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Epic Books Link

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1. Epic! is a digital library recommended for students 12 and under.
2. According to Teach & Learning, Epic! is a child-specific platform that provides students with access to over 40,000 books and videos. Books will be recommended to students for their reading level, but they may search for them as well. Students can have books read to them, use Epic! to research, or be a part of a virtual book club.
3. Teachers can use Epic! as a way to track student progress through reading logs. There is a quiz feature that helps students to further their understanding of what they read. Teachers can also assign books to students to complete during school hours.
4. Located in the Epic! Help Center states that there are
books in English, Spanish, Chinese, and French. There are a variety of books that also cover different cultures.
5. Yes this tool can be personalized for specific student needs and levels. Students can find books that are interesting to them as well as at their level. Teachers can assign books that will help them continue to work on their reading skills and if they need help with some of the words they can click on them to hear the word out loud.
6. What I like about Epic! is that students are more engaged with books they want to read. Students can have the choice to read from many books and languages which would be hard to maintain for physical books in the classroom. One thing I don't like is that students can not access Epic! outside of school time. Epic! will only allow students 2 hours a week outside of school to continue reading. It is discouraging that students want to read but may not be able to because of the fee that comes along with it.
7. I would completely recommend this tool for schools since it can provide students with more instruction in their reading. Some students do not qualify for more time with a reading teacher but may need help. Epic! can provide more of that experience without always having the assistance of a teacher.

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Gimkit Link

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Flipgrid Link

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Wordwall Link

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Reflex Math Link

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1. Reflex Math is intended for grades 2 and up.
2. As described by Dekalb County Schools, Reflex Math is a web-based tool that monitors student progress and performance in math subjects such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
3. When you tour Reflex it explains that students will be assessed on their fluency at the beginning. Students will then be coached by Coach Penny who prepares them to be successful in the math games ahead. There are a variety of games that students can choose from to build their fluency and earn coins.
4. Reflex Math has the ability for teachers and students to choose their language preference while registering the child. However, if a student chooses English but could benefit from the content being in Spanish, they can now change that setting. Students are able to create an avatar that resembles themselves after logging in. Other than students' avatars, Reflex Math includes 3 different characters that interact with them throughout their experience.
5. This tool can be tailored to specific student needs since it goes based on their fluency. Students will not be able to move onto higher levels of math facts or math problems until they can show their mastery. In second and third grade students typically focus on addition and subtraction, and in fourth and fifth grade they focus on multiplication and division.
6. One thing I love about Reflex Math is how excited students get to use Reflex. While they are practicing their fact fluency, they really enjoy the games and being able to unlock more games to try. One thing I do not like about Reflex Math is how they do not have many options for students to use different languages yet. I think this could be a beneficial tool to use in and out of the classroom.
7. I would definitely recommend this tool to schools. There is so much motivation from the students and it gives teachers a look at where their students stand with different fact fluency. It is also great because students can still access it at home to continue practicing.

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BrainPop Jr. and BrianPop Links

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Reflex : Math fact fluency - Problem Solved!

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Reflex makes it easy to get students math fact fluent and ready for more complex math.

Assessment, coaching, and practice is delivered via a fun, game-based approach. And because it is fully adaptive, students get the individualized instruction they need to be successful.

Take our tour to find out more.

Students start in Reflex at Crabby's Fact Fair with a quick check-in on their fluency.

With just-in-time coaching, Coach Penny helps prepare students for success in Reflex games using a fact family approach.

Through a variety of exciting, fast-paced games that require answering math facts to succeed, students quickly build math fact fluency in Reflex.

Students earn tokens for effort and progress. They can spend their earnings on clothes and accessories for their customizable avatar or to decorate their Progress Tree.

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Reflex : The math fact fluency system that really works ... and that students absolutely love.

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Reflex makes it easy to get students math fact fluent and ready for more complex math. Assessment, coaching, and practice is delivered via a fun, game-based approach. And because it is fully adaptive, students get the individualized instruction they need to be successful. Take our tour to find out more.

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Reflex : Math fact fluency - Problem Solved!

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Reflex : The math fact fluency system that really works ... and that students absolutely love.

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Educators in thousands of classrooms are seeing phenomenal results with Reflex, the research-proven solution for mastering math facts.

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1. When using BrainPop, educators and families are recommended to use BrainPop Jr. for students that are in grades K-3 or ages 5-9 and should transition to BrainPop when a student is in grade 3 or higher or ages 9 and up.
2. According to Teach & Learning, BrainPop (Jr.) is a primary video website that educates students on a variety of topics. BrainPop (Jr.) can provide students with simplified subjects ranging from math to social studies and even social-emotional learning.
3. When using BrainPop (Jr.) educators and families will have access to activities and assessments such as quizzes, make-a-map, make-a-movie, coding, worksheets, primary sources, vocabulary, and games.
4. These tools are culturally relevant and a blog has been written about inclusion and representation on BrainPop (Jr.). It states that while this is a step in the right direction that these are only the beginning steps and they will need to continue to make necessary changes and added content to keep these tools representative.
5. This tool is great for meeting specific student needs and levels. In a classroom, there are going to be students who do not understand certain concepts and will need further instruction on them when others are ready to move on. BrainPop (Jr.) is a tool that allows those students who need extra help to watch videos and interact with games and other learning tools to get a better understanding. It can also work in the opposite way. If a student needs to be challenged more they are able to independently learn about a variety of topics they may be interested in.
6. The best thing I like about BrainPop (Jr.) is that students are engaged with the videos. Students always get excited when you tell them we will be watching a BrainPop. One that I do not like about BrainPop (Jr.) is that it is not a free source. I understand that in most cases BrainPop is only used in school, however, I wish everyone could access it for free giving the students the opportunity to explore at home and share these videos with their families so they can see what we are learning about.
7. I believe this is a great program that every school should have. This tool opens many opportunities for students to engage in learning and as previously mentioned can help reach each student where they need it. BrainPop (Jr.) covers a variety of topics and can give new perspectives on topics.

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ExploreLearning has just released the Spanish student experience for Reflex! If your students are already on Reflex and would benefit from the Spanish version, you can change the language in which they experience Reflex. If you have not yet started your students on Reflex, you can designate the student's learning language preference when enrolling the student or edit once they are enrolled.

Watch this video to see how to adjust the language for Reflex, and let the games begin!
http://www.youtube.com/user/ELReflex#p/u/3/XfXELn5xGPQ

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Reflex Now Has the Spanish Experience for Students! - ExploreLearning PD Resources

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ExploreLearning has just released the Spanish student experience for Reflex! If your students are already on Reflex and would benefit from the Spanish version, you can change the language in which they experience Reflex. If you have not yet started your students on Reflex, you can designate the student's learning language preference when enrolling the student or edit once they are enrolled.

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Getting Started with Reflex - Student Edition

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Welcome to BrainPOP | An Overview for Teachers

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Epic was born out of a single question: How do we make books more accessible to kids? As parents, it always seemed strange to us that our kids could so easily play games and watch videos on their iPhones and iPads, but the same couldn't be said for books. So in 2013, we decided to build the first "epic" reading experience, designed just for kids. Today, Epic has grown into an award-winning subscription service, which gives millions of families and classrooms instant, unlimited access to thousands of books, videos and quizzes from leading publishers to help kids everywhere read, learn and grow.

Our Founders

Suren Markosian, CEO and Co-Founder

Kevin Donahue, Co-Founder

A serial entrepreneur at heart, Suren has successfully built and scaled several large consumer businesses including Crowdstar, which rose to become one of the largest social gaming companies with over 200 million users. Another notable company he founded, List.am - is now the largest e-commerce company and online destination in Armenia.

Before co-founding Epic, Kevin worked at Google in Strategic Partnerships and was a member of YouTube's original team, serving as Vice President of Content. As part of YouTube's senior management team, Kevin was head of marketing and led content partnerships, successfully establishing YouTube's earliest partnerships with major entertainment and media companies. At YouTube, Kevin helped shape the company's early content strategy and spoke on behalf of the company in publications including Newsweek, Forbes and The New York Times.

Kevin Donahue, Co-Founder

Before co-founding Epic, Kevin worked at Google in Strategic Partnerships and was a member of YouTube's original team, serving as Vice President of Content. As part of YouTube's senior management team, Kevin was head of marketing and led content partnerships, successfully establishing YouTube's earliest partnerships with major entertainment and media companies. At YouTube, Kevin helped shape the company's early content strategy and spoke on behalf of the company in publications including Newsweek, Forbes and The New York Times.

Prior to YouTube, Kevin specialized in business development and content for a variety of technology and media companies, including Akimbo, Urbanite Network Inc. and Turner New Media (Turner Broadcasting, Inc.), where he designed, launched and managed Cartoon Network's digital presence and developed innovative content around classic children's brands.

Prior to Turner, Kevin was a producer with Disney/ABC Television's Multimedia Group where he designed and managed ABC's first online community for kids, creating award-winning games and educational content. Kevin began his career in television with DIC Entertainment and has written and developed series programming for Disney, ABC, Fox, Cartoon Network, PBS and others.
LinkedIn

Before co-founding Epic, Kevin worked at Google in Strategic Partnerships and was a member of YouTube's original team, serving as Vice President of Content. As part of YouTube's senior management team, Kevin was head of marketing and led content partnerships, successfully establishing YouTube's earliest partnerships with major entertainment and media companies. At YouTube, Kevin helped shape the company's early content strategy and spoke on behalf of the company in publications including Newsweek, Forbes and The New York Times.

The first Epic experience is born to help kids easily access digital books

Number of Epic Educators who would recommend Epic to colleagues

Advisory Board

Lane Merrifield
Former CEO/Co-Founder, ClubPenguin and EVP Disney Online Studios.

Randi Zuckerberg
Founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media and bestselling author.

Jenni Holm
Well-known children's book author and three-time Newbery Honor recipient.

Holly McGhee
President and Creative Director of Pippin Properties and renowned literary agent.

Kate Klimo
Former VP/Publisher, Random House Young Readers Group, noted children's book author.

Joanna Cotler
Former SVP Publisher of Joanna Cotler Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books.

We are hiring! Join an amazing team of engineers, designers, marketers and thought-leaders in creating a world-class learning experience for kids!

View Open Roles

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Epic was born out of a single question: How do we make books more accessible to kids? As parents, it always seemed strange to us that our kids could so easily play games and watch videos on their iPhones and iPads, but the same couldn't be said for books.

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Ways to Use EPIC BOOKS to Teach Reading | Tech Tips for Teachers

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Edwards, L. (2022, April 1). What is BrainPOP and how can it be used for teaching? tips and tricks. TechLearningMagazine. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.techlearning.com/how-to/what-is-brainpop-and-how-can-it-be-used-for-teaching-tips-and-tricks

Fisch, T. (2022, August 10). Inclusion and representation in Brainpop Content. BrainPOP. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://blog.brainpop.com/inclusion-representation-brainpop-content/

Glassman, J. (2018, September 21). Translations now in Classroom, inc.. games. BrainPOP Educators. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://educators.brainpop.com/2018/09/11/translations-now-in-classroom-inc-games/

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Edwards, L. (2021, June 16). What is epic! for education? best tips and tricks. TechLearningMagazine. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.techlearning.com/how-to/what-is-epic-for-education-best-tips-and-tricks

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A four-star product made by five-star creators!

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Gimkit is a game-show type website in which teachers can transform their classwork into a competition. Students can compete in a variety of games that require them to correctly answer questions to participate and succeed in the game. Whether they are earning currency to buy power-ups to gain an advantage over their opponents in a game of Humans vs Zombies, answering questions to help determine who the imposter is in an Among Us parody, or earning energy to help move their character in a fierce game of capture the flag, there are a variety of ways to make learning fun!
Students are able to create free accounts, allowing them to save cosmetics for their characters and show a bit of individuality. Teachers are able to create their own question sets or find previously made ones.
This site is best used for drill-and-practice but can also be used as an assessment! The different modes allow this site to be used as you intend it! It can also be used for most ages, although I would recommend that your students are in at least 4th grade for full effect! My favorite part about this site is how interactive it is and that the teachers can play too! (Students love competing against their teacher!) My least favorite part is that I can't choose teams when playing team games. It can be used with text-to-speech, but it can not be differentiated for ENL students by directly changing the language just for a few students. However, an alternative would be to write the questions and answers in BOTH languages. Check it out for yourself.

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Khan Academy Link

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1. Khan Academy, used for grades K-12.

2. Khan Academy is a free online resource for lessons for many subjects and learning levels, including Math, Science, Social Studies, and Computer Science.

3. Khan Academy features several features that assist in education. A typical setup involves lesson delivery whereby the student watches a video on some concept or knowledge in the subject. These videos also feature tutorials on skills required in the subject and informal and formal assessments of how learning transpires. The assessments include a “mastery points” system for each topic so there is an element of gamification to promote student engagement.
4. Khan Academy is available in over 40 languages to accommodate learners from across the globe. Examples and practices featuring real-life scenarios incorporate a variety of individuals from different cultures, represented by pictures and names. This only pertains to subjects in which people would be a part of the practice. For instance, physics rarely accounts for cultural background in motion-based problems, and Khan Academy does refer to a person in an example by name, and the image associated with the person in a diagram may portray their ethnicity.

5. Students cannot specialize the subject material for their learning level. The subject itself dictates learning level, and while videos are comprehensive, lacking any prior knowledge needed makes learning more difficult, and there is no optional scaffolding for a student to get to the level that they need to participate.

6. The best thing about Khan Academy is that is, itself, an excellent supplementary resource for learning and understanding in the classroom. It can fill a primary role for instruction or be an alternative resource for struggling students. Like I mentioned prior however, students who are not on the level they should be prior to taking the class will not find any help from the videos; Khan Academy serves as an alternate way to present material normally discussed and presented in a classroom.

7. I would recommend the use of this program in my school. It serves as an excellent way to support students who may not be getting the most out of their classroom experiences and need extra practice or support when learning. My only major qualm about this tool would be a lack of adjustable support or scaffolding when going through a lesson. If your student doesn’t have requisite knowledge when going through any subject on Khan Academy, they won’t be helped by the course on Khan Academy. A student who did not learn geometry or trigonometry will not be offered alternative ways to solve projectile motion problems in physics, for example: The information is presented solely through one way.

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Newsela Link

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1. Newsela, used for grades K-12.

2. Newsela is an online reading resource that features several articles on various subjects. Its main selling point is the adjustable nature of the articles for different reading levels and the ability to translate the articles into Spanish.

3. Newsela gives teachers the ability to create classrooms of students who sign up for the website assignments that feature several articles and even simulations or activities. While the vast majority of the content is reading, it features highlighting tools and quizzes for each article that assess student understanding and demonstrate their learning. Metrics like how long students take to read an article are recorded as well for analysis.
4. Newsela is only available in English and Spanish. Articles pertain to a variety of cultural events and are not just limited to English or Spanish speaking cultures.

5. Newsela’s primary benefit is the ability for teachers or students to personalize the reading level that they peruse an article with. This allows for the information in the article to be accessed by the entirety of a classroom without major concern for different literacy levels. For some ENL learners within a classroom, this can be a great way to involve them in the lesson or activity regarding these articles as well.

6. Newsela is excellent for use in getting an entire classroom to participate in reading and giving them tools, resources, and instruction on how to get information out for a text; great for any literacy effort for a teacher or district. A major problem I have with it is that these articles are curated by Newsela themselves; you cannot find your own reading for students to use and utilize it with Newsela. As it stands right now, this means that there are limited articles to use and not enough to base a curriculum on. They are working on adding more articles as time goes on however, and so this issue will be fixed given enough time.

7. I would recommend the use of this program in my school. In fact, my school has adopted Newsela as a replacement for textbooks in a few classes, such as with science. I have used it to great effect with my elective physics course, as reading levels wildly differed in the class but it allowed us to all share in the same activity and information, and all students were able to discuss what they had read about. For differentiated learning, Newsela is certainly an asset.

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Kahoot Link

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1. Kahoot, used for grades K-12.

2. Kahoot is an online platform for drill and practice questions that can be done individually or in a group. It features images, multiple choice, and elements of gamification to engage students. Questions can be created by the teacher or found publicly by other teachers. These question sets can be combined together to make a course featuring several question sets.

3. Kahoot is focused on drill and practice, in the format of timed questions that have up to four possible answers. Students can log in on their own devices without making an account to answer the questions. After answering the questions, a screen gives feedback to students and teachers by providing the correct answer and a metric of how many students selected each answer. Kahoot can be accessed through publicly made question sets or purchase specific question sets that people create for ready-to-use courses and lessons.

4. Kahoot CAN be culturally relevant. The products and features put forth by the website itself may not be multicultural, but the content made by teachers certainly is. Several problem sets exists in different languages, or feature different cultural attributes and artifacts based on the creator of the courses or questions. Kahoot does operate in over 15 languages.

5. Kahoot questions are specifically crafted for a select learning level, so you can find questions other educators have made for as young as kindergarten upwards to higher education. Because you have the ability to craft your own questions and problem sets as well, you can fully customize practice for your class based on their needs and knowledge.

6. Kahoot has enough practice, resources, and versatility that it is a mainstay of drill and practice programs in the classroom. Even when faced with other competitors like Gimkit, Quizizz, or Blooket, Kahoot offers easy metrics after every question and enough customization without being overwhelming to teachers or students. However, this means that Kahoot is also not very flexible as well; it is JUST a drill and practice tool. No other features exist for it, like tutorials, or lessons, etc. So while it does one thing very well, it only does the one thing.

7. I would recommend the use of this program in my school. It is free, teachers can opt in and out of its use without it being a district-wide subscription plan, and it is easily customizable to the needs of the specific teacher and classroom. As long as students have a device to access the website (for most schools with Google Chromebooks or who allow their students to use a smartphone in class, this is easy) they can participate with Kahoot.

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A 3.5 star rating for a unique piece of technology that is held back by its demand to video-posting.

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Flipgrid is one of the most unique pieces of technology used in my classroom. It an excellent tool for allowing students to create video projects. Students are able to record themselves and post video assignments through this software. Peers are able to comment on these videos with their own video responses. This is a great way to make students become more comfortable speaking in front of a camera and allow them to express themselves creatively. This site is best for middle school aged students.
My favorite part of this site is that you can easily record in small clips so you don't have to worry about starting over when you make a mistake! My least favorite part is that it is very focused on using video, which is not always ideal when you want to comment.
This site is best used for tutorial and multimedia, but can also be used to share research. It can be used in whatever way suits your students' needs. For example, you can adjust the lengths of their videos and can allow them to attach files to accommodate for students that may have difficulty presenting clearly. This program can be difficult for multicultural students because students are speaking in their native language, but Flipgrid offers an immersive reader to translate AND there are closed caption capabilities.
I have already recommended this program to my district, and often encourage co-workers to implement it into their projects. Try it out here!

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A 3-star site that can be used to guide students to 5-star grades!

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Wordwall is a site that is best suited for 4th-5th grade students, as it is an excellent scaffold from teachers "spoon feeding" them with review sheets, but still providing them with a resource that will help them feel confident before taking a test.
Wordwall is a site that can be used best for drill and practice or assessment, depending on how you want to utilize it. Teachers create question sets on Wordwall (works great for vocabulary!) and creates independent games for students to play. There are simple gameshow type games and more interactive games, that resemble classic arcade games. All of these activities have independent leaderboards, which teachers can enable to allow students to compete with their peers for high scores. The leaderboards are my favorite part! Students in my classes have loved being able to "flex" on each other, so my students who don't like studying end up being better prepared for their tests.
This site does not many options for multicultural learners though, which I would consider my least favorite part of this site and a major drawback. My district does not have a lot of multicultural students, so it is not a huge hinderance on my classroom. However, I find myself making differentiated materials for my one ENL student and students who are academically lower. This site is scarce in its options for differentiation as well. This is why I would not recommend it to my district. However, it serves a time and place in my classroom, since it has a positive impact on some of my student's learning.
If you're interested, try it out here!