Community reviews for ABCya!

ABCYa is an engaging website that allows students to gain a 21st century take on learning by utilizing a video game format to practice both reading and math concepts. it is great that there is a website that allows students to practice math and reading while they find learning fun. I really like how some games have at least 3 levels of difficulty, this allows for great differentiation. I also like how students can access all grade levels so that students may practice any skill that is available. I also really like how the games allow students to make mistakes and keep trying until they get the correct answer. Another benefit is some of the games have incentives to get a certain amount of questions correct, which enables students to unlock certain features of the game. I think this is great because students have a goal to work towards achieving instead of just answering questions. I also like how some of the games, for example comparing numbers, creates a game that allows students to race and collect as many numbers that are greater than a given number. I think including these types of games allows students to learn while enabling students to feel as if they are playing a video game. Overall I believe this is a great website students can truly benefit from as it allows students to conquer Reading and Math concepts at all levels of understanding.

Good site for 15 minute or less focus

I feel this site is very good as an individual practice tool for the kindergartners. They are engaged and want to use the site. I like to use the 100's chart, but the rest of the games seem better suited for individual use. It is a good site for the students to practice their computer navigational skills also. I like the way it is broken down by grade level and is easy to navigate and loads quickly. I do recommend parent's to use it at home as an educational site., I feel that the content is more for practice than knowledge gain.

I thought it was a great way to teach children to type using games. However, after a while they did get bored. The more challenging games actually pushed the children's abilities and made them focus on typing skills. So many of the children thought that they knew how to type, but didnt actually. It ended up being a great learning experience for them. Another note that I had on this was that it was an excellent skill that could be used for occupational therapist. It truly challenged the students' fine motor skills.

Like any website or software the effectiveness of ABC Ya! depends on the planning and implementation of the teacher. It is a great website for education games and activities to support what students are learning. Some of the flash activities can be glitchy and at the directions are not always clear. The activities are connected to the common core so teachers can demonstrate how they connect with student learning goals.

There are several items I would like to see expanded. Alpha Match is pretty low level, yet it does work for mouse control. Some of the 'Make A...' could use a revamp. Waiting for the "Make a Pizza" to be eaten drives them mad. Connect the dots is a little odd but it works. It makes them seek the missing number but some do get very frustrated when it is in a distinctly unusual sequence. "Birthday Candle Count" and "Make a Christmas Tree" make them berserk with the precision required to drag and drop, But then, that does teach them a little perseverance, doesn't it? The Kinders call it, "...our web site..." and have made any number of requests of the classroom teacher to send it home to the parents and when that did not happen, they chanted to memorize the address to tell the parents themselves, and over the very long school break in December, several parents reported their little ones requested access. It has always been listed on our EdTech Resource page, but the fact that they were interested enough to want to do it themselves, I think, speaks volumes. The First Grade will request abc time, when they are given a time frame and they have a choice of what activity to use to fill the frame. 3,4,5,6 also report that they do sometimes re-visit the page to see what's new or to use a seasonal activity. All in all, I find it a good start to the year and I find it a good resource for a seasonal re-visit.

I love this product and am extremely happy with the creators. They service so many children and I am so grateful that this is still available free to all children. This website is user friendly and is constantly adding new games to their site. The students are learning and practicing many skills without really realizing it because they are having so much fun. I do not use this site everyday, but use it more as an incentive or when I see that my students need a break and something educational, but fun.

My favorite thing about this site is you chose the grade level you want the students to work on. If you have a student that is higher or lower, you click on the grade that they will feel comfortable on. They can work independently. I also like that the games are at the bottom of the screen, math and reading activities are listed first. I do not like that you are unable to ensure the students do so many reading and math before the games are active. It is hard when they are in independent stations to make sure they are staying on the lesson you choose.

My overall opinion of this product is favorable. I find it beneficial that it is user friendly for younger students. They are able to easily navigate it themselves once selecting their appropriate grade level. I like that in selecting a grade level, you can scaffold students as needed and challenge them whole group by using more advanced activities. I feel comfortable giving my students the freedom to select from any activity because all of them reinforce skills that we are continually working on. I do find the advertisements to be distracting and, at times inappropriate for students to see. I read that ABCya uses those advertisements in order to keep the website free. I just have to remind my students to ignore them. Overall, this website has been a beneficial learning tool in my classroom.

I think the content is great and students really enjoy it! My only complaint is there is a section of the website at the very bottom that offers no learning content and has just game content. I often find my students on this section if I do not stay on top of them during whole group technology time. I feel that if there was a way to assign parts of the website or limit the game playing it could save myself some time. However, overall the site offers valid information and has great tools for learning that my students really love!