I was very excited to find this Web 2.0 site. The internet has lots of educational games, but sometimes kids get bored playing the same ones over and over so I like to find different ones as much as possible. The people at the e-Learning for Kids site have met two of my requirements. It is pleasing to look at and play, and it is free. Since my school budget never goes far enough, free is very important.
I also like how the games are separated by subject and age level. There are games for children ages 4-12 as well as information for parents and teachers. The subjects include science, language arts, English language, math, health & life skills, and computer skills. The topics are relevant to the things that students should be able to do at each age level. The games are clear and easy to play. They are not too simple nor too difficult. They are easy to navigate and check to make sure that you didn't accidentally choose to quit the game. Additionally, it is available in 5 languages if you have a need for a different one.
In my classroom, I would differentiate the activities based upon need. For example, in the language arts courses, I could place my Tier III children on Learning Letters because they need to work on recognizing the alphabet. My Tier II children could work with the Word Recognition game to practice short and long vowel sounds. My Tier I students are pretty advanced this year so I could let them go to Putting Words Together first. When they get proficient at that game, I could move them up to Pronouns or Similar & Opposite Words.
In math, we have the option of reviewing counting, sorting and classifying or money. I would probably introduce these games as a form of review after I knew the students were fairly proficient.
