Following last week's meetup where we collectively forewent abiding a theme and instead just played the most fun games that have been introduced so far this semester, I took the liberty to carry that momentum forward, bringing only the hits, plus a few more.

After half a dozen club meetings, I’m starting to notice some patterns about how students pick the games they want to play each week. Foremost, if there is something new and shiny, every student will be drawn to it. Last week, that was Jumanji Stampede. Perhaps in my infinite concern about which games the kids may find the most interesting each week on-theme, I overlooked one very simple fact: 7 to 9 year olds just want to have the most fun possible.

Most of my energy in board game club is not spent on teaching and playing games. As much as I can, I let the kids do that themselves. I may step in for a quick explainer or play a hand of a large group game if I have the space and time, but otherwise my role is more along the sides of the actual content itself. Most of my energy in board game club is spent building and repairing the fragile social threads woven amongst the kids.

If you ask a second or third grader what dice are used for, you will get one of two answers. Math, or gambling. Or at least those were the answers I got when I asked my board game club what they commonly use dice for. And in both answers, these sharp young minds hit the nail right on the head. Death and taxes may be the only two certainties in an otherwise uncertain life, but some element of mathematics and the uncertainty of the outcome are the only two guarantees when rolli

Back from Winter Break, the kids gave me a run for my money this week at board game club, but we still ended up enjoying some modern classics like Machi Koro and Dixit.

The second week of board game club saw us try out a series of tile games, a particularly enjoyable week for the visual learners in the class who readily took to the spatial patterning in games like Kingdomino.

A recap of week 1 of Level-Up Board Game Club, including a sneak peak at the first bit of our game design project and an overview of the games we tried out.

December has inaugurated a cold snap in the Bay Area, perfect to stay inside for a spell and play some games. Similarly, the new month has ushered in the second trimester at school, which means that Board Game Club gets underway this week. Nine students are enrolled in the after school class: six second graders (five of whom are in my class), two third graders from the room next door, and one seventh grader who I really hope decides to stick it out with all the youngins,' per

This week, sign ups went out for Winter enrichment classes: crunch time to see if there is enough interest for the club to launch. I only need 7 students to sign up, but there's a lot of competition for students' attention.

A scope and sequence for the first few weeks of the club, including weekly topics, discussion and reflection prompts, and some ideas for games.

Although I told myself that I wasn’t going to put too much on my plate my first year in a new gig, I am going to start up an after-school board game club. I will use this blog to continue to share the progress of Level-Up Board Game Club, and some thoughts and practices on teaching games to younger gamers. Hopefully this will be a useful resource if you are trying to get something like this started at your school.