MtGCardsmith Cards for Items, Events & 1-Off Power Uses

Follow

Greetings fellow Gamemasters! 

It has come to my attention that several of us here already use, or in my case, are starting to use mtgcardsmith.com to make items, etc. for our classrooms. 

So, I thought if we all shared our cards and ideas how to use them, it may help people new to the idea to implement it easier and it will help those of us who are already, or trying to do it, with some card options.  

Anyway, I am BeattySensei there. Below you will find a card I made (using me!).  
The site is not as hard to use as you might think.   

 

So those of use using cards... should you be able to buy them?   I've included a GP amount on mine so that they can buy them if they're available OR sell them to get GP to upgrade their armor or pet.


52 comments
Date Votes

Great idea, Shawn! Thanks for leading this! I'm a self-contained 5th grade teacher (25 students), so I know this card below won't work for everyone. This was my first attempt at making a card, so I know it's probably got some issues, lol (not that the kids will care too much). I plan to have only 1 or 2 of these in circulation at any given time.

 

 

I am working to create a google folder so we can collaborate more effectively.   If you like this idea, and would like to participate, send me a message at beattysensei@gmail.com

Hi Everyone,

  I use cardsmith in the following way in my classroom.  I use the armor sets from Classcraft instead of random internet pictures because it increases student investment in the game and they get really excited about seeing the armors.  Plus I teach 4th grade so it keeps me from accidentally showing something that might offend a parent ;-) See link at the bottom for the files I use to print my cards and below for how I use them:

Artifacts - these cards are printed larger than a normal collecting card and are given to students at random for doing good things or as a random event.  They are larger because I place them in the front of the classroom in the pockets used for student book boxes and write the name of the student it belongs to with a dry erase marker on it.  Then at any time they can say, "Mr. Vail I would like to activate my card and I take it down and do whatever the card says.

Achievement Cards - This is by far the most popular use for the cards.  These are like achievements you earn in a video game for doing certain things in the class.  Getting a 100% on a spelling test, helping another student learn something, doing a class job for a month and so on.  The cards are the size of a baseball card and the kids collect them in their data binder in a 9 slot sheet protector.

  They get a sheet that tells them what all the achievements are and they work really hard to be the first to get one or to have the most.  I see them showing them off to their classmates and they will show them to parents at conferences.

I have a book that has all the achievements cards pre-made so I can hand them out when one is earned.  I write their name on a sheet that I have after each page of cards so that I can keep track of who gets which cards and so I know who has which cards.  The best part about this is the kids are really good at tracking their own stuff and never forget to let me know when they have earned one which I like because that means the system requires less moderation on my part.  

Below is a link with the files I use to print the cards.  You can create the cards in cardsmith then import them into the powerpoint.  I print 30 of the common ones (I have 30 students) and only as many as needed for the more rare ones.  For example I only need 6 (1 print) of Power Player because 1 maybe two students will earn than one as opposed to improved score on a spelling test as that eventually everyone will get that one.

My username on cardsmith is Fewiel and you can contact me with questions at dvail@psd1.org.  I will include pictures of the different books and placement tomorrow when I am in my classroom.  Please let me know what you think!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z5ig7eekjnz31br/AABuV53KwdF9Aiqi4VJGvrhBa?dl=0 

Here are the picture examples of how the achievement cards look and the artifacts:

Shawn, great thread. Are you still using this? Is there a way to use the cards digitally? All students have devices and I was wondering if there was a way to make the cards easier to manage. This is the first time I have ever heard of this card maker. I have made all my cards manually using Office tools, and while I like them, they are expensive to make so that they last.

Thanks a bunch. Below is an example of one of my cards.

Robert Leppert

Excellent ideas and suggestions!  Here is a copy of all the cards in play in my classroom for anyone who might be interested!  Thanks for this!

ClassCraft Card List

@Karen  I think having all the cards you plan to use for the year already printed out.  So if card is lost or destroyed.... it is permanently out of circulation. 

Shawn, yep, I've already re-organized my class file so that I have the number of each card I want ready to print. So for cards like this one, I have 2 in the set. For my black cards, I have 4-5 per card. I've printed and laminated them already, and I've sorted them into starter packs for my kiddos. Super excited to implement it this year! I was actually thinking of making a Power (or maybe a cost in gold) in CC to replace a lost/damaged card. That way, kids have to "pay" for the time I'll spend to make any replacements. ;) 

Do you guys just print them from a colored printer or take the doc to a copy center?  

I print on my color printer at home and laminate from home, too.

Is it possible to add a classcraft tag to the cards on mtgcardsmith so they can be searched out? (I couldn't find a way to enter custom tags...) 

The reason I have a card up there for the Book of Laments is that I have an achievement for staying out of it.  I don't have a good enough memory to remember who has been in the book of laments and so I write their name on the card.   At the end of the trimester anyone who doesn't have their name on the tracker card gets the achievement and then I throw the tracker card away and start over.

Ever have a problem with blurry words when you print these out?

Last year my game was Star Wars based, so I made a lot of cards for that set.  I have converted over to this website this year and need to make cards that work here.  

The cards print beautifully.  My artifact cards are about 3 times the size of the regular playing cards and they are still clear and crisp.  

I realized that when Shawn started this thread we were supposed to share our cards, which is a great idea.  Here are my player cards.  
  
































Hi, could we share our Cardsmith names? That way we can look up each others cards and save to our sets.

Mine is Reddhen

here is an example of one of my Classcraft cards:

Those are awesome!  Thanks for sharing.  My MTGCardsmith user ID is: beattysensei  

I hope that link works.

Tried one.

@Robert  Yep...we're still using this thread.  We have a google folder with a bunch of cards.  Send me an email and I can add you.

Also...love the card. 

My email is RLEPPERT@GCCSCHOOLS.COM

I also have a Google Team Drive with Classcraft resources if you would like to be added. Just send me your email.

One more question, how did David Vail (posted on this thread) get his images so big, and description boxes smaller on his cards?

Thanks a bunch.

I LOVE these.  Could I please be added to the shared drive?  My email is sewing@avpanthers.org

Shawn, I can't seem to get your username to search correctly on MTG. I'm starting to think that you guys are convincing me to use items this year...It's my first year to REALLY use Classcraft.

My MTGCardsmith user name is: beattysensei   

Try that!

Shawn, I still can't seem to find you there. I'll do some searching this weekend to see what's going on.

Please also add me to your Classcraft drives if possible, william.isbell@gcisd.net

David,

Will do.

Robert, how do you use the badges?

David, I use the badges to show levels of achievement in our PBIS initiative here at GCCS. Our PBIS is set up under five principles which we call our P.R.I.D.E. initiative; Persistence, Respectfulness, Initiative, Dependability, and Efficiency.

So I decided to create a list for each of the words which would be examples of how students can display those characterisitcs. I have 10 badges (levels) per word. They gain XP and Gold for each badge. I am using the For All Rubrics website to house and issue the electronic badges.

One example would be a student jumping up to help a student that was absent the day before. He had a bunch of papers on his desk that he wasn't sure what to do with. She just jumped in without being asked and started helping him sort it out. I wanted to reward and reinforce this behavior, so the badges give me that vehicle.

Here is a screenshot (with student last name blanked out) showing the badge I created and the explanation I gave with it.

WOW! I'm so glad I wandered onto this thread... it's exactly what I'm envisioning for my Grade 4 classroom. Last year I jumped feet first into a gamified classroom (Hogwarts inspired) but just created cards as the game evolved and I didn't really have a logic game plan to create various types/rarity of cards. I am giving Classcraft a go this school year for the first time and am hoping that a more structured and thought out card component will help to complement the program.

Could you please add me to the shared google drive folder for the cards/classcraft resources? alysha.eslava@epsb.ca

My MTG Cardsmith username is: aeslava

Examples of my cards:

I created many cards that were specific to my social studies topics which had their own value outside of the main "game". For example, when teaching about natural resources: students had to collect various natural resources like oil, fresh water, etc and trade for different resources based upon the industry task card they were given). I also taught an entire term about the First Nations using a mixture of First Nations themed cards. Students had to earn a variety of cards and reason that what they had on hand was enough to survive until spring and was enough withstand the random events that came their way such as a snowstorm, shelter building, etc. 

I'm just starting to look into using MTG cards with Classcraft, could I please be added to the shared drive? kmeanor@marcoislandacademy.org thank you!

Please sign in to leave a comment.