Maggie's Learning Adventures online activity is broken down into four content areas: grammar, math, Spanish, and Science. Each game focuses on different skills and can be played multiple times.

Students will:

1. Use Web technology to practice math, science, Spanish, and grammar skills
2. Build on math skills to higher levels
3. Improve on grammar skills within different skill sets
4. Use technology tools to make connections between English and Spanish grammar and vocabulary
5. Track progress on different skill sets
6. Identify scientific structures

Directions

Grammar

Clean Up Your Grammar

Goals: Your students can practice with noun / verb identification by "cleaning up the trash on the beach!" Level One contains easier words and Level Two is made up of more challenging vocabulary. This game is also good for reading and vocabulary development.

Classroom Use: Hand students the Progress Chart (PDF) to track their progress. After playing this game, motivate your students to practice their grammar skills by using their interests. They can make posters showing nouns and verbs in different ways. For example, a child who loves basketball might draw a basketball court. He could draw several balls all containing nouns by one basket and more balls containing verbs by the other basket.

Edit Dan's Copy

Goals: Level One of this game gives your students practice in finding and fixing errors in capitalization and final punctuation. More advanced learners can practice correcting run-on sentences, quotation marks, and apostrophes. This game also provides excellent keyboarding practice.

Classroom Use: Assign students individually or in pairs to retype these incorrect sentences. Then have them write their own copy of a news story. They could even write one based on one of the themes in the Maggie cartoons: over-fishing and coral reef problems, "A Great Catch;" air pollution, "You Must Be Choking;" endangered animals, poaching in Africa, "Herd of Elephants? Parts 1 and 2;" and invasive species, "Rushin' River."

Short Circuit

Goals: Help your students to learn more about prefixes and suffixes and their meanings. If your state's standardized tests include vocabulary, then your students will benefit from the 4 levels in this game. When a word like transpacific appears, your students will have the knowledge to define it!

Classroom Use: Hand students the Progress Chart (PDF) to track their progress. After playing the game several times, ask children to start a log of prefixes and suffixes with their meanings. When the logs have several entries, pair students to quiz each other. To appeal to the many multiple intelligences you find in your classroom, have children choose a prefix or suffix and create a poster illustrating its meaning.

Fish 'Em Up!

Goals: This version of Fish 'Em Up is great for fun spelling practice. When playing this game students will spot when it is necessary to add es to a word and when adding s is the acceptable spelling choice.

Fish "Em Up 2: Now I'm Hooked gives needed practice with another inflectional ending objective - when to double a consonant or drop a y before adding the ending. These games give children needed practice in making these syllable juncture decisions.

Classroom Use: These games integrate with the spelling/phonics program, Word Study. Hand students the Progress Chart (PDF) to track their progress. After presenting the appropriate rules and pencil and paper activities, send your children to the classroom computer to practice these skills. You can even encourage students to make their own data bank of words for these games. Have them design other possible interactive games based on new spelling principles you may be studying.

Math

Dude's Dilemma

Goals: This game gives your students practice in the four calculation areas, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, along with mixed practice. They will love rescuing Maggie's dog, Dude, from a rooftop. Even older children love to watch the helicopter come closer and closer to Dude as they correctly answer the math problems. Within each area of play there are 3 levels: Easier, Harder, and Extreme.

Classroom Use: As with many of Maggie's games, the several levels offered allow you to differentiate for instruction. Students needing review can be assigned to practice at one level, while those needing a challenge can be assigned a higher level. Because all students are playing the same game, they can still share the experience of rescuing Dude!

Hand students the Progress Chart (PDF) to track their progress.

Around the World in 80 Seconds

Goals: This game allows for practice in the four calculation areas, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, along with mixed practice. Within each area of play there are 2 levels: Easier and Harder. In this game, speed is emphasized. Your children will get essential calculation practice while building speed. The bonus is that children also develop a greater understanding of geography!

Classroom Use: A good way to use this game is to have children keep a Progress Chart (PDF) of each game's time. This way, children are working toward their personal best. They have a visual record of progress which is motivating. You also have a chart to share with parents detailing a child's abilities.

Science

Science Labeling

Goals: Does your science curriculum include one of these topics: layers of the Earth, structure of a flower, anatomy of a fish, respiratory system, or layers of the atmosphere? If so, you'll want your class to play this game that helps them learn the specific labeling of these diagrams. Even if you are not currently studying one of these areas, this game will help your students to improve their memories. The game shows players the diagram and gives them a time limit in which to memorize the correct labeling. The student must then use their knowledge to play the game. It's a great way to encourage efficient study skills.

Classroom Use: Hand students the Progress Chart (PDF) to track their progress. After playing this game, ask students to write their own quiz about one of the structures. You can even assign your students to make their own diagrams of a topic of interest related to your current science unit.

Spanish

Spanish-English Cycle Race

Goals: Your budding Spanish speakers will have a chance to practice new vocabulary on 2 levels. The Easy Level features many color and number words, the Advanced Level reinforces other vocabulary needed by the beginning Spanish speaker.

Classroom Use: This game is helpful in foreign language classrooms to help children practice basic Spanish vocabulary. It is also helpful for ESL students as they can practice English vocabulary. Hand students the Progress Chart (PDF) to track their progress. Follow up by giving your students a long piece of bulletin board paper. Have them create their own bike race by writing Spanish (or English) words on a bike path. Draw a bike with a basket and duplicate. Children can cut these out and write the meanings of the words in the bike basket. Glue them next to the correct word on the bike path. Hang in a long hallway!

Limpia tu gramática - See Clean Up Your Grammar under Grammar

El Dilema de Dude - See Dude's Dilemma under Grammar

Alredor del Mundo en 80 Segundos - See Around the World in 80 Seconds under Grammar

Diagramando a la Ciencia - See Science Diagram under Science

Puzzle de Contarseña

Goals: This game offers two levels of vocabulary for the Spanish learner. Unlike the Spanish/English Bike game students need to guess consonants and vowels to create a Spanish word.

Classroom Use: This game is helpful in foreign language classrooms to help children practice and learn new Spanish vocabulary words. The design of the game allows students to quickly recognize many of the frequently used consonants and vowels of the Spanish language as they unlock each lock. They will quickly learning spelling patterns too. Two levels are offered providing a range of Spanish words for the new and advanced Spanish speaker. Have your students design their own password puzzler using index cards. Hand students the Progress Chart (PDF) to track their progress. Encourage them to "trick" their opponent with some of the new words they learned playing Password Puzzler in Spanish.

Supporting All Learners

Maggie's Earth Adventures helps students meet the following standards:

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS):

• Unifying concepts and processes in Science: Systems, order, and organization. Understands basic features of the Earth (1). Knows the general structure and functions of cells in organisms (6)

National Math Education Standards:

• Uses a variety of strategies in the problem-solving process (1) Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of numbers (2) Uses basic and advanced procedures while performing the process of computation (3)

International Reading Association (IRA) & National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Standards:

• Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

National Standards for Foreign Language Education:

• COMMUNICATION
  Communicate in Languages Other Than English
  Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics
• CONNECTIONS
  Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information
  Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language
• COMPARISONS
  Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture
  Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own

Technology Foundation Standards for Students:

• Use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity Students use technology resources for solving problems and making informed decisions.

Lesson Extensions

For Clean Up Your Grammar:

For more language activities, visit http://www.missmaggie.org/. Click on the blue Weekly Activity bar on the homepage for information on how to sign up for our weekly activities and learn how to get our extensive archive of past packets. Many of these classroom-ready activities feature language themes.

For Edit Dan's Copy:

For more writing practice, Maggie's Postcard section is the perfect place to visit. There you will find pictures of African art, African wildlife, Ireland and much more. Students can "snap" their own photograph using several pictures we provide. They can use this photo as a postcard and write different nonfiction paragraphs about it using the graphic organizers that are provided. Post them on a bulletin board. You may even want to tack up a large map and arrange the postcards on the correct spots.

For Short Circuit:

Interested in helping your students recognize and understand prefixes and suffixes in context? You can download and print several nonfiction articles found in The Teachers' Lounge at http://www.missmaggie.org/. Just find the unit to accompany "You Must Be Choking." Scroll down to the booklet, A Breath of Fresh Air. There are many word lists and lessons on the prefixes and suffixes contained in these articles. Not only will your students gain valuable practice with understanding these words in context, but they will learn about the many things people and companies are doing to prevent air pollution.

For Fish 'Em Up!:

Maggie's Earth Adventures offers many activities based on Word Study principles. The interactive game, Password Puzzler, found in the Games section at http://www.missmaggie.org/, uses words from Within Word in Level 1. Words from Syllable Juncture are featured in Level 2.

For Dude's Dilemma:

In The Teachers' Lounge section under the unit, "Herd of Elephants, Part 2" you will find some of the many math activities we have available for classroom use. Your pre-multiplication students will benefit from completing the activities found here. Several problem solving "stories" lay the foundation for higher level math skills while engaging them with an African theme. Amaze your higher level students with the many properties of Fibonacci numbers. These activities can be downloaded, printed, and duplicated. Perhaps you will want to use activities such as these for extension assignments or center work.

For Around the World in 80 Seconds:

There are many more interactive math games found embedded in the cartoon section at http://www.missmaggie.org/. Your primary children may enjoy counting fish and then stating the third of the total number of fish. This interactive activity can be found in the cartoon, "A Great Catch." Intermediate students will love helping the monkey jump from rock to rock in the carton, "Herd of Elephants? Part I".

For Science Labeling:

Maggie's Earth Adventures offers many interactive science activities. When you click on Cartoons, choose a unit pack, and you will see several choices. In "Herd of Elephants," one of these interactive devices is a microscope. Your students use a dichotomous key to identify tree leaves or insects/spiders. In "You Must Be Choking," students can view the carbon cycle or play a game involving layers of the atmosphere.

For Spanish-English Cycle Race:

Most of Maggie's Earth Adventures is available in both English and Spanish. Spanish and ESL teachers can have children change the language toggler to Spanish. Maggie and her friends will speak in Spanish in the cartoons, activities will appear in Spanish, and you can even receive our Weekly Activity Packets in Spanish. Be sure to check out this exciting feature!

For Puzzle de Contarseña:

The sister game of Password Puzzler in Spanish is Password Puzzler in English. Use this in your English learning classroom for new vocabulary and in elementary classrooms for practice in spelling.