Are your kids bored this summer and just sitting on electronics? Do you need more learning websites to recommend to parents? Well, over the years and working at multiple schools, I have come across some really fun, exciting learning sites for all kids.
The most recent experience I have is with outschool.com. This is a comprehensive site with just about every online, video chat class you could think of for your kids. There are educational classes and creative elective classes for almost any interest. The classes range from one class to a full semester class, and they even have short-term summer camps online! My daughter just took a coding class and loved it! They have classes to memorize multiplication facts, piano classes, writing lessons, art classes, crochet and more!
My other favorite site is sumdog.com, which is fun, interactive learning games. Kids can play against each other and it’s really fun in a classroom setting and great when you need a quick lesson. I even had students ask to play it! They have math, reading, and typing.
I am always surprised when teachers don’t know about Brainpop! They have mini-lessons for just about every topic, and it’s a great supplement to any lesson. My students used to love getting on the smart board to answer the questions in front of the whole class! They have short videos, quizzes, games, and activities and it can work with older kids as well. I have also used this for my ESL kids and it’s a great resource for them since it has a complete ESL program. My kids enjoy it at home as well.
Another comprehensive learning site is Adventure Academy and has videos, puzzles, and games in ELA, math, science and more. This is for elementary and middle school levels. This program is from the same team that created ABC mouse, which is great for younger kids. There is a free computer science site that is free for kids and teachers and covers such coding topics as art, storytelling, fashion designing and more. They teach teachers how to teach coding to their kids and it’s all free and it’s called csfirst-beta.withgoogle.com! Some kids may need a class or lesson on beginning coding, but another great program for practice is scratch! It allows kids to create their own video games and they love it!
A must have free site for all teachers is readworks! Many teachers have already heard of it, but I have still met a few who have not. It is an awesome independent reading comprehension site that covers almost every subject and reading level. They have audible on most passages and teachers can monitor the progress on each student. I love this one in my resource rooms!
Most teachers have heard of Kahn academy by now, but if not, it’s a great resource to give to parents who need some extra support with homework help at home! They also have science lessons too for quick classroom lessons. Duolingo is a great free site for students wanting to learn a second language or for a supplement to a language class, and Mango is a language site that is about $8/mo.
Prodigy math is always a kid favorite, as well as Starfall for younger kids. A couple of other sites great for supplements in a classroom are typing club.com and atrtonline.com to learn typing and storyboard to help with report projects.
The best part is that some of these programs may even be free through the public library and/or may offer free trial periods. I hope you find a few great websites to cure the summer boredom!
Author: Alison Mote
www.outschool.com
www.sumdog.com
www.brainpop.com
www.adventureacademy.com
www.abcmouse.com
www.csfirstbeta.withgoogle.com
www.scratch.mit.edu
www.readworks.org/books
www.khanacademy.org
www.duolingo.com
www.mangolanguages.com
www.prodigygame.com
www.starfall.com
www.typingclub.com
www.atrtonline.com
www.storyboardthat.com
