Kahoot is a FREE interactive online game that the teacher controls from a laptop hooked to a display (Smartboard, projection screen, large television, etc.). It's so easy to set up your own account Kahoot and start creating games. You can begin by clicking "get a kahoot" at the bottom of the page. Students play by logging on with any wireless device- iPods, old cell phones, laptops, or my favorite: Chromebooks. Students key in a code that comes up on the display screen when the teacher begins the game and give themselves a "nickname" which will identify them during the game. I require that my students choose a recognizable name, although sometimes they still get interesting. Students can play individually or in partners or small groups.
One note about nicknames: last year I had a student named Cassidy and a student named Jack. They partnered up and they insisted to me that the website was rejecting every name they tried. It turns out because Cassidy's name contains a bad word and Jack's name is Jack, they couldn't find any combination of their names they could use. Kahoot is really good at catching "naughty nicknames" as they call them.
As the teacher clicks through the questions on the front board, students click on the color/shape that matches their answer on their own device. As if the element of timed competition wasn't enough to keep the kids hooked, jazzy and suspenseful music throughout the game. Kahoot is probably the most engaging activity I do in my classroom and it can be adapted for any subject.
I have mostly used Kahoot for vocabulary review for my novel units. Look me up under username JustMrsJones to use my public Kahoots that match some of my TPT Novel Units. I'm always adding more! I'm super excited because Kahoot just added a new game called Jumble. In this game, students do more than just answer multiple choice questions; they must correctly ORDER four answer choices. This will make for great sequencing, spelling and what we did used it for in class today: math! We played an ordering fractions game and my students loved the extra challenge that Jumble offers.
Speaking of adding new features, Kahoot is always improving and changing. The last time we played we were excited to see they had added this cute "Podium" screen at the end to recognize the winners instead of just the usual leaderboard. It also updates you throughout the game about who is on a right answer streak, who hasn't missed any, etc. Truly, my students and I can't get enough!
How do you Kahoot?
No comments