Blooket!

Yesterday, we had our first Tech Tuesday, and it was great! I love it when teachers share tools with one another. It was a nice change of pace to be able to share resources that we know work with our primary students and that are not overwhelming for our students or teachers to use.

Prior to last year, I had heard of and used Kahoot and Quizlet, but Blooket was something I had no knowledge of.  One of my teaching partners shared the website with me, and I was hooked. When I started using the website, I would search through the database to find one for my students to use that related to the topic we were learning about, or I would just search for a fun topic. Now, I create my own. I add photos to the questions and the answers. My students LOVE it. It is probably their favorite way to review. 

If you are someone who prefers step-by-step written directions, keep reading! If you prefer a video tutorial, I found this great one from EdTech Classroom on YouTube. 

You will see this home page when you go to the Blooket website. You can sign up for free with your Google email. 

When you get logged in, I recommend clicking on the "Discover" button on the right of the screen underneath the "Create" button. You can review the list of already created sets when you click Discover. My district uses CKLA for our literacy curriculum, so I decided to search for our next unit: insects. 

Twenty-seven sets came up on the first page. 27! As you can see, the third one listed is for a different domain. I recommend searching through the already created sets before you create your own. Do not create the wheel! I selected the second set; when you click on the set, it will show you the list of questions included in it. 

When you click on the question, it will show you the answer choices, and there will be a checkmark on the box indicating which one is the correct answer.

The drawback to using a pre-made set is that you can not edit it, but you can make a copy and edit it! The copy button is located to the right of the purple menu bar, below the two purple buttons you will see "Favorite," "Copy," and "Report" buttons. When you click "Copy" it will ask if you want to make a duplicate, click ok, then you will and editable copy for yourself. 

Things to remember about Blooket, your sets are automatically saved as "Private," meaning no other Blooket user can access them, nor can you share your set with anyone else. To adjust this, you need to click on "Edit Info" and then slide the slider from private to public.

If you decide to make your set public, you can share the set with your co-teachers by clicking save. Then, on the previous screen, you will need to click "Save Set" again and click on the sprocket to get to the settings. Here, you will find the link button, and you can share the link with others.

You can also create sets by the blue button that says "Create." You can create sets by manually adding questions, inputting the data, or Blooket talks to Quizlet. You can import questions from your Quizlet account; it also reads CSV files (spreadsheets). I choose to manually create my sets. When you begin adding questions, you have several options. 

You can add an image, a math formula, or record audio to your question. All answers are set to be multiple choice, but you can switch to a typing answer (I have never used the typing answer with my 2nd graders). For the multiple-choice questions, you must give at least 2 answer choices. Here you also have choices, you can type the answer, add an image or a math formula. Then, you check the box for the correct answer. 

Hosting a set is where the students come in. You can choose from 13 games if you have a free account; paid accounts have an extra game to choose from. I personally usually choose "Classic" unless the kids are playing during indoor recess or free time, then they can play one of the games. My favorite part of Blooket is the questions and answers show up on the student screens! They do not have to look at your screen to see the questions or the answers! Classic mode is my favorite because it isn't as game-y as the other choices. Just questions and answers, and less distracting for my kids.

Once you select your game choice is selected and you've clicked host, you have more settings to choose.

 These are the boxes that I select...all of them. I found it is important to select "Use Random Names," as the website will assign a student a random name. This bit of anonymity helps the kids to remain private. No one will know who is who, which bolsters your students' confidence. The shy kiddos who don't always want to share or feel comfortable with others knowing how they are doing really soar with this bit of anonymity. it teaches students to protect their personal data while online! Once you have your settings set, click "Host Now." I have a link in my Google Classroom to Blooket, so my students will take the shortcut, get to Blooket then type in the game code, once everyone is in, you can start the game.  Users can also play with their cell phones (if they have one). I often join via my cell phone to play against my students. 

After each question, it will reveal the answer and tell you how many students chose each answer with a pie chart. The following screen will show how fast students responded, and points are awarded.

Blooket can reach all levels of the SAMR model, depending on how it is used. If you are just substituting your regular review with the Blooket, it is simply substitution because the only thing you are doing differently is having the students answer questions on a screen rather than paper/pencil. It reaches augmentation because you can insert images into Blooket to reach more learning styles. I've inserted images as questions and answers before, which spices it up a little bit. There are also different game styles to increase engagements, personally the classic style is my favorite, the rest are too busy for me! Blooket can be used asynchronously, so this achieves augmentation, and the games can be played more than once. Finally, Blooket could reach redefinition if you had students collaborate to create their own Blookets. In my second grade classroom we reach augmentation, I insert images in to the questions and the answers; while I am a fan of the classic game, my students love to explore the other games when we have "free time."

I might have mentioned before that I have the paid version of Blooket, but know that all of the essential features are free! With the free version, you can host 60 students. It costs $36/year or $5/month to host up to 300 students, and I receive more in-depth reports and have more game options with the paid version.  I did not purchase Blooket until I knew I was sold on it. 

I can not reiterate how easy this website is. My students are on average 8 years old, but I have a few who are still 7. My students love it; they can easily navigate the website, and with the ability to add audio and images, pre-readers can easily use this website! 

To review, here's how you use Blooket:

• Blooket.com
• Create an account
• Click "Discover" to review the list of already created sets.
• Click "Create" to create your own set.
• Input questions
• Input answers and select the correct answer
• Save set.
• Make it public and share your link with colleagues.

 

I highly recommend giving this a shot with your kiddos, as it is a fun way to review or assess students! 🤍

-SW