Freerice Game - with a myriad of categories to try out.

An oldie but a goodie - Freerice is an educational online game that helps kids with Vocabulary, Maths - including Times Tables and Basic Maths - along with a wide range of extra categories, such as: Flags, Countries, Ancient History, Movies, Quotations, Chemical Symbols, Biology, Languages, Foods of the World, Current Affairs.... 

For each correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to feed people dealing with famine in Third World countries through the United Nations World Food program.  

The best part? The game is self-levelling so it adjusts to the level the kids are working at, but keeps making it a little more challenging to increase their capabilities, without making it so hard that they don't want to do it. I realise that many of the subjects probably sound out of the park for a lot of our kids - but because it adjusts to their level, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility. 

https://freerice.com/categories

This could be useful in most learning areas - maybe a class competition? Teams to compete against each other?  Hmm - maybe a teacher competition??  😉

Check it out when you get a moment. 

Resource websites that may be of use

Below are a few weblinks that cover a range of  subjects and ideas and may be of use somewhere along the line.  Check them out and see what you think. 

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55327/how-hands-on-projects-can-deepen-math-learning-for-teens

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55393/five-apps-students-can-use-to-make-podcasts

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/ca/books/bkf3/imaps/    (interactive History maps)

https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/home

http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1538       

http://www.eslgamesplus.com/fun-games/     (Printable board games)         

Vocabulary, Word Power and Urban Legends.

I was asked to to find some resources that may be able to engage students and help out with vocabulary and word knowledge, and I thought that maybe other teachers would be interested in some of the sites that seemed to fit the brief. 

I have included what I think is one of the best for this; Freerice - a game that covers a lot more than just vocabulary as for every word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to help with world hunger - and it is a self-leveling game that adjusts to the vocabulary level of the person playing it, so it should suit all our students.  It isn't just words though, as there are sections for Maths, Science and Art... with multiplication tables to try out in the maths section.

Check them all out - and if you are wondering if you can really help world hunger by playing a game online, check the site out using Snopes.  Snopes is a site that ferrets out the truth about all those urban myths and legends and tells it like it is. 

 http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1538

http://www.eslgamesplus.com/fun-games/     (Printable board games)         

  http://www.manythings.org/vocabulary/

http://www.english-4kids.com/games.html

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/word-power/

http://busyteacher.org/13612-7-best-games-for-vocabulary-class.html 

http://www.snopes.com/

Play games to feed the hungry

www.freerice.com

 Check out the link above to the Freerice website. Freerice is a website where the users play a variety of educational multiple-choice games and help to fight world hunger while doing so. For each question that you answer correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated.  The categories include English vocabulary, multiplication tables, chemical symbols, English grammar, geography, art and literature.

As you answer questions, your total score is displayed as a mound of rice and the amount.

I think that one of the best parts of the game is that it is self-levelling so everyone has an even playing field. If you get a series of questions right, you will move up a level, get them wrong and move down a level.  It doesn’t change the scores you can get, or the amount of rice that is donated according to your score.  It just provides you with questions at a level that suits you and as your knowledge improves, up the levels go.

This would be a good game to play in class – whether Maths, English, Science or SOSE. Divide the class into groups and have a challenge to see who can donate the most rice – maybe have a small prize for the winning team as an extra incentive?  I have run this in the Library for classes and challenged them to beat my score.  Once they realised that the levels adjusted to suit them – it was ON!  And yes – by the end of 20 mins, I was soundly beaten – it was brilliant to watch.

Check out the FAQ on the Freerice website to get an idea of how much is donated each year/day and where it all goes.

The game does come with a warning on the website that people should read and is something to be aware of.  It says........

WARNING:  This game may make you smarter.  It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, and your grades.

Of course the question may arise as to how true this is – does rice REALLY get donated to people who need it just by playing a game on the web?

Check out the following link.  Snopes is a type of ‘mythbuster’ for the Internet and ferrets out the truth from the fiction in all the ‘stuff’ that is out there.  This could be a good site to introduce to the students so that they can check and evaluate websites and information.

http://www.snopes.com

Have a play with these sites and see what you think.