Remote Connections with Students - Hangman

In light of our current social distancing and the fact that schools are closed, my first remote learning opportunity for my students began today. For the next three days I plan to chat with my students and introduce them to a remote learning while playing Snowman online, a Flippity.net tool, with Google Meet. My goals are to connect with my students, have fun playing games in this stressful time, and to introduce them to video conferencing tools so they can continue to connect with family and friends during this time. 

The Game

Snowman is a game made with Flippity.net that works like hangman but instead of adding body parts to "hang," the snowman melts as the temperature goes up. Missing letters turns up the temperature. I used hangman in my blog post title as most people are familiar with this game, not Snowman.

Flippity Spelling Words "Game"

Using Google Meet with groups of 10 or less, students will take turns guessing letters to identify words and phrases using our curriculum vocabulary. I am still working on logistics and identifying how many participants should play in a given game. Give this game a try by clicking here. The words and phrases in this game are related to our classroom constitution see the post "Our FABulous Classroom Constitution," technology and computer science. Simply chose a list, select more, and finally, choose Snowman to begin. I always include an ALL list option should someone want to work using the largest list of vocabulary. This quick game lets us spend some time together to have fun and review vocabulary from our classroom and curriculum. We also get to explore Google Meet so students learn how to navigate the tool. Maybe they can use it to stay in contact with family and friends. Staying connected is so important at this time.

Set Up

3 Day Schedule

Sign up Sheet with email Address

In order to participate students must sign up on my Google Sheet with their email address so I can add them to the scheduled Google Meet. This step ensures that only my students have access to our resources. The Google Sheet is shared with all of my students in advance along with a schedule. If interested, they simply pick the date and time of choice then sign up for a slot with their email. These emails are added to a calendar event which is then shared with them. this event invite includes the Meet link for easy access. Before the event, I create a list of the student names on a piece of paper so I can keep track of the order of play. In one case, a sibling was able to play but they used one account. You will see two entries from that person. 

To play the game you have to use two separate windows. In the background window, I leave Google Meet open with the chat window active. The foreground window includes the Flippity game which I share so all the participants can view it while we play. 

Using Two Windows to Play the Game

Game Play

Once we are connected, we have a quick chat to catch up before we get familiar with the tool, learning how to turn things on and off like the microphone and camera. Using the player list, we rotate through the players taking turns to guess a letter and if they think they know it, the answer. If not, they can pass so the next player can have a turn. We continue this process until they guess correctly or snowman melts. To start another game, click the green arrow to prompt a new word. 

Reflections

The first day we played Snowman I was able to run two games. The first was a small group of 2 and the second included 5 students. In the second game, two students played together using one account. You can see this in the screen capture above.
It was great to connect with my students. We had a lot of fun! In addition to this game, we talked about playing future games with video conferencing tools like Boggle and Charades. I can't wait to do this again and I look forward to sharing more ideas in the coming days.
Some things we learned.

• Spend time before the game begins catching up with each other. This is a chance for us to socialize and have some fun!
• Play music and include a sign when people enter the Meet, i.e. "Be Right Back" or "Almost Ready."
• Make sure you understand how the microphone and video camera work.
• Don't wear or show information that identifies you personally, e.g. a school sweatshirt, team jersey, year book. etc. 
• Mute your microphone when you aren't using it or if there is a lot of background noise. You can always turn it on when you need it.
• Enter your letter suggestion in the chat window. The moderator will have a list of names to help ensure that everyone gets a turn.
• Pay attention to the used letters. If you ask for it, it counts.

Student Testimonials

Student Testimonials

What's Next

Stay tuned to see some other games that might be of interest to you. If you want to build another game but aren't sure how, visit flippity.net for instructions or complete this form to share a list of your own and I build it for you. Games will be add it to a curated Wakelet Board for easy access. 

Take a look at some other Flippity tools that I have utilized. It is one of my favorite online tools. By thinking outside the box, I have found clever ways to use these tools beyond their initial purpose. For example, I use the name spinner in the random name generator tool to compare and contrast items or to generate a writing prompt or for improvisation activities. Think how much fun your students would have with this online.