How To: Online Games Educaplay & Blooket

• Lesson Objective: Reinforce spelling patterns

• Grouping:  independent

• Methodology: Students play various online games at educaplay.com and Blooket.com to reinforce concepts

• Duration: 10 minutes

  
  

I'm psyched about all the fun games at  educaplay.com! My only regret is not discovering this website sooner. There are just so many options out there. I like this one in particular for numerous reasons. 1) It's free using my MCPS Google login credentials 2) I can track student progress 3) A few of the games have great graphics that actually compete with Candy Crush, TikTok and whatever else is on student phones these days 4) It's super quick to prepare the activities. 5) It's not competitive. While Blooket is great for competitive students, I have found that it can be discouraging for the students that need more processing time. I'm also limited to multiple choice on Blooket. Blooket definitely still has a place in my classroom, but I've enjoyed expanding our options.

I've been hesitant to use Chromebooks much this year between the distractions and the lack of resources, however, it's easy to throw the baby out with the bath water. Doing everything on paper--including games--becomes monotonous, too. For reviews, I think computers games can be effective--especially when I can program them to match our content. I have back-up paper/pencil games for when students do not come prepared.

🖍 How the Routine Works

All of the games are versatile so I'll share some examples. I'll start with my favorite.

Froggy Jumps (Educaplay.com)

It's essentially multiple choice BUT students are a cute frogs that hops to the correct lily pad.

Nope, my freshies do not think they are too old for this. I can view each student's scores when finished. They are logged indefinitely. Again, I appreciate that this isn't competitive so students don't feel compelled to rush.

Matching (Educaplay.com)

In this non-competitive game, students select all the matching answers before they can move to the next round. Scores are viewable upon completion.

Label the Picture (Educaplay.com)

You can upload any photo and create points for students to label. I choose Doechi in concert for this one but the possibilties are endless--pop culture, humor, gorgeous landscapes, etc. The best feature may be that you can audio record each label to ensure there's no confusion. For this exercise, the goal is to spell with long vowels (not to expertly identify and label).

Unscramble Letters (Educaplay.com)

Exactly as it sounds, students have to unscramble the word. I find that it helps to have a resource with the targeted spelling patterns nearby for reference. I advise students to find the vowel team first and go from there. In this example, the vowel team is <ew> and the complete word is "screw". I love word scrambles as studetns have to apply previously learned spelling patterns.

Unscramble Words/Sentences (Educaplay.com)

I use this game to review vocabulary. I appreciate how it reinforces parts of speech. I prompt students to find the noun (person/place/thing) and then the action word (verb). In this example our vocabulary term was "formal". Students love it when I insert their names into the sentences. This one is a true story :).

Blooket (Blooket.com)

All my students love Blooket! Guaranteed engagement! However, the downside is that I've noticed many students rush to guess the answer since they compete against one another. If they answer correctly they may "choose a chest" which could contain gold or some sort of advantage, such as swapping points with a competitor. The winner isn't always the true "winner" as students can steal from one another (which seems to be a major selling point). You can, however, view the percentage correct at the end. You can play the exact same set three ways (more if you pay for an account).

Check out the Interactive Unit Guides to see how this lesson fits within each unit. All of my games are public on Educaplay.com and Blooket.com. Enjoy!