Cream Shop is one of the better ones I found.  This one would make 5th graders think about reducing improper fractions to mixed numbers. Once they get the idea of changing the fractions, they can begin to fill the customer's order. 

I would recommend watching the video instructions because it shows how to play the game.  The video doesn't have words, so the kids would have to really pay attention to it in order to understand how to fill the customer's order.  This activity would hold their attention for a while, though there aren't any "bells and whistles", the concepts are right on level for my fifth graders. I'm certain that I'd have to have a small group of learners who do not have the concept of reducing improper fractions to mixed numbers because they are just really being exposed to that this year for the first time. They are introduced to it in 4th grade, but this is more exposure than they've had as yet. I think this would be a great idea for an introduction to the concept as well as a review and a reteaching class.

Using games to teach concepts and ideas is not a new one.  The teachers have to review and play games before they introduce them to their students and decide which ones will be appropriate for the students. Right now, I have at least 5 students who would benefit from these games and activities that I've reviewed from GameClassroom.com
These could also be used as an independent review on a laptop or as a station during our center time. (Yes, 5th graders still have centers.) I use that time as more of a reteaching and review of skills time. It's a short and quiet time just before the end of the day. Students could rotate through each of the games that could be set up for them already.

As I think through the games and activities I've played trying to learn as much about them as possible, I've decided that kids could also make videos using what they've learned to teach other kids or to show what they've learned themselves using those activities.

There are some links on this web site that do not work any longer. Be sure to check out this site and play the games.  Even though it says K-6, I think most of the concepts are beginning and can be used with a whole-group type instruction up to the 4th grade.  The fifth and sixth graders would think these sites are a bit lame and they wouldn't hold their attention for very long.

This is another game on Game Classroom called  "Cows Context Clues."  At first this was interesting because the sentences asked questions that had answers that had to be inferred. It's also a good one for learning generalizations and conclusions. I think my lower students and my ELL students would be the ones to benefit from these types of questions and skills they require in order to move one cow from a pasture to another pasture.

If you miss the answer then you'll get another chance.  If you miss again, it registers in the "wrong" answer box. The right and wrong answers are totaled up as you go through the game.
If a player wants to play again then they will push the "Play again" button, but the same questions repeat and loop through the same order and sequence as before.
For a strong student, this may become tedious, but I think the lower level students and ELL students would benefit from these questions. For my ELL students, I could actually assess them as they are playing this game to see what they've learned.  I've noticed there are no scores kept under a student's name.
 In this game, the pictures are exactly what you see, cows on a blue pasture. Even though this site is a free one, I'm not sure I'd use this for anything other than a review for a whole class introduction.