One of my favorite “little or no prep” tools is a web site called ABCya.  The site is a PLETHORA of activities organized

by grade level and categorized by letters, numbers, strategy, skills, and holiday.  Too many activities to list here. While many are games/drill and kill several allow for creation – Word Clouds, Animation, Word Search Creator, Secret Message Creator and a number of others.

Concerns

Could easily slip into one of those, “if you finish your task go play on ABCya”. Ideally, teachers would investigate and plan activities based on classroom curriculum.  Make sure what kids do with classroom time has a purpose.

Requires flash so works on Windows or Mac, but not iDevices. Some of the more popular games have specific apps available but they are not free.

Sample Uses

Students use the Word Cloud activity in place of Wordle to work on vocabulary exercises.  EXAMPLE: 2nd graders enter a vocabulary list of terms for Math or Social Studies, then evaluate the list and make more important words appear larger in the word cloud by typing them twice.

Do I plan to use it?

I DO use it.

Commitment and Learning Curve

Low learning curve.

Best for ES MS or HS?

K – Grade 4

Cost:

Free for web version on computers, Individual apps cost about $0.99 US each.

Website Link:

abcya.com