2 BINGO GAMES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

I added two BINGO games to the library this year-- I SPY BINGO and BINGO LINK.  Both are connected to books and are great for supporting visual literacy and vocabulary development with young children.

In I SPY BINGO, 4-6 players can play at a time.  BINGO cards provide a variety of options for playing but all games focus on beginning sounds and vocabulary development.

CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE BINGO LINK is a twist on the traditional BINGO game. The "cards" have several photographs (as seen in the CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE books).  Each card has each photo but they are in different spots. The object of this game is to fill in a "row" of photos from one end of the board to the other.  This could be a straight line but it doesn't have to be straight.

The BoardGameFamily has a great explanation on YouTube. (I find these videos to be great resources for kids when learning to play the game. I also think they are great models for our kids who want to create their own game demonstration videos.)

More Fun Games

I tend to look for games that are for 4 or more players . When it comes to spending, games that can include more than 2 players feel like a bargain. However, many of the great games out there are designed for 2 players at a time.  I look a little harder at these games because if they become popular, I know we will need to purchase several of the same game.  Today's games are both two-person games and well worth it.

Blue Orange Gobblet Gobblers is a favorite game in our library.  It is a twist on the traditional version of Tic-Tac-Toe.  In this game, This is a simpler version of the game Gobblet. 

The goal of the game is to get 3 in a row--tic-tac-toe.  The trick is that each player has 3 sizes of gobblers.  The larger size gobblers can "eat" the smaller ones. So they can cover the smaller gobbler of the opposite color and take over the space. This is enough of a twist to make the game fun and challenging for all ages.  The colorfulness and the fun faces are an added bonus!

Mindware Square Up is a game that is new to the library this year.  But kids seem to like it already.  Square Up has won two parent awards. This is a visual problem solving games.  The game is designed as a race between two players who are each trying to match the design in their cube shaker.  Sliding the squares to create the design is more challenging than it looks. I so love Mindware games and this is quite possibly going to become a favorite in the library

Math Games in the Library

Countdown and 7 ATE 9 are two popular math games in the library.   Countdown has been a popular game in the library for a few years. Prior to having it in the library, I had a few versions in the classroom.  The game is a great game for practicing math facts as well as being a strategic problem solver. Players roll two dice and then add, subtract, multiply or divide. The player then raises the matching number stick on their side of the board. The goal is to flip all of the keys so finding a problem that gives an answer that you need is key.  This is a great game for kids who need practice with math facts as well as kids who already know their facts but want to use them in a challenging game.

7 ATE 9 is a game we added to the library this year.  This is another great math game. You can learn more about the game and see how it is played in the video review by Ted Cheatham.

Games in the Library

National Gaming Day was celebrated on Saturday, November 13 in libraries across America.  ALA says, "National Gaming Day @ your library is an initiative of the American Library Association to reconnect communities through their libraries around the educational, recreational, and social value of all types of games."

We are celebrating Gaming Day in the Riverside Library this month by learning several new games. I have tried to build our game collection over the past three years.  I have focused on word games, strategy games, math games and games connected to books. All of the games in the library support curriculum in some way.

This week, to celebrate games, I'll share a game or two a day. Most of the games I have purchased have been reasonably priced and are somewhat durable. I would recommend them for elementary kids to play at school or at home.

Pentago is one of the most popular games in the library.  Pentago is a two person strategy game.  The goal of the game is to get 5 marbles in a row. The tricky part is that the 4 pieces of the board move. So, on every play, the player places one marble on the board and turns one part of the board one rotation. So, you really have to look ahead and predict in order to win.  Here is how it works.  This has been a favorite with grades 3, 4, and 5 and I recently introduced it to our younger students. They loved it too.

There is an online version of this game which I LOVE! Pentago Online.  It is a great tool for learning the game. Often, when kids begin to play, they forget to turn a piece of the board after they've placed a marble. The online game won't move on until the board is moved.  Also, the online game allows players to play against a friend or against the computer.  Playing against the computer is a great way to practice great strategies.

Plus, the sound that the online version of the game makes when someone wins makes the library a very happy place.

New Cool Teachers

Mr. Terupt in Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea, a middle grade novel up for consideration by the CYBILS, submitted by Kyle (his review here).

Miss Hendrickson in I Know Here by Laurel Croza, a picture book reviewed by Franki here, submitted by Jeff.

Any other cool teachers in the books you're reading? Let us know, and we'll add them to our list!

Poetry Friday

SUSTENANCE

The look on his face
when he shows his dad
the perfect score on his quiz.

The giggle in her voice
as she reads me
the funny part in her book.

The gasps around the circle
when the boy in the story
defeats the dragon by following the rules of magic.

Being called an angel
by a 10 year-old boy who is most certainly not one,
because I've helped him with his multiplication facts.

Hearing the clear, bell-like voices of fourth graders
as they sing the national anthem
to the assembled Veterans and family members.




Sometimes I wonder why I do this all-consuming job. And then I have a day like yesterday.  My poem's five moments are all from one day -- yesterday. In math yesterday, we multiplied 25 x 20 -- my number of years teaching in Ohio times an average number of students in each class. (That's a lot of kids!  A school building full!)  Now take that number times 180 days in each of those years. And multiply all those days with perfect moments...why am I surprised that my heart feels so full?!?

Terri has the roundup today at Rub-A-Dub-Tub.  Happy Friday!

Revisiting Old Favorites -- Goldilocks Again

Me and You
by Anthony Browne
Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2010 (originally published in 2009 in Great Britain)
review copy provided by the publisher

Did you ever wonder about Goldilocks' side of the story? In Anthony Browne's version, we get one possible answer to who she is and how she winds up in the three bears' house.

Goldilocks' story is told wordlessly, in sepia-colored panels on the left side of each double page spread. Her story looks modern -- a girl who goes out shopping with her mother, follows a balloon to try to catch it, and becomes lost.  Little Bear tells the story of his family going for a walk while they wait for their soup to cool. The Three Bears' story takes up the entire right-hand page of the spread, is in color, is drawn in a storybook style, and includes the text. When Goldilocks runs away from the Bears' house, she runs back through the modern, sepia-colored city scenes and is reunited with her mother. Little Bear is left at his window, wondering what becomes of the girl who had been asleep in his bed.

If you know Anthony Browne's work, you know this version isn't as simple as presenting us with two parallel stories. The cover holds a clue that the world of the Three Bears and Goldilocks' modern world might just be a little closer to one another than we might imagine. Go back to the illustrations of the bears taking their walk and think about what you see there.

Are we a part of the fairy tale story, or is the fairy tale a part of ours? As always, Anthony Browne makes us think and wonder.

I hope you've enjoyed this week of revisiting old favorites! I've certainly enjoyed sharing them with you!

Revisiting Old Favorites -- Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Rubia and the Three Osos
by Susan Middleton Elya
illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Disney*Hyperion Books, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

This rhyming version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is sure to be a hit with children who speak Spanish, children who are learning Spanish, readers who love new versions of old stories, and fans of Melissa Sweet's illustrations. Well, I guess that means that this book will be a hit with EVERYONE!

First, a bit about the rhymes. Who can't love a poet who rhymes "prepared" with "derriere'd"?

There once were three osos

who lived by themselves.

They stored their three platos

for soup on the shelves.

But one night at supper

--la sopa prepared,

the soup platos ladled,

the chairs derriere'd --

Sometimes the Spanish words rhyme with Spanish words, sometimes Spanish and English rhyme, and sometimes English rhymes with English. Sometimes the Spanish words are explained in the context of the poem, and sometimes by clues in the picture, and every now and then the reader might need to go to the glossary of Spanish words in the back of the book to make sure of the meaning of a word. But all in all, the Spanish and English go together like the soup, the bowls, the chairs and the beds.

You can tell by the cover that there's something a little different about the way this story turns out. What's new in this version is that Rubia regrets the damage she did at the Osos' house. She makes up a pot of soup and takes it, and some glue, to the Osos', where she says, "Lo siento."

Three cheers for Rubia and the Three Osos!!!

Tomorrow, another new version of Goldilocks...

Revisiting Old Favorites -- Three Little Kittens

Three Little Kittens
by Jerry Pinkney
Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin), 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

It's autumn in Jerry Pinkney's version of the Three Little Kittens, and this mischievous trio can't wait to go outside and tumble in the leaves with their mousie toys, their ball of yarn, and the cardinal, blue jay and goldfinch who swoop outside their window.

True to form, they lose their mittens, find them again, eat pie with them on and dirty them, wash them clean and then ask to go outside and play again.

The delight of this traditional version is all in the details of the pictures. Anyone with cats will recognize how truly Pinkney has portrayed the way the kittens move, the things that catch their attention, even that wide-eyed wild look they get when they are engrossed in play.

There's lots to look at on every page, and be sure you don't miss the music and words to The Three Little Kittens printed on the inside of the book jacket.

This would be a fun story for children to read aloud and maybe even act out for Poetry Friday or readers' theater!

Tomorrow, a new version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears...

Do You Know What This Is?

Can you read this?

If you need more info, see Jeff Utecht's post at The Thinking Stick.