Addition Blocks

Midsummer Update-News and Dev

at_iste
Standard

Hello again everyone! Teachers, I hope you’ve been able to relax and enjoy some deserved time off. Just wanted to give a brief update on what’s been happening at Fluency Games so far this summer.

 

Presentations

I will presenting on Math Fluency at the Tennessee Mathematics Teacher’s Association Fall Conference (Sept. 26-27) and the North Carolina Council of Math Teacher’s Conference (Oct 30-31); So, come and see me! I’d love to get feedback from teachers who use the games.

 

New Portals

Addition Blocks and Multiplication Blocks are now available on the ToonGoggles mobile site, and arrangements have been made to play the games on the CoolMath mobile site, plus FunBrain.Com. Also, I am working with LearnPad to have the games available for their award-winning device.

 

ISTE Conference

I was able to attend ISTE as a guest of BrainPOP, and helped them out in their classroom. BrainPOP will some great new additions for the coming school year:

 

Make-A-Map: Students and teachers will be able to generate Thinking Maps directly within the BrainPOP site. The tool is integrated with the Movie section, and students can access keywords and images by drag-and-drop on to the Make-A-Map canvas. Students can even add links to sections of the movie!

Sortify: Have your kids played Sortify yet? Developed by BrainPOP, this is a great critical-thinking game. The game is available across multiple topics (Nutrition, American Revolution, Multiplication, Angels, etc), where players sort 30 tiles into labeled bins. The game allows for multiple solutions, as tiles can go into different bins. Great for a Unit Preview activity, Mid-unit review, or Post-unit assessment!

 

Mobile version: High Priority in development, to get their whole site available for mobile devices. They hope to roll out in 6 months or so.

 

Administrative Dashboard: Allows for easier set-up for teacher and student accounts, planning to be ready for the new school year.

 

Also got to meet and talk with Steven Isaacs @mr_isaacs!

 

Addition Blocks v.3/Multiplication Blocks v.2

Here’s what is happening with the next generation of Addition Blocks and Multiplication Blocks:

 

Profiles: The apps will have up to 6 (“Pro”)/30 (“Educational”) individual profiles and will be able to keep track of a players scores, achievements, and settings.

 

Progress Reporting: The next generation of the software will feature progress tracking and reporting within the app. I believe there is much power in a child seeing themselves actually getting better! Additionally, progress data will be held on server-based (ie, “cloud”) storage; this will allow for the children’s progress to be recorded across platforms. The progress reporting will be available as a licensed feature, but will provide great feedback for your children.

New game mode: Timed mode! Play from 30 second-turbo mode game up to 10 minutes.

 

Updated/Improved graphics: The game will be native 2048×1536; however, I have changed the way the graphics are being displayed, so the game will look much better on Android and iPhone devices!

Follow along with the development at #additionblocksver3!

 

Subtraction Blocks

Found a graphics artist to work on the development for this game. Addition Blocks will be my priority over the next few months, so look for the game in about 6 months!

 

Subtraction Blocks will have similar mechanics to Candy-Crush. The game will not have the falling target block: Instead, players ‘swipe’ two blocks together to find the difference. Swiping to get a zero will destroy both blocks. Levels will have different goals to attain (Clear board, score, moves, etc).

 

What else would like to see in Addition Blocks and Multiplication Blocks? Leave a comment and let us know! Thanks!

It’s Never Too Early to Start! Games to play with your Pre-schooler

preschoolers-blocks-ai
Standard

Last year, my 3-year-old son started playing Addition Blocks. Not that he was actually ‘adding’, but he liked to tap the blocks with the numbers. I would sit with him and tell him ‘7 is 3 plus 4’ and he would tap the 3 and the 4…The next target sum would fall, and I would say ‘ 8 is 5 plus 1 plus 2’ and he would tap the numbers. Eventually, he would memorize the sums just through the repetition. I was not as concerned with him knowing how to add, but more in just playing with numbers and developing number sense.

Below are some simple and easy games that will develop number sense (identifying numbers, more, less, etc) in your preschooler.

I also want to stress that my goal is NOT that my son ‘learns’, or even understands, the first time (or second, or third, or…) we play a game, but to be able to engage him with numbers, spend time playing games together, and opportunities for teaching moments. Make it fun!! It’s OK as a 3-year-old if he gets the 2 and the 5 mixed up!

Card Games (Remove the Ace/King/Queen/Jack from the deck)

  • Go Fish– Great way just to learn the numbers and being able to ‘match’ them. The shapes on the cards will also provide a visual to understand that there are more ‘hearts’ on a 7 than on a 2.
  • War– Very easy game to play with a preschooler, as all the cards are in a pile. Great for teaching concepts of ‘More’ and ‘Less’, as well as counting.
  • Crazy 8’s- Again, good for matching numbers. Crazy 8’s also introduce decision making strategies for the child. For example, when the child plays a ‘8’ to change the color, help (ie, talk through, ask questions) him or her decide which would be the best color to call out.

Other

  • Sharks and Goldfish. Start with a pile of Goldfish. Each of you roll a die. Whoever gets the highest number gets to eat one goldfish (as a shark). What if you rolled same number? Move a goldfish from the pile and each of you roll again to see who wins to eat two fish. Once the child is comfortable with ‘more’ and ‘less’, change the rules slightly. The winner (shark) gets to eat the difference between the numbers rolled on the dice. Now you have just introduced the concept of subtraction!

  • Dominoes– Again no numbers are used, so concepts of ‘more’ and ‘less’, matching, as well as counting are used.

Commercial

  • Chutes and Ladders – Great way to introduce counting.

  • Zingo (from ThinkFun)– Bingo game where kids are just matching the numerals with the number of shapes (trucks, fish, stars, etc) on their bingo board.

  • Addition Blocks (mobile/desktop app)– Not just a shameless plug, but really a good tool to introduce the concept of addition, recognizing numbers, and developing number sense.

  • Bugs and Buttons, Bugs and Numbers (mobile/desktop app)– Great graphics, lots of varied types of math and number games.

All of these ideas are just preparing your preschooler to be comfortable (and have fun!) with numbers and introducing math ideas of more, less, addition, and subtraction. All of these games can be played for 5 minutes or 15 minutes.

Not only that, (but more importantly) you are spending time with your child and interacting with them. You have an opportunity to teach about being competitive, yet, being a good sport.

 

In the comments, share what number/math games you play with your pre-schooler!