Introducing Educaplay

Hey 3rd grade!

I wanted to follow up on the conversation we were having the other day. I know you wanted a tech tool to use in social studies and science, specifically for interactive maps and diagrams that you could send on virtual Fridays as well as face-to-face in the classroom. I found a blog called Cool Cat Teacher that recommends a site called Educaplay. There are so many different ways to use this site. However, I saw a section that uses what they call map games, but is really any type of map or diagram you can think of. I know you teach continents and oceans in social studies. The good news is that they have ready-made map games or you can create your own. For science, I know you teach about the layers of soil and you could use a diagram on Educaplay for that, as well. Now, are you ready to get super excited? You can assign these through Google Classroom and they will automate the grades! Great way to hold your students accountable. Anyway, check out this blog that shares tons of tips for using Educaplay and a little bit about all the different games you can create. Even though I’ve highlighted just one way you could use this site with science and social studies, I know there are several ways to incorporate it into ELA and math as well. Let me know if you like to explore it more together!

Original blog post - https://www.coolcatteacher.com/how-to-make-classroom-games-with-easy-awesome-educaplay/

Official Educaplay website - https://www.educaplay.com/

Johnston reminds us that “Although teachers are excited about the potential instructional benefits of digital resources and technology, many are overwhelmed, and need assistance and leadership in incorporating the most appropriate technology efficiently and meaningfully for both teaching and learning.” Perhaps this has never been more true than it is this school year with all the demands put upon classroom teachers in their professional and personal lives. At the beginning of the year, teachers were already overwhelmed with learning new learning management systems to accommodate for virtual or hybrid learning models. Now, they are tasked with keeping students engaged with interactive assignments as the newness of using more technology has worn off. That's why I think tools like Educaplay could be implemented effectively. There are ready-made activities, as well as the ability to design your own. They are easy to share through links or Google Classroom. It also covers a wide range of academic subjects and topics. (In fact, I am recommending this site to our ESOL teacher because of the dialog activities.)

With distributed leadership theory, school librarians have the opportunity to step up for their teachers and students. Collaboration has never been more important between and within teachers and staff than it is right now. I hope that school librarians are taking advantage of this opportunity to show school-level and district level administration that they can help teachers with technology solutions big and small, while maintaining more traditional roles.

Here is a good tutorial on getting started with Educaplay:

Davis, V. [n. d.] Cool cat teacher. [blog] Retrieved from: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/

Johnston, M. P. (2012). School librarians as technology integration leaders: Enablers and barriers to leadership enactment. School Library Research, 15