New Version of Number Sense Card Game 123 Switch

Aidil, a teacher from Singapore read about the number sense card game 123 Switch! that I shared a few years ago. Like any good teacher, he tried it out with his students and when it didn't work as planned, he adjusted the rules and game play to make it easier.

Adaptation is probably any teacher's most important skill in today's ever-changing education landscape, so I am excited to share Aidil's improved version:

To prepare my students for the game, I had to go through the basic rules:
Ace = 1
J,Q,K = 10
Joker = 0
Spades, Clubs = Black (Positive Numbers)
Diamond, Hearts = Red (Negative Numbers)

Rules for adding the cards:
Add 2 same coloured cards together,
If they are 2 diffferent coloured cards, the resulting card will take on the colour of the larger numbered card and its magnitude will be the difference of the 2 cards.

Explaining the 123 Switch game to my students took quite a while and there was a lot to digest as the combinations were quite overwhelming for them as they had to work out a proper number sentence and then decide if they are to put 1, 2 or 3 cards down.

Because my students couldn't grasp the rules of the games clearly, a few students lost interest in the game.

After the lesson, I decided to see how I could simplify the game and involve more people. So I came up a variation with your game. Here is how it goes.

You can start a game with 6-9 players.
Deal out all the cards with the jokers included.
The player to the dealers left will start. He will put a card down on the first box.

For example:

B3+ ___ = ____

The second player will put a card in the second box, for example,

B3+ R6 = ____

The third player will then see if he has the card to complete the number sentence, which is R3

Then he will then start of the new number sentence by putting down the first cards.

If he does not have R3, he will choose a card from his pile and put it facing down in the third box. The fourth player will then see if he has R3 and so on. The person that completes the  number sentence correctly collects all the cards on the game board and starts off a new number sentence.

The game ends when a player has no more cards left over and the last pile is won by a player. The player with the most cards in hand wins.

The game ends straightaway when a person collects all the Joker cards.

The third card on the game board must be of magnitude 10 or lower.

If for example, it is a player's turn to put the second card when he has only Black cards bigger than 3 on hand, for example B4

B7+ B4 = B11 (there is no B11 card)

Since he can't put down a card to satisfy the condition for the third box, he will put any card facing down in the second box, forfeiting it

Find the original game here:  I Want to Teach Forever: Easy New Number Sense Card Game: 123 Switch!.

April 2014 Reader on Educational Games

Improving the World of Educational Gaming [Kotaku] - I agree wholeheartedly with the author here--the simplest improvement we can make is touting the educational aspects of everyday games while doing the opposite for educational games.

Trip Hawkins’s next act: If You Can, a startup for social emotional learning games. [Slate] - We have barely scratched the surface of the potential of these tools. Here's an example of a game taking a step in the right direction.

How a High School Teacher Is 'Gamifying' World News [Mashable] - Holy cow, I love this idea. If I was still in the social studies classroom, I would have loved this. It's important to note that educational gaming doesn't have to mean technology or video games; in this case, it's about gamifying the learning process of a While Side note: I experimented with fantasy sports in the math classroom years ago.

Immersive Video Games: The Future of Education? [Mental Floss] - Echoes a lot of what I wrote years ago for the Educational Games Research blog.

All the World's a Game: Interactive Map Gives Kids the Travel Bug [Mashable] - I always wanted to get that giant Hammacher Schlemmer world map, the one that would cover most if not all of one wall in your classroom, but this is way, way better.

Weekend Reader on Video Games in Education: January 2013

 

Video Games Make Your Brain Bigger, Study Says [Mashable] - This is why I keep focusing on this topic.

SimCityEDU: Gaming in the Classroom [Mental Floss] - It's no surprise to see the newest generation of one of my favorite video games being used as a learning tool. I learned to think creativity and solve problems from the earlier, less complex versions, and the skills involved in creating a city in this iterations is much more complex. Bravo to GlassLab and EA.

OpenEd: Free, Open Source EdTech Video and Games Resource for Teachers [The 21st Century Principal]

Video Games Are Teaching Our Kids to Succeed in the 21st Century | Catriona Wallis [HuffPo]

Five Ways that Games are More than Just Fun [GOOD]

Review & Giveaway: That's Baloney!, Educational App

One of my favorite PC games growing up was Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego?. As you traveled through time and around the world, you had to follow clues to figure out where to head next to catch Carmen and her gang.

The historical clues mentioned tons of things I had not learned in school yet and at first, I was making no progress. I wanted to beat the game so badly, I started looking everything up in our set of encyclopedias (these were pre-Google days, of course).

I learned a lot of history this way, and I discovered a love for the subject that followed me through college, where I majored in the subject. Without Carmen Sandiego, I may never have been set on that path.

That's Baloney!, a new iOS/Android app by Evanced Games that I recently had the chance to try out, reminded me of the challenge of Carmen Sandiego. Players are presented with statements in a variety of subjects in grade levels 2-6 and have to decide whether each is true or just baloney.

Before I played the game, I thought it would be too simple: you have a 50-50 chance of judging each statement correctly even if you guess, and you can make several mistakes and still complete a round successfully.  Instead, I found That's Baloney! inspired the same desire to learn what was wrong about a particular statement when I guessed correctly that it was "baloney."

When you answer incorrectly, you are given a "pickle" that tells you why you were wrong. When you answer correctly, the game continues as you slowly eat your way through a stack of baloney. If you answer correctly that something is baloney, you aren't told immediately what was wrong with the statement, but at the end of the round you can read explanations of what exactly was wrong.

As you successfully complete rounds, snacks and sandwiches begin to fill your virtual fridge (where players keep track of what they've done). With over 500 unique questions for each subject at each grade level, there is a lot of food to be collected.

The questions are challenging, written at a level that might intimidate struggling readers at first but are short enough to push them to succeed. The game is untimed, so kids can take their time reading and considering each statement thoughtfully. When I spoke with the game's designers last week, they told me that the statements are based on Common Core standards and are aimed at building reading comprehension as much as anything else. That's Baloney! is actually an adaptation of an award-winning card game with the same premise.

I recommend this game for your tablet and smartphone-wielding children and students in the target age range (grades 2-6, ages 4-8). Honestly, I found myself feeling like I was on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? as I lost a round of supposedly 5th grade statements. The same desire to learn the right answer that followed me when playing Carmen Sandiego followed me in That's Baloney!, as I read each explanation at the end of the round.

Evanced Games has given me a download code to get That's Baloney! for free (normally $2.99 for iOS/Android), and that's what I'm offering to one lucky reader!  Send an email with the subject "That's Baloney" to teachforever@gmail.com by 11:59pm CST this Tuesday to enter, and I'll pick a random winner who will get the code. Good luck!

Weekend Reader on Video Games and Education: November 2013

 

How gaming can help with your child's development [The Denver Post via The Quick and the Ed]

‘Funfair In Your Mouth’ Interactive Game Makes Kids Eat Their Greens [DesignTAXI.com] - A great proof-of-concept for using video games to influence real world behaviors.

MIT Unleashes New Online Game for Math and Science [KQED: MindShift]

Computer Games in the Classroom [Wall Street Journal]

What Games Are: The Unfulfilled Promise Of Videogames [TechCrunch]

Weekend Reader on Games, Gamification & Education

Can Digital Games Boost Students’ Test Scores? [MindShift] - The short answer is yes, but it's also important to note that simulations seemed to have an even stronger correlation with better test scores. "We shouldn’t frame games, or any other instructional support, as ‘the answer,’" says one Gates Foundation official, but says that the data can't be ignored. "We should be careful not to view learning technologies as a replacement for deep teacher and student interactions. We see effective technology supports as enabling the opposite."

Is Gamification Just a Fad? [Mashable] - Short answer: no.

Games to keep teenage girls enthralled with math, science [The Seattle Times]

Videogames and Learning [blogs.worldbank.org] - A look into the research on how games can be effective in the classroom.

The Game That Will Save Zynga (And Mathematics Education) [This blog] - A learning game idea I came up with last summer, which seems appropriate given the game publisher's business woes. I'm still willing to hear your offer, Zynga.

Coming Monday: my take on gamification and education.

November 2012 Reader on Gamification & Education

In Defense of Video Games: More Than Just an Entertaining Time Sink [Lifehacker]

5 Ways Teachers Can Evaluate Educational Games [Mashable!]

INFOGRAPHIC: Gaming in the Classroom: Why Bring Electronic Games into the Classroom? [Online Schools]

What Makes Educational Games Work? [KQED MindShift]

5 Reasons to “Gamify” Your Class [The Innovative Educator]

Fixing a Common Problem With My Like Terms Card Game

Jen B, a high school math teacher from Kansas recently wrote me with a dilemma using my Like Terms card game:

My students are playing the game and our biggest problem is getting someone to go out. They use all the draw pile and then the only card left is ,'take 1 card from another player' Sometimes they can go out, sometimes they are at a stand still. What did we do wrong? They are in groups of 3 kids and I only let them create matches of 3 or 4 like terms at a time. It seems like you'll need a discard pile. Please advise us.

What I told her was that I avoided using a discard pile in my original game because my students were not familiar with rummy style (draw, play, discard) gameplay, but you can certainly add it back in.

The other option is to allow students to add individual cards onto other people's piles, which some people allow in rummy type games. So if my opponent has x, 3x and 5x and in my hand I have a lonely 2x, I can add it on to my opponent's group. I would put it with my own cards and I have to announce what I'm adding it on to, so that players aren't just throwing down cards they can't make groups of. In this way, they're still making groups but have the flexibility they need to get out.

After my response, she let me know how she fixed the problem:

For my second class, I added the discard pile back in. My students seemed to be familiar with Rummy and even asked if they could take the top card off the discard pile instead of draw, which I just might do next time.
Adding the discard pile back in solved our problem.

Earlier posts on this game:

• Sample 5e Lesson Plan: a Card Game for Combining Like Terms
• How to Improve the Combining Like Terms Card Game
• Follow-Up: Combining Like Terms card game
• Combining Like Terms Card Game Revisited

The Game That Will Save Zynga (And Mathematics Education)

I've shared many games and ideas over the years to help students and kids practice their essential number sense skills.  Yet I know these ideas have only reached a fraction of the population, as will most learning games.

The best educational games are the ones that don't seem to be educational.  They don't dress up rote learning with graphics and sound effects.  They require a bit of critical thinking as well.

I'm addicted to Zynga's social games (like everyone else with an iPhone) such as Words With Friends and Scramble With Friends.  They're fun because you're playing against a real person, but they're also educational.  Both games force you to delve deep into your vocabulary and do so rather quickly.

So while playing Scramble, I imagined replacing the letters with numbers and asking players to create different combinations that would add up to a certain goal.  With just a few tweaks to Scramble's interface and mechanics, you could easily make a game I'll call Numbers With Friends that would be just as fun, addictive and educational as its predecessor.

Take a look at the mock-up above.  Each round, you'd be given a goal number and run your fingers across the numbers to create the right sum.  The more combinations you can find and the more numbers you use add to your score.  For example, could press just the -6 alone for 1 point, or press -5 + 0 + -8 + 0 + 6 + 1 + 1 for 7 points.

I don't claim this to be a completely original or revolutionary idea, but I'm taking a common number sense activity and putting it in a package that almost anyone would love to play.  If I knew how to program (and how to not get sued) I would make this myself, but I've always been a fan of not reinventing the wheel if you don't have to.

Mashable! reports that Zynga's business is a bit down at the moment, so this is the perfect time for a modest offer: I'll gladly take a job or a big fat check for my surefire idea.  I'll be awaiting your response.

Weekend Reader on Gamification in the Classroom

Ben Bertoli's ClassRealm Is Gamifying the Classroom [Wired:GeekDad] - Bertoli has wrapped a classroom management system in the guise of an RPG-style game.

New Book: The Gamification of Learning and Instruction [Educational Games Research]

ZisBoomBah - A new website that encourages healthy eating habits in younger kids using game elements. Worth trying out with your elementary-age students.  A similar resource appropriate for older students and adults was shared recently on Lifehacker: SuperBetter Is a Game that Rewards You for Healthy Living and Working Towards Your Goals.  I'm fascinated by the idea of using these kinds of services to engage kids over the long run.

National Competition Promotes Digital Badges for DIY Learning [GOOD] - Badges are just an adaptation of "achievements" that are used in so many modern games.

Pearson-backed Startup Aims to Be the Zynga for Learning and AT&T’s Largest Donation Ever Creates A National Hub For Learning Through Video Games - Ironically, I called on Zynga to be the Zynga of education in a post about games and education last year. I'm not as excited about a textbook/test prep company like Pearson being involved, even just as a backer, but it's something.  AT&T is playing the same role with another educational video game company.  These are good times for learning games!

3 Fun Online Games For Reviewing Slope and Linear Equations

We've been reviewing finding slope on a graph, using the slope-formula, and writing equations depending on the given information (two points, slope and a point, just the graph) the past two weeks.  These three fun flash games were successful in keeping my students' attention for a full 50 minute period, which doesn't happen frequently.

Algebra vs. The Cockroaches - Cockroaches walk back and forth along a linear path, and you must fill in the slope, y-intercept or both to draw a line to kill them.  It starts with vertical and horizontal lines, then direct variations, then slope and y-intercept together as the levels progress.

Slope-Intercept Game - Students answer questions about the slope of an equation that's not in slope-intercept form, finding the slope of a line between two points, etc. If they get it right, they get to shoot a basketball with a character they customize at the beginning of the game.

Linear Equations Game - The game is called "Save The Zogs" and it works pretty much like Algebra vs. the Cockroaches: find the line where most of the "zogs" are aligned, then write the equation that will "save" them. It starts off pretty easy but gets challenging quickly.

I challenged students to reach certain levels on each game, but they were into them without the goals.  In the Slope-Intercept basketball game, students would play the entire round over again because they wanted to get the answers correct and get more chances to shoot a basket.

If you've found fun, engaging online games for middle or high school math, please share them in the comments.

Easy New Number Sense Card Game: 123 Switch!

 

Here's another new card game you can use to quick and easily practice adding and subtracting positive and negative integers.  I've dubbed it 123 Switch, and you'll see why in a moment:

You'll need: a deck of cards for each group of 2-4 players, the DIY graphic organizer seen above, and paper for each student to write down (and double check) every simple number sentence that's created.

As with many of the other games I've shared, black cards represent positive integers and red cards represent negatives.  Aces are ones and all other face cards are tens.

1. Each player gets 7 cards.  The remaining cards are a draw pile.
2. For the first turn, the player must create a correct number sentence in the form A + B = C (for example, 6 + (-8) = -2, as in the photo above)
3. For all subsequent turns, players can replace one, two or all three cards to create a correct number sentence.  They should stack the cards on top of each other (so there's always three showing).
4. As in Uno, each player must put down at least one card per turn.  If they can't do so with the cards in their hand, they have to draw cards until they can put down something.
5. The objective is to be the first player to get rid of all of your cards.

Let's say it's my turn to continue the example above, and my hand is the one on the left.  I would have the option of playing one, two or three cards:

One card: Replace just the -8 with my own -8.

Two cards: Replace the 6 and -8 with -6 and 4, which still equals -2.  I could also leave the 6, replace the -8 with 4, and the -2 with 10 (6 + 4 = 10).

Three cards: I could replace all three cards with -6 + 10 = 4

As they play, students should write down every number sentence that's made, and should be encouraged to police each other closely (with your help, of course).  Every group will have had different practice, and can proceed at their own speed.  That would make this quality independent practice for your lesson on this concept. 

Adaptations

1. Designate a wild card.  I'd leave aces as ones and use one of the other face cards.
2. Assign other values to face cards.  See last week's card game idea, Summy, for more.
3. Change the game to subtraction.  This adds a significant layer of difficulty (as I found out when testing this idea out) and could make each game much longer.
4. Give each player more cards.  I tested this out and estimate that one game should take about 5-10 minutes using the default 7 cards.  I don't recommend using less cards, since it reduces the practice your kids would get, but you could give each player 10 cards instead.
5. If you run out of cards in the draw pile, take all of the stacked cards except the top ones.  Shuffle them and put them in a draw pile.

How might you use this in your classroom (or with your kids at home)?  What adaptations might you make to improve this idea?  Share your ideas and feedback in the comments.

Summy: A Math Twist on a Classic Card Game

I love the classic card game of rummy.  Whether it's because the game is so great or I'm just not very original (I prefer to believe the former), I constantly revisit rummy as a basis for creating new learning games.

My latest twist on rummy involves adding positive and negative integers.  It's called Summy (pun most certainly intended):

1. Players are dealt 7 cards.
2. Remaining cards are placed in a draw pile, with the top card turned over to be the "sum total" card and the first in the discard pile.
3. Black = positive integers, red = negative integers.  All face cards are positive or negative 10, depending on their color.
4. During their turn, each player draws one card from either the draw or discard pile, and tries to make groups of 2 cards or more that add up to the sum total.  
5. Players must put down something, so they might have to keep drawing cards until they can.
6. After their turn, players should discard one card from their hand.
7. When one player has no cards left, the game is over.

As I noted when I revisited my combining like terms card game, if your students aren't familiar with the draw-play-discard structure of games like rummy, you might need to adjust or eliminate some rules.  The key here is that instead of making groups according to traditional rummy rules, players are seeking sums that match the sum total.  All other parts of the game are secondary.

Let's use the cards on the left as an example.  If my "sum total" card is (-8), I need to find 2 or more cards in my hand whose sum is (-8).  I could put down a group of 3 using either the jack of diamonds or queen of hearts as (-10):

(-10) + (-5) + 7

That wouldn't be the best play, though.  I would still have a red and black face card in my hand, worth (-10) and 10 respectively.  Since their sum is zero, I can include them in my group as well:

(-10) + (-5) + 7 + (-10) + 10

I'd be left with just the 8 and (-2).  I'd still have to draw a card, and discard one, so I would not have won quite yet, but I'd be well on my way to victory.

One of the most important lessons I learned while tutoring at Mathnasium was that children need number sense to become great at math.  With this game, they're being challenged to think of multiple ways of adding up to the same total, and as their hand changes constantly, so do the possibilities.

Adaptations

1. Eliminate the draw-play-discard structure.  For example, you might simply pick one card as the "sum total," insert it back into the deck, and divide the deck equally among the players.  From there, each player could simultaneously try to make as many groups of 2 or more as quickly as possible.  The player with the most correct groups after 3 minutes is the winner!
2. Use aces as 1 and (-1), or turn them into a wild card.
3. Assign other values to face cards.  Instead of having all face cards equal positive and negative 10, you could assign these values: jacks = 11, queens = 12, kings = 13.

What do you think?  Do you have other ideas to make this better?  Would this idea benefit from a video demonstration?  Share your thoughts in the comments.

Toys & Games Every Kid Should Play With Growing Up

Kids play with all sorts of toys and games as they grow up, and there's certainly value in anything that allows children to engage in free, creative play.  Yet considering the kinds of skills those children will need to excel in school and later in life, all toys & games are not created equal.

With this in mind, the following is a list of items every child should have access to at the earliest age possible:

Tetris

While there's clearly value in students doing all kinds of puzzles and brain games, there's something special about Tetris.

Our kids are too often taught that there's one right way to do things, one right answer to every question.  When they get to college, all the creativity and problem solving skills they need are severely lacking.

That's the beauty of Tetris: you have to think creatively to survive, and you have to do so pretty quickly.  Even better: the problem is different every time you try to solve it!  Get this game into your kids' hands in whatever format they prefer.

If you want an analog alternative, try my Fun and Easy DIY Tetris-Style Magnetic Blocks.

Legos
Speaking of toys that foster creativity, there's nothing better than Legos.  Again, kids should be playing with blocks (no matter the type) from a very young age, but Legos are something very special.  The variety of themes, block types, kits and built-in encouragement from the company to rebuild endlessly combine to form an amazing canvas for creativity.

In addition, children learn how to follow increasingly challenging directions as the sets increase in number of blocks and design complexity.  There's also no shortage of adults inspiring new and awesome ways to use these toys as a learning tool.

Card Games

Teachers who have lamented the slow death of the simple deck of cards as a fun, easy tool for learning need to thank everyone who's helped make poker popular as a spectator sport.  Because of those bracelet-loving folks, cards are still relevant to young people despite being completely and utterly analog.

What that means is that all of the great card-based educational games that have been around for a long time can still be used to engage today's kids.  Check out my list of lesson ideas and games based around cards for some inspiration, but don't forget that most traditional card games have essential skills baked right in.

Board Games
There's no shortage of board games designed primarily for learning, but even games built for fun or the challenge (Monopoly, chess, Settlers of Catan) incorporate a wide range of skills that students need.  Creativity, problem solving, basic math, following directions, even collaboration and cooperation are easy to find.  They're also cheap, readily available, and aren't limited by your access to technology (or restrictions on content therein).

Of course, you can also take this to another level by having kids create their own board games.  There's even companies that will self-publish your board game idea into something very professional looking.

Your Turn!
What other toys & games should ever child be able to play with growing up?  Disagree with anything on this list?  Am I too much of an analog educator in a digital world?  Let's discuss it in the comments.

New Resource for Deal or No Deal Probability Game

Mr. Faris, a reader from the Federated States of Micronesia (shout out to all of my readers around the world!) took my Deal or No Deal probability game and created a spreadsheet that calculates the bankers' offer for you.  In the original card game, the bank offer is based on a randomly drawn card, not on the prize amounts left on the board.  Thus you often get offers that make no sense, which can take away from the game experience.

As he explains: "It calculates the banker's offer for you.  I came up with the formula for the offer by studying data from game shows.  It is very accurate and useful.  One variable I think is used in the real formula which I did not use is whether the expected value has gone up or down since the previous round."  There's also a version of the score cards included as a second worksheet.

Huge thanks to Mr. Faris for sharing this resource!

Download the Deal or No Deal bank offer spreadsheet (via Google Docs)

Original post: Lesson Idea: Probability using Deal or No Deal

Giveaway: Math Learning Games from Jax

This week I'm giving away a cloth tote bag from Jax Ltd containing two of their math learning games: Over and Out and The Game of Chips.

Over and Out is a straightforward card game where you add cards to a pile, totaling them each time and trying not to go over the number on the "Tip Top" card.  If you go over, you're out.  In The Game of Chips, players have a pile of numbered counting chips.  Players take turn rolling dice and then pick up any combination of chips that adds up to the total shown on the dice.  The goal is to leave the least amount of chips on the table, as those become points against you.

Just like the company's great Sequence Numbers board game, both of these games are ideal for your early elementary children and/or students.  There's also plenty of room for creative gameplay or alternative uses.

If you're interested in this week's giveaway, I'm looking for a very specific type of review in return: I'd like someone willing to test these out with their children or students and share the insights you get from the experience.  It's an opportunity I don't really have, so you'll be doing a great service for the teachers and parents who might be able to use it.

To enter, send me an email at teachforever@gmail.com and tell me who you would play the games with by midnight CST tonight.  Everyone is eligible (except for the two readers who won books in the last two giveaways).

Thanks to Barbara Olson from Jax Ltd for providing the freebies for me at NCSC 2010!

Your #Snowpocalypse Reader: Video Games & Education

If you're on the East Coast or just about any U.S. region besides my beloved Rio Grande Valley, you're likely snowed in due to Snowpocalypse 2010.  What better time to catch up with new ideas and resources for video games in education?

Video Games Boost Brain Power, Multitasking Skills

Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom [NY Times via edReformer & This Week in Education] - A deep look into how video games help kids learn, framed around a profile of the innovative NYC school Quest to Learn.

Project-Based Learning, Yes PLIESE [Wired: GeekDad] - In this project-based learning example, a child is deeply invested in designing everything from the storyline to the artwork and level design for their own video game (in this case, a new Mario game).  Even without using the technology directly, the structure can provide a context that kids can understand and want to throw themselves into.

When the White House announced an ambitious STEM Video Game challenge in September, I was excited as it seems my dream of educators and game developers working together to create immersive, engaging educational games is close to fruition (see No Need to Reinvent the Wheel to Revolutionize Educational Video Games, my guest post on Educational Games Research).

Physics Gaming [via EdReformer] - Tons of games using that use classic physics problem archetypes like bridge building and predicting an item's flight path in fun ways.  All free, courtesy of the math games gurus at Manga High.

More Great Ideas from the Institute of HeartMath

If your interest was piqued by the Wild Ride to the Heart board game that I reviewed last week, I've got more ideas from the creators (the Institute of HeartMath):

Free Techniques for Children

Shift and Shine Technique® for Ages 3-6:
Piloted with preschoolers, the Shift and Shine Technique is a simple, fun and powerful tool for children ages 3-6. This scientifically developed technique gives young children an early start at developing and strengthening positive attitudes and emotions. Practiced regularly, Shift and Shine can help young ones control impulsive behavior, improve relationships with family and peers and increase their readiness for learning and the classroom environment. Shift and Shine Technique for Ages 3‑6.

HeartShift™ Tool for Ages 7 – 11:
The HeartShift Tool helps you calm down and think more clearly. It teaches you how to feel better when you are upset and how to shift from a negative emotion to a positive emotion. The HeartShift™ Tool for Ages 7 – 11.

The Quick Coherence Technique® – Ages 12-18:
Quick Coherence is a powerful technique for refocusing your emotions, connecting you with your energetic heart zone and releasing stress. With practice, you can learn to do it routinely in about a minute. You can apply the three easy steps, Heart Focus, Heart Breathing and Heart Feeling, first thing in the morning; during school or at work; in the middle of a difficult conversation; when you feel overloaded or pressed for time; or any time you simply want to get in sync. Athletes use Quick Coherence whenever they need to boost their energy levels, coordination, reaction times and speed while engaged in sports. Military, police and firefighters use Quick Coherence to maintain alertness and the ability to think quickly on their feet, especially in extreme situations. You can use it to help you improve your test-taking and scores, get along better with others and relax and calm down when you are feeling anxious or stressed. The Quick Coherence Technique for Ages 12‑18.

Interesting in learning more? Check out their Facebook pages (HeartMath My Kids! and Institute of HeartMath) as well as their official Twitter (@InstHeartMath).

Wild Ride to the Heart Game Helps Kids Deal With Emotions

A new board game called Wild Ride to the Heart is a fun, engaging way to teach young children how to deal with often difficult emotions.  This would be a great resources for parents, teachers, counselors, after school programs, social workers, and anyone else who works with kids.

Players move around the board towards the heart, thinking and talking about different emotions along the way.  Generally speaking, dealing with emotions positively moves you forward while losing control sends you backwards.  That message is important for young children by itself, and it's fundamental to winning the game.

Before and during the game, players are encouraged to talk about emotions with their own stories and experiences.  This ensures that you're reinforcing the lessons and offering plenty of opportunities for teachers and parents to dive deeper into often difficult emotions that will undoubtedly surface.

What makes the game most valuable for parents and teachers are the Tools of the Game, a procedure that kids follow when they land on one of the faces on the board.  They can either show a matching face, tell a story about a time they experience that emotion, or "Go to the Heart".  That last one means they perform a sort of calming exercise while focusing on their heart.  It's very simple and I think would be very fun for young children up to 3rd grade.

I think some people might assume that you would only play this with children who were having a lot of trouble controlling their emotions.  The game clearly provides a safe environment for kids to talk about emotions, and should be very helpful with kids already having problems.  Yet I would urge parents and teachers to play this will all students, even those who appear emotionally healthy, as serious emotional issues can show up or develop later.  By giving kids a good foundation, you're setting them on a path to deal with whatever comes their way.

GIVEAWAY ALERT! I'm giving away the copy of the game I received from the Institute of HeartMath, which includes the complete game as well as background information on the Institute.  For a chance to win, contact me via Twitter or Facebook only and tell me who you would play this game with and why before Friday 8/27.  I'll pick one winner randomly.

The game is actually very inexpensive ($14.95 before shipping) and worth your money.  Order it direct from the Institute here.

15 Classroom Uses for Printable Magnet Sheets

When I finished my DIY Tetris-style magnetic block project, I immediately began brainstorming more uses for these printable magnetic sheets.  I quickly amassed a list of 15 free, easy to make and use games, manipulatives, and practical items for the classroom.  Below you'll find ready-to-use printables as well as ideas you can adapt as needed.

1. DIY Magnetic Poetry - I had fun doing this with the scraps from my original project, as you can see.  Obviously the classroom applications for this are endless: create a set using any vocabulary, parts of speech, or sight words you want your kids to learn.  The size of each word is up to you and depends on what's appropriate for your kids.  Have your students manipulate them into sentences, create a story, fix an incorrect sentence, finish an incomplete statement, sort them by type, etc.  Create a magnetic word wall (just make sure they're words you want to reuse year after year).

2. Make contact info magnetic business cards for parents quickly and cheaply.

3. Art project to decorate your board, desk, filing cabinet, etc.  Make your own or ask your students to create it for you (a great classroom culture builder).

4. Holiday gifts for students, colleagues, or anyone who helped you during the school year.  You could use it for end of the year gifts as well.  Create art, print a class photo onto it, it's up to you to fill in the blank.

5. Tangrams - This is a novel alternative to cutting up paper to review spatial relations and geometry.  More applications for tangrams.

6. Jigsaw Puzzle - Print any relevant picture on the sheet, then take a Sharpie and draw some puzzlesque lines.  Warning: Don't go searching for free, printable blank jigsaw puzzles online-- you'll find too many malicious sites out there.  My PC is well protected, but yours might not be.  Better to avoid it altogether.

7. Geometric shapes to use as manipulatives.  Alternately, create a big shape that you can divide into fractional parts.

8. Calendar - Print your school's academic calendar so you never lose track of it.

9. Magnetic Sudoku - I created this 3 page PDF that contains the standard 9 of each digit from 1-9 that you can then arrange as needed.  Why pay for it when you can make it yourself?  Plus, you'll have leftover sheets for other projects from the list.

10. Create ships for my Battleship-style learning game.

11. Perpetual Calendar - This is one of my favorite brain teasers to give students, from the book Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities.  The original creation was two cubes with different sets of numbers on each one in such a way that you could make all the dates in a given month from 01 through 31.  The problem is there doesn't seem to be enough spaces on the two cubes to do so.  I won't spoil the solution, but if you download the PDF I created, you should be able to figure it out from there.

12. Connect Four-style game -  Download my printable PDF (which looks like the image you see on the left) and have at it!

13. Deck of Cards - Take any deck you have, and use a scanner to create images that you can print onto the sheets.  With standard cards, you can fit 9 cards per sheet if you line them up 3 by 3, so you would need 6 sheets total to create an entire, accurate deck.  Of course, you could always just make a few key cards.

14. Random Number Generator - Print out the Sudoku PDF, put the cut out pieces in a bag, and pull out as many digits as you need.

15. Label sections of your board: Do Now, Homework, Agenda, etc.