I love finding websites I can put my students on and know they won't get into trouble! I also love ones that get kids learning the standards in a fun way! Here are a few of the major sites I use in my classroom currently, or ones I intend to start using this school year when the kids are ready for them. Just click on the images to go to the sites and check them out.
1) Starfall- Every primary teacher knows about it, or should know about it, because it's awesome. The kids can't wait to "play" on the site and I can't even count the number of times they've said "Teacher Lisa! You just taught us that!" It's free, but there is now a paid version with even more materials including math. The free version is an abundance of ABC's and reading activities that rock!
2) Class Dojo- Positive reinforcement system! Sooo great! The kids pick avatars (mine are cute monsters) and then earn points for making great choices. Or lose them for not so great choices. Then you can generate reports and email them to parents. It even has a graph showing the percentage of positive moments during the class period. Better yet... IT'S FREE!
3) Cookie- This was my latest discovery thanks to Pinterest (again!). It's a lot like Starfall, but with a larger focus on math. Tons of interactive games, stories, and learning videos. Once again, IT'S FREE!
4) Scootpad- Students go through a series of practice quizzes based on the Common Core Standards. One thing I need to point out is that it's pretty challenging. It's worded very much like a standardized test, which may be helpful to get them used to the language. I signed myself up as a student to test out the different levels. I think it may need to be something added in a month or 2 into the school year. The questions can be challenging to a student just entering the grade level. Also, it will read the questions to the kids (such as kindergarten non-readers) but it only works on Safari and Chrome, I can't get it to work on FIrefox. Super positives: It lets you track progress, generate reports, and set goals to earn prizes/rewards. Great for "I'm done, now what?" kind of kids.
5) Scholastic Reading Counts: This is very much like Accelerated Reader (AR). The students read books and take quizzes. It keeps track of their scores and how many words they have read so far. It has a ton of books included, but sometimes there isn't a quiz for a book and the kids get a little disappointed. I suppose they couldn't make a quiz for every book in the universe. Overall I love this program. The kids are super motivated to read harder books so they can get "more words" and earn rewards from me.
More will be added soon. Some of my favorites are saved on my work computer and I'll add them later. Become a fan of my blog and check back to find more great websites for kids.
Do you have a suggestion of something that belongs on my list? Just let me know and I'll add it!
teacherlisasclass@gmail.com
Thanks for sharing your reviews. I'm hoping to use some of these this year:)
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