2014 Creation Club Levels

This year has been a very fun, but very busy year. Personally, I made the jump to fifth grade following the group of children that I worked with last year. When it came to the Little Big Planet Creation Club I had a lot of really enjoyable ideas, but they all had one thing in common; they were all very lofty. Some of them were able to get their ideas to work, others we were able to do some of the things that we set out to do, and for one we were able to get the vehicle he designed working the way he wanted it to, but little else.

I am proud to announce that the work of the LBP Classrooms 2013 - 2014 Creation Club has officially been published. Their work can be found HERE. Each level is accompanied by a picture of the level and the link to the level or race. Please enjoy and leave some encouraging words for the students. Below are some of the pictures from our parent open house, where families got to see what their students had been working on all year.

I will be back with an update and where we are going next school year in the next week or so.

I shared some words about what each of the kids had done during the course of the year.

We had two screen set up for parents to try out what their young creator had put together.

It was the first time that each of the kids got to see all of the other projects, so their was a lot of excitement as we switched between the different projects.

Let's Joust In the Name of Math

So, I had heard of Johann Sebastian Joust a while ago. It sounded like a blast and seeing the Youtube videos, it immediately became something I wanted to find a way to use in the classroom.  Last year, through KickStarter, the creator of the game, Douglas Wilson, and three other independent game developers came together to create a collection of four local (everyone in the same room) competitive multi-player games known as SportsFriends (yes, one word). I followed the game closely, and became pretty excited about the other games in the group as well. 

The collection was released on May 6th and with our state standardized tests looming I wasn't sure if I would be able to get it in this school year. That is, until I realized just how hard my kids were working and how they desperately needed something to pick up their spirits as we prepared for these daunting assessments. So, I took the plunge and designed a friendly competition around the game.

The class was broken into three groups. Each team would be represented by one player at a time for a round of Johann Sebastian Joust. The winner's team gained the opportunity to score 9 points, second place could score 6, and third place could score 3 points...if the entire team was able to answer one of the sample test problems correctly.  The students were so excited.  They would watch the matches of Joust so intently, celebrate (or bemoan) the outcome, and then quickly turn their attention to the problem giving it all they had, as they did not want to let their team down. 

The experience was fantastic. Every student had the chance to participate in Joust and most of their mathematical work was spot on. I did allow for corrections to be made, however, students had to locate their own mistakes and apply the corrections independently. It was such a good experience and I will definitely use this review method again next year.  In the mean time, I plan to work in the other games from the collection with some of our year end activities. Particularly, with our all boys/girls day, in which all of the boys in the grade level spend the day with me discussing leadership and taking part in some fun competitions.

Five Questions From Students: Tearaway Part 2

This is part two of an interview that some of students had with Rex Crowle, the creative lead on the PlayStation Vita game Tearaway. I was very proud of the questions that my students came up with and hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I did facilitating it.

Once again, a huge thank you to Rex for taking the time to answer their questions. You sir, have made a huge impact on our class. Lest we not forget this...

Thank you.  Looking forward to what is next.

M's questions

1. What do you do to keep the creative process going throughout the entire project?

Some times we have game-jams, short periods of time where everyone experiments at the same time on new ideas. When we decided to do one to make the most of all the unique things the Vita could do, and thats when we created the drum-skins, taking photos of textures to put on the animals and lots of the stranger parts of the game! Things change so quickly while making a game that there is usually something fresh to play with, to inspire you a bit more, or someone interesting to talk to. 

2. Everyone has their favorite parts, like me with Atoi. But what is your favorite part?

I like playing catch with the Squirrels! It's fun just picking up some items and throwing them back and forth. I like that it doesn't give you points or make you loose health or do anything negative, its just a nice moment to spend with a little animal!

3. Is there anything about Tearaway you don't particularly enjoy?

Because I'm more of an artist than a fighter I enjoyed making things in the game a lot more than destroying them.

4. How did you rejoice after Tearaway released?

We had a great party! Lots of members of the Tearaway team decorated a venue near the office so it was covered in Papercraft all over the walls - it was like the end of Wassail Orchard when the music starts playing (except there weren't any giant fingertips making the records go around!)

5. Will you make another game?

Definitely! We already showed some little glimpses of things we've trying out on Playstation 4, when that console was first announced last year. But I'm not allowed to say anymore about that just yet!

Five Questions From Students: Tearaway Part 1

With the release of Tearaway, some of the students in my class who choose to pick it up.  After playing it, I reached out to the games creative lead, Rex Crowle, to see if he would be willing to answer some questions from a few of my fifth graders. Here are the first five questions from their interview.

A huge thanks to Rex for taking the time to answer these questions. Enjoy.  

R's questions

1. Does Tearaway use the same software as Little Big Planet?

No, it uses different software - we needed to create different software because this time we wanted to build a 3D world to explore, instead of the 2D world of LittleBigPlanet which was more like a race from left to right. We also had to put a lot of effort into simulating the paper, so it looked and reacted like paper, and thats not something our LittleBigPlanet software could do. 

But while making a game we use lots of software as well that is more common like Photoshop to make concept-art, diagrams and storyboards on how the game will look and work.

2. Was Tearaway difficult to create?

It was! It was very hard to make the world react and move like paper, and because games don't normally do that we had to invent how to make it happen, which took lots of experimenting and hard-work!

3. Is Tearaway based off of anything?

It's mainly based on just remembering how creative it was to play with paper at school instead of just using it for emails in a office (we're all very old now ;). Some of the influences also come from some of the old traditions of England, or other areas of the world. I originally came from a place called Cornwall, which has a lot of strange traditions, and lots of Valleyfold are based on those. Tearaways music by Kenny and Brian is influenced from folk music, and music from Scotland and South America. 

4. Who were the people (characters in the game) that talked to Iota along the way?

In Valleyfold they are called Mummers - they are based on an old tradition of people dressing up in disguise and putting on little plays, that they took from door-to-door. I really liked the way costumes for those events where created, and felt they would work well in paper. Stefan, who made them in the game, and Lluis and Mike, who animated them, made them come to life perfectly. Each one represents a different part of the natural world - some are like trees, some are like the fruit on trees, and some are like the animals that like eating fruit. 

In Sogport the characters are Mermen and Mermadames - they are fish that have come to live on the land, using the special yellow trousers they make to allow them to walk around. Half of the characters on Sogport are very traditional, they still stay by the sea in the harbour, and then the other half are more experimental and have decided to explore the world, and even outer space. They are the ones have have built the laboratory to study whats outside of the island. I thought it would be interesting to have some characters that like traditional things and some that like modern things - because lots of the story behind the game is about old things meeting new things. 

5. Did the prototypes look totally different from the released versions?

Yes, it started out with an isometric camera (a style that doesn't use perspective to make things get smaller as they get further away, unlike the real world) and it was more about exploring dungeons. At that point there wasn't the character of the Messenger (iota or atoi) it was just your finger, tearing into the world, with a little face drawn on it. I've attached a photo of how that looks, as its strange to describe! But as we experimented we found it was better to use your fingers for big dramatic moments, and then have a paper character inside the game, who you would control with the joystick.

An Over Due Extra Life Write Up

This post is way over due. On November 1, 2013 my class of fifth grade students started something amazing.  We held our first ever Extra Life gaming marathon. The kids each brought in money to donate to a local hospital through the Children Miracle Network. We raised a total of $160.00, which was great.

On the day of the event, the students came down to the gym.  We set up four systems on televisions around the area playing multiplayer games like Little Big Planet 2, When Vikings Attack, NintendoLand, and Smash Bros. Brawl. The grand gem of our event, however, was our tournaments on the big projector screen. We held two events, a Wii Sports Tennis open and a Mario Kart Wii Grand Prix. Our Tennis activity was a pairs competition. Half of the brackets was boys only, and the other bracket was girls only. In the end our boys champions met our girls champions in the finals. In an epic match the girls team brought home the crown. Our Mario Kart tournament was just as fun.

The students also enjoyed pizza, junk food, and other refreshments. Every hour we gave away a Nintendo based grab bag of goodies and every student went home with something small.  It was a great night for what I hope will become an annual event for our school.  Here are some of the photos. Enjoy.

The New Year has Begun

My last story to share is that the new year of our design club has kicked off. I have six new, creative minds ready to sink their teeth into the Little Big Planet franchise. The group began last Friday. As we did last school year, I am letting them start out by playing the games to really see the types of things they can do if they want to. It is always fun to watch them get in and enjoy the different aspect of the LBP2 and Karting.

I learned a lot working with the kids last year, and I am excited about this year’s group. I have some fun ideas about having the students contribute to the blog and, time permitting, do a team create competition where other students in our school judge the finished products. One step at a time though.

Love this picture. Our group meets on Fridays this year.

Also, I have a fifty dollar commitment from a backer to help get the group a PS Vita and several who have already given. Thank you to all who have helped so far. This will put our group exactly $66 away from adding that to our repertoire of hardware and open up new possibilities.

If you can help with that, please go to this link at donorschoose.org.

What does Awesome Sauce taste like?

My second bit of news is a little late, but it has been a busy first 9 weeks of school. I want to thank both the Little Big Planet community and more specifically our awesome Community Manager, Steven, for granting to me one of Little Big Planet’s highest honors. At the beginning of the school year I received the Awesomesauce pin. That is digital metal that distinguishes your work in Little Big Planet as valuable and important. When my wife, Kathleen, asked why this was such a big deal I explained it like this. This game has been played by around 4 million people or so. According to the Little Big Planet wiki, I was the 13^th person to receive the pin. So, yeah, it is really cool.

Thank you all for your support, we are not done yet though, more on that tomorrow.

Helping to Give Extra Life

I will be posting three very exciting bits of news over the next three days.  First, I am excited to announce that on November 1, 2013, our school will be holding an Extra Life event. If you do not know, Extra Life is a yearly fund raiser run by the Children’s Miracle Network to raise money for local hospitals and join the fight against cancer among kids. Normally the marathon is a 25 hour one, but what we are doing is five hours on five systems for students in grade five (get it?). This way we meet the 25 hour requirement. Student and some of our teachers will be playing from 3 pm until 8 pm. We are planning to play lots of cooperative and multiplayer games and even hold a couple tournaments. Our goal is to raise $100, and over half of our fifth grade is participating.

If you read this and feel moved to donate feel free to join our cause at my Extra Life page or go to Extra-Life.org and search for Adam Renard in the upper right corner. You can expect a huge write up about the event that weekend.

Very exciting stuff, and more tomorrow.

Kicking Off the New School Year

Wow, what a fast summer!  My family did so much that it was hard to keep up. My summer goals did not get as far as I would have liked, but I made some huge progress in my learning levels.  Our school year has started, and there is a major buzz around the fifth grade about Little Big Planet.  I have some big things in store for them, some of which I can’t even talk about yet. However, this is the stuff that I can share about this year so far.

Help Us Get a Vita Update

We are working with DonorsChoose.org to get a Vita for the design club.  Currently we have had nearly forty dollars pledged, which is great as they are all people outside of the school, my family, and friends I have regular contact with.  Currently we need $330.  What I am hoping is that we can get 33 people who will commit $10 to the cause.  If you are in the United States, I know that this is a tax deduction.  Please help. I promise you, we will use it.  You can use the link below or the one to the right of the screen.  I will keep you updated as people donate on how close we are.

Help our students add some new tools to their bag. <-- Just Click This Link

Design Club

Student Applications go out this week and those who want to be involved this year have to get proposals back to me by next week. After that, we will begin our design process, namely teaching the kids the ins and outs of basic tools.  I am excited because this year the students have longer to work on their projects, because of this I am toying with the idea of assigning multiple projects or even a team project to students. It should be exciting.

Testers

I want create a small testing group. I am looking at bringing these students in once a month to assist the design club in finding things that don’t work in their levels. However, while we wait for those kids to get the basics down this testing group may be trying some of the Team Picks or perhaps work with one of the fan sites to find levels to play for feedback.  This way the community gets different opinions and my testers get to practice finding positives and negatives in levels.

Reviews to Better Writing

Over the summer I found out that I would be moving from fourth grade to fifth grade. Here in Virginia fifth graders have to complete a writing standardized test where a big part of the score is a writing sample.  To encourage students practice as well as expand the site, fifth grade students will have a review writing contest each grading period where they can write a video game review for extra credit.  The reviews have to be written in the format that we use to prepare them for their test. They will be scored using the same rubric and the three best will be featured here on the site for all to read.  I am really excited to see what the students come up with for this.

Let's see what bright ideas this years students come up with.

As I said, I am doing more than just the things listed here, but all of that is for another day.  Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement.  I will keep you posted.

Goals for the Future

I thought about writing a year in review, but truly I don't need it.  Everything that we have done has been documented here.  There are, however, two things I want to share.

1. I am now, more than ever, convinced that using gaming to learn has such an untapped potential.   We need to explore this opportunity and use it to help students.

2. The kids love it!  They want more.  I have a large number of students who want to be involved in the design club next year and that is so exciting.

That said, I am proud to share that lbpclassroom will continue next school year.  Here are some of the goals I have moving forward as we head into year 2.

Making More Levels To Teach With: The excitement around having a game console out could not be denied.  The students this year were so excited to be playing in math, science, and reading.  This summer and into the fall I have three levels I want to get up and running.  One is based on using context clues to choose a correct vocabulary word.  The context is created by playing short platform sections in different environments. Another is a fun idea with branching paths.  Where students go is based on how quickly they can find a missing number in a given equation.  The last idea I will be working on is a race against the clock using LBPKarting, to sort different concepts.  Think matching ideas and Crazy Taxi (one of my personal favorite games of all time).  More on these later this summer.

Expand the Design Club: There are two things I really want to do.  One, I really want to push the creation of music in the game using the music sequencer.  I just know I have a few budding composers ready to shock the world.   The second thing is adding another system.  Not a PlayStation 3 though.  No, no.  One of these…

The addition of a Vita would provide students an opportunity to make touch based games.  It also saves me the trouble of finding another television to work on.  I think at this point it is safe to say we will use it...a lot.   If you would consider helping get a Vita for the club please click the link below, or the DonorsChoose.org link in the right hand corner of the site.

Help Us Get a Vita

Overhaul the Site: I would say that this experience has been amazing.  Going forward I will probably be shifting the format a bit to help find information even more easily.  I want to provide a road map for using LBP in the classroom so that other teachers and districts can see the benefits of this amazing tool.

I have other ideas, but for now I must keep them to myself.  Thank you all for your continued support. 

New Things and What Is Coming

Just like that the 2012 - 2013 school year is coming to a close and with it my first year of LBP Classroom.  First and foremost you can find the LBPClassroom Design Club's levels...

HERE!

Each group that I work with will have its own page.  On that page you will find a screen shot, the title, the creator's nickname, which game that they worked with, the focus of their level/race, and a general description.  If you are curious whose level is whose, you can cross reference with the group photo at the top of the page.  The title of each level is linked to the level's lbp.me or karting.lbp.me page just to make it a little easier.  The kids did a really amazing job.  I helped with some tech, but made a point to teach them how to do it, rather than just do it for them.  The ideas are theirs and they were cool.  Please enjoy!

As for what is coming.  Here is a glimpse of what you can expect on the site in the next few weeks.

• A reflection on the year as a whole.
• Where I plan to take both the project and the site.
• A way you can help us move forward.

Until then, enjoy the levels and never stop learning.

The Level Makers Celebration 2013

My schools 2013 LBP Design Club

So, last night was one of the most special things that I have had the privilege of being involved in since I started teaching. In just over a year the concept of creating a Little Big Planet design club went from pipe dream to full execution in my school.  We celebrated the students work in the right way.  We filled my classroom with these students and their families to play their completed works for the first time.  We ate (jalapeno Cheetos at the request of my students), we played, we laughed.  It was also the first time the Karting kids played the LBP2 kids levels and vice versa.  That made for some great conversation about how things were achieved and where different ideas came from.  For me, that was the coolest part.  Well, that and of course, watching the families interact through Little Big Planet was pretty amazing.  I have shared some of those moments below.

Here, Zeebie and her dad tried out her race, Cheshire Cake, for the first time.  He was really impressed by all that she had done and that others would be able to enjoy what she had made. 

Blizzard Lightening and his little sister climb to the top of Frostfern Mountain together.  They were laughing hysterically as blew each other up with the 'Helmet of Flames'.

There was, of course, cake.  The first time I have had my name on a cake that 

did not also say Happy Birthday.

Beta Testing in the LBP Classroom

When I began this project I had several things that I wanted to do. One of those goals was to create a small team of students who would come in, look at the projects the creators are working on, and offer peer feedback.  It would be kind of like having what the video games industry calls testers or QA.  When the design group became a reality I thought back to last school year and really considered who I heard talking about games a lot.  There were two boys that came to mind.  I approached both of them in February, and these two young men both seemed very interested.

The finest in fifth grade gaming fanatics.

Unfortunately, due to the time it has taken to get projects ready, I have not been able to utilize the boys as much as I had hoped in the process.  However, I am happy to say that Friday after school my feedback team was able to play each level and fill out a feedback sheet for the creators.  The page that they filled out was very basic.  It consisted of the following questions,

1.       How fun was the level?

2.       Would you play it again?

3.       Was it easy to understand what you were doing?

4.       What was something you liked?

5.       What was something you would change?

6.       Did anything not work while you played?
(Note: Questions 1 - 3 were on a 5 point scale)

They played the races in split screen and I even joined them for one of the LBP2 competitive games.

The creators will receive their feedback on Tuesday and Thursday and be able to make some adjustments as we draw closer and closer to our publishing date.  I truly think that this process was and will be helpful.  It is my hope that next year I can start the group earlier and make better use of a testing group, but these two certainly given me a nice starting point to work from.  

This race was a crowd pleaser.  

We will get into that in the next week or so.

Thank You Media Molecule!

Okay, so it didn't just arrive.  However, with all of our preparation for our upcoming standardized test this is the first opportunity we have had to celebrate its arrival.  A big thank you to Rex, Spaff, and the guys at Media Molecule.  Thank you for choosing our picture.  It is amazing and will always have a place of honor in my classroom.

On a different note, Tearaway is the most wanted game in my classroom.  There are many students who have made comments about being able to get a Vita and Tearaway for birthdays, or being excited about asking for it for Christmas.  It makes me happy to point them to more age appropriate games.  There is so much fun to be had.

Here is a special message from the kids and the picture we won.

The Deadline is Out

WATCH OUT!!!
DEAD LINE INCOMING

Today, the calendar was passed out.  Immediately, they noticed the BIG, BOLD letters.  Level Showcase on Thursday, May 30 at 6PM.  On that date the game club will meet as a group and celebrate our hard work and successes.  Then on Saturday, June 1st I will publish all six of the LBP Classroom levels and they will be open to the public.

I will share a lot more with all of you leading up to the event.  However, I am truly excited to share what they have come up with you.  There are a lot of really neat things going on.  From a multiplayer coin collecting mini-game, to a daring school escape, a climbing expedition, a race around a giant cake, twisty track, and trip to challenging bog.  Some may not be completely finished, but we will make sure that they are as close as we can get them.

Thank you all, more for you soon.

But the Children Love the Bounce Pads

I just wanted to share photos of using Stop Thief!: Decimal Edition as a math station.  It worked amazingly well, the kids were able to play through it two times and fill out a two question half sheet to give me feedback.  Humorously enough, with over 100 bounce pads in the level, the number one request was more bounce pads.  Enjoy the pictures.

The Thief reveals himself!

You will note that huge decimal.

Playing LBP works really well as a small group station.

Send that bad guy to jail.

Was it hundreds or hundredths?

One thing is for sure, it was fun.

Humbling Encouragement from my Clientele

So we go into Spring break and my co teacher sends these to me.  Both of them come from girls in our class.  Think that they are enjoying LBP in the classroom?

I know about half of you reading this right now are thinking, '15 minutes for recess!?!"  Sadly, it is what it is. 

We made the brainstorming section on this one, 

but didn't make it to the final copy.

One Giant Leap For Sack Kind: A Reflection

As we have entered into the assessment-centric time in education, data is king.  Every educator must able dissect the performances of his students rapidly and flexibly in order to adjust plans.  I have become very good at breaking down the what my students need simply by looking at a few wrong answers.  It is at this point that I am excited to share with you something that probably won't surprise anyone: It worked.

One of my goals when I created the Little Big Planetary Investigation was to have the children complete it for a grade.  Starting in December my students embarked on a journey through the cosmos in groups of four.  Here are some of the take aways to share...

1.  They loved it!  Each group was so excited to get their chance to complete the activity.  Kids who play games for fun and kids who don't play much at all were excited to do the work.  They savored every second that they had the controller.  They were polite and respectful of each other.

2. The data sheets were all completed very well.  The work that students completed during the activity was amazing.  When I designed the activity I intended for the data sheet to give students key information and make observations.  They need to pay attention to collect the data when it is presented.  Then they need to make observations about how high the character jumps, how fast the planet is moving, and what the planet looks like (and draw it).  Many of the groups did a great job helping one another and the final products were super.

3. They want more!  I included a feedback survey at the end of the data sheet and I repeatedly saw comments like, Can we do more of this?  Can we do things like this in math and reading?  They really enjoyed themselves and they want more. Now, if I could just find the time to make more.

4. It seems to have worked.  When completing the unit test I did a question breakdown.  The questions covered during the activity were the least missed questions on the test.  To me, that would suggest that the kids remembered this information better than information covered through traditional means.

5. Things like this take time.  Not only did it take time to create, but it took a while to cycle all of the kids through.  If I get the opportunity to complete this activity next year, I will set up the way students complete the activity differently.  It was totally worth it, I just need to structure when they do it a bit differently so the activity is completed in a more timely fashion.

Overall, simply amazing.  I am totally convinced that this sort of thing has a place in classrooms.  The kids response and application of the activity displayed that.  Next subject.

Grateful and Encouraged

Since I started this project, I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know some amazing people:  Shane_Danger, Mr. Krispy Kreme, Weirdy Beardy, The Pocket Moon guys (John and Tom), Leklack, the LBP Community team.  You are all amazing and I am blessed to have met you.  Last week something new happened, a website called Little Big Journey, run by PSN screen names ApertureNOBLE and Breezy-The-Pro, did something amazing.  They challenged Little Big Planet creators to take this game we enjoy so much and apply a purpose: learning.

It is an astounding read that truly asks creators, and anyone really, to go beyond themselves and give time doing something that they enjoy to potentially be there to help future generations learn.  I have to admit, I have given consideration to what Little Big Planet would look like if it were applied to education and there certainly is a niche for people who use gaming as the back drop for learning.  If you have never seen it, look at what the people at ExploreLearning are doing by using great games to teach math fluency.  They even apply concepts of leveling, achievements, and use of avatars to encourage students to keep playing. It is brilliant, and my students really enjoy it.

That is the thing.  There is a built-in audience here.  They are hungry to play AND learn.  If we give them something they will do it, and enjoy it.  There hasn't been a day where I plug in one of the PS3's that my students don't say "Little Big Planet, YES!"  They want it and that is what makes this whole thing worth every second.    

Readers, friends, family, I thank you for your encouragement.  Breezy, Aperture, thank you both.  You two are amazing and your web site really cool.

Have a great week, all.

Up Late In the Name of Decimals

Right now, in math, we are working on decimals and I will share with you that place value (knowing the names of each digit and how much that is worth) is hard for 10 year old kids.  So much so that in the fall I made Stop Thief!, my place value game.  On Friday, I told the learners that we would be splitting up in to stations and that we would be practicing decimals in fun ways on Monday.  

Last night, when my wife went to bed, I stayed up to modify the Stop Thief! and I am proud to say that after nearly four hours of work Stop Thief! Decimal Edition is ready to roll.  I even went ahead and published it.  If you have the time give it a whirl.  Any feedback is always appreciated.  I will be back with feedback later next week.