SumDog!

I heard about SumDog on Twitter last year.  I let students try, and they liked it a lot.  Then this year I started using it again with my class. In fact, many fourth and fifth grade students at my school use it. SumDog is an engaging way to practice math skills as students get to play engaging, short games against their peers. It's multicultural and appeals to boys and girls.

In the past month, students started to ask me to subscribe so they could play more games.  I also noted that when I subscribed, I could get reports about students' progress and work.  Parents kindly donated $3 per child and I subscribed this week.  To celebrate our subscription, we joined a national math contest which started today and ends on 3/14. As students played games they noticed their points and contest standing moving up.  They became very excited, so excited that we went to the fifth grade classes and asked them to join the contest too so our school could continue to score strong.

The class was a buzz of activity as students answered math questions after math question--definitely an engaging way to practice math skill--a way that levels to your just right challenge level.

Hence, I recommend SumDog, a new, engaging tool for math practice.  If you use it or try it, let me know what you think.

Also if you use or know of another tool that totally engages your students and develops academic achievement, let me know.  Engagement and growth--that's what I'm looking for.