Games



Ology Website: []

Ology is a site for kids offered by the American Museum of Natural History. Students can choose an "ology" from the menu on the left side of the page to be taken to a variety of games and activities to enrich their understanding of the topic. Main subjects include zoology, genetics, astronomy, and more. These games and activities are great opportunities to extend learning beyond a basic introduction to a topic. Players will pick up lots of historical and scientific facts and details as they participate in the engaging activities.

A school librarian could use this site to let students delve further into a topic that has been introduced through a read-aloud or instruction in the library. For example, after book-talking __The Lightning Thief__, a librarian could have students visit the archeology section of the site, where they could play the Mythic Mystery Map game, which quizzes players' knowledge of mythical creatures from various cultures throughout the world. Or, after introducing students to non-fiction text features, a librarian could ask students to visit the paleontology section, where they could play the Create Your Own Timeline matching game.

In addition to helping extend library lessons, many of the sections of this site may pique students' interest in non-fiction topics, thereby encouraging them to check out and read non-fiction books.

Submitted by Amber Mann, 11/9/2010

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=**Scratch**= =[]=

**Description:** Scratch is a website that allows students to create their own projects, including video games, by mixing different types of media clips together. The name “Scratch” comes from the idea of hip-hop disc jockeys who creatively mix music clips to produce new music. In Scratch students are actually using a simplistic programming language to create a script by snapping together “graphical blocks”. Students can work independently or collaborate with a team to produce a product.

**Application for Educational Setting:** Scratch is recommended for students between the ages of 8 and 16. In my opinion it is suitable for long-term projects because it involves a lot of trial and error with students learning how to program a game. But it offers valuable opportunities for students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills as well as integrate their knowledge of a subject into a presentation. In a school library setting, students could create a game that incorporates the plot of a favorite book or a period in history.

**Submitted by:** Barbara Ludden 11/10/10 SLIS 5720 --

**Creative Writing Game: Legend of Druidawn**
[] =Legends of Druidawn is a creative writing game that inspires students to write (particularly boys of a certain junior high age). Created by a teacher and parent who watched while her own children played tons of video games at home, she came up on the idea of making an interactive, questing creative writing game based on a video game. Basically, the young authors create character sketches, plot scenarios, and map schematics of their "game". Then, they had to write 6 pages of quality narrative in order to move up to the next level. Rewards for writing included more (imaginary) money for their character, points, and attributes such as weapons and skills added. This page is worth taking a look at, perhaps not to purchase the creative writing game, but to think of ways to create your own creative writing game in class.=

Submitted By Deah Hester, November 10, 2010

** Order in the Library v4.0 ** ** [|http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valmstrum/s2s/utopia/library4/src/library4.html] **

This is an interactive game program featuring 3 different games to teach the organization of the Dewey Decimal System. There is a sorting game where the student will sort books by the first digit or letter of the call number, a shelving game to place books on the shelf in the correct order, and a game to re-order books that are out of order. The shelving and reordering game have several different levels which will increase in difficulty. This game would be great for elementary students to learn how the books are organized in the library.

Jacqualin (Jackie) Cundieff, 11/9/2010

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__Technology Games__ __Games for Kids in the Stacks__ __Website: []__

__Description: This website ties games to certain books. There are arcade games, puzzles, quizzes and polls, and make-your-own puzzles. These games are tied to certain books such as__ 39 Clues__,__ Bone__,__ Goosebumps__,__ Holes__, and many more. These games help with retention and with critical thinking skills. There is also a writing section that can help students brainstorm and organize their writing.

Educational Setting: This site would probably be most useful for an elementary librarian with some uses for a middle school librarian with lower level or reluctant readers. I could see using this site to encourage reading by providing a gaming outlet for students after they completed their books. It could be useful in conjunction with AR as a fun way to encourage students to read. As with all games, I believe that the value of the games is that they might spark interest in continuing to read. As a librarian, I think you could use this site as a conversation starter with reluctant readers. Show them the site and let them explore. I think once they see how much fun the site is, they will want to read the books because they have to read the books to be successful at the game.

Submitted by Rachel Trotter 11/08/2010

Technology: Games My Storymaker website: []

Description: This is a great website located on the Carnegie Library page. It is listed under games and fun for young students. What a great way for a student to become an author and write their own book. They can make up fairy tales and other stories, using the characters and ideas provided while they write their story. They choose characters and the goals that range from many topics to include travel, wanting, and making friends. As they write their stories they interface them with items, scenery and setting on each page. Below they write the words that complete their illustrations. There is a Story Helper that helps them proceed through book writing and gives little clues if they need direction. It takes them into a virtual world that they create using their characters.

Educational Setting: This website provides a great interactive way get those creative juices flowing. It helps guide a student through creating and producing their very own story. My StoryMaker would be used in free writing and fairy tales story making. As a librarian, you collaborate with the teacher having them master their skills that they need to learn in writing. This is a great opportunity to use the Smartboard and model what fun they can have creating their very own story. Students can add their flare to voices impressions on their characters and make the stories come alive. What a great way to teach how to write and have fun doing it.

Submitted by Rose Miller 11/7/10

Technology: Games- Arcademic Skill Builders Gaming Website: [] ALA Great Web Sites for Kids: []

Arcademic Skill Builders is an educational gaming site suitable for elementary students. It is listed on the American Library Associations web page dedicated to “Great Web Sites for Kids”. Arcademic features arcade style interactive game play. It focuses on basic math facts and language arts skills. The games are aligned with state standards and are fun to play. Game play covers everything from simple addition to geography. Arcademic offers single play or group play. During single play, the gamer is playing against the computer. There are also public games available for any player to join. Private games require a password to join.

Arcademic games between student teams would be a fun way to support classroom objectives. For example, during a unit on geography, the library could host a geography challenge. The librarian could supply reference materials and teams of students would compete against each other in Capital Penguin. This is a single player game that requires matching states and their capitals. It also requires students to know the abbreviations of states. In groups, students could work together to determine the answers. This game records the number of correct responses in one minute. There are nine levels. After each team completes all the levels, the librarian would record the scores and post the winners.

The Arcademics website is intuitive. A user can play without registering. The games require minimal time to set up. Players advance based on correct answers and how quickly they answer. As a result, corrective feedback is immediate. The library is a good place to introduce educational gaming. Gaming competitions aligned with classroom units and objectives would provide an exciting opportunity to collaborate with teachers and help motivate students.

Submitted by Adair Apple 11/8/10

Technology: Library Arcade (Carnegie Mellon University) Website: [] Background/Analysis: []

The Library Arcade promises to give students a chance to brush up on their researching skills in a gaming format. The students would be secondary school students at the very least. The site offers two games, "I'll Get It!" and "Within Range." The latter is not appropriate for school librarians because the game uses Library of Congress classification, rather than Dewey Decimal.

In a library setting, students who played this game would have an appreciation for the librarian's task of providing research sources based on a given task because that's exactly what they have to do to excel at the game. Again, this would only work for upper high school students. Middle school students would be instantly frustrated. (Don't even think about elementary!)

The goal of "I'll Get It!" is to keep the patrons happy. They each sit down with a research query and wait... for YOU, the player. You have to take their research query, listening VERY carefully, and locate the appropriate source. That's it. Another thing: Don't keep the patrons waiting, especially in the afternoon rush!

Again,use this game with 11th and 12th graders only. I believe it was designed with the college student in mind..

Submitted by Matthew Swartz 11/8/10

Starfall []

Description: Starfall is a website that has numerous free educational games designed to teach children how to read and to encourage early readers. In addition to games, the site also includes simple online books. The activities are short and engaging. The site is geared primarily towards preschoolers through 2nd grade, but would also make an excellent resource for ESL students.

Application for educational setting: Starfall is a great resource for an elementary library or classroom because it combines phonics skills with technology. The activities can be used to reinforce phonics skills learned in the classroom and to motivate students to learn to read. It could be used during class computer times or as an extra activity in a learning center.

Amanda Alden - 10/8/10

Funbrain www.funbrain.com

Description: Funbrain is a great website for kids in kindergarten through eighth grade. The site has math, reading, science, history, and spelling games. Students can choose games based on grade level. Students can create an account, and after they are successful on a game, new games are unlocked. This site also contains several web books and comics, including a web version of the popular novel Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Funbrain also has resources for teachers and parents.

Application: This website is great for teachers to use to motivate students to learn. Teachers could use this website to help reinforce what is being taught in the classroom. For example, if a teacher is teaching place value, students could play Place Value Puzzler for a fun way to practice the material.

Rebecca Rogers

Games [|www.librarygames.com]

Description: This website was set up by a librarian to provide games to be purchased for the library. The librarian experienced children complaining about their library visit, so she began to create games for the them to play to make their library experiences more fun and exciting. The children loved the games and looked forward to their time in the library. The games provided educational fun, while teaching library information and terminology.

Application: The librarian might purchase a game called Library Lingo. It is a bingo game with library terminology. It is a very creative way to introduce research and reference materials. The students would become familiar with terms such as: dictionary, almanac, Newbery award, call number, Dewey Decimal, and much more. Another game that the librarian might use in the library is book hunt. This game gives the children opportunities to locate types of books in the library. The kids work together in this game to come up with a final product. There are many games available for purchase to teach library curriculum to students in a fun and creative way. The games are geared toward elementary age students.

Adella Williams 11/9/10

Video games · [] · The website suggests that Librarians use video games to make connections with students. The game featured in this article is Pokemon. They used Pokemon to help students learn how the OPAC is operated. If students understand the terms used in the game then they can apply those terms to the library to get a better idea of how to use catalogs. · Most games have a story line or plot. Games also have characters that undergo conflicts that have to be solved before moving onto the next level. This could be used in an English Literature classroom by creating character analysis or story plots just like students do with novels. The site also suggests that students can also analyze the differences between how the stories are written among different types of media. Robin Alcorta

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Technology: Games RIF Reading Planet http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/gamestation.htm

Description: This site has a ton of fun reading games to help younger kids improve their reading and writing skills. It is was created by Reading is Fundamental and is intended for children from birth to age 8 to improve skills and help the to love to read. Using websites like this (and others like it) the library can be a place where students go to improve reading skills as well as a love for books.

Application: Especially for the younger grades that need help with reading skills, you can set them up on the library computers for practice as a class. Library time can not only be used for story time, checking out books, but also for actually working on reading skills. For the younger children to love the library, they need to be able to successfully read on their own. With fun games, they are practicing skills which will make reading more enjoyable for them in the future.

Lindsey Hervey _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

=Technology: Games= =Internet Safety and Security=


 * [[image:cholt:cyber_defense_force.gif caption="cyber_defense_force.gif"]] ||

=The Carnegie Cyberspace Academy= This as an awesome website for teachers and librarians to use. This website has interactive games that teach Internet safety and computer security.It allows you to set up a teacher account to use at school. It is designed for upper elementary age students, but has games for students in K-3. The Cyberspace game is available to users at the Carnegie Cyber Academy Web site When a teacher or student joins the Academy, they can battle Cyber Villains and learn how to be good cybercitizens while having fun at the computer and learning great computer safety tips. A librarian could use this for lessons on internet safety. It is engaging and fun and will keep the students interested and make them eager to learn more about the internet because it is set up in a game format. It was created by Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute and the Carnegie Mellon CyLab.

I've included links for the Academy website and for the Media Kit. =[|Media Kit for The Carnegie Cyberspace Academy]=

Christy Holt, SLIS 5720 11/10/2010



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This website is used to create short nonsense stories using the parts of speech. There are a vary of topics to choose from so students can do this activity more than once. Librarians can use this game to get students to create waky little stories that will encourage the students to read because they are silly and students will want to share thier work of art with eachother. Librarians can have this on the library computer under favoites and when the studetns come during thier free time, like lunch or afterschool, students can open the page and begin creating stories as well as brushing up on their verbs and adjectives.This could be used either in the library or in the classroom to promote literacy by involving students in creating something they can call thier own. This would work well especially with reluctant readers because it is easy to use and a great way for teacher to review the parts of speech. It works like MADLIBS, the students have to fill in the blank with whatever part of speech is being asked for and then they can click next and thier story is displayed for them. Tacher can have students printout their stories and display them around the classrrom.

Michelle Saenz 11/10/2010



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=== The Edheads website consists of gaming activities in the Science field. It has a variety of disciplines represented such as Biology, Engineering, Medicine, and Weather. This easy to navigate website has multiple games available in each discipline covering a range of age levels. Librarians (from my List_Serv) promote these timed games during students' free time, to advance interest, and further exploration in the Sciences. === === The Edheads games can be incorporated into classroom lessons targeting science, reading comprehension, and math standards. The playing of these games will reinforce and enhance the student’s knowledge and skills in Math, Biology, and Weather. The playing of Stem Cells and Medical games will support both the Biology and Math standards. The Engineering games will support Math standards, while the Weather games will support both the Earth Sciences, and Math Standards. All of the games support reading comprehension as directions, and information integral to playing the games are presented verbally, and with text (also good for those with special physical needs). Math concepts are also supported with the presentation of both graphical data, and the number in-between information, which must be successfully interpreted by the student to excel at the game. === === A typical Science class week would incorporate either experimentation or Edhead gaming as enrichment activities on Thursdays after the presentation of the topic, and any associated problem solving activities during the first three days of the week. This would allow for better understanding and comprehension prior to evaluation at the end of the week. ===

Mark Turchi 11/12/2010
= = = **Games With a Purpose** =
 * = [[image:espgameTitle.png]] ||= [[image:tagatuneTitle.png]] ||= [[image:verbosityTitle.png align="left"]] ||= [[image:squiglTitle.png]] ||
 * = [[image:matchinTitle.png align="left"]] ||= [[image:flipitTitle.png align="left"]] ||= [[image:popvideoTitle.png align="left"]] ||=  ||

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Description: A blurb at GWAP states,” When you play a game at Gwap, you aren't just having fun. You're helping the world become a better place. By playing our games, you're training computers to solve problems for humans all over the world.”

GWAP was pioneered by Luis von Ahn of Carnegie Mellon University with the intent of having humans generate data by playing games which are also evaluation platforms. Online thinking games such as Tagatune and the ESP Game ask players to describe or rate online content using keywords or tags. Consequently, the data generated by the players is used in some geeky algorithm writing (Whew my head almost exploded!) thus helping develop smarter search engines.

Educational applications are twofold. One, students get to play interactive games either with an anonymous site-assigned partner (no username required as a “Guest”) or alone. The games are not of the shoot-em-up variety and include activities like rating photos, describing music clips, guessing what an item is by keywords, etc.

Secondly, student participation helps provide tags (data) for their generation which will be used in the improvement of web 2.0 search engines. The savvy teacher/librarian/tech specialist could take this a step further by making a connection between the development of search engine keywords and how this affects the Internet user experience.

Lynnette Perez 11/12/2010

TECHNOLOGY: Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids (Online Gaming)

WEBSITE: [] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This website was created to teach children about the United States government in a fun, yet meaningful way. There are links that teach at specific sets of grades levels such as K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and an additional link for parents and teachers. I chose to focus on the interactive game links found at each set of grade levels. Each set of games is a fun way to review or learn new content about our government.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">IN THE LIBRARY/CLASSROOM: This website would be a great tool to use during the various government units in the social studies curriculum across all grade levels. The games can be used to review content covered during class lessons, or to introduce new concepts related to government. Students can either be allowed to freely explore the games, or the librarian can look ahead of time to see which games correspond to the curriculum and only allow those games to be played.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">by Corinne Spruill 11/12/2010

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Magic Tree House = =<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[] =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This website, published by Random House, is dedicated to the //Magic Tree House// book series by Mary Pope Osborne. Students can go to this site to get information about the content discussed in the books, as well as find games and activities related to the story. In my school library, I sponsor a Magic Tree House book club for third grade boys. We meet about once every three weeks. Between meetings, students must read one Magic Tree House book and complete a project related to the book. During our meetings, we discuss the story, share the projects, and do some kind of activity realted to the content of the book. To begin each meeting, the boys have time to use this website.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For each book they read, the boys take a short quiz to earn a stamp for their Magic Tree House passports (this template is also on the website). They then have time to explore the information and activities that go with the book. They love plaing the games that use the non-fiction components of the book. Many of the games take readers on their own Magic Tree House journey with Jack and Annie! The games and activities on this website not only focuses on story elements like problem and solution, plot summaries, and character analysis, it also reinforces the information students learn from reading the books.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Submitted by Katie Arp

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Library Skill Games and Review = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tarrant High School Media Center, Alabama <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Web address: @http://www.tarrant.k12.al.us/THS/library/librarygames.htm

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Description: The THS Media Center put together a collection of games and quizzes for all grade levels to practice and review library skills. The game topics include understanding parts of a book, genres, fiction vs. non-fiction, catalog use, call numbers, Dewey Decimal, Internet use, reference selection, and word use. Many of the quizzes link to Quia and St. Joseph School Library, and the rest to other popular game sites.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Application in educational setting: This website is a great resource for librarians to check student understanding of library skills after teaching the lessons. Teachers can find this site helpful with teaching and practice of words. Having a group of games that focus on library skill all in one convenient place makes is easy for the librarian to use in the library without the need to bookmark every site separately.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Rachel Ach -- 11/12/10

** Making History II: The War of the World **



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An educational video game like Making History is an effective way to not only arouse interest in what students call a boring topic, but also equips them with strategies to help them excel in standardized tests. Denise Agosto wrote in //Teacher Librarian,”// that videogames allow students to think, talk, and act in roles otherwise inaccessible to them.” Many schools have “lock-ins” throughout the year leading up to the TAKS test. Since the library is usually the setting for these lock-ins, Making History competitions could be a drawing attraction to these lengthy study sessions.

This video game would also be ideal in a project-based learning classroom, where students can spend several days or even weeks discovering all the possible scenarios of an historical event. Students are strategizing military maneuvers, forging economic treaties, and developing weaponry while appeasing religious interests. These are just a few of the dynamics featured in this learning tool.

Rebecca Lorraine McCall