ABCya! Website Review
Image credit www.abcya.com
ABCya!
ABCya.com, L.L.C.
www.abcya.com
Grades K-5
Language Arts, Math, Miscellaneous
DESCRIPTION: The purpose of abcya.com, as purported by the site, is to engage children in free educational games and activities to facilitate and review learning on the web. Upon entering the site, users will see various colored balloons that are labeled by grade K-5. In addition, there is an icon labeled as a parent & teachers section. Since I teach 4th grade, I concentrated on this grade level and found that after clicking on the grade 4 balloon, the site is further organized into sections under which are various games to play:
· Letters (topics/areas covered include parts of speech, vocabulary, making words, spelling, grammar, parts of a friendly letter), 14 games total
· Numbers (topics/areas covered include magnitude, fractions, decimals, place value, operations, basic facts, money, ratio & proportion, time, number lines, puzzles (ex. sudoku), 32 games total
· More (includes art, typing & keyboarding skills, geography, computer technology, biology, memory, measurement, science, nutrition/health, logic & puzzles), 32 games total
· Holiday (includes Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day), 13 games total
· Just for Fun (random, for entertainment purposes {not really educational}, would need to be limited/restricted by classroom teacher/parents), 15 games total
Once a game is chosen, brief written directions appear at the top that include the objective and how to play/win, as well as suggested grade levels that the game is appropriate for. The suggested grade levels is a nice feature for parents/families at home who may be unsure of grade level expectations for their child and also a good guideline to help students choose age and skill-appropriate games. The games vary in their focus and how they are played, although most seem to only use a few main keys on the keyboard such as the arrow keys, the space bar, and the enter button. Overall, the games are on the shorter side and could be played in around 5-10 minutes while still meeting their purpose, although many games have various levels or rounds and/or the option to keep playing if longer play is desired. After a level or game is finished, a score is given and furthermore, many games provide a review of question vs. student answers, a breakdown of correct vs. incorrect answers, an accuracy score, and the rate. Some games also included bonus rounds in between levels just for fun, which can be motivating and provide a short break for players.
The website homepage has a small box at the top left that is entitled, “News & Announcements”, and is currently rotating a few messages advertising new games for practicing place value and keyboarding games, a new Android app, and an announcement that abcya.com has been chosen to be included in the American Library Association’s great websites for kids. The homepage also includes a couple sections that recommend other educational games and iPod, iPad, and iPhone apps for various grade levels. It is unclear how often, or if at all, these featured recommendations change and/or are updated. Because the website is free, a couple advertisements are visible on pages throughout the website but these are appropriate for the average age and purpose of users and do not distract from the main content.
ACCURACY OF CONTENT: Overall, the website’s intention to provide educational games and activities to facilitate student learning on the web seems to be met. The website’s games have been created and/or approved by certified teachers and not by some independent, outside, for-profit agency or organization, which is reassuring. The homepage of the website states that it is the “Leader in Educational Computer Games for Kids” and boasts that is has been recommended by popular organizations and companies such as Apple, The New York Times, Disney Family Fun Magazine, Fox News and most recently, as aforementioned, chosen by the American Library Association as a recommended kids’ website. After playing many of the games, I can conclude that they are indeed very fun and engaging and definitely help kids to practice/review taught skills. Being an elementary teacher, I have become familiar with many different websites that supposedly target student learning (ex. coolmath.com) despite the fact that the actual learning in many of the included games and activities seems to often be small or nonexistent. In fact, a student just informed me the other day that some of these sites even offer the option to “play the games without the math”, which clearly would not serve our educational purposes. A definite advantage of ABCya! is that it is unquestionably intended to facilitate student learning. In my personal experience, I noticed that the 4th grade number category skills match up particularly well with West Hartford’s 4th grade math curriculum and objectives.
Although the website covers a wide range of subject areas, topics, and skills, it is not as comprehensive as I would prefer. For example, its “Letters” section is limited mainly to review and practice of isolated skills and does not coincide with a whole language program that includes equal parts reading, writing, speaking and listening. Some areas not covered that students often need work in are good reader strategies, reading comprehension, listening, oral fluency, speaking, good writer techniques, and process writing.
One feature that is both a pro and a con is that there is an option for a computer voice to read game directions, but this option is only available for games deemed appropriate for K-1. Since after the suggested 1st grade level no option is found, this is a potential issue for younger students, struggling readers, and children with learning disabilities who may benefit from having a reader.
A notable gap is that under the “Holiday” section, only a couple religions/cultures are represented. For example, the religious holidays are limited to Christmas, Easter, and Hanukkah, which does not increase cultural awareness or teach kids to embrace diversity. I would add games to this section that more accurately reflect our multicultural, multi-ethnic society.
Yet another limitation of the website is that it is only written in the English language with no other language option, so it will probably not be accessible for many children who are in other countries, speak different primary languages, or for ELL/ESOL students. I would add a language or translator option to make it more accessible for more users.
TECHNICAL QUALITY: Overall, this website is easy to access. Its clear, simple organization by first grade and then subject area of interest makes the website very user-friendly and easy to access. It is free for all users, does not require much if any downloading (although there are recommendations for apps included on the site if further exploration is desired), and also does not require any log-in or password information that may deter kids/families who often lose username/password information, forget, etc. The website does recommend keeping web browser software and Adobe Flash Player software up to date. (Games require the free Adobe Flash player version.) Therefore, access to games and activities is quick, easy, and does not require much prior computer experience. Kids, even younger ones, can be pretty independent in using this website. I did not encounter any technical difficulties or problems in my use of the site, although I was pleased to see a separate page with a feedback form for reporting issues as well as a section for comments/suggestions for improvement. This same page even includes an option to receive a response email from the website creator/manager, which I believe adds a personal touch and indicates that the creator is interested in continual improvement of the site to make it the best it can be.
Overall, the website is aesthetically pleasing. It begins with a colorful, neat, easy to read homepage and each of its subsequent pages maintains these same qualities. Especially noteworthy is that the pages are not at all confusing or stimulus-overload like some other kids’ sites I have come across (ex. www.cool-math.com), where too many bright colors and too much information on one page combine to make for a distracting appearance that could easily overwhelm certain children. Games are neatly organized under their appropriate section with a catchy title and fun graphic of the game, which is engaging and gets kids interested in checking each out. Animation is smooth. Different background music plays for each game, which is appealing and does not distract or take away from the game itself. The design features are mainly decorations to appeal to kids that may increase their engagement. As discussed previously, the website is very simply organized and very easy to navigate. All users need to do to immerse themselves in a game is click on their desired grade level, scroll to find the desired subject area or section, and click on a game of interest. One major plus is that the site contains no nested links like so many other of the websites I explored before that make it very confusing and difficult to find what you are looking for.
USE OF TECHNOLOGY: Essentially, this website is a resource for practicing/reviewing previously taught skills. It provides little to no instruction in the various topic areas/skills covered and so is not really a site in which kids can learn new things. Given that technology in schools is best used and most appropriate for extending and enriching learning that is not otherwise possible within the walls of the classroom, I would have to say that the review and practice of learning could be achieved using other formats (i.e. worksheets, center activities, etc.) However, to the site’s credit, the games are very fun to play and the format is much more engaging than completing a paper-and-pencil worksheet. I know my students are way more motivated to do any work if it involves being able to 1. Use the computer, and 2. Do it in a game format, so these are advantages to using this website for that purpose. This website would not necessarily add anything new to students’ educational experience but would serve to solidify previous learning and increase students’ comfort level and confidence with those same concepts/skills.
ROLE OF STUDENTS: Using this website requires that students follow a pretty linear format. Although there is some choice involved in area of interest and specific game within that area, overall the design is limiting and does not allow for much student control or empowerment. An example of the site’s constraints is that many games rely on time, which can stress anxious students and may not be the best method for kids who typically need more time to do work. I can think of children in each different class I have had who do not work well under pressure, have time and a half accommodations, and who produce great quality work given some extra time to complete it. Timed games would inhibit these students from receiving the scores they are capable of and may negatively affect their self-image. Furthermore, the only differentiation available would be playing games suggested for grade levels above or beyond one’s current grade. For the most part, the website does not really help kids to value their own thinking and learning processes.
In terms of promoting student interaction, this website is mostly best for single student, independent use. Most games are for one player only, although some do have option to play against other live players or computer players (ex. Spelling Bees). To increase interaction, kids could play the same game and compare scores for some healthy competition if appropriate.
Each game does give a score upon completion, which is motivating. Kids could use these scores to self-check their performance and could even track their long-term progress if desired by graphing their top scores in one game over time (a great math connection and a possible means for assessment!)
ROLE OF TEACHER: The role of the teacher in implementing use of this website in the classroom is rather small. To introduce it to my class, I would pull it up on my Smartboard and click/scroll through the grade level, subject area, and game options, playing a round or two of a few games along the way to get students interested. After introducing the website and posting the address somewhere clearly visible in the classroom, a teacher’s main role would probably be to suggest games based on current curriculum and lesson objectives and to encourage students to explore many options and not just a few “favorites”. Teachers could also assign certain games to be played for a suggested length of time as a homework assignment.
Unfortunately, there is only one real option for teachers to manage/track student performances and progress, which is to have students print the results for applicable games and give to teacher. To me, this is a big drawback, especially in a time in education when we are trying to use data to drive our instruction as much as possible. A suggestion for the website creator is to add the option to email results to the teacher or to create a log-in system to manage/save class and individual performance data.
CLASSROOM USAGE: In my opinion, the best use of this website in the classroom would be to have it as a center activity in which students, during language arts or math, can choose from teacher-selected games to play that provide independent practice while the teacher meets with instructional groups or confers with individual students. For example, after teaching a whole-class mini-lesson on parts of speech in reading (i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.), student groups can rotate from playing the website games targeted at parts of speech, to meeting in their guided reading group with the teacher, to working with a partner to identify parts of speech in the class anchor story, to writing a paragraph using and identifying at least 3 of each part of speech type. Another great option would be to introduce students’ families to this website for home review and practice. Families are always asking me what students can do at home for additional support and extra practice that does not take a lot of time out of parents’ busy schedules, so this site would be a great fit. Both the school and the home option require very little adult guidance and provide an engaging format for students to independently practice learned skills. A last way that this website could best be used in the classroom is as a reward. My students always want to earn free computer time to play games on websites, so this might be something they would want to work for. Teachers must keep in mind that this website includes games suggested only through grade 5, so middle school and high school educators would not find this site useful.
One thing to consider that may be a possible negative is the question do the site’s games change ever? Regularly? Frequently? Rarely? If the games remain always or mostly the same, kids may lose interest, become bored, or even exhaust the site and abandon it.
CRITICAL SUMMARY: This website has both pros and cons in terms of its overall quality and usefulness. Pros include the aesthetically pleasing website design, easy access, simple organization and navigation, variety of subject area/skills offered, opportunity for review and practice of age-appropriate content, teaching and familiarizing of basic keyboarding skills, ability to be used mostly independently by students, and high level of fun and engagement in the educational game format. Major cons include somewhat limited audience (geared toward K-5, English-speaking, no learning disability students), some bias in ethnicity, religion, and cultural-awareness, little student control, little teacher control, limited options for classroom usage, and lack of a system for tracking performance/progress over time. An unknown but important factor is how often the website’s content changes to keep users interested and to keep up with increased and evolving curriculur demands.
OVERALL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10): 6
EXPLANATION OF RATING: I give this website a 6 out of a possible 10 points because for what the site is intended for (to facilitate and review student learning in a simple yet engaging way on the web), it does it pretty well. As an independent school learning center or reward or as a home practice method, this website absolutely gets the job done while allowing students to have fun at the same time. However, that being said, I would prefer that the website make better use of technology by being used as more of an extension of learning that goes beyond the classroom walls and gives students learning opportunities they may not otherwise get to have. There is a variety of subject areas and topics, but these are mostly limited to skill practice. I also think there needs to be some option for teachers to track student performance/progress so the site can be used as a type of informal, formative assessment and means of monitoring understanding on a daily basis. I will introduce my students to this website as a learning center, reward, or home practice choice but will also be looking for more ways to enrich my students’ educational experience with more high-quality, creative technology.
ABCya.com, L.L.C.
www.abcya.com
Grades K-5
Language Arts, Math, Miscellaneous
DESCRIPTION: The purpose of abcya.com, as purported by the site, is to engage children in free educational games and activities to facilitate and review learning on the web. Upon entering the site, users will see various colored balloons that are labeled by grade K-5. In addition, there is an icon labeled as a parent & teachers section. Since I teach 4th grade, I concentrated on this grade level and found that after clicking on the grade 4 balloon, the site is further organized into sections under which are various games to play:
· Letters (topics/areas covered include parts of speech, vocabulary, making words, spelling, grammar, parts of a friendly letter), 14 games total
· Numbers (topics/areas covered include magnitude, fractions, decimals, place value, operations, basic facts, money, ratio & proportion, time, number lines, puzzles (ex. sudoku), 32 games total
· More (includes art, typing & keyboarding skills, geography, computer technology, biology, memory, measurement, science, nutrition/health, logic & puzzles), 32 games total
· Holiday (includes Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day), 13 games total
· Just for Fun (random, for entertainment purposes {not really educational}, would need to be limited/restricted by classroom teacher/parents), 15 games total
Once a game is chosen, brief written directions appear at the top that include the objective and how to play/win, as well as suggested grade levels that the game is appropriate for. The suggested grade levels is a nice feature for parents/families at home who may be unsure of grade level expectations for their child and also a good guideline to help students choose age and skill-appropriate games. The games vary in their focus and how they are played, although most seem to only use a few main keys on the keyboard such as the arrow keys, the space bar, and the enter button. Overall, the games are on the shorter side and could be played in around 5-10 minutes while still meeting their purpose, although many games have various levels or rounds and/or the option to keep playing if longer play is desired. After a level or game is finished, a score is given and furthermore, many games provide a review of question vs. student answers, a breakdown of correct vs. incorrect answers, an accuracy score, and the rate. Some games also included bonus rounds in between levels just for fun, which can be motivating and provide a short break for players.
The website homepage has a small box at the top left that is entitled, “News & Announcements”, and is currently rotating a few messages advertising new games for practicing place value and keyboarding games, a new Android app, and an announcement that abcya.com has been chosen to be included in the American Library Association’s great websites for kids. The homepage also includes a couple sections that recommend other educational games and iPod, iPad, and iPhone apps for various grade levels. It is unclear how often, or if at all, these featured recommendations change and/or are updated. Because the website is free, a couple advertisements are visible on pages throughout the website but these are appropriate for the average age and purpose of users and do not distract from the main content.
ACCURACY OF CONTENT: Overall, the website’s intention to provide educational games and activities to facilitate student learning on the web seems to be met. The website’s games have been created and/or approved by certified teachers and not by some independent, outside, for-profit agency or organization, which is reassuring. The homepage of the website states that it is the “Leader in Educational Computer Games for Kids” and boasts that is has been recommended by popular organizations and companies such as Apple, The New York Times, Disney Family Fun Magazine, Fox News and most recently, as aforementioned, chosen by the American Library Association as a recommended kids’ website. After playing many of the games, I can conclude that they are indeed very fun and engaging and definitely help kids to practice/review taught skills. Being an elementary teacher, I have become familiar with many different websites that supposedly target student learning (ex. coolmath.com) despite the fact that the actual learning in many of the included games and activities seems to often be small or nonexistent. In fact, a student just informed me the other day that some of these sites even offer the option to “play the games without the math”, which clearly would not serve our educational purposes. A definite advantage of ABCya! is that it is unquestionably intended to facilitate student learning. In my personal experience, I noticed that the 4th grade number category skills match up particularly well with West Hartford’s 4th grade math curriculum and objectives.
Although the website covers a wide range of subject areas, topics, and skills, it is not as comprehensive as I would prefer. For example, its “Letters” section is limited mainly to review and practice of isolated skills and does not coincide with a whole language program that includes equal parts reading, writing, speaking and listening. Some areas not covered that students often need work in are good reader strategies, reading comprehension, listening, oral fluency, speaking, good writer techniques, and process writing.
One feature that is both a pro and a con is that there is an option for a computer voice to read game directions, but this option is only available for games deemed appropriate for K-1. Since after the suggested 1st grade level no option is found, this is a potential issue for younger students, struggling readers, and children with learning disabilities who may benefit from having a reader.
A notable gap is that under the “Holiday” section, only a couple religions/cultures are represented. For example, the religious holidays are limited to Christmas, Easter, and Hanukkah, which does not increase cultural awareness or teach kids to embrace diversity. I would add games to this section that more accurately reflect our multicultural, multi-ethnic society.
Yet another limitation of the website is that it is only written in the English language with no other language option, so it will probably not be accessible for many children who are in other countries, speak different primary languages, or for ELL/ESOL students. I would add a language or translator option to make it more accessible for more users.
TECHNICAL QUALITY: Overall, this website is easy to access. Its clear, simple organization by first grade and then subject area of interest makes the website very user-friendly and easy to access. It is free for all users, does not require much if any downloading (although there are recommendations for apps included on the site if further exploration is desired), and also does not require any log-in or password information that may deter kids/families who often lose username/password information, forget, etc. The website does recommend keeping web browser software and Adobe Flash Player software up to date. (Games require the free Adobe Flash player version.) Therefore, access to games and activities is quick, easy, and does not require much prior computer experience. Kids, even younger ones, can be pretty independent in using this website. I did not encounter any technical difficulties or problems in my use of the site, although I was pleased to see a separate page with a feedback form for reporting issues as well as a section for comments/suggestions for improvement. This same page even includes an option to receive a response email from the website creator/manager, which I believe adds a personal touch and indicates that the creator is interested in continual improvement of the site to make it the best it can be.
Overall, the website is aesthetically pleasing. It begins with a colorful, neat, easy to read homepage and each of its subsequent pages maintains these same qualities. Especially noteworthy is that the pages are not at all confusing or stimulus-overload like some other kids’ sites I have come across (ex. www.cool-math.com), where too many bright colors and too much information on one page combine to make for a distracting appearance that could easily overwhelm certain children. Games are neatly organized under their appropriate section with a catchy title and fun graphic of the game, which is engaging and gets kids interested in checking each out. Animation is smooth. Different background music plays for each game, which is appealing and does not distract or take away from the game itself. The design features are mainly decorations to appeal to kids that may increase their engagement. As discussed previously, the website is very simply organized and very easy to navigate. All users need to do to immerse themselves in a game is click on their desired grade level, scroll to find the desired subject area or section, and click on a game of interest. One major plus is that the site contains no nested links like so many other of the websites I explored before that make it very confusing and difficult to find what you are looking for.
USE OF TECHNOLOGY: Essentially, this website is a resource for practicing/reviewing previously taught skills. It provides little to no instruction in the various topic areas/skills covered and so is not really a site in which kids can learn new things. Given that technology in schools is best used and most appropriate for extending and enriching learning that is not otherwise possible within the walls of the classroom, I would have to say that the review and practice of learning could be achieved using other formats (i.e. worksheets, center activities, etc.) However, to the site’s credit, the games are very fun to play and the format is much more engaging than completing a paper-and-pencil worksheet. I know my students are way more motivated to do any work if it involves being able to 1. Use the computer, and 2. Do it in a game format, so these are advantages to using this website for that purpose. This website would not necessarily add anything new to students’ educational experience but would serve to solidify previous learning and increase students’ comfort level and confidence with those same concepts/skills.
ROLE OF STUDENTS: Using this website requires that students follow a pretty linear format. Although there is some choice involved in area of interest and specific game within that area, overall the design is limiting and does not allow for much student control or empowerment. An example of the site’s constraints is that many games rely on time, which can stress anxious students and may not be the best method for kids who typically need more time to do work. I can think of children in each different class I have had who do not work well under pressure, have time and a half accommodations, and who produce great quality work given some extra time to complete it. Timed games would inhibit these students from receiving the scores they are capable of and may negatively affect their self-image. Furthermore, the only differentiation available would be playing games suggested for grade levels above or beyond one’s current grade. For the most part, the website does not really help kids to value their own thinking and learning processes.
In terms of promoting student interaction, this website is mostly best for single student, independent use. Most games are for one player only, although some do have option to play against other live players or computer players (ex. Spelling Bees). To increase interaction, kids could play the same game and compare scores for some healthy competition if appropriate.
Each game does give a score upon completion, which is motivating. Kids could use these scores to self-check their performance and could even track their long-term progress if desired by graphing their top scores in one game over time (a great math connection and a possible means for assessment!)
ROLE OF TEACHER: The role of the teacher in implementing use of this website in the classroom is rather small. To introduce it to my class, I would pull it up on my Smartboard and click/scroll through the grade level, subject area, and game options, playing a round or two of a few games along the way to get students interested. After introducing the website and posting the address somewhere clearly visible in the classroom, a teacher’s main role would probably be to suggest games based on current curriculum and lesson objectives and to encourage students to explore many options and not just a few “favorites”. Teachers could also assign certain games to be played for a suggested length of time as a homework assignment.
Unfortunately, there is only one real option for teachers to manage/track student performances and progress, which is to have students print the results for applicable games and give to teacher. To me, this is a big drawback, especially in a time in education when we are trying to use data to drive our instruction as much as possible. A suggestion for the website creator is to add the option to email results to the teacher or to create a log-in system to manage/save class and individual performance data.
CLASSROOM USAGE: In my opinion, the best use of this website in the classroom would be to have it as a center activity in which students, during language arts or math, can choose from teacher-selected games to play that provide independent practice while the teacher meets with instructional groups or confers with individual students. For example, after teaching a whole-class mini-lesson on parts of speech in reading (i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.), student groups can rotate from playing the website games targeted at parts of speech, to meeting in their guided reading group with the teacher, to working with a partner to identify parts of speech in the class anchor story, to writing a paragraph using and identifying at least 3 of each part of speech type. Another great option would be to introduce students’ families to this website for home review and practice. Families are always asking me what students can do at home for additional support and extra practice that does not take a lot of time out of parents’ busy schedules, so this site would be a great fit. Both the school and the home option require very little adult guidance and provide an engaging format for students to independently practice learned skills. A last way that this website could best be used in the classroom is as a reward. My students always want to earn free computer time to play games on websites, so this might be something they would want to work for. Teachers must keep in mind that this website includes games suggested only through grade 5, so middle school and high school educators would not find this site useful.
One thing to consider that may be a possible negative is the question do the site’s games change ever? Regularly? Frequently? Rarely? If the games remain always or mostly the same, kids may lose interest, become bored, or even exhaust the site and abandon it.
CRITICAL SUMMARY: This website has both pros and cons in terms of its overall quality and usefulness. Pros include the aesthetically pleasing website design, easy access, simple organization and navigation, variety of subject area/skills offered, opportunity for review and practice of age-appropriate content, teaching and familiarizing of basic keyboarding skills, ability to be used mostly independently by students, and high level of fun and engagement in the educational game format. Major cons include somewhat limited audience (geared toward K-5, English-speaking, no learning disability students), some bias in ethnicity, religion, and cultural-awareness, little student control, little teacher control, limited options for classroom usage, and lack of a system for tracking performance/progress over time. An unknown but important factor is how often the website’s content changes to keep users interested and to keep up with increased and evolving curriculur demands.
OVERALL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10): 6
EXPLANATION OF RATING: I give this website a 6 out of a possible 10 points because for what the site is intended for (to facilitate and review student learning in a simple yet engaging way on the web), it does it pretty well. As an independent school learning center or reward or as a home practice method, this website absolutely gets the job done while allowing students to have fun at the same time. However, that being said, I would prefer that the website make better use of technology by being used as more of an extension of learning that goes beyond the classroom walls and gives students learning opportunities they may not otherwise get to have. There is a variety of subject areas and topics, but these are mostly limited to skill practice. I also think there needs to be some option for teachers to track student performance/progress so the site can be used as a type of informal, formative assessment and means of monitoring understanding on a daily basis. I will introduce my students to this website as a learning center, reward, or home practice choice but will also be looking for more ways to enrich my students’ educational experience with more high-quality, creative technology.