Welp, I felt the need to blog, and my good friend told me that I never should have stopped blogging in the first place, so here goes nothin':
Have you ever gone to the gods of the internet (otherwise known as Google) to find an educational website for your children (be they biological or adopted through the agency of the school district), feel the gratifying double-click under your finger, only to find something that's bogged down with nested links, laden with activities of poor quality, or worst yet, requires a SUBSCRIPTION FEE?!?!?!?!!! Those deplorable, culpable wastes should all be burned in the fiery pits of...........
My gosh.... I just had to take a pause in typing because I felt my teacher-blood begin to boil.
*throws away that negative energy and focuses my blogging chi*
www.abcya.com is a divine gift from the heavens for students, teachers and parents.
And NO!!!! I'm not exaggerating!
Backstory in a nutshell: This developer for print and media began teaching, found there were few websites for teachers to use in the classroom, and built the website. Fantastic!
My review of the site:
1.) This site is extremely good for differentiation. I teach 4th grade, but as any true teacher knows, levels can vary from K-whatever, depending on the needs of the children. If I want technology integration within my lessons that's commensurate with the level of learning of each child, this site makes it easy.
2.) This site is really simple to navigate. All kids have to do is to touch the grade level (K-5), pick the category (Letters, Numbers, More, Holiday) and select their game of choice. Each game is represented by a graphic, so yes....it's THAT EASY! I've got kids with exceptional needs that can navigate the site without any assistance...it's great! *proceeds to do the happiest of dances*
3.) The activities are FUN! *pauses to play...and nope! I'm not ashamed to say that I play the games riiiiight along with my class when I get the time--thank you very much*
Sooooo am I supposed to give MY favorite games or the KIDS' favorites? A bit of both? Mmkay!
**Word Frog: Need practicce with synonyms, antonyms, and homophones? LOOK NO FURTHER!!!
**Ice Cream Talk: Practice with nouns and verbs...the kids love it!
**Spelling Bees: A word is called and the kids rush to spell it. The cool part is that they're playing against online players! (No te preocupes; the online players can't communicate with your children-- it's safe!)
**Fraction Tiles: Not a game, per se, but it gives the kids manipulatives to use for fractions without worrying about dropping them!
**Math Fact Shoot-Out: Basketball. Math facts. Oh yeah!
**Hockey Score: Once again--Hockey. Math facts. Oh yeah!
Those are just a few....I encourage everyone to check the activities out for themselves. Who knows? You might stumble upon something that you can share with ME!
Happy New Year,
Jenn
2.) This site is really simple to navigate. All kids have to do is to touch the grade level (K-5), pick the category (Letters, Numbers, More, Holiday) and select their game of choice. Each game is represented by a graphic, so yes....it's THAT EASY! I've got kids with exceptional needs that can navigate the site without any assistance...it's great! *proceeds to do the happiest of dances*
3.) The activities are FUN! *pauses to play...and nope! I'm not ashamed to say that I play the games riiiiight along with my class when I get the time--thank you very much*
Sooooo am I supposed to give MY favorite games or the KIDS' favorites? A bit of both? Mmkay!
**Word Frog: Need practicce with synonyms, antonyms, and homophones? LOOK NO FURTHER!!!
**Ice Cream Talk: Practice with nouns and verbs...the kids love it!
**Spelling Bees: A word is called and the kids rush to spell it. The cool part is that they're playing against online players! (No te preocupes; the online players can't communicate with your children-- it's safe!)
**Fraction Tiles: Not a game, per se, but it gives the kids manipulatives to use for fractions without worrying about dropping them!
**Math Fact Shoot-Out: Basketball. Math facts. Oh yeah!
**Hockey Score: Once again--Hockey. Math facts. Oh yeah!
Those are just a few....I encourage everyone to check the activities out for themselves. Who knows? You might stumble upon something that you can share with ME!
Happy New Year,
Jenn
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