The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Mark Grundel as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.
At the start of the school year, I began grouping the children into their “clans.” Since I am a bit of a Star Wars nut, the four clans in my classroom are Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, Jedi Masters, and Sith Lords. In order to build cohesion between the group members in the clans, we participated in a variety of team-building activities. Some of the activities involved academics while others involved puzzles, riddles, and physical activities.
For physical activities, I decided to take the students outside and compete in a few different challenges. Students worked cooperatively with their clans to complete physical assignments, such as relay races, ball tosses, and group juggles. These activities helped build unity among the students in their clans. To this day, I have not changed up the clans and students continue to enjoy working in them.
The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Dan Koch as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.
Classcraft has transformed how students view the classroom. I think the power of it is that I’m on the same playing field as they are when it comes to random events — even though I’m the Gamemaster, I can be afflicted with the same turn of events as the class! That really creates a sense of comradery between myself and the students.
The fact that I can be comfortable enough to dance the “Whip n’ Dab” in front of them assures them that we are a team; we bring each other up and prevent each other from being knocked down. Classcraft has really helped foster this type of attitude in all things. While we have fun in class in the midst of our film projects (I currently teach the Intro to Technology/Audiovisual Arts class at Citrus Springs Middle School), Classcraft’s other features, such as the student selector, countdown timer, and class messaging help in everyday tasks as well.
Our greatest class memory came from Periscoping one of our random events (me dancing the “Whip & Nae Nae” with three random students), and Classcraft tweeting back at my class that they’d stopped their company meeting to watch it!
Thanks for sharing, Dan! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft.
The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Nick Baskwill as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.
We are a pretty active class as a whole. We use alternative seating, so many students are on the go all day, switching seats and making new partners and groups on the fly. We use Classcraft to help manage behavior in the room, and the kids love it. They especially love random events that get them up and moving! We have added custom ones that include GoNoodle brain breaks, stretch breaks, and fun physical challenges.
We also add Classcraft “bounties” that work as bonuses and allow students to add AP, HP, XP, or Gold Pieces. We have been expanding our list of bounties to get us moving more in the room. We have ones for designing and dancing our own brain breaks, and, as the girls in the photo are demonstrating, for some stretching and relaxing. They were searching for calmness and peace of mind (and of course, enough AP to use Favor of the Gods — a reward of listening to music for us), and so some stretching and meditating was just the way to do it.
Thanks for sharing, Nick! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft.
The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Emily Huff as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.
Except for physically moving classroom to classroom, I feel like my high school students don’t often get the chance to be active and moving in class throughout the day. I love when we get a random daily event that encourages the students to do something completely different and get out of their desks. And they love that rare opportunity, too!
Random events including physical activity always give my class period a boost of energy and excitement, and that directly carries over into learning. Some of my most dynamic classes this year, where I have had engaged students asking questions and demonstrating learning, have been class periods where we also had a physical daily event. My favorite is the five-minute yoga session at the beginning of class, but the kids like physical challenges like Wall Sit, Book Balancing, or Keeping Their Feet off the Floor.
Thanks for sharing, Emily! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft.
The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Heidi Hisrich as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.
My PLTW Biomedical Science students love to get physical in their Classcraft random events!
From building pyramids to doing wall sits, to competing in push-up contests and thumb wars, the students love to compete in physical challenges. It wakes us up and gets us ready to learn, too.
We started out with me coming up with some of the events, such as Dance or Die and Thumb Wars. Then kids started suggesting their own ideas, and I began giving out XP to those who come up with creative random events, which is how the Pyramid Challenge and Wall Sits came to be.
Noodle Battle is a favorite random event that combines vocabulary review with physical competition. We learn lots of medical terms in class, so I put the roots on a wall, and I’ll call out a meaning like “sugar.” The kids have to race to hit the root and call out a vocabulary word that uses it (like hitting the root "gluc” and calling out “glucose”).
Thanks for sharing, Heidi! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft!
Want to write a guest post on Classcraft or another topic in education? Contact stephanie@classcraft.com.
Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Laura Trauth
Read our interview with Laura about using Classcraft in college and online classes here and here.
I have been teaching full-time at my Maryland community college for almost 18 years now. Because of our role as a two-year college, the majority of our students are taking survey courses to fulfill General Education requirements and transfer. As a result, I have taught History 101 well over 100 times.
As you can imagine, I was getting burned out. I still enjoyed those occasions when I got to teach an elective class, but I otherwise dreaded the start of the new semester. I could literally recite my lectures without looking at my notes or even my PowerPoint. I have no doubt that I could do it blindfolded! And I didn’t feel inspired enough to change any of that. The path of least resistance was to down a big cup of coffee, drag myself to work, teach the way I always had, and count the days until finals.
Want to write a guest post on Classcraft or another topic in education? Contact stephanie@classcraft.com.
Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Oguz Guvenc
As my second son is getting close to the age of 2 now, I have started to appreciate even more how unique every child’s personality is. Yet, there is something that remains the same across all kids: curiosity. That single element both makes them such a joy to have around and also very challenging to deal with. Because as long as you are in “play mode” with them, everything is fine. But it is hard for a parent to be in play mode all the time.
My 5-year-old son has always been a little extra inquisitive. If he has something to satisfy his huge imagination, he is the sweetest kid. If not, he is going to transform the house into a very interesting place to be in … for him.
One thing that he has not been very interested in is when I am planning lessons at home. But one day, he caught sight of Classcraft on my screen when I was adjusting it for one of my classes, and suddenly he was hooked. He started asking me questions about classes, how the game worked, and he fired off question after question. And it went on for days. He tried to catch me using Classcraft and would watch me for long durations.
When the summer break began, I decided to use his huge interest and start a new class in Classcraft named “Homecraft.” We made a character for him, one for his little brother, one for my wife, and one for me. We also customized all powers and consequences to suit his interest and our expectations from him. We played all through summer, and the results were remarkable. He was able to complete the tasks we expected from him more easily, and he had the satisfaction of achieving his privileges himself in a fun way.
Want some holiday-themed Classcraft random event ideas? Check out our suggestions for Thanksgiving.
Need some random events to warm you up this winter? Try these ideas in your classroom!
Winter Giant Brrrrr! A stone golem appears and wrecks the classroom! Students have 1 minute to help tidy up the classroom. If everyone does a good job, the whole class gains 100 XP.
Frigid Winds A blizzard hits, and the whole room is blown asunder! Everyone gets to sit wherever they want in the classroom today, but one random, unlucky team takes -5 HP of damage.
Let’s Build a Snowman Three little snowmen, lined up in a row … Three random players must draw their best version of a snowman on the board, and the class has to pick their favorite. The winner and everyone on their team gains 50 XP.
Buried in Snow You can’t see your hand in front of you, there’s so much snow coming down! If everyone did their homework today, the class survives the snowstorm, and each student gains 10 AP. If someone forgot to do their homework, the whole class is buried and everyone loses 20 AP.
Ice Fortress You come across an enormous fortress encased in ice … All teacher-attributed damage is halved today.
Temperature Dive The temperature has dropped below zero! Next class, everyone has to wear a jacket or hoodie for the entire class.
Want to share your insights on education with us? Email stephanie@classcraft.com to get started!
Educator by day, gamer by night, and a bookworm nerd every day of the year, Kent Turner is a graduate of University of California San Diego, where he obtained his M.A. in Bilingual Education. He is now in his third year of teaching middle school students who, like him, are deaf and communicate in American Sign Language. When Kent is not busy applying Classcraft to his lessons, he enjoys going on movie marathons with his wife and two dogs by his side.
Thanks for talking with us today, Kent! To start, tell us a little about yourself as an educator and what classes and grade levels you teach.
I am an avid gamer who grew up playing Japanese role-playing games (JRPGS) and Western RPGS. I am also a deaf person who signs natively in American Sign Language (ASL) and reads English. For my M.A. in Bilingual Education, I wrote a thesis on the topic of gamification and built a prototype LMS similar to Classcraft’s that gamified the classroom where I did my internship.
I work with deaf students who sign in ASL as well, making the primary language of our classroom a signed one rather than a spoken one. I’ve been using Classcraft for nearly two years now in our 8th grade English/Language Arts class at the Texas School for the Deaf. I also teach Science and Video Production, but I’ve yet to incorporate Classcraft in these classes as I haven’t modified the curriculum to mesh with gamification. It is my ultimate goal to play Classcraft in all of the classes that I teach!
Want to share your insights on education with us? Email stephanie@classcraft.com to get started!
John Greer is a 5th grade teacher at Aldeane Comito Ries Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has presented at the Annual Nevada State Conference on the implementation of technology in the classroom and has done over 35 workshops and professional developments on the subject for Clark County School District. With all of the technology he uses, he still thinks Classcraft is his favorite program. .. and his students would agree!
Hi, John! Thanks for talking with us today. Can you tell us a little about yourself as an educator and what grades and subjects you teach?
I’ve taught fifth grade for four years. Usually fifth grade teaches all subjects, but at our school we’ve differentiated to get them better prepared for middle school. So I teach science, social studies, and math, and my co-teacher teaches reading and writing.
I’ve also taught high school geometry. I’ve always been the math person. Math’s my jam; I love math.
