Recess Can Be Fun AND Educational

Shanna Martin 0:19

Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast, where each week we talk about a free piece of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shanna Martin. I'm a middle school teacher Technology and Instructional Coach for my district

Fuzz Martin 0:32

And I'm her producer and husband Fuzz Martin and like a second grade class on a rainy day. I'll be in the studio...all recess long.

Shanna Martin 0:43

That was pretty good. Oh, thanks. That's like indoor recess to kick off the day. Hey,

Fuzz Martin 0:50

man, I just flashbacks of building with cardboard bricks. And

Shanna Martin 0:57

oh, yeah, he like would build walls and like knock them down.

Fuzz Martin 1:00

Yeah, yeah. I think

Shanna Martin 1:04

you'd sit on your desk. Okay. And you were like, toss the ball. If you spoke. You just sit in your chair. Yeah, it was the only time we're allowed to sit at our desks. So it was a big deal. Oh,

Fuzz Martin 1:17

okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty neat.

Shanna Martin 1:20

Yeah. I think indoor recess has changed.

Fuzz Martin 1:23

I'm sure it has. I'm sure it has since you know. 1980s 1980s. Yeah.

Shanna Martin 1:31

So Anywho. Speaking of recess. Yeah. So this week's episode, the website is called room recess room recess. It's from recess.com. I will not sing the song that I came up with. But I haven't made up a song about room resets.

Fuzz Martin 1:49

He has been singing the room or he says, song that she made up for about 12 minutes before this,

Shanna Martin 1:58

but we didn't record it. You'll just have to use your brains and think about my beautiful voice in a sing songy voice singing Room Recess! I've recorded. So there's that. But what's funny is I was so I was digging how this originally I dug up this website, I was looking for timers, because I was like a fun timer, you know, for different things. And I, by a standard go to my classroom on I have my smartboard I either use my gadget that's already on there, or I use classroom screen which I've talked about a million times over, because it's my go to for everything in my classroom. But I wanted to pull up some other timers that weren't just YouTube. So if you're ever looking for a timer for your classroom, whether it be a five minute timer, if you just took go pull up YouTube, you will find all kinds of timers, most people know that you can find there's like a gray goo, five minute timer where Grogu like flies around a spaceship like he's in his little ball inside the spaceship and the countdown is going like it is inside of circles for five minutes. So you can find all kinds of like fun timers for your classroom. Yeah. So just digging around finding timers and looking at things and outcomes roomrecess.com. This website only has one timer on it. It's beside the point with timers, this website boasts they have over 155 learning games for kids. And what's great is everything is free, which we absolutely love. And then it's a lot of just reinforcing basics in the classroom for elementary students. It's K-6 when it comes to ability level. And they just have all kinds of cool tools and games and activities. So if you've got indoor recess happening, right, we have a website for you. But you can use any time. Yeah, so like our second grader in our house can use this reinforcing things I had playing around with it already. And she's like, Hey, I love it. So there's there's all kinds of different things. So I'll just kind of walk you through some of the some parts of the site, there's so much it has to offer. So it's worth just kind of digging in and trying out what can work for you in your classroom. But the website itself is roomrecess.com I calm so roomrecess.com. And then they have like a featured game that's always on the top. And then they have math learning games and Reading, Word and ELA specific arts, grammar, and live labs, live science things that also goes with typing activities, which we love good typing activities. We've talked about that in previous episodes as well. And then extra things which we'll talk about. On the right hand side of the screen. They have actual categories, so you don't have to scroll through the homepage all the time. So if you find something that's cool, so you can click on math, help your math games, they have preview games, tools, resources and lesson videos for teachers. So they have extra support that you can use in your classroom, which is really helpful. And then I'm sure you'll be distracted here in a second as I talked about. They've got some math games. So they have math building skills, they have problem solving. They have skipped Counting, they have fractions, they have block,

Fuzz Martin 5:04

tank, a place value game. Let's play that while you're talking.

Shanna Martin 5:08

They have zombie paintball, which is practicing with skip counting. And some of them then do they either have a worksheet like a skip counting worksheet, they have principles on here, along with games that you can play. So there's like a principal if you want to. And then what's nice is you can choose if you have a mouse computer, or if you have a touchscreen, which I think is really helpful because some of our elementary kids are on iPads, and some of our elementary kids are on Chromebooks. So the fact that you can choose for each game, if you're on a computer or on an iPad, is very helpful when it comes to how they manipulate the screen. So that doesn't become an issue. Because sometimes it's not that the kid can't practice the skill, it's their device isn't compatible with the game. So that happens sometimes, when the games are created for one, and you're using the other, right. So math, games, fractions, multiplication, number sense, multiples, all kinds of just like great ways for kids to review. And again, there's videos and there's principles if you want them, if you go into the lab section, they have computer lab games sections. So there's all kinds of cool typing games, as well as like quick alphabet games, letter games, that type of thing. If you're looking under the Tools category, that's where the whole teacher manipulatives section is. So if you click on Tools, this is what I made up a song about, they've got geo boards, and pattern blocks, interactive clocks, and fractions and Dyson coins. So all of these then you can use as visuals on your screen, if you're using a smart board and classroom see visuals for students. Or you can have kids if they're practicing. And they need tools. Like if they need fraction strips in front of them while they're working on something, they can pull it up on their computer or their iPad. And that's where you would find the timer. So when we're looking for like the one timer I was looking for, they have that they also have like cursive practice, which is kind of cool. They've got like touchscreen cursor practice, just for like introducing kids to that. So they have all kinds of cool tools. So under the Tools section, that's where you find all kinds of Virtual Manipulatives that you can use in your classroom or kids can use as they need to, which is pretty sweet. You are so distracted by the math game or you talk What are you playing,

Fuzz Martin 7:22

I'm playing this one where you're supposed to shoot the 10 places.

Shanna Martin 7:26

I was like oh, for you.

Fuzz Martin 7:27

It's like overwhelmed, because I can't find the three

Shanna Martin 7:32

guys working on numbers and numbers. So then there's reading. And again, there's like preview games, there's lesson videos. And then there's audio stories, which I always appreciate a good audio book, where you can click on fiction or nonfiction. And then from there they can read to you. So there's like little stories that you can do for audiobooks. And also the reading section, they have like pulling out main idea. They have cause and effect, they have author's purpose. So all of these games and activities are very, like they're going to help give your students like some review. Like they're gonna feel like they're playing games, obviously. But you can still reinforce different lessons that you're teaching. And even if it's a quick five minutes at the end of class, or whether they're stuck inside because the weather is gross, right, like this week. In good old Wisconsin. It's not snowing, it's raining. So indoor recess, you would think, would we because it's snowing outside? No, no, it's because it's been raining outside. So there's just lots of different activities. And they all have they're all very visually pleasing. The one thing is there's ads, there's a lot of ads, but as far as I've seen all of the ads that have come up have not been anything that's been not kid friendly.

Fuzz Martin 8:49

Yeah. Related actually, yeah, they're like education

Shanna Martin 8:53

related. But yeah, so there's reading sections, stories, there's puzzles, and then they have like jigsaw puzzles. And you can do nine pieces or 49 piece jigsaw puzzles on your computer. And then they have a word section, which is all kinds of word games, which is different from the reading and the story section. Like there is a lot to pick from. And they also have an elearning section and in that section is all videos. So those are all video lessons like from fractions to rounding to context clues and theme to adjectives and commas. So they have all kinds of elearning just videos that you click on. And if you click a video, it kind of gives you a two or three minute walkthrough of something like this is on sells for science. So elearning is just well videos that are short, but a great review might be helpful to share with students or add to if you are doing like independent research or something like that. You can add those videos into there as quick reinforcement videos, which is pretty cool. Yeah, and then the work section is all principles. So it's printables that go with all of the online activities and games.

So I'm about to score a touchdown here and Freddie football.

And is that math? Or do you get out of bounds? Math, still nothing? Yep. Nice.

Oh, gosh, somebody's coming in through the zone.

And also, when you pick your grade level, you can choose either to pick by category that you're looking for. So if you want to do math, just review across the board, know any math games, you guys can play those, whatever you want. Or if you want to pick grade level specific, you can just pick like four and then that's fourth through sixth grade games. And so then those are organized, and they're going to be more appropriate for fourth or sixth grade when it comes to content.

See, yeah, when we were having Room Recess, when we were children, we didn't have Chromebooks or things that we could play games on. We played for. We played silent phone, or silent ball or outdoor games in my classroom. Yeah, we don't play them. No, no, no. Or we'd go, you know, clean erasers in the gym. Yeah. Maybe that was just me that had to go. Yes.

You were the one cleaning erasers? Yes. So yeah, so recess has stopped for like all grade levels. Okay, six, all content area. Nothing's gonna be overly heavy on content. But it's definitely a great way to review concepts. And if you have indoor recess, or just like support at the end of a lesson, or if you're sending kids home, or if they need a little extra, something, I think it's a great resource to have kind of in your back pocket when it comes to having support for our kids. And it's fun for all kinds of fun games and activities to play.

Yeah. Well, thanks for showing it to us.

Yeah. Now that you've only played math, I think you sort of switch categories here.

Maybe, maybe. Maybe I need some science in my life. Maybe I need some grammar.

Maybe Maybe. Well, I'm that note. Thanks for tuning in. This is Beth at Tech Tools for Teachers podcast. If you ever have any questions, you can find me on Twitter at @Smartinwi. And if you want to get more information on the links to the technology discuss this episode, you can visit smartinwi.com. If you'd like to support the show, please consider buying me a coffee or to visit buy me a coffee.com/smart and wi or visit smartinwi.com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep the show going. New episodes each week. Thanks for listening, go educate and innovate.

The ideas and opinions expressed in this podcast and the smart in WI website are those of the author's Shanna Martin and not of her employer. Prior to using any of the technologies discussed on this podcast, please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described, but we sure hope they do.