Another game found on educationalgames.com is called the Long and Short Vowel Sort. This game targets the pre-school/kindergarten audience in helping them in their understanding of letter sound relationships. Similar to the previous game, players must complete certain levels before moving onto the next.
Pictured above is a map overview of the game. You can see how the different areas correspond to another topic, such as digraphs, segmenting, blending, sight words, and short vowels. Players are able to earn points and different awards throughout the game which helps keep the engaged and wanting more.
One aspect of the game which I thought to be efficient practice is the shopping cart short vowel exercise. In this exercise, players put all the pictures with a long vowel sound in one cart and all the pictures with a short vowel sound in the other cart. Targeted reading and writing practice is essential for students at this grade level, so this aspect of the game is excellent practice.
Educational Technology -- Mlyssa 
Hi Mlyssa! I love the idea of this game. Students at this age really need to learn Phonemic Awareness which is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that helps to differentiate units of meaning. This game is great for that because they can practice with their digraph, segmenting, blending, and sight words. I can see this game being used for centers in a pre-k and or kindergarten classroom. It can also be used at home for a little extra practice. Great post!
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This is a great way for young students to have repeated practice, especially in phonics! I love how you write about the importance of balancing learning and fun. When learning is fun or engaging, students make more connections. Nice post Mlyssa!
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Mlyss, this game looks super fun. When I glanced at the first game I thought it was club penguin. This game looks super entertaining. The hard part when finding games is determining if the game has a good balance of play and learning. I would say this game does have a good balance between the two. So, good job with that! Phonics always needs to be practiced with students because it is a hard concept for them. Students would love to play this game during centers and would probably show their parents to play at home also. Levels are also good incentives because they are curious to see what the next level looks like. Having a points system makes the game seem like it is not educational, students might not even realize they are learning something since it looks so colorful and interesting. Like Brianna said I could see students playing Pre-k through first grade.
Shopping for vowels is also a fun way to incorporate what they might do on a regular basis. This connects real life with learning and schooling. Students would realize that they have gone shopping with their parents and they will be excited to fill their carts.
Mlyss good job finding a game that is super colorful and incorporates everyday activities that they might be able to connect to their families. I bet students would chose this game over other ones just based on the levels and the points system
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