Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

BOOK IT! offers a summer home reading program where students in grades PreK-6 earn monthly rewards for achieving reading goals. After enrolling in the program, parents use the digital dashboard to track their student's reading progress during June, July, and August. Move the slider to certify completion of the preset goal to receive a certificate to redeem at Pizza Hut for a personal pan pizza. Other features found on this site include a series of ongoing articles with activities and book recommendations; under Resources at the top, slide to Teacher Toolbox to find activities and calendars to track reading.

tag(s): independent reading (80), seasonal (48), summer (49)

SplashLearn is a game-based math and ELA curriculum for students in grades pre-K-5. In addition, SplashLearn offers several general knowledge Games, Playsheets, Decodable Books, and Bedtime Stories that incorporate science, social studies, and the arts. SplashLearn adapts the learning paths as students play games to fit individual student responses and interactions within the elementary curriculum. Use the teacher dashboard to manage classes and add students. Other features allow educators to assign material to individual students, add required assessments, and enable home access using parents' email addresses. The site's themes and rewards motivate student learning; students earn coins to purchase virtual pets. Note: This tool is now free for teachers for the premium version and complete access to all its features (no cost).

tag(s): addition (137), alphabet (46), blended learning (29), decimals (94), division (109), equations (132), fractions (179), game based learning (298), geometric shapes (151), Learning Management Systems (20), measurement (126), multiplication (133), number sense (73), place value (43), preK (316), sight words (22), spelling (94), subtraction (118)

Write and Improve provides practice and instant feedback on writing responses to prompts. Choose from one of the many provided topics to begin. Narrow down options based on writing levels from beginner to advanced. Writing choices range from writing an email to longer stories. After writing your response, select the link to receive feedback. Feedback includes a graph of your writing level and tracks revisions. Create a free account to save your work and access all material on the site. This site was created in England so some spellings and pronunciations may be different from the American usages. Note: There is a paid portion of this site for the International English Laguage Test System (IELTS), however, you can take advantage of looking at 10 free tasks, and even writing in the box provided and using the timer, but you will not receive a score. These would be good assignments for your writing class before state testing time.

tag(s): creative writing (126), descriptive writing (43), differentiation (87), letter writing (19), persuasive writing (52), process writing (35), writers workshop (31), writing (309)

Whooo's Reading is an alternative to traditional reading programs by offering short response options to book quizzes instead of multiple choice answers. After reading, students answer three quick higher-level questions, that are automatically scored, and earn coins for correct responses to spend on personalized "owlvatars." Teachers receive scores in real-time and have the option to provide feedback through conversations with students within the program. In addition to quizzes, Whooo's Reading also offers standards aligned journal activities for use in between quizzes and book recommendations upon completing quizzes. Teachers can choose what type of quiz their students take. The choices are Open-ended only, Mixed quiz (2 fill in the blank, one open), and Advanced Quiz (3 fill-in-the-blank and 2 open).

tag(s): classroom management (125), reading comprehension (145), reading strategies (92)

Celebrate and learn about America's national parks through the home page of the National Park Service. This site provides comprehensive information on planning a park visit, exploring nature, and volunteering. Choose from a variety of lesson plans sortable by subject, grade level, and Common Core Standards. Find the lessons by clicking on the site menu, then sliding over to Learn & Explore, sliding down to Educators, and choosing your topic. Most lessons will have a download button to print the lessons using the link to the PDF file. The National Park Service also offers several resources to loan to classrooms, such as traveling trunks. Although traveling trunks ship for free, you pay for return shipping.

tag(s): animal homes (53), animals (271), habitats (103), national parks (28)

Not just for summer! Enjoy learning at home all year-round with PBS Kids Summer of Adventure. Download the free Summer Activity Book for new daily adventures, such as using bath time to explore math or learn how to make a bird feeder. Scroll through the site to find reading charts, map skills, activity booklets, collections such as Observing Nature, Sharing Your Creativity Through the Arts, and much more. Did you find this site too late for summer? No worries, there are plenty of activities throughout the year. Be sure to check the bottom of the page for the "What's On Today" PBS shows.

tag(s): calendars (35), literacy (125), preK (316), reading lists (76), seasonal (48), summer (49)

Story Share is the perfect solution for finding relevant and readable content for older students unable to read above the elementary level. Digital content provides interesting material that doesn't condescend to teen readers. Use the drop-down menu tab for Explore at the top of the page to find Education and the eLibrary and filter the correct reading and interest levels. Login is required to read books, and it allows you to add books to a reading list and to bookmark the stopping point while reading books. Be sure to check out the The Blog to find books on current topics and ideas for reading nooks, etc.

tag(s): book lists (160), differentiation (87), digital storytelling (161), ebooks (48), multilingual (77), reading comprehension (145)

Freckle Education is a Common Core-aligned program with resources for math, ELA, science, and social studies for K-8 that adapts to individual student skills. Freckle has over 50,000 math questions matched to all math standards and more than 500 ELA non-fiction articles that often cover social studies and science standards as well as all ELA standards. There are five reading levels offered for each article. Sign up to create a class account and add student information. Students login in through an iPad app or with the online web version and the class code. Students complete a diagnostic pre-test and then begin working at their individual level. Awards of coins for completion of levels promote student engagement and enjoyment of the program. Freckle also promotes student collaboration through their inquiry-based, cross-curricular lessons. Other features include a scratch pad for working through problems, virtual manipulatives, and individualized printables for practice. Receive detailed analytics and student reports on your dashboard. You may encounter a warning about how Freckle may not work on your browser and to use the Chrome app. For this reviewer Mozilla FireFox and Microsoft Edge seemed to work fine for a student pre-test and the teacher dashboard. This program is great for supplementing your instruction, differentiating, blended learning classes, and remote learning. Freckle was titled Front Row.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): collaboration (110), differentiation (87), independent reading (80), inquiry (32), reading comprehension (145), Research (82), Teacher Utilities (205), writing (309)

Find high interest, leveled news articles (and lessons) for English language learners. Although this site was designed for ENL/ESL it could be very useful in any elementary classroom looking for informational texts that can be differentiated for various reading levels (great for meeting Common Core standards). This tool could be used with any readers to increase comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary skills. There are three difficulty levels. Complete a reading test by selecting the Test tab on the far right of the top menu bar and find out what level will be best for you. Many of the lessons include audio and practice exercises. In addition, interesting pictures pique the students' interest. The same story is presented in all of the various levels. The vocabulary at lower levels repeats at the higher levels with more vocabulary added as the level increases. Definitions for the vocabulary words, below the reading, assists with English meanings. The audio is hosted on YouTube. At the time of this review, most of the news story content was fine for all ages. However, please preview the story before you share it with your class to be certain it is appropriate.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): differentiation (87), guided reading (32), multilingual (77), news (224), reading comprehension (145)

ABCya.com, created by a web developer turned computer teacher, provides educational games, videos, and activities for elementary students. Choose from six free games that change frequently. Be sure to preview the games before sharing them with the class to ensure the one you want to use is still available. Nearly every subject is included. Simply click on your grade level (K-6+) and find what is available under language arts, math, and other subjects. Specific topics range from basic typing activities to creating word clouds to grammar games (at all levels) and so much more. The interactives are teacher approved and offer colorful and attention grabbing ways for learning. Opportunities for sharing on Facebook, tweeting, and sharing on social bookmarking sites are incorporated. This is a MUST SEE site for elementary teachers looking for some great practice sites for basic skills!

tag(s): alphabet (46), audio books (43), audtxt (19), decimals (94), drawing (57), fractions (179), game based learning (298), geometric shapes (151), keyboarding (28), latitude (9), literacy (125), longitude (8), number sense (73), numbers (120), operations (71), preK (316)

Check out this site offering FREE learning courses to students in science and math, including environmental skills and health and life skills. Students will travel the world learning about the topic in addition to more about the continents, countries, and oceans. Choose from a wide variety of different learning experiences in the subject areas for learning in a fun and engaging way. Each subject area has countless interactives ready to go! Detailed instructions are provided for each activity. You can control sound easily from the screen.

tag(s): body systems (45), continents (32), countries (72), cultures (289), fractions (179), human body (97), matter (50), measurement (126), money (113), nutrition (138), sorting (4)