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Thursday, July 31, 2014

A Sale and a Freebie!

We all knew it was coming...and thank goodness! It's here! The annual TPT Back to School Sale!!! Stock up now on all of your favorites. Check out my store to get my products 20% off and be sure to use the TPT code BTS14 to save an extra 10%!!! Click on the picture to take you to my store!

Here's a little freebie for you and an idea...

Do you use abcya.com in your classroom? Do your students practice typing? I am a technology teacher at the school where I teach, and my intermediate and middle school students spend at least 25% of their time in my class each week practicing typing. One game I use is SkyChase. Click here to go directly to the game. If you go to the game, you can still access abcya.com games – there’s a lot on that website, and it is very student-friendly.

Anyway, SkyChase (or Keyboarding Chase – it’s called both on the website), according to abcya.com, “is an educational multi-player racing game that allows students from anywhere in the world to race one another while practicing typing and keyboard skills!”


Sometimes, I allow my students to play just for fun. Other times, I want some formative assessment as to how my students are doing with a quick typing “assessment”. I give them typing tests at the beginning of each term, but if I need a quick score to update where they are in the semester, this is a good one to give me as estimate.


The key to “winning” the race is to type the words that pop up the fastest. The faster you type, the more your airplane moves ahead of the group. The words that pop up above the keyboard are not too hard – the one in the picture is “far”. They do get a little harder as you progress. Even if you don’t win, you still get a accuracy and rate score. That is what I have the kids record. Where do they record this, you ask? On my SkyChase Recording Sheet! What I do is tape it up on my whiteboard and once my students finish their game, they write their names on the sheet along with the accuracy and rate. I take down the sheet, hole punch it, and put it in my grades binder so I can check their WPM (words per minute) score and average them out by the end of the semester. This also shows me the students who need to spend some extra time practicing typing rather than playing other “sponge” games when they’re through with other tasks.

(I couldn't get the picture to turn upright. I'm so sorry!)


Click on the picture below to download my SkyChase recording sheet! If you have any questions, email me at teacherashley@gmail.com  or message me in the comments below. J


Now, go stock up on TPT! :)



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