I got an iPhone a couple weeks ago and I am obsessed with two little fun games: Words with Friends and Scramble with Friends. Both games are so much fun to play! I like the strategy involved, I like trying to beat my best score, I like having something that challenges my brain a little. This got me thinking about how I could use some of these games inside my classroom. Afterall, they involve skills in spelling, vocabulary, phonics, etc... I knew my students could benefit from these fun making-words type activities. Here's what I have come up with so far. A game I call, Scramble with Students. It is similar to Boggle or Scramble with Friends, but it is adapted so your students can play. It makes a fun game to play as a whole class, in small groups, or with partners. It would even make a great self-start or fast-finsher activity for students to do on their own. Here's a free copy of the game board, if you'd like to try it out with your students: I did this one with my students today and they L-O-V-E-D it! I set the timer for 5 minutes and when it beeped, students had a range of anywhere from 7-21 words on their lists. After we started looking at it as a class, we made a list of all the words we found together and we ended up with 77 {seventy-seven} words!! They are so excited to try again tomorrow (with a different list, of course) and see how many words they can find! For the full version that includes 26 different game boards (plus one blank card so you can make your own) click: HERE. This unit was recently updated! Here's a peek at the new look!