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Best Homework Games for Students

Learning shouldn't stop because school's out. These homework games offer a nice mix of learning and engagement, so students extend classroom activities, refine skills, and reinforce concepts at home. With these great games spanning math, science, ELA, social studies, and more, students can form healthy study habits that help them dive deep into whatever interests them most. Whether students need to brush up on math facts and build fluency, grow their vocabulary, practice typing, stretch their thinking skills, or explore other cultures, this list has a game students can take home today.

Immediate feedback and breadth a huge plus, despite emphasis on drills

Bottom Line : Students can improve targeted skills by using practice modules in moderation.

The Robot Factory by Tinybop

Improve designs, collect favorites in robot creation sandbox

Bottom Line : A well-made and enjoyable STEM app that leverages what's great about play -- experimentation -- to spark engineering interest.

Simple Machines by Tinybop

Excellent elementary NGSS engineering practices embedded in fun games

Bottom Line : Fun gameplay lets kids explore important physics concepts in a solid standards-aligned context.

Motion Math

Playful collection of games reinforces a diversity of skills

Bottom Line : A great add-on to any classroom as a treat for students or as a way to get students to practice taught concepts to mastery.

Creative sandbox opens the door to coding in any subject area

Bottom Line : Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning.

Awesome, adaptive math games with a killer teacher dashboard

Bottom Line : Fantastic tool for flipped or blended classrooms, formative assessment, or extra practice in any setting.

Contraption Maker

Solve problems, puzzles, brain teasers while creating wacky machines

Bottom Line : Hands-on problem-solving leads to great fun and independent learning with the right curricular wraparound to connect what kids are doing with what they need to know.

Sandbox tool enables engaged, conceptual physics inquiry

Bottom Line : A robust, free pedagogical tool that's like a digital workbench where kids build and apply conceptual science knowledge.

Dungeon-crawling adventure where code is king

Bottom Line : While not everyone loves fighting ogres, CodeCombat offers a classroom-ready platform and an authentic learning experience.

Kahoot! Algebra 2 by DragonBox

Super fun, cutting-edge approach to learning and practicing algebra

Bottom Line : Kids build a strong foundation for algebra by learning the underlying concepts for solving equations with this extremely fun and educational math tool.

Tyto Ecology

Well-developed biome sim provides cheap, endless learning

Bottom Line : This affordable ecosystem balancing game teaches life science skills while keeping students engaged.

Universe Sandbox

Superb sandbox for astrophysics experimentation

Bottom Line : An impressive -- and complex -- tool that encourages a playful, systems thinking-oriented exploration of the universe and astrophysics.

One of the best creation tools available for aspiring game developers

Bottom Line : Great choice for a full unit or class on game design; fuels students game-making dreams.

Niche - a genetics survival game

Immersive genetics sim puts evolution in students' hands

Bottom Line : This hands-on genetics game allows students to experiment, explore traits, and come away with a sophisticated understanding of the subject.

Kerbal Space Program

Design and launch a rocket into space in realistic astrophysics sim

Bottom Line : This accurate rocket sim encourages trial-and-error learning and makes for great (and often explosive) physics and engineering experiments.

ELA and Social Studies Games

Hangart: play hangman, draw pictures, tell stories.

Games, creative activities give 360-degree view of common sight words

Bottom Line : Combination of guided games and open-ended activities give kids a great opportunity for digging deep into words.

Never Alone: Ki Edition

Illuminating native Alaskan folktale supports SEL skills

Bottom Line : A beautiful achievement developed in cooperation with indigenous folk that offers players valuable SEL skill building and a respectful window into Inupiat culture, ways of life, traditions, and stories.

Well-designed games, lessons can spice up your civics curriculum

Bottom Line : This game-based curriculum would be an excellent addition to any secondary social studies.

Sid Meier's Civilization V

Legendary strategy game is a hit with history buffs in school and out

Bottom Line : For flexible classrooms, creative teachers, and sharp students, Civilization V is the perfect platform for making rather than memorizing history.

Political Animals

Charming political campaign sim mixes data analysis and civics

Bottom Line : It's a highly entertaining and surprisingly deep way to help students see the strategy -- as well as ethical choices -- involved in elections.

SAT Vocab by MindSnacks

Variety is key in charmingly effective SAT vocab app

Bottom Line : Upgrading to the full version gets you great games and a thorough word list for SAT vocab prep.

Walden, A Game

Thoughtfully designed game illuminates Thoreau's writing, philosophy

Bottom Line : It's rare to be so moved and permanently transformed by a work of art; that this game manages to (re)create these experiences is a triumph.

Miscellaneous Games

One-stop shop for a wealth of fantastic PBS Kids educational content

Bottom Line : Robust collection of learning resources covers an impressive array of topics.

Customizable multiplayer auto races rev up basic typing practice

Bottom Line : Nitro Type is pretty darn engaging, but teachers need to prep students' typing skills first.

Classic logic puzzler gets a beautiful new look

Bottom Line : Promote powerful thinking skills, resilience, and decision-making through purely fun gameplay that will keep students begging for more.

Spiraling sandbox of adventure and creation gets kids to dig deep

Bottom Line : An irresistible and seemingly limitless incubator for 21st century skills that, with a little guidance, can chart new courses for learning.

Epistory - Typing Chronicles

Practice typing by exploring and defending a world made of paper

Bottom Line : Great for practicing touch-typing skills, this adventure game draws players in with a slowly revealed backstory.

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Kahoot! stands with Ukraine

Kahoot! is committed to supporting Ukrainian educators and learners affected by the current crisis. To protect the integrity of our platform and our users, we will suspend offering Kahoot!’s services in Russia, with the exception of self-study.

Ukrainian educators and learners need our support

We are deeply troubled and concerned by the violence and loss of life resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We stand with the people of Ukraine and we hope for the swiftest and most peaceful possible end to the current crisis. 

Kahoot! has received a number of requests from schools and educators in Ukraine requesting the help of our services to continue teaching despite the disruption of the war. We have supported each of these and we are now offering Kahoot! EDU solutions for free for both K-12 and higher education institutions for one year to Ukrainian schools in need. In addition, we are fast-tracking translation and localization of the Kahoot! platform into Ukrainian. 

Suspending commercial services and sales in Russia

Our commercial footprint in the Russian market is very limited. We do not have offices or representation in the country, nor do we have any physical operations or data services there. The overwhelming majority of our users in Russia are teachers and students using our free service.

Kahoot! is abiding by the international sanctions regime, and does not allow sales to sanctioned individuals or entities in Russia. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kahoot! initiated a process to suspend offering of all commercial services in Russia. This includes but is not limited to online sales, assisted sales, app store sales and prohibiting sales to Russian corporations and organizations.

Prioritizing safe and secure use of the Kahoot! platform

As part of our mission to make learning awesome, and as education remains a fundamental human right, we offer teachers, students and personal users free access to our platform. We do this in more than 200 countries and regions in a spirit similar to public commons services, such as Wikipedia. 

Similarly, inclusivity is one of Kahoot!’s overarching values. As such, our aim is to, whenever and wherever possible, offer children, schools and others the opportunity to use digital tools for impactful education and learning, irrespective of their background or location. This has been our guiding principle also for offering our service in Russia.

Among our first responses to the crisis was to swiftly expand our global moderation team’s monitoring on all Russia-related content to safeguard the integrity of the platform. 

However, as the situation continues to escalate, it is vital that we are able to ensure that our platform is used according to our own guidelines and standards. Therefore, in addition to suspending sales, we will be taking all possible and necessary steps to suspend access to Kahoot! services in Russia, with the eventual exception of self-study mode which will feature only content verified by Kahoot!.

This will enable students, school children and other individual users to continue their learning journeys both safely and responsibly. We will continue to assess ways in which our services can be offered safely and responsibly to support all learners and educators, also those based in Russia. 

Supporting our employees 

At Kahoot!, we are not just a team in name, we are a team in practice. As such, we are committed to the well-being of our employees, especially those with ties to Ukraine, or those that in other ways are particularly affected by the war. We are providing these colleagues with any support we can. 

Acknowledging the current situation, the Kahoot! Group made an emergency aid donation to Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council. This is a contribution to support life-saving assistance and protection for innocent Ukrainian children, families and refugees. 

As the situation in Ukraine continues to develop our teams across the company are actively monitoring the crisis so that we can respond in the most responsible and supportive way possible. 

Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine, their loved ones, and anyone affected by this crisis. 

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Get access to fun & engaging digital math games that your students will love.

And being self-checking + COMPLETELY ad-free, you’ll love them too!

Want an EASY way to help your students improve their math skills?

With Digital Math Games, your 3rd-6th grade students can ENJOY applying their math skills…and you hardly have to lift a finger to make that happen!

Here’s what’s so great about Digital Math Games:

The entire site & ALL of the games are completely ad-free ! (And every parent & math teacher said hallelujah !)

All games are self-checking. Students get instant feedback & there’s no prep or grading for parents or teachers.

Every payment option includes access to games for ALL grade levels. Kids can work on remedial or advanced skills – not just their grade level.

Many activities are rooted in real-world problem solving. The games help students understand how they’ll use these essential math skills beyond math class!

The site is very easy to use & games are simple to find . You can search for games based on grade level, math topic or math standard.

Games are based on grade-specific standards, so you can easily align the activities with your curriculum.

Digital Math Games will help your students practice their math in FUN & meaningful ways.

With easy to use games that align to math standards for grades 3-6 (and over 50 games per grade level!), your students will enjoy practicing their math skills. And you’ll enjoy not having to prepare or grade any extra homework or reviews. 😉

Use these games to supplement your teaching in so many ways:

• As a math center in the classroom
• Extra practice for early finishers
• A helpful resource for parents/students to use at home
• Help for students who need additional review
• Extra math practice for homeschool families
• As a quick review before quizzes or tests

Get access to over 200 ad-free math games & have your students start playing today!

Take a look at some of these amazing game features:.

With a variety of games comes a variety of ways to play! Each grade level comes with games that enable students to:

• Match (like the Memory game)
• Drag & drop
• Type the answer
• Click to move on

Students can track their own progress throughout the game – no grading for you!

If a student gets an answer wrong (or even partially right and partially wrong), the game will tell them & give them the opportunity to try again.

Games also enable the student to click to see:

• A hint to nudge them in the right direction for solving the problem
• A formula for how to solve that particular problem (when applicable)

As long as you have an internet connection, games can be accessed from any device. There’s no flash player or software to download!

• Smart Phones

Games per grade level

Access more than 200 games in total!

Grades included

You get access to ALL grade levels with your membership!

Standards Based

Every activity is purposefully designed to align to the standards

Times to play!

Students can repeat games however often they need to!

AND Digital Math Games will help your students answer that infamous question: “When will I actually use this in real life?”

Ahhh, yes. As math teachers, interventionists, specialists, and parents, we’re all quite familiar with that question, aren’t we?!

Yet another reason you’ll be so grateful for Digital Math Games!

These games are full of examples as to how students will encounter math in everyday situations . They were intentionally designed to help kids not just practice their math skills, but see the purpose (and the need for!) math skills in everyday life!

With over 50 games PER grade level (and we’re adding new ones all the time!), your students will get tons of practice seeing the purpose of the math skills they’re learning!

Dive in & have your students start playing TODAY!

Here’s how it works:

CHOOSE YOUR MEMBERSHIP OPTION

Digital Math Games has an option for every budget. Choose monthly payments, annual payments or the one-time fee. Each option gives you access to ALL grade levels , which you can use will ALL your students.

LOG IN FROM ANY DEVICE

As long as you have access to internet, you can log in from any device! No special downloads, flash players or software needed. Teachers create a single class login , then share the username and password with students in their class to use the website at school or at home.

STUDENTS PLAY!

Students can play each game as many times as they want or need. They can practice on-level skills, or feel free to have them jump ahead or review previous skills. With access to ALL of the grade levels, you can use Digital Math Games however you need!

Get FULL access to ALL of the games with every membership.

• Completely ad-free
• Access to all grade levels
• All games are self-checking
• Students can repeat as often as they’d like!

Hi there, I’m Bethany.

As a former classroom math teacher & homeschooling mama of four, I know how important it is to help kids practice math skills in a meaningful way.

On my main website, Math Geek Mama, my mission is to provide access to engaging and fun resources (that don’t break the bank!) that encourage kids to dig deeper, make connections and learn the why behind the math they’re learning. All while having fun!

Here at Digital Math Games , our goal is to incorporate technology into the classroom in fun and purposeful ways that deepen understanding. And hopefully take a load off your plate by providing self-checking activities that really strengthen students’ math skills!

See what other happy teachers, instructional coaches, & parents have to say about Digital Math Games:

During checkout, you will create an account using your email address and password of your choice. After checkout, you can share that username/password with students, or you can create a separate “class account” to share . Students can then login to the site at anytime, on any device, to access the activities. You will also receive a follow up email with a link to the login page and set up directions as well.

After you sign up, you will receive an email with directions for logging in and creating a class account. You simply share a link to the login page , along with your class username and password so parents can login on their devices at home. You will also receive a “Get Started” letter that you can fill out and send home with students so parents can learn about the site and login. Please note, however, that you cannot share your login credentials with other teachers, admin, neighbors, etc. This account is for your personal use only.

Nothing special is needed to use this site at all! As long as you have a device with a web browser and a solid internet connection , you’re good to go. Just have students login to your class account the first time they use the site and click ‘remember me.’ Their device should then remember the login so they don’t have to login each time they access a game.

Unfortunately, there is no reporting available at this time . These activities are simply meant to be a way for students to practice and self-monitor their understanding. We are, however, adding printable recording/reflection pages to each activity so that students can show their thinking and extend their learning beyond the digital game . Teachers can then print the recording page to assess their understanding or provide a grade for the activity if they wish. Not all games include this yet, but most do, and the rest should be finished by summer 2024.

Our desire is to create top-notch activities that teachers and students love AND to keep the price of membership so low that the value far exceeds the cost. However, if you find your membership is not what you are looking for, you can cancel at anytime by going to your “account” page. Please note that you will still have access to the site for the duration of your membership, but will not be charged again when that time runs out.

The games and activities on the site are aligned to U.S. common core math standards for grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 . If you are not in the U.S. this would be roughly kids ages 8-12.

Currently, our focus is on providing excellent math challenges to cover every math standard in grades 3-6. We are also working on printable recording/reflection pages for each activity, should teachers or parents want a written component to go along with the digital games. After that, it is possible we will expand to grades 7-8, but this will likely not happen until 2025 .

Ready to get started?!

• Access over 50 games per grade level (3rd-6th) – plus any new games we add in the future!
• Get access to ALL grade levels with your membership!
• Students can play games as often as they’d like!
• Share your membership with your students’ parents (at no extra cost!)
• Access from ANY device with an internet connection

Choose your best option:

Monthly option: $7/month , annual option: $57/year, one-time payment option: $99, (3-year access).

The best games to play while doing homework

Idle games, clickers, and management games all make for perfect study buddies.

You say you're just going to take a break from the school or work day to play "just one level" or "just one hour" of a favorite game. But before you know it, you've lost way more than just an hour. 

Fortunately, not every game is designed to grab and hold your attention. These games won't keep you away from your homework—at least, not for long. These idle and management games are perfect to leave running in the background while you write a report or have up on your monitor while you hit the books. Even more handy, several of them are free!

Fallout Shelter

 Free | Management | Steam , Bethesda Launcher 

Fallout Shelter puts you in the Overseer's chair to construct a vault room by room, organize expeditions into the Wasteland, and oversee the growth of your population. Vault dwellers have all the standard Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats, some of which make them better at producing resources like food and water and others that help them defend against rad roach and raider attacks.

Fallout Shelter is great for playing on the side while you work because it only requires a bit of attention every few minutes. In the early stages, you'll need to manually click on rooms that have finished producing food, water, and power to collect them. After completing a few achievements, you'll likely be able to earn a Mr. Handy unit, which will collect those resources automatically. Vaults do occasionally face emergencies like fires and deathclaw attacks, but the sirens are hard to ignore. If you've got your sound on or headphones in, you'll know when to look up and help your dwellers defend themselves. 

When you really need a break, treat yourself to one of Fallout Shelter's quests, which are more hands-on than managing the vault. Most quests take a few hours for your dwellers to arrive at, but if you send them off early in the day, you'll be able to start one when you're ready and take a few minutes to guide them through several floors of enemies and loot.

Realm Grinder

 Free | Clicker | Steam , Browser  

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Realm Grinder has as much theorycrafting as some MMOs I've played. If you want to get into that side of it, check out our Realm Grinder guide to get started and learn the lingo. There's plenty of number crunching if you want it, but don't let it scare you off. Like any clicker game, it's easy to get started. In Realm Grinder you start as the ruler in one of six factions each aligned with good or evil. The evil factions (goblins, demons, and undead) are most oriented towards an idle play style where you earn coins based on upgrades that you've bought instead of increasing the coins you earn per click. 

Realm Grinder is a great studying game. Not only does it flex your arithmetic skills in calculating upgrades (if you want to get that deep) but it really doesn't require too much of your attention. The endgame for Realm Grinder can get pretty complex if you allow it, but if you just want to mess about and earn a few trophies, you don't need to read up on all the meta strats. The only danger is if you get too into it, you may end up doing speed runs instead of studying. 

Spaceplan 

 $2.99 USD | Clicker | Steam

Spaceplan has what few other clicker games do: an ending. A great ending, even. You're lost in space on a potato-powered ship and the only way to find your way back to Earth is to make lots and lots of potatoes. With the help of your onboard AI, a GladOS and HAL 9000 lovechild called the Word Outputter, you'll make starchy creations to power your potato ship as you hop planets and universes on your way back home.

Like most clicker games, you'll spend a bit of time getting set up but Spaceplan quickly becomes a self-propelled machine that generates joules of potato power. Oh, and make sure to turn on the "scientifically accurate mode" which displays your power in joules instead of watts. You were paying attention in physics, right?

Have your sound on while playing Spaceplan because the low-key space soundtrack by Logan Gabriel is absolutely stellar. It's still my go-to concentration music even years later. It will probably take you about a week of casual check-ins to complete and if you enjoy the soundtrack along the way you'll likely love the groovy, cinematic ending.

 A Dark Room 

Free | Management | Browser  

A Dark Room almost defies explanation and demands to be played firsthand. You start off by a dwindling fire and your only option is to stoke it so you won't freeze to death. Before long you run out of wood and need to gather more. Next you wind up building a hut, and then another, attracting more wanderers to your small, budding village. You don't know why you're tending this fire in what seems to be the apocalypse, but you keep taking care of your people, assigning them jobs, and building the village's resources. The story is sparse and vague, but I've been playing for weeks just to see what new vagabonds I can attract and technologies I can find. 

Eventually, A Dark Room opens up after you obtain a compass and can leave the small village you've constructed. Like Fallout Shelter, you can go on expeditions in a Dwarf Fortress-like ascii art environment. Venturing further from the village, killing monsters, and finding new resources like iron mines and abandoned suburbs leads to further progress. After finding the right spread of villagers per job to stabilize the resources of wood, meat, and other necessities, it's easy to leave A Dark Room running for hours and come back later to investigate what new mysteries await.

Cookie Clicker

Free | Clicker | Browser  

Cookie Clicker is THE classic clicker game. It's still a browser game to this day even though it has developed a lot of pizzazz since 2013. There are animations and screen effects and lots of display options. At its heart though, Cookie Clicker is just about making cookies with milk. You recruit sweet grandmas, build cookie farms, cookie mines, and temples of cookie production. 

The first upgrade you can spend cookies on is an automated clicker that does the cookie clicking for you, meaning you can go hands-off very quickly. Although Cookie Clicker has some of the same deep strategy elements as Realm Grinder by storing progress across multiple runs, it isn't nearly as intense. You can pull up Cookie Clicker in a browser while you write a paper and check in on it whenever you remember.

Lauren started writing for PC Gamer as a freelancer in 2017 while chasing the Dark Souls fashion police and accepted her role as Associate Editor in 2021, now serving as the self-appointed chief cozy games enjoyer. She originally started her career in game development and is still fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long books, longer RPGs, has strong feelings about farmlife sims, and can't stop playing co-op crafting games.

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Games to play while studying or doing college work in general.

I was trying to think of a subreddit to ask this in, so I decided on the one I silently creep.

I was looking for a game that does not require a lot of activeness, one that you can kinda do something every 10 or so minutes and is just overall relaxing. As of now I just listen to quiet music and what not, but I would love to enjoy a game while I am either doing school work or studying.

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How to Use Prodigy Math Game in Your Everyday Teaching Strategies

Written by Jordan Nisbet

• Prodigy School

How to align your class (in under a minute)

1. homework, 2. growth mindset, 3. blended learning, 4. personalized learning, 5. response to intervention (rti), 6. differentiated instruction.

• Pair with assessments

Wizards and duels and pets, oh my! When Prodigy’s on the table, you can bet students are champing at the bit to play.

While using Prodigy Math Game, teachers like you have witnessed:

• Math anxiety decrease
• Math confidence increase
• Engagement levels increase
• Math skills mastery increase
• Test scores and grades increase

In short, students truly experience and form a love for learning math — all thanks to teachers using Prodigy Math Game in class.

If you want to discover how to mix Prodigy Math Game into the most common teaching strategies, keep scrolling!

Before we dive into six everyday examples on how to integrate Prodigy into the classroom, here’s what’s possible with Prodigy Math Game.

Whether you want to set Assignments, Plans or a Test Prep , watch this 5-minute video or scroll down for the quick-start steps.

To start, visit the Prodigy website, click Log In in the top right corner and select a classroom.

If you have more than one classroom, choose the one you want to create an assessment for.

Go to your Assessments tool and click Create .

When you click Create , a pop-up window will present you with options to choose your desired assessment type.

Select your assessment type, then click Continue .

Depending on the type of assessment, you’ll have to complete one or two more steps. These steps will involve things like selecting certain skills and setting a date range.

Prodigy + Teaching Strategies = A love of learning

Prodigy Math Game is a fun and effective way to engage students and foster a positive learning environment ! Students will have a blast exploring a world filled with adventures, and you’ll love the easy differentiation and automatic data.

Here are some ways teachers like you use Prodigy in their classrooms:

Assigning homework and making sure students have the right math practice is one thing — making sure they actually complete it is another. 

Whether you’re teaching in your classroom or from your kitchen table, you can be confident that students will love completing Prodigy homework assignments. 

Plus, our new-and-improved homework feature lets you easily send Assignment instructions to parents with a printable handout or through your learning management system.

Prodigy’s homework feature helps you:

• Track student progress with easy-to-read reports — no grading required
• Easily motivate students to practice key math skills outside of the classroom
• Connect with parents and build a stronger support network for learning

Simply select Assign as homework when you create an Assignment , and we’ll generate an easy-to-understand set of instructions to help reinforce learning at home.

Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychology professor, found that the way students perceive their abilities fall somewhere between two opposites: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset .

Prodigy Math Game’s in-game algorithm takes into account learners' academic strengths and weaknesses while scaffolding and supporting students at their level of learning. This adaptive approach can shift students toward a growth mindset and improve the level and frequency of their achievements.

Want to support a growth mindset? Assign Plans when you want students to focus on one expectation. As students work through your plan, the algorithm will deliver questions that hit varying levels of difficulty and adapt to support learners by revisiting prerequisites when necessary.

Don’t overlook a blended learning approach to satisfy the needs of your diverse learners. Adding Prodigy to your traditional classroom methods keeps math engagement high and lets you focus on each individual student.

Take the rotation model, for example. On top of stations intended for small group instruction, small group work and collaborative projects, you should make game-based learning a rotation station.

Need to support some students while challenging others? Create an Assignment in Prodigy to encourage independent student learning and fill knowledge gaps by delivering foundational or advanced skills.

You can also see students’ progress in real-time by selecting your Assignment and clicking on View report . Use this to inform your teaching and champion your students’ successes.

As a teacher, one of your goals is to personalize learning for each student’s strengths, needs and abilities. Students need to reach a certain mastery level before moving on to a new skill or grade. Using the right EdTech can make the process easier.

In our increasingly digital age, students have grown up with mobile devices, so not all students learn effectively with pencil-and-paper methods. Personalize your students’ learning environment with Prodigy by using it to reinforce in-class lessons or prep for standardized tests.

As educator Mary Ann Wolf observes:

Personalized learning is enabled by e-learning systems which help dynamically track and manage the learning needs of all students… everywhere at any time, but which are not available within the four walls of the traditional classroom.

Many teachers like you have students with response to intervention plans. A digital tool like Prodigy engages students and collects and provides data to help teachers easily identify where their students require support or extensions.

Students greatly benefit from targeted and personalized content, so you should use your Assessments tool to set Plans or Assignments and check their progress on a cyclical basis.

Not sure which one to use? Here are a couple of tips:

• RTI Tier 1 — Create a Plan . Align in-game content with the skill(s) you’re covering in class. Plans are an engaging way to address gaps and misconceptions, while reinforcing content taught in class.
• RTI Tier 2 — Create an Assignment . Choose the number of questions per skill, as well as which students must complete it. Assignments are an effective way to engage individual students based on their unique needs.

In either case, check out your Student Comprehension report in the Reports tool.

Diverse classrooms pose unique challenges for teachers — can you relate? Differentiated instruction benefits all students , including those with exceptionalities.

Use Prodigy to differentiate instruction by creating an Assignment . Prodigy will adapt math questions to tackle individual students’ challenges in the form of problems that use numbers, charts, pictures and words.

You can even modify students’ grade levels to ensure the questions they’re answering and skills they’re mastering are developmentally appropriate.

Finally, you know better than anyone that every child learns differently and at their own pace. Make sure you provide students with time to play Prodigy so they complete the differentiated math assignment.

No matter your teaching strategy, you’ll likely pair them with formative and summative assessments throughout the year.

Summative assessment

Students can find summative assessment stressful — especially standardized tests. So let’s set your students up for success. Gamifying math practice for tests is an engaging way to lower test anxiety and boost test scores.

Use Prodigy Math Game to deliver curriculum-aligned Test Preps to prepare them for standardized testing season. Test Preps will give your students practice for the exact skills that are assessed by your region, as your teacher account tracks their results. Prodigy’s teachers and educational content creators have updated all the Test Preps to reflect standards specific to each state’s curriculum and include new content.

You can also create Assignments at the end of a unit or chapter to easily assess students' understanding of math concepts they have learned. In the Assignment report, you’ll be able to quickly identify common knowledge gaps and use them to guide your in-class instruction!

Formative assessment

Formative assessments are one of the most effective ways to collect student data and guide instruction to promote student success. It also provides students with opportunities to reflect on their learning. Prodigy makes formative assessments easy to deliver.

Create in-game assignments to target areas where students might require additional support. You can assign formative assessments based on individual student needs, assigning up to 25 questions per standard.

Review the Assignment report in your Assessments calendar to see the exact questions and how each student answered — correctly, incorrectly or unattempted. You’ll be able to quickly identify common gaps and adapt your in-class instruction while teaching a given concept.

Ready to assess your students?

You can align your class in less than a minute, so give it a try! It’ll keep your students super engaged while practicing curriculum-aligned math. Align → Play → Check Results → Repeat.

Log in or sign up today.

Blooket: An Easy “How To” Guide For Teachers

Blooket! If you’ve not heard of it by now, you’re missing out! Blooket is a fantastic game platform that enables teachers to create fun and interactive review activities and quizzes for the classroom and for online learning.

What Is Blooket And What Is It Used For?

Blooket is a gamified education platform that allows teachers to host quiz-style games that students participate in via their own device. Teachers can choose existing question sets or create their own. The existing quizzes are created by other teachers and shared on the platform, meaning there are literally thousands of pre-made games ready-to-go on a large variety of topics and subjects.

How To Sign Up To Blooket?

In order to use Blooket, the first thing you’re going to have to do is sign up. Luckily, this is super easy and absolutely free!

How To Use Blooket

Question sets.

Once you’ve signed up to Blooket, the next thing you need to do is to choose a question set to use in your quizzes. There are two options: you can create your own from scratch, or you can click on ‘Discover Sets’ to browse through a huge library of question sets made by other teachers.

Once you’ve given your question set a title and a description, it’s time to make the actual questions. Click on ‘ Manual ‘ and then on the next page choose ‘ Add Question ‘. You will then be prompted to type in your question and choose a picture for the question (optional). You must then type in up to 4 multiple choice answers and indicate the correct answer by checking the box next to the correct answer.

Hosting On Blooket

Choose one of the game modes and then click on the purple ‘ Host ‘ button on the right. You’ll then be given the option to set a time limit for the game. Once you’re ready, click on the ‘ Host Now ‘ button.

Joining A Game On Blooket

The game will continue until the time runs out or all the questions have been answered. At the end of the game, the ‘Host’ will be able to see how well each student performed. You can choose to keep the results private, or you can share them with the class and celebrate the winners.

Live Game Modes

There are currently 13 different live game modes to choose from. The ‘Classic’ game mode is a typical quiz format in which students answer questions and earn points to climb the leaderboard.

How To Assign Homework

Click on ‘ Assign Homework ‘ and then choose a HW game mode that you want students to play. The next page will give you options to change the homework title and the time in which students have to complete the task.

Related Resources

How to Turn Homework into a Game So Students Want to Do It

Wish i had this as a kid..

While working with a middle school literacy coach recently, we talked about how to make homework more meaningful to their humanities classes. When teachers assigned reading, students would often not do it. Plus, the teachers felt homework was challenging for them to assess efficiently in class. How do you make homework easier, fun, and valuable for students and teachers?

Our solutions is called Homework XP . All we did was turn the whole nature of homework into a game (borrowing some principles from game theory ). First, students don’t have to do homework; they choose when they do it. Second, students can choose from a range of “quests” at any time to do. Each quest is carefully written to be relevant to the content-area (in this case humanities), generic enough so it can be done many times, and emphasizes connecting what is done in class to what students experience at home . After all, if it is home -work it should honor the fact that home and school are quite different experiences. Finally, all students have 0 homework XP (experience points) to start and can earn as many as they want throughout a marking quarter. No limit.

What do these Homework XP quests look like? Each quest has a slip printed on a unique color paper with instructions and room to write about a paragraph. The teacher places the slips in a designated place in the classroom labeled Homework XP. Students take a half-sheet of paper slip home and complete the quest based on the instructions. Quests are pre-labeled with point values. Students bring them back when ready (I recommend having a Homework XP bin set up) to redeem their points. Here are a few examples:

Music to My Ears (3 XP)

Copy down a phrase or line from a song you heard that relates to a book you are reading. Include a brief explanation of how the article relates to what we are studying in class.

Interview (4 XP)

Talk with a member of your family or community about what we are reading and write a brief summary of their insights and questions.

Like On TV (3 XP)

Describe a connection you observed between a television show or movie and what we are reading and discussing in class.

Me, My Selfie, and I (5 XP)

Share a selfie of you at a museum, arts, or community event, including a connection you make between the event and the books you are reading for class. Email me the selfie.

If you adopt or adapt Homework XP for your classroom, please let me know. I’d love to know how it works for other teachers and students. You can tell me here in the comments or via Facebook , Instagram ,  Twitter , or LinkedIn .

Just sign up here.

It's that easy. Go on.

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Teaching Trove

Making learning fun

How to Make Homework Fun for Kids

Blog , Mathematics

Homework is one of those things that you will either agree with or disagree. Agree, because you know it’s a way to help children to reinforce skills or it’s a good way to prepare them for content they will be covering or maybe you are using it for enrichment and extension. Disagree, because you are always chasing up kids who didn’t do their homework or struggling to find time to mark homework or even set homework, particularly if you are creating a worksheet for it.

We can’t dispute the fact that research shows that homework has little impact on academic success in elementary grades. There is, however, the suggestion that homework has benefits in other areas. It can teach self-responsibility.  The child needs to find time to sit down and complete their homework and then remember to pack it and hand it in. Parents can also benefit from their child’s homework. It can help them learn about and become more involved in their child’s education.

Homework, however, can be very stressful for both parents and children. After a long day at school, today’s children not only have to come home to homework but need to participate in so many extracurricular activities. It’s exhausting being a kid!

Homework Games

If you need to assign homework you can make it more interesting and less stressful for both parents and children by using homework math games. After all, games are fun!

Consolidate Basic Number Facts

I designed these games because I wanted to help my students consolidate the basic number facts – addition and subtraction. I didn’t want to be giving them worksheets but rather I wanted them to have some fun as they were really consolidating those addition and subtraction facts. Each game is designed to consolidate a single thinking strategy so if you have been focusing on teaching doubles plus one facts at school you can send home the doubles plus one game. It makes it so easy to reinforce these basic facts.

Accountability

The left-hand side of the game has the thinking strategy to prompt the child as well as the answers to each number fact. Before the child starts the game this side of the game is folded over. When the child lands on a number fact they must write it down and answer it – now you have your accountability. If they don’t know the answer they can open up the side and ‘sneak a peek’ before closing it again. My parents love them because it gives them the math language that we use in class and the strategy needed to help their child work out the answer. My kids love them because it’s a game.

There is no die needed for the game just a coin. Why a coin you may ask.  Well if you flip it and it lands on heads you move two spaces, tails you move five. Any small object can be used as a marker.

I have also included a game with mixed facts. It has a recording sheet that asks the student to not only record the equation but to say what thinking strategy they used. This really helps them gain mastery of the addition and subtraction facts.

I hadn’t considered it but one of my customers said that she also uses the games in her math journals. They’re also great for using in math rotations. I also like to print them out and give them to students that I tutor – the ones that need more time consolidating the basic facts and could do it easily with their parents. And don’t forget those kids that you know are going to forget the number facts over a break.

The Summer Slump

The summer slump is real! Kids forget so much of what they learned the year before.

One way to help reduce this ‘learning loss’ is to send home a summer pack containing games of all the strategies you’ve covered during the year. If you’ve got some kids who are already showing great fact fluency just send home the game with a mixture of strategies. Include both addition and subtraction for extra practice.

The addition strategies covered are :

• Counting on 1
• Counting on 1 and 2
• Counting on 1, 2 and 3
• Doubles + 1
• Doubles + 2
• PLUS a game that includes a mixture of strategies.

The subtraction games focus on :

• Counting back 1
• Counting back 1 or 2
• Counting back 1, 2 or 3
• Take from 10
• Doubles Takeaway
• Build on Doubles
• Subtracting 9
• Subtracting 10

You can also grab a pack of multiplication games. They cover each fact from multiplying by zero and one to multiplying by twelve. The pack also includes two mixed multiplication games.

Grab a Pack of Games

Pick up your set of homework games in the website store or the Teachers Pay Teachers shop. Just click on a pack below.

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 Editable games for word work centers makes it so easy to differentiate your word lists…

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Absolutely love this! How much more fun than addition and subtraction worksheets!

Blessings, Sarah

Thanks Sarah, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

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7 Ideas for Transforming Your Formal Dining Room Into a More Functional Space

If you rarely use your formal dining room, consider changing its function to something that will get more use.

J.L. Jordan Photography

If you're lucky enough to move into a home with a dedicated dining room, your first impulse might be to tear down those walls and open everything up. After all, a formal dining room is usually the first thing to go when homeowners want to make way for an open-concept dream kitchen with island seating . 

Formal living and dining rooms have indeed lost some relevance for many of today's home dwellers. "I have a lot of clients with open floor plan kitchens that allow for a big dining table. For these clients, the dining room becomes obsolete, so they often want to make use of it in other ways," says Elizabeth Vergara of Vergara Homes, a luxury design and build firm. By all means, if you have a formal dining room and you eat there regularly, it's fine to keep that room intact and enjoy every minute that you spend there. There’s nothing wrong with having a room that functions as it was intended if that fits your needs. The key is understanding your needs.

Why More People Are Changing the Use of Their Dining Rooms

UCLA researchers who have studied residential behavioral architecture found that the average family uses only 40 percent of their home's floor plan regularly. That activity was clustered around the kitchen, breakfast nook, and family room (or wherever the TV was located). Meanwhile, formal living and dining rooms were barely used.

"The relevance of a formal dining room really depends on the era of the house and how the homeowners use it," says Ashley Ferguson of Ashley Ferguson Interiors. "In a more traditional or historic home, a formal dining room has its place visually, but its necessity ultimately depends on the homeowner. Are they going to host formal dinner parties or Thanksgiving dinners with all the china, or are they more relaxed in their entertaining style and never have formal engagements? It's key to consider the best use of space and whether entertaining is part of their lifestyle." Open your mind to all the possibilities, including using your formal dining room as a hybrid space.

"If a client truly doesn't use the dining room—usually because they have a large eat-in kitchen, or the dining room is just too far away to be practical—I would absolutely suggest a better use for that space," says Bethany Adams of Bethany Adams Interiors. "Using a room once a year when you have year-round space needs just doesn't make sense."

Whether you want to set aside your formal dining room for a single purpose or multiple purposes, read on as our experts offer some thoughtful ways to use a formal dining room.

• Elizabeth Vergara of Vergara Homes , a luxury design and build firm
• Ashley Ferguson of Ashley Ferguson Interiors , a full-service design studio
• Bethany Adams of Bethany Adams Interiors , a full-service design and decorating studio

Home Office

Dana Gallagher

At a time when many jobs have gone hybrid if not completely remote, a formal dining room could pull double duty as a home office with just a few design tweaks. First, make sure you have a door that you can close when you need privacy for conference calls. "Consider adding glass doors for light and aural privacy if your room is open to the rest of the home," says Adams. This benefits both the office worker and everyone else in the house. "It's not fair to the rest of the family to demand quiet while you zoom out in the open,” she says.

Consider adding a secretary desk, where you can close the lid on your day's work instead of using your dining room table as a de-facto desk. Finally, make sure the room has adequate power for all the devices that you use in your work. And you might also want an office chair that can be rolled away when it's not in use.

Getty Images

A lot of families prioritize entertainment over formal dining these days. If yours is one, the dining room might be the right place to house a pool table, a foosball table, a vintage Pac-man video game, or even a poker table as well as provide the space to play board games and work on puzzles.

"A game room is a fun idea if yours is the house where all the tweens want to hang out on the weekend," says Adams. "In a recent hospitality project, I took the space that had been the formal dining room and turned it into a billiards room. It made much more sense to connect the living room with this more convivial space and to tuck the dining room in the back of the house by the kitchen."   If the kids are younger, include some toy storage in the room." Toy rooms are an easy and cost-effective conversion for a former dining room," says Vergara. "You can quickly transform the space by adding built-in shelves to store children's toys, a comfortable sectional, and a thick durable carpet or rug to make the space safe and cozy."

Home Library

Your unused dining room could become the prime spot to house your book collection if you have one. Add a library ladder, and you'll have a room that will be the envy of your book club friends. "I'm of the opinion that a library can be added to just about any room," says Adams. "So if you desperately want a place for your collection and a place to host Thanksgiving, I'd suggest we add beautiful built-in shelving to your dining room."

Keep the dining table and chairs in place, for annual holiday entertaining, if there's a need. Or turn the rest of the room into a sitting area, with cozy chairs, side tables, and reading lamps.

Sitting Room

Rick Lozier

Many home dwellers find a cozy sitting room more useful than a formal dining room. "I've turned a formal dining room into a sitting room on multiple occasions," says Ferguson. "These bonus living areas are incredibly practical for entertaining and everyday life. A secondary sitting room can serve many purposes, acting as overflow space when hosting or providing a quiet escape to curl up with a book."

Or make the room a combined library/snug. "One room I designed had a cozy library feel," says Ferguson. "It was dark and moody and featured an antique piano passed down through the family. Transforming the dining room into a formal sitting room really worked for this client, and we never looked back."

Homework Room

Families with school-age children might find a homework room more useful than a formal dining room. This is especially true for homeschooling families. Just a word of caution about the location—if the dining room is in the front of the home or gets a lot of foot traffic, this may not be an ideal use of the space. "While homework nooks are always popular among young families, this type of space would likely feel too casual as a prominent feature on the main floor," says Ferguson.

It might be more efficient to add a homework "space" to a library or sitting room. "Homework spaces do not require as much square footage as a formal dining room," she says. "Having a large designated homework area might result in wasted space and could feel like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole." But, a multi-purpose library/homework room might be a winner, instead!

Aj Watt / Getty Images

If your family is musically inclined, they might relish a music room in the place of a rarely used formal dining room. "If music plays a significant role in your family, I love the concept of repurposing the dining room into a music room,” says Ferguson. "This could be especially great if you have an heirloom piano or instrument collection to help anchor the space. Ultimately, a home should fit your lifestyle, and if you have a talent or deep love for music, this swap could be a very strategic use of space."

You'll want to make sure there is a door that you can close as well as good soundproofing installed. "A music room is a lovely idea if you are an active musician," says Adams. "Similarly to a home office, consider adding doors if you don't already have them—especially if you are just starting on your musical journey."

Martha Stewart

If someone in the home is a dedicated DIYer, you could turn your formal dining room into a crafts room. Much as with a library, you'd want to keep the dining table and chairs, plus add a good deal of storage.

But this only works if the dining room is removed from the flow of foot traffic through your house. Because no one wants to have to clean up clutter when they are mid-project. "Depending on the dining room's location, a craft room could feel out of place," says Ferguson. "Placing a craft room near the entrance, which is typically where a dining room is located, could be visually jarring and too chaotic when entering a home. Another consideration is that craft rooms tend to be a bit cluttered, even for organized crafters."

Arnold, Jeanne E., Anthony P. Graesch, Enzo Ragazzini, and Elinor Ochs.  Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors , 2017.

Related Articles

Why Nick Saban turned to Lane Kiffin for his ESPN homework

Nick Saban needed help with his homework, so he called Lane Kiffin .

In preparation for his ESPN analyst role on “ College GameDay ,” Saban spoke with Kiffin for about 45 minutes last week. Chief among the discussion topics, Saban wanted to polish his knowledge on Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels.

“He was calling to break down the team,” Kiffin told me during our wide-ranging interview last week . “He wanted to know stuff for the season, because he’s attacking his new job.”

Saban, along with his ESPN duties, retains an office at Alabama as an athletic department employee.

Careful, Lane, he’s a mole!

But, really, this was a conversation among former colleagues. And, anyway, Alabama and Ole Miss aren’t scheduled to play each other – at least not during the regular season.

While Kiffin had the GOAT on the phone, he asked his former boss for advice on managing expectations like those Ole Miss will face this season.

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Nick Saban's advice for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss football

Kiffin has the Rebels performing at their highest level since the early 1960s. Ole Miss profiles as a contender for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

Saban knows all about navigating lofty expectations. He reminded Kiffin about the perils of "rat poison." That’s the phrase Saban coined for when media pump a team full of sweet nothings and flatter players with praise and hype.

Saban also told Kiffin the mountain parable. It goes like this:

A team fights to climb to the top of the mountain. Once it reaches the summit, it becomes the mountain, and every opponent tries to conquer you.

“I’m not saying we’re there yet,” Kiffin said. “I’m just saying, that’s what he said, his advice.”

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Did Lane Kiffin predict Nick Saban's retirement?

Before Ole Miss played Alabama last season, Kiffin dropped a few hints suggesting that it would be his final time facing Saban.

Saban hadn’t announced any retirement plans. Did Kiffin possess inside intel? No, Kiffin says, just an ability to read the room and the knowledge that Alabama wasn’t on Ole Miss’ 2024 schedule. He put two and two together.

“Listening to him in press conferences, … his frustration of the direction of college football and NIL and how that affects locker rooms and everyone wanting to transfer twice a year and all of that, that really bothered him, I felt,” Kiffin said, “and so I just kind of felt like this might be it – and certainly might be it within two years, because they weren’t on the schedule the following year.”

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Saban retired in January. He finished with a 5-0 record against Kiffin. Alabama beat Ole Miss 24-10 last September in their final meeting. That loss seemed to really eat at Kiffin in the moment – he even apologized to his athletic director, Keith Carter, after the game – but he says he’s moved past it.

“I try to adopt radical acceptance in all areas of my life now,” Kiffin said.

Did Kiffin want to be Saban's successor? In answer to that, Kiffin referenced some advice his dad, former coach Monte Kiffin, gave him years ago about the perils of replacing legends. Kiffin ignored that advice at Tennessee and Southern Cal, where he succeeded Phillip Fulmer and Pete Carroll, respectively.

The way Kiffin sees it, no act will be tougher to follow than Saban.

“I think (replacing Saban) and taking over for Coach K would be the two ones that pop to my mind of hardest things to do,” Kiffin said, “because you’re always going to be compared to that.”

Kiffin maintains that Ole Miss doesn’t directly benefit from Saban’s retirement, in light of the SEC expanding to 16 teams and eliminating divisions. The Rebels aren’t scheduled to play Alabama in either 2024 or ’25.

Kiffin does, though, suspect someone is awfully happy about Saban’s transition from the sideline to ESPN.

“I think that Kirby Smart had a really big party that day that he retired,” Kiffin said. “That’s just my opinion.”

Blake Toppmeyer  is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at  [email protected]  and follow him on Twitter  @btoppmeyer .