Happy Birthday, Robot! in the classroom


Those are actual kids in the classroom playing Happy Birthday, Robot! Innumerable thanks go to Cassie Krause for running the game for her class. They were split up into groups so they could play on their own. Teacher's comments:

"One of the girls that was playing is far below grade level in all subject areas, and she did a GREAT job of participating and writing the sentences.* She has actually begged me all week to play.* She felt success in this writing activity, which is something that she doesn't feel very often during writing time, because she struggles to correctly articulate her words. However, with the idea of not having to write a complete sentence, because someone else could help finish it, it motivated her to write the best she could.

"[…]My principal was asking me about HBR, because he saw the story on my board.* He knows that I'm a gaming nerd, and likes to give me a hard time about it.* I showed him the dice, and the PDF to read through.* He said that this was amazing, and wondered what would happen if we put in some of the other conjunctions as well.* Have some dice that have "and" and "but", however, also have dice that say "or" and "yet."* It would give the kids exposure to using the other conjunctions as well to the main "and" and "but"* Needless to say, he was really impressed with the whole thing!"

A game that helps kids with learning disabilities AND turns school principals into game designers? Rock. :D

Here are the stories they came up with.

~~~~

Happy Birthday Robot!

Robot was very happy but his friends were not.
Robot went to his friend's house and he got lost.
Robot was scared because he didn't have a way to get home.
He tried to call the police, but the police didn't show.
Robot went to the nearest store, The Oil Shop.
His parent's were there looking for him all day.
Robot's mom and dad were happy and they said he could never leave.
Before he left his mom and dad said, "Happy Birthday Robot!"
And they sang him "Happy Birthday!"

Written by Mark, Jordin, and Derrion

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Happy Birthday Robot!

Robot went out to eat at his favorite restaurant and had fun there.
The Robot and his friends went to the park and then we wanted to go home.
Then Robot wrote about his day in his journal, then Robot took a nap.
The next day it was his birthday, he had a surprise party.
And they had lot and lots of food.
Last, he opened his presents with lots of job.
Then Robot and his family and friends watched him, play with his things.
Robot had lots of fun.

Written by Ashaiana, Keyonna, and Nesha

~~~~

I want to send free and discounted copies of the game to schools like this one. Pre-orders of the PDF or Print+PDF bundle help make that happen. Thank you so much for all the help you've pledged, backers. Keep spreading the word. :)

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