Looney Labs Educators Mailing list Archive

Re: [Edu] Games in the Classroom

  • From"Solomon Davidoff" <doctordavidoff@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateThu, 06 Apr 2006 23:20:16 +0000
Magi,

I think you have LOADS of possibilities with Yahtzee, as you can have your students, depending on their cognitive level, find different combinations, or even create or answer formula created with the dice . . . In fact, once they get used to the idea, you can bring in less familiar materials, like 10 siders and so on . . .

I've been toying with Fluxx in the classroom lately (and have to write this up, darn it!). Using Stoner Fluxx worked so darn well in my Political Science class (Collegiate level), that I offered extra credit for students who want to create "Poli Sci Fluxx" in that class, and "Sociology Fluxx" in my Intro to Soc. sections.

Kristin, any chance of getting some incredible discount on Fluxx Blanks, or maybe offering Fluxx Blank Decks for teachers? I'm REALLY jazzed about using these for my Sociology class next year, and already have quite a few ideas . . . as do some of my students. I'm even considering a Journal article on them as an alternative to flash cards, for revision (studying - sorry, been using loads of UK Sociology notes with my students lately) purposes . . .

-Solomon


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From: "Magi D. Shepley" <magid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Looney Labs Education Discussion List <edu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Looney Labs Education Discussion List <edu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Edu] Games in the Classroom
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:51:33 -0400

Sounds interesting... Certainly something that would be worth looking at. :) I guess, though, that I wasn't specific enough. I was looking for things that would work with the games that the kids already know and enjoy... like Uno, Monopoly, Yahtzee, etc... but that could be done without actually having to play the game.

Magi

Kate Jones wrote:

Hi, Magi, Kristin and all the rabbits,

There are a few other games I know of that may help with doing math in a fun
way. Assuming you want numbers with which to do arithmetic operations (as
compared to most of the Kadon products that deal with shapes), you might try
these:

* Six Disks (Kadon) - www.gamepuzzles.com/histfun2.htm#SD * Lucky Sevens (Games Above Board) - www.gamepuzzles.com/msamuel.htm#MSL * Take a Number (soon to be released by Kadon as a supplement to Leap) * Leap (Kadon)- www.gamepuzzles.com/abstrct2.htm#LP * Shut the Box (sometimes called Flip Out and other titles)
*  Muggins

Shut the Box involves rolling two dice and using the two numbers to come up
with sums or digits from 1 to 12, with flippers to flip over with each
number obtained. In Muggins, roll 3 dice and manipulate the three numbers by
any math operations to get totals of from 1 on up. You can find these
through Google.

In Leap, place number disks from 1 through 36 by turns on a 6x6 grid to form
equations, criss-cross fashion like Scrabble with numbers. Six Disks
(numbers 1 through 6) and Lucky Sevens (coasters numbered 1 through 7) have
dozens of shapes to solve by arranging the numbers to produce either all
same sums, like a magic square, or all different but consecutive sums for
the rows in the figure.

In Take a Number, there are 25 different themes using numbers 1 through 25
in a variety of ways on a 5x5 grid. Take a Number is a supplement to Leap,
played with the same equipment. It can be played by one, two, or teams of
players.

Magi, send me your snailmail address and I will mail you a complimentary
copy of the Take a Number book, to see whether it would work for what you
are requesting for your classroom. If you have number tokens from 1 through
25, and can make a 5x5 grid, you can try out all the activities in this
book.

-- Kate Jones
Kadon Enterprises, Inc.
www.gamepuzzles.com
(Also a Looney Labs Mad Lab Rabbit)






-----Original Message-----
From: edu-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:edu-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Magi D. Shepley
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 8:30 PM
To: Education list
Subject: [Edu] Games in the Classroom

I have noticed that my students infinitely prefer playing games over doing any other type of work, except perhaps cooking activities. In the past, I've always used ordinary commercial games like Monopoly, Yahtzee, Dominoes etc, for doing math. I've also used Uno... I have a set of "boards" with the 4 arirthmetic operations on them (1 on each card). The instructions tell the students to draw one Uno card and place it in the '1' box, and then repeat, putting the 2nd card in the other box. They also get a worksheet with a table... one number in one cell, 2nd in another cell, operation in the middle, and the answer. We use the standard Uno scoring for word cards (Reverse, etc are 20, Wild cards are 50). The kids LOVE it...

Does anybody know, or have you seen, similar things? The other favorite in the classroom is Monopoly. Scrabble isn't far behind, and Fluxx (though, surprisingly, Family Fluxx was not the hit with the kids I thought it would be!).

I would love to find some Monopoly math that doesn't involve actually playing the game. I am aware of the Trend publication products that have Monopoly themed workbooks... but they aren't really MONOPOLY! The books use the characters, but that is about as far as it goes.

I do teach kids with cognitive impairments (mental retardation), emotional disturbance, speech language impairment, etc. The beauty of the Uno math is that the kids can do it independently... and unless we're doing a group activity, I usually have the kids all working on different things because levels are so different. And, of course, we're ALWAYS trying to encourage independent work and asking for help when appropriate.

Magi
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