Lost in TIme: Interactive Civil War Game

Oh. My. Goodness. I love the state of Alabama. I love that I come from Alabama, that I live in Alabama, that Alabama is steeped in Southern charm, and that Alabama is full of a rich history. When I see a website like this one, though, which is created by the Missouri History Museum, it makes me want to say, "GET IT TOGETHER ALABAMA!" 

This game is Lost in Time and it is fantastic. It is animated. It is interactive. It is engaging. Students learn a LOT.  

The premise of the game is that students are on a field trip to the Missouri History Museum where students are not allowed to touch anything, but you as the player touch something that sends you back to Civil War times. You have to help several key types of people in order to get home. You help a civil war doctor on the battlefield, a slave escape, a homefront lady fight fire, and more. Although this game is targeted to teaching Missouri history, the students still learn great deal about what the civil war was like for people during that time.

Tip: When you let students play this game, provide a scrap piece of paper and pencil. They need to write down the code that appears after the game starts. If they are unable to finish the whole game, they can put that code in at a later time to complete the game. At the end of the game, students solve a code. I think I will require that my students turn in the resulting sentence as part of their participation grade. How many teachers do that? Play a game to get an A. I heart it.

I still wish Alabama would make one of these for Alabama...for every time period. If I knew how to make them, I SO would. If anyone from Alabama Archives or the Alabama Dept. of Education is reading this and would like to hire me to learn how to do that and to actually do it, I accept.

Enjoy!

Explore Old Ironsides - The USS Constitution in 1812

Above is a screenshot of what you'll see when you enter the Explore Old Ironsides interactive activity. This website makes me sooooo happy. Why can't there be websites like this one for every subject in history? I learned a LOT from this website, and I had a lot of fun. In fact, I didn't realize I had learned anything until I had played with this one for hours. And isn't that what we want for our students anyway? We want them to learn something while only realizing that they are having fun.

In this interactive activity, you will get to go to all areas of the USS Constitution as it was in 1812. You get to click on all kinds of stuff in each scene. Some objects make noise. Some people tell you things about themselves. Sometimes you learn a bit more about different objects and activities. Sometimes you get an animation.

The cartoon renditions are fantastic, but they portray everything realistically. You may even hear "Gross," "Cool," "Ewww...," and even a couple of giggles as your kiddos explore this ship. I don't want to say more because I don't want to give anything away, but I want you to know that this website is most definitely in my TOP 10!

There is even an activity that goes with this activity, but I recommend letting your students explore this one first. This would even be a good activity for the SmartBoard...

I'll post about another incredible, awesome, over-the-top activity that goes with this one in a couple of days...or longer...I'm in grad school again, friends. I'm taking nine hours in eight weeks. Yes, I realize that I am crrraazy. :)

Enjoy!

Washington's Treasures - My New Favorite Game

This is a screenshot of one of my new favorite games! I played this game an embarrassingly long time. This game is Washington's Treasures, and it is ah-mazing. You, the player, are transported back to a 3D rendering of Mount Vernon at the time when Washington still lived there. You have to explore his mansion and estate, interviewing various members of the household as you search for Washington's most treasured items.

There are several reasons why I really, really love this game:

1. It is a game. It is a history website, and it is a game. I feel that I am talking like Dug from Up...
2. It is a quality game...with sound...and it is historically acurate...and fantastic!.
3. You have to interview three people before grabbing each mystery object. The people to interview change for each item. They can be people who work(ed) for Washington, Washington's family members, Washington's slaves, and/or Washington himself.
4. You get to see what the people you interview would have been doing back then... (for example, you get to see what a blacksmith would be doing on a typical day while you interview him).
5. When you pick up one of the treasures, you get to see a photo of the actual treasured artifact and get to read a little bit about it - a very little bit (It keeps students engaged enough to read while staying short enough so they can move on with the game!)
6. Students can collect bonus items for an end of the game bonus. You get to see a photo of the actual treasured artifact and get to read a little bit about each of these, too!
7. You can go in most of the buildings on the estate. Whether you can or cannot go into them, though, you still get to read a little about each building and what it was for when you go up to its door.
8. There is audio for this game, and you can hear the voices of each character.
9. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE! I'm going to go play again...
10. Do you need more reasons? Go there now! Play! Have fun!

Enjoy!

*GASP* Tuskegee Airmen Flight Leader Simulation!

Have you seen it? Have you seen it? Have you seen it?! This website is so stinkin' awesome! This is...are you ready for this?...This is a Tuskegee Airmen Flight Leader Simulation (When the page opens, scroll down to the bottom of the page to open the simulation). Oh yes. You heard correctly. If you are a teacher, this should excite you. If you are a teacher from Alabama, this should excite you to the point of bone-tingling. If you are an Alabama history teacher, this should make you gasp in awe as you say, "No stinkin' way!" (which is exactly what I did). Alabama tends to claim the Tuskegee Airmen even though the men came from all over the U.S. because the training base was in Tuskegee, Alabama, but - check it out - this website/simulation was made by the National Air and Space Museum. National.

When I saw that this simulation exists, I immediately wanted to play, and before I even played, I immediately wanted to give this to students as a super-fun-they-have-no-idea-that-they-are-learning assignment. In the simulation, the students learn what the Airmen needed when they flew (puh-lease take the time to look up why they called life vests a "Mae West" so you can give your students the tame version before playing...for those of you who know who Mae West is/was, I'm sure you can use your imagination...), and then they get to make all the decisions that a flight leader would have made on a mission. The picture above is actually deceiving because that is actually a screenshot of one of the only times the students are not given the opportunity to make a choice. Usually, there are two choices (red boxes), and the choice affects the rest of the course.

I will say - if you/your students/whoever is playing has seen the movie Red Tails - which is an amazing movie that will really help you better understand what the Tuskegee Airmen went through and did by the way - you/your students/whoever is playing will probably know the best decisions to make (for the most part) already. I encourage you (and your students) to try all the different decisions in multiple attempts of the game in order to see how each decision affects the course of the mission, anyway, though.

I am SO EXCITED about this one, still. .......Yep, still excited.

Enjoy!

Mission: Green Santa

I found an amazing website today called Mission Green Santa. I wish that I had found it in time for you to use it for Christmas! If you have not taught your unit on "Going Green" and on being "Eco-Friendly" quite yet, though, this website will still be useful to you this school year.

The website combines an interactive cartoon world with clips from "real" people who narrate the situation at the North Pole. These people include scientists, reporters, and Mrs. Claus!

Mission Green Santa all starts with a report from a climatologist who reports that global warming is causing the runway for Santa's sleigh to melt!

The report even shows Santa's runway at the North Pole...

 

...and the cartoon map of the North Pole also features that very runway. Without that runway, Santa's sleigh cannot fly on Christmas Eve!  

SO...the climatologist calls the students (or whoever is playing) to action! The students need to help the elves make the North Pole more energy efficient so that the runway can be saved!

The students explore the North Pole to help the elves be more "green." Anytime the student finds an elf that needs help, he/she may click on the "Help and Elf!" bubble to begin helping out.

And anytime a student successfully helps an elf or makes a pledge to be more "green" in his/her own life, he/she earns "greenies", or elf money.

The student can use those greenies to buy items at the elf store that will help the elves even more!

There is so much more to explore at the North Pole at Mission Green Santa. There is a cinema, or theater, that features episodes that explain the Santa runway situation and clips of actual students being more "green" in their own lives. There is also a post office that allows students to write letters to family and friends...and to Santa! Mrs. Claus even promises to make sure that he reads every one. There is even a playground with extra games.

Cautions:

1. The website does ask the student to register with an e-mail address if they would like to continue playing where they leave off before exiting the website.

2. The website is not American-based, so American students may not be familiar with all of the terms... like "cinema" instead of "theater." 

I am so excited about this website, and I cannot wait to use it. Let me know how you use this website in your own classroom.

Enjoy!

Scholastic's Interactive WWII Home Life Activity

Let me tell you how absolutely amazing Scholastic is. Here is the link to their WWII American Home Front Home Life interactive activity. The interactive activity lets students click on different items in the living room and kitchen of a home front WWII family home. The item links open to show primary sources including photos, posters, and more, and some play audio files such as Roosevelt's inauguration speech and public service announcements. Each primary source link also includes a brief description of each primary source and its significance to the war effort during WWII.

I had actually decided that Scholastic (and its website) is amazing a long time ago, but I love it even more now! You see, I actually found this activity a week or so ago, and the audio files would not work. I did everything I could to my computer - I cleared my cookies, I deleted history, restarted my computer, downloaded updates, made sure I had the latest versions of everything, downloaded some more, restarted my computer again...you get the drift.

I was so excited about the audio files because that was one kind of WWII resource that I really felt like I was lacking. I know I haven't posted any of the WWII stuff to the website yet, but there is a lot of stuff coming!

Anyway, the audio files still were not working after all of my troubleshooting, so I contacted Scholastic. They sent me an e-mail that let me know that they would be working on the problem. Not much later, they let me know that they had fixed the problem! I was so excited. I went straight to the website to try to listen to those audio files (and I realize you are smirking at my geekiness).

They still wouldn't work for me! Scholastic worked on their website for me for over a week so that those audio files would work! You and I, thanks to Scholastic, now have access to this completely working interactive WWII American Home Front Home Life activity!

Enjoy!

National Geographic Kid's On the Trail of Captain John Smith: A Jamestown Adventure "Game"

I personally e-mailed National Geographic to tell them how much I love this game and that I feel that they should make MORE of them! It is so much more than a game. It is a cartoon-style video of the story of Jamestown that follows the story of John Smith. There are eight mini episodes, and there are mini-games after six of the episodes. Students will learn something through every episode and every game - SO cool. Each mini episode is about 2-3 minutes long, and each mini game is about 1-2 minutes long. I had such a great time with this interactive activity that I decided to share it here before posting it to the website! Although it will be on the student history page soon, here is the link for those of you who would like it a bit sooner: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/interactiveadventures/john-smith/

New History Activities! Early American Settlements and The First Thanksgiving

So, I got around to some of the history links sooner than I thought! I posted eleven new history activities on the student history page in a new section called Early American Settlements and The First Thanksgiving. The subjects of the activities include Pilgrims, Wampanoag Native Americans, the Mayflower, the First Thanksgiving, and more. There are even panoramic views of Plimoth Plantation and the inside of a Wampanoag home! I'm sure you and your students will love every activity!

Enjoy!