I’m excited! Within the next week or so, a new feature will be added to the Discover Texas program–
The Texas Timeline Game!
That’s it, there in the picture. Blue cards cover basic facts. Red cards are from the Revolution & Republic expansion pack. (A separate expansion pack–Famous Texans–is on the design board now.)
If you’ve purchased the online version of Discover Texas, all you have to do is go back to the online classroom you created and download the latest version. You’ll fine the Texas Timeline Game in the last volume as a Doing More Activity. (If you purchased Discover Texas on disk, email me at info@discovertexasonline.com and I’ll send you a link.)
The game is, essentially, a colorful set of flash cards.
So why would I get so all-fired excited about flash cards?
Because they’re part of a GAME!
The game is simple–First player to get 10 cards in chronological order wins. (Rules are included with your game.)
That’s not the point.
The point is that kids, like all of us, LEARN MORE and RETAIN MORE when they’re involved in the learning process–when they’re having fun.
Yes, when you play the game with your kiddos, you’re repeatedly reviewing noteworthy events they’ve learned about (with extra events thrown in just because they’re cool).
Yes, players are challenged to think through what came first, next, and last using logic to sort out and understand how one event affected other events.
But more than that, don’t we all just sort of “dread” doing things we have to do and feel like we’re somehow “getting away with something” when we get to do something we actually enjoy? When we’re having fun, learning becomes an adventure.
That’s one of the primary concepts behind our curriculum.
That’s why our motto says, “Discover Texas History…one adventure after another!”
