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Word Family Flash Cards » Toy Theater | Learn • Create • Play

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A set of 148 flash cards with 4 illustrated cards for each of 37 word families. Visit classplayground.com for Word Family Printables.

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Alphabet Tiles | Free Virtual Manipulatives | Toy Theater

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Use this fun online alphabet tile tool to write words, teach spelling, and practice a whole range of literacy skills.

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Sort Words by Skills

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SA Sort 7: Syllable Juncture: VCV open and Closed +CVVC - SA Sort 18 R-Influenced Vowel in 2 Syllables: er, ur, ir, ar - Compound words

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Free English uppercase and lowercase interactive alphabet arc to help students learn letter names, order, and shape.

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Free modules for professional development to learn about evidence-based practices.

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"We initially chose IRIS because of the past experiences and their credible research-based, high-quality modules that align with specific areas of growth and need to support a state-directed corrective action plan in our region."

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"We initially chose IRIS because of the past experiences and their credible research-based, high-quality modules that align with specific areas of growth and need to support a state-directed corrective action plan in our region."

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Explore free resources based on the Science of Reading that are designed to help you teach reading, spelling and handwriting with success!

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400+ free articles! Whether you're just starting out, or looking to dive deeper, these articles are a great place to start. Enjoy today!

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Literacy activities that go along with children's books

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Literacy Resources | Can Do Kids Academy

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The Can Do Kids website is full of ready-made resources to support teachers and learners in their study of English orthography.

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If you want hard copies of the books for your students and your school cannot afford to buy them, many teachers have written grants to obtain them, asked their PTO for help or used websites such as Donors Choose who buy materials for classrooms. It is unlawful to copy the books!

Please know that these digital books show up best on computers or iPad and tablets rather than phones.

In addition, you will see that I have listed the skills that children need to learn, BEFORE reading each set of books. Each book builds upon the skills from previous books so the books should be presented in sequence. An explicit, systematic, sequential and cumulative approach to teaching reading is the Science of Reading!

I have also included links to the FREE Teaching Guides, Activity Pages and Literacy Centers. You have permission to download and print these supplemental resources but you do not have permission to change the content and/or resell them.

Thank you and happy reading!

LuAnn Santillo, Author

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Online Materials Portal - Half Pint Kids Decodable Books

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If you want hard copies of the books for your students and your school cannot afford to buy them, many teachers have written grants to obtain them, asked their PTO for help or used websites such as Donors Choose who buy materials for classrooms. It is unlawful to copy the books!

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Decodable Books List

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If you know me, you know I love decodable readers. They're so helpful when teaching kids to read. I can't get enough of them!

If you're looking for decodable texts, but don't want to break the bank, there are a number available online for free, by donation, or at a very low cost.

FREE DECODABLE BOOKS LIST

The decodables in this list are in a variety of digital formats (PDF, PPT, online), and are written with a variety of phonics scope and sequence progressions in mind. Some are printable, some are full-color. Hopefully you can find a controlled text that suits your needs.

Please drop me a comment if you know of any free or affordable phonics books I've missed!

PLEASE EXCUSE THE DUST!

I am in the process of updating this page with more images and info about each of the decodables, but it may take awhile before I've updated everything!
FREE DECODABLES LIST
Without further ado, here is the master list of decodable reader freebies! These are made available for free by the authors and/or publishers <3

If you are interested in Decodable Chapter Books for older readers I have a separate list of those (not all are free, however).

I'm so excited to share my own set of decodable readers with you. I have several different levels of decodables available as PDFs and am writing more! The link above will send you to the FREEBIES on my TPT store, which has the most up-to-date collection!

For those of you in need of some quick practice, and endless phonics iterations, check out my text-only Decodable Silly Stories Generator. You'll get a new, picture-free decodable mini-story every time you click! Good for beginning readers needing to hone their phonics skills.

I'm also somewhat pathologically helpful (hah!) so let me know in the comments if there's a particular phoneme or phonics rule you'd like to see a book for. I'd love to help you out!

Half Pint Books
Sweet and simple decodable books for beginning readers. These are a household favorite. My kindergartener loves the cute illustrations and silly, slapstick humor.

There are some repetitive sentence constructions in these stories. These can give beginning readers a bit of a brain break, which can really help kiddos' reading stamina. However, it does mean that less orthographic mapping work is going on, so they'll need to do more reading to get those benefits.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Animal-Centered Stories, also some Fantasy/Sci-Fi.

Printable: No. These digital ebooks are embedded in the website.

Decodability: Level A begins with Short Vowels, CVC constructions, and a few sight words. Level B introduces Blends. Level C introduces Long Vowels.
SPELD-SA Phonic Books

The Specific Learning Disabilites Association of South Australia has over 100 free and recently updated and re-illustrated decodables as PDFs on their site, following the Jolly Phonics sequence. If you want SPELD's old emergent readers, you can still get the old phonic books.

** Keep in mind that these are written in Australian English, therefore some vocabulary and pronunciation will be different to U.S. English.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Animal-Centered Stories, some non-fiction

Printable: Full color pdfs only.

Decodability: The series follows the Jolly Phonics scope & sequence. Set 1 (10 books) includes the letters S A T P I N, and progresses along to Set 10 (10 books) with the introduction of OU / AW / EW / IR.

Starfall Academy offers a series of 15 free online phonics books.

The set linked above are interactive and not downloadable, but do have the added feature that your child can click to hear the words read aloud. Starfall also has printable Cut-Up-And-Take-Home versions of the same books (you'll have to scroll a bit to find them on the page. Look for the "Short Vowels" section).

Interest Level: Grades K-3

Genres: Animal-Centered Stories, some Fantasy / Sci-fi

Printable: Yes, there are full color and blackline printable versions.

Decodability: The series scope and sequence begins with Short Vowels and CVC words, then CVCe, followed by vowel teams and r-controlled verbs.

Just Right Reader E-Library

Cute, decodable e-books featuring diverse characters! You can also buy print copies.

Interest Level: Grades K-8

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Animal-Centered Stories, some Fantasy / Sci-fi and non-fiction.

Printable: No. These digital ebooks are embedded in the website.

Decodability: Just Right Reader's scope and sequence begins with Short A CVC words and a few sight words, then progresses through the Short Vowels, followed by Consonant Digraphs, Blends, Final E Long Vowels, and then Vowel teams and more complex phonics.
Progressive Phonics Beginner Books

This series of phonics books is a read-together (aka "shared reader") series available as PDFs. You'll read most of the text, while your child will read the larger words that fit the target phonemes they're learning.

Interest Level: Grades K-2

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Animal-Centered Stories.

Printable: Yes. Not black and white but a lot of white space.

Decodability: Shared Reader. The student will read some of the words, while an adult will read the rest. The Beginner Books introduce one Short Vowel at a time. Intermediate Books introduce consonant digraphs, blends, and Long Vowels. Advanced Books introduce dipthongs and more complex phonics.

" These texts were specifically written and illustrated to be culturally relevant and empowering to children in Boston." A set of decodable books illustrated with photographs, and created for Boston Public Schools following the Fundations Scope and Sequence.

Interest Level: Grades K-4

Genres: Realistic Fiction, animal-centered, narrative non-fiction

Printable: Full color PDFs only.

Decodability: Fundations Scope and Sequence. CVC, then consonant digraphs, consonant blends, CVCe, Long Vowels, and Multisyllabic words.The decodables begin at Unit 3, Week 6 of the Fundations sequence.
CKLA - Student Readers
"Knowledge-based schooling puts the emphasis of early education on teaching and learning an enabling core of broadly shared knowledge-enabling because it builds strong foundations for later learning and opens doors to effective participation and mutual understanding in the wider society. "

Core Knowledge has an amazing, 100% free Language Arts curriculum, including a decodable Student Reader series available as a free PDF when you sign up. If you find them difficult to download, you can also find the same books here: TN Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement (look in the table for the "Decodable Reader" links.

Interest Level: Grades K-6 (but designed to follow K-2 CKLA curricula)

Genres: Realistic Fiction, non-fiction

Printable: Maybe. Full color PDFs but with a fair amount of white space.

Decodability: I cannot find a clearly published scope and sequence, but it seems to follow a similar progression to BOB Books. Short Vowel, CVC word, then consonant digraphs, FLOSS rule, long vowels, and more complex phonics patterns.
Decodable Non-Fiction Readers - The Measured Mom

Decodable readers that are perfect for your budding non-fiction lover! These are for beginning readers as picture clues may make things too predictable for more advanced readers. Also check out her Sight Word readers!

Genres: Non-Fiction, Narrative Non-fiction

Decodability: She does not use a strict scope and sequence for these, but they are all short vowel books.

The Measured Mom - Free Decodable Stories

In addition to her Non-Fiction, The Measured Mom now has free decodable stories as well! Sign up to her email list to receive.

Genres: Realistic fiction, animal-centered stories.

Printable: Yes. Full color and blackline available.

Decodability: I could not find a scope and sequence posted, but the texts begin with very few words all using Short A, and progressively add other short vowels, then consonant digraphs, then blends, the FLOSS rule, nk/ng and a few more complex phonics patterns. She currently only has Short Vowel books.
UFLI Foundations Toolbox

The University of Florida Literacy Institute has an amazing and incredibly affordable foundational reading program stemming from the science of reading research. (At time of writing this, the Teacher's Manual is just $70 and all the materials are available online for free). <3

This toolbox includes links to all the Lesson Power Point slides, Decodable Passages, Home Practice Activities, and Additional Games that you would need to teach UFLI's full Phonics Scope and Sequence.

The decodables are text passages (no pictures - kids are asked to draw their own picture for each passage) Click on a set of lessons to view the links to the associated decodable passages. The decodables start on Lesson 8. UFLI also compiles a helpful google sheet with a Decodable Text guide by scope & sequence if you are looking for more decodables to match their program.

Genres: Realistic fiction.

Printable: Yes. No pictures, text only.

Decodability: This is UFLI's Phonics Scope and Sequence. They begin with STAMP FIN in the early weeks, then add in the other short vowels and hard consonants, then blends, followed by Consonant Digraphs and the FLOSS rule, VCE, then common endings, r-controlled vowels, vowel teams, dipthongs, suffixes and prefixes, and low frequency spellings.
Reading Genie - Decodable Books Written By Teachers

Dr. Bruce Murray (aka the ReadingGenie) hosts a webpage at Auburn University where teachers share Decodable Readers they've written as free Powerpoint files.

If you need a decodable story that takes place in a pond setting, this is your lucky day! There are lots to choose from! [there are other settings too ;) ]

Genres: Realistic fiction, animal-centered fiction

Printable: Yes, some of them!

Decodability: This is a collection of decodables written by various teachers who are using diverse scopes and sequences, so they don't follow a specific phonics progression, but they are all pretty controlled texts. Short Vowel sound focus!
Phonics Play Comics

Decodables written as cute and silly comic strips!

Genres: Humor, animal-centered, sci-fi

Printable: Full color only.

Decodability: The PhonicsPlay decodable comics follow the Letters and Sounds phonics sequence. This is short vowels and hard consonants (beginning with SATPIN, then DOCKMG and others), consonant digraphs, followed by long vowel digraphs, r-controlled vowels, followed by review, then alternate long vowel spellings and split digraphs.
Free Phonetic Readers

A series of black-and-white printable, colorable, and highly decodable readers, with short, simple, slice-of-life vignettes.

These may have some slang vocabulary that younger readers won't be familiar with.

The illustration style and vocab may actually be perfect for older struggling readers who need very basic books but don't want things that look too babyish.

Genres: Humor, animal-centered, sci-fi

Printable: Yes. Blackline printable

Decodability: Highly decodable. There are three short stories for each vowel sound. At least one story in each set is designed to focus on words where the vowel sound occurs at the beginning of the word, to help students focus on mastering that sound.

Fun Phonics Free Book Series

Another nice series of black-and-white printable phonics books and worksheets. Written by the same author as the Free Phonetic Readers above.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Animal-centered / farm-centered stories.

Printable: Yes. Blackline printable. Booklet format.

Decodability: Highly decodable. There are two short stories for each vowel sound.
Sound City Reading

A phonics program with many workbooks and decodable stories. There are several levels of decodables available: Short Vowels || Practice Stories for Beginning Readers ||

There are several sequences depending on the books used.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Animal-centered.

Decodability: The scope and sequence listed on the site has several variations depending on the materials used (there is a lot here!). However, the basic progression is short vowels, consonant digraphs, glued sounds, then common long vowel spellings, followed by rarer ones and dipthongs.
Text Project - Beginning Reads
Short decodable texts paired with photos for beginning readers.

Genres: Non-Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction.

Printable: Full Color option only.

Decodability: I couldn't find a scope & sequnce posted but the text appears to be very controlled.

These aren't books so much as collections of decodable paragraphs in printable PDF format, but still great for practice! There are several levels and options: Countdown: Level One || Blast: Level Two || HD: Level Three || Blitz: Level Four

Short decodable passages with integrated reading comprehension and handwriting activities!

My Nerdy Teacher - Free Decodable Readers CVCe Bundle!

Sign up for the newsletter to receive CVCe passages and reading comprehension questions.
Decodables from West Virginia Phonics by Jessica Pasik
Decodable books on Google Slides. Note that these are designed to be printed and collated. The first slides should sit on top and the last slides on the bottom to get the page numbers in the right order. Some of the clip art seems to be missing so you may want to insert your own.

Tan Cat and Fat Rat || Tom || Tim and Kip || Hop and Jog || Mutt and the Bug || The Red Hen || Chet and Chad || Mack the Cat || The King and Queen || The Sled Club || Kim and Flip || Brad and the Frog

Also see the West Virginia Phonics Lessons with Decodable Texts (click on the sidebar to view the resources for each level ... CVC, Consonant Blends, etc)

The non-profit Teach My Kid to Read has added story questions to the classic series of "I See Sam" phonics books from the 1970s, and assembled them as digital "Beginning Reading Instruction eBooks."

They have repetitive (but not predictable) text for practice, and the narrative is driven by the illustrations. The phoneme sequence may not fit with some modern phonics programs, but if you are using a classic phonics sequence these may be perfect for you.

This link will take you to the Updated online Version that is currently available for free during COVID.

You'll have to do a bit of digging and scrolling to find all the free printable gems, but Becky has written quite a number of free decodable readers! The stories are interspersed with a fair dose of high frequency words as well.

TN Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement

The Tennessee Dept of Ed offers free, open-source curriculum materials for parents and teachers of K-2 students.

You'll want to do a "find on page" (Ctrl + F on your PC browser) to do a search for "Decodable Reader" to find all the links.
NOTE: These are the same books CKLA uses, but you may find it easier to access / download them here.

Sample versions of the FunPhonics Readers available from the author online.

A few of the books on the Storyberries free bedtime stories website are decodables!

While not all the books on this site are free, the above is a link to a few free read-together books.

Free Reading.net Decodable Passages

50+ simple one-page decodable stories and non-fiction passages available with and without illustrations, in color or in black and white.

Decodable text passages (no pictures, but still good practice!). These were adapted from the open source FreeReading.net versions.

A set of simple decodable books for beginning readers. Repeat sentence structures and "clue" type pictures may be too predictable for more advanced readers.

Nessy - Free Decodable Coloring Books

There used to be a few cute decodables from Nessy in pdf format. Kids could color in the illustrations, and they were black-and-white printable! Now they only seem to have worksheets :/

This website is a fabulous decodable books search engine with links to decodables of all sorts (some free, some paid). You can search by price, publisher, or number of words. It may not be online for much longer as it was acquired by a parent company. If the link is broken, try here: The Lexile Hub or here: MetaMetrics

A few publishers offer free samples of some of their decodable books online!

All About Reading is a full synthetic phonics program available for purchase, but they also offer several decodable stories for free.

Laughing Ogre Press offers a few of their cute decodable readers as free downloads! Here are direct links to the free ones: ||

The first five are free. However, they do use some repeat sentence structures that might lead children to guess the word rather than sound it out.

Several books are available to read online for free

A few free decodable novellas for older readers! Also see this page.

Several decodables were at one time free, including a few books for older readers.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Decodables

30 decodables are currently available as indd files on the website.

You may find more free samples here: EPS - School Specialty Samples
Temporarily Free Decodable Books
This is a list of books that were made free during the COVID pandemic in 2020-2022. They may only be available for a limited period of time.

These beautiful and very popular decodables are available for free as online ebooks through the 2022-2023 school year.

You can purchase the collection of printable phonics books, or try the samples in the link above.

Decodable Readers, Lesson Plans, and Workbooks are all available for free for those who have paid for SPIRE curricula during COVID.
Affordable Decodable Readers
Dog on a Log is a series of nearly 100 decodable readers. Many of the stories are available at several levels: some quite short for just-starting-out readers, as well others for children able to handle slightly longer books with 300+ words. ( A few are available )

If you're in search of decodable books designed for older readers, then check out this series!

There is a wealth of wonderful decodable material on TeachersPayTeachers. I haven't even had a chance to dig into a fraction of it! Some samples are available .
More Lists ($):
These webpages have collected links to various sources of decodable text. While some may be free, many are available for a fee.

A great collection of links to decodables for various ages.

Resources for decodable texts.

Additional Resources:
Online books, printables, online learning, and phonics resources. Some are free resources, others are not. I haven't reviewed all of these yet, but maybe you'll find something that helps you.

||
The Measured Mom Free Kindergarten Printables and Free Printable Phonics Books and List of Phonics Books This Reading Mama: Free Printables and Learning Activities for Homeschooling - and Free Phonics Activities and Phonics Books || A Teachable Teacher Free Phonics Bundles || Homeschooling Down Under : Learning to Read Books Mommy Shorts: Quarantine Learning Resources || Miss Kindergarten Free At Home Learning Resources for Reading || Money Saving Mom : Free Quarantine School Resources || Spelfabet: Decodable Books list UF Literacy Institute - Connected Texts || ThinkCentral || Mark Revis's Phonics Books || Oxford owl (requires login) || The Reading League Decodables List 2020 || Geniebooks || Free Decodable Books Rollup || IDA Ontario || FreeReading || Sound City Reading || || Text Project || EPS - School Specialty Samples || Kastner Collection Decodables Links || Stephen Parker - Free Phonics Instructional Book for Parents || Id Ontario

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If you know me, you know I love decodable readers. They're so helpful when teaching kids to read. I can't get enough of them! If you're looking for decodable texts, but don't want to break the bank, there are a number available online for free, by donation, or at a very low cost.

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The Reading League has compiled a list of options, not recommendations, of frequently requested decodable texts.

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Use the PAST Assessment for phonemic awareness for individual students.

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The PAST can be downloaded above. Please also download and carefully read the instructions before using. Information can also be found in the manual "Equipped for Reading Success" by David A. Kilpatrick, Ph.D in chapter 11 on how to effectively use the test. Make sure to also practice using the test before using it with [...]

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If you teach students to read, then you know how important building a base of phonemic awareness is. When students are aware of the sounds they are hearing, it helps them encode as they write or spell and decode as they read. Elkonin boxes can be a helpful part of that teaching process. Named after their creator, psychologist D.B. Elkonin, the boxes are a teaching tool that helps students break down words into their component sounds.

How do Elkonin boxes work? It's easy. Each time a student hears a new sound, they drag a colored circle into a new box. For example, the word "see" would have two circles. The first circle for the sound "s" and the second one for the sound "ee." Diagraph or combined letter sounds count as one phoneme. For example, for the word "sheep" there would be three circles for the sounds or phonemes /sh/ /ee/ /p/.

You can easily modify the online Elkonin boxes to fit your lessons by changing the color of the circles and the number of the boxes. Select the color from the drop-down menu by clicking on the blue circle. Tap on the number "2" to select the number of boxes. Clear the Elkonin boxes by pressing the restart symbol.

Visit classplayground.com for more resources and printables related to Elkonin boxes and literacy.

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Elkonin Boxes | Free Educational Activities | Toy Theater

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Online Elkonin boxes make early reading, phonics, and literacy lessons fun and exciting. Students will build awareness of sound and phonemes.

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You can put an image in the center of your QR code so that it is easier to find the QR code you need!

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Voice Recorder to Create Audio for Google Slides (mp3)

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Voice Recorder to Create Audio for Google Slides (mp3)

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Online Voice Recorder - Record Voice from the Microphone

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Please allow access to your microphone to continue…

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Learning for Justice (Teaching Tolerance)

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Learning for Justice (Teaching Tolerance)

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Many resources-- lessons, learning plans, texts

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Skip to main content

From film kits and lesson plans to the building blocks of a customized Learning Plan-texts, student tasks and teaching strategies-our resources will help you bring relevance, rigor and social emotional learning into your classroom-all for FREE.

Not sure where to begin? Get to know our Social Justice Standards, anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes divided into four domains-Identity, Diversity, Justice and Action. The Standards provide a common language and a road map for anti-bias education at every grade level.

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From film kits and lesson plans to the building blocks of a customized Learning Plan-texts, student tasks and teaching strategies-our resources will help you bring relevance, rigor and social emotional learning into your classroom-all for FREE.

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Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education

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Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education

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Resources to use for planning social studies lessons

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CSSE is not able to endorse curriculum to address the state standards; as a local control state, it is up to each district to decide what materials to use to meet the benchmarks.

The 2011 Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies set the statewide expectations for K-12 student achievement in the disciplines of citizenship and government, economics, geography and history - United States and world. Visit this site's MN Standards page.

Curriculum Guides and Resource Lists

Curriculum Guides are examples for educators to use to unpack benchmarks including concepts, skills, essential questions, and learning targets.

Resource Lists include possible materials and lesson plans in a benchmark-by-benchmark format. The Early Learning document is NEW for 2017!

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CSSE is not able to endorse curriculum to address the state standards; as a local control state, it is up to each district to decide what materials to use to meet the benchmarks. The 2011 Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies set the statewide expectations for K-12 student achievement in the disciplines of citizenship and government, economics, geography and history - United States and world.

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Supporting literacy through resources, freebies, podcasts, books, research, etc.

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They have some fun videos to get kids up and moving!

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Back

Generation Healthy - YouTube

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Generation Healthy Nation is a channel for exercise brain breaks and movement activities. These activities are designed to be quick breaks with no equipment needed. Whether you are a Classroom teacher, Home school teacher, Physical education teacher or parent looking for inspired, energetic videos,…

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Lots of great brain break videos that include fun and well-loved characters!

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"coach corey martin" "brain breaks" "go noodle" gonoodle chase movement pe "pe games" physed "physical education" "freeze dance" "just dance" "brain break" "...

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Hey everyone! I am Coach Corey Martin and I have a deep passion for using technology to keep kids active and engaged. * For business inquiries email me at: coachmartinphysed@gmail.com My past includes a career as a professional baseball player (Chicago Cubs 2009 draft) followed by a 10 year teaching career with 5 coming at the middle school level and 5 with elementary school.

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This site has some great ideas for brain breaks to use in the classroom!

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Brain Breaks for kids is the simple technique in which young students are given a short mental break taken at regular intervals. They are usually performed in a classroom or academic environment, but can also be used in similar non-traditional learning environments for largely the same effect. Most brain breaks range from around 5 to 20 minutes as a general rule, although most people prefer to keep them short and on point. For maximum success, it's usually best to include a physical activity that will compliment mental energy.

The Benefits of Brain Breaks for Kids

Benefits of using brain breaks include helping kids to be calmer, remain focused while also stimulating physical activity. As we all know, kids have a ton of expendable energy and it can often present itself at inopportune times. If you are in charge of a group of kids and find they are being especially unruly, a brain break might be beneficial for you to regain control while also re-focusing the kids minds and sense of clarity.

After a successful brain break, your kids should feel more focused, less prone to daydreaming and therefore in a better mental space to work or complete and finish activities. Furthermore, brain breaks have also shown to significantly reduce stress levels in kids, providing organic improvements to learning and higher engagement levels. When implemented at the right time and used appropriately, it's clear brain breaks are a valuable and beneficial tool. You will know your groups of kids better than anyone, and it is up to you to choose when the best time is to use brain breaks and what exactly is the desired outcome you wish to achieve.

We're going to list some of the most effective and fun brain breaks you can easily replicate yourself. Whether you are responsible for kids in an academic environment, or elsewhere such as home education or after school clubs, these are sure to help you and your kids unlock the maximum potential out of your activity and day.
Rub your Head, Pat your Belly!
An oldie but a goodie, have you ever tried rubbing your head and patting your belly before? Oddly this is something our brains find difficult to perform at times, usually leading to our hands replicating the same movements. Challenge your kids to concentrate and try out this technique. They will find it amusingly difficult at first, but over time and concentration will eventually be able to pull it off without too much trouble. This is a very quick and easy brain break that is sure to cause a lot of smiles and laughter as well as the eventual desire of increased concentration.
Dance Off!
There's not many issues in life that can't be solved by a good old fashioned dance off. Choose an age appropriate song to play for your kids, get them up and dancing as wildly and enthusiastically as they can to the song. Without warning, hit stop and pause the music. Everybody must freeze! Anybody caught moving or laughing is out and must sit down for the remainder of the game. Keep playing until you've got one player left dancing. This is a great brain break for physical activity and a brilliant way to re-focus.
Take a Hike!
Well, not exactly literally! But assembling your kids in a line and getting them to take a 5 minute walk around the general area, classroom, or somewhere outside is a fantastic way to stop wandering minds from heading off a metaphorical cliff. The kids will feel energized and re-engaged, ready to finish whatever it was they were suppose to be doing before you initiated the break. This is perhaps the most simple brain break of them all!
5-4-3-2-1!
In this simple but very fun game, kids are encouraged to partake in five different physical activities in descending order. For example, you could get them to do 5 jumping jacks, 4 star jumps, three sit ups, two hops and one hand clap. Mix it up and think lots of different activities you can do. Encourage activities that can be performed collaboratively as well to further add to the benefits of this brain break.
Find it Fast!
Look around the room and identify some key distinguishers of different objects. They can be colors, materials or anything distinct. Once you've got a good idea of what's available in the vicinity, start shouting out different ones. For example, "red handle". Your kids must rush towards the object that fits the description as quickly as possible. The last person to get there is eliminated. Repeat until you have a winner!
Animal Pretend
Aimed at kids towards the younger end of the spectrum, Animal Pretend is nevertheless likely to make you as laugh as much as the kids! Call out a list of animals in sequence. The kids must pretend to be the last animal you called out. Make sure to mix it up and keep it interesting. Reward and encourage kids for being more lively and putting more effort in.
Play-Doh Show
You'll need some extra equipment for this one but it's worth it for how fun and engaging it can be. Split your kids up into pairs and hand them a pot of Play-Doh. Challenge them to take it turns to create an animal. The aim of the game is their partner has to be able to guess what animal it is they've made. Prepare for many laughs and sometimes even some amazing Play-Doh masterpieces!
True or False
You can adapt this one to different age groups but it'll probably work better with more engaged older kids, although not too old! Get everyone to stand up and face you towards the front. You must call out a series of true or false statements. The kids must react by placing their hands on their heads if they think what you've just said is true, or hands on their hips if what you've just said is false. Whoever gets it wrong must sit down straight away. Keep going until you can eventually crown a winner. You can tie this into more academic questions if you want to keep it educational, or alternatively you can have fun and factor in some fun pop culture. It really is up to you.
Line Up!
Test your kids attentiveness and refocus their attention spans with this awesome brain break Line Up! The key to the game is to get your group of kids to line up in an order they have just been given. For example, you could get them to line up in descending order in terms of their height. Keep changing it up and see how quickly they can arrange themselves and whether they can do it correctly. Other good criteria include hair length, age, alphabetical via middle names and anything else you can think to add.
Keep it Up
Simple but incredibly fun, Keep it Up requires you have in your possession a beach ball. All you have to do is get the kids to throw the beach ball around the room without it hitting the floor. It sounds overly simplistic but this is an excellent game for controlling and maintaining concentration levels, as well as hand-eye coordination. It's also so easy and accessible that any kid can get involved.
Trading Places
Not the 1983 classic film with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, but we promise you it's just as fun and entertaining! Get your kids to stand up and take a position behind their chair. Call-out a specific trait. Everyone who shares that trait in common must swap places. For example, everyone with curly hair must trade places! Or, everyone who rides a bicycle must trade places! If they do not have that trait, they must remain where they are. Try and mix it up and come up with lots of different and fun traits. It's a great way for you to get to know your kids a bit better. It's also a great way for kids to find shared common interests.
Exercise Lucky Dip
Write up a bunch of exercises beforehand on different pieces of paper and put them into a bucket. Make sure they are accessible and not too difficult for your kids to perform. Mix up the bucket and put it on a table. Nominate your kids one by one to come out and do a lucky dip. Whatever exercise they pull out of the bucket they must perform straight away. Keep it simple to things such as jumping jacks, hopping, maybe a sit up at most. This is a very quick and efficient way to energize creaky bones and lighten up any slowly fading attention spans.
Keep it Clean
Make space if there isn't already and formulate a line down the middle of the area you are in. You could do this with easy to remove tape or just a row of chairs. Split your group of kids into two different teams and position them on each side of the line. Give them equipment to throw on to each others side of the room. It goes without saying, but nothing too big or dangerous! The aim of the game for the kids is to keep their side of the room tidy by throwing stuff to the other groups side. Once you've called time, whoever has the cleanest side of the room wins!

As you can see, brain breaks for kids can take a variety of different shapes and forms depending on your aims and objectives. You can take any of these ideas and re-adapt them for your own unique situations and scenarios, making changes to have them be more accommodating or perhaps even slightly more challenging. Over time you'll discover that your kids prefer some brain break activities to others. They will have favorites and you will too! Make sure to keep them varied and tailored to a specific outcome. If you are trying to get your kids to perk up it's advisable you use a more physical brain break, or at the very least something that gets them moving and out of a sitting position. If the idea is to regain a sense of control, it makes more sense to use a brain break that forces them to concentrate but also keeps them quiet. It really is up to you and how you want to make it work best for both you and your kids.

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Brain Breaks for Kids - Unicef Kid Power

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Brain Breaks for kids is the simple technique in which young students are given a short mental break taken at regular intervals. They are usually performed in a classroom or academic environment, but can also be used in similar non-traditional learning environments for largely the same effect.

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Great for formative assessments in real time!

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Helping Teachers Be Awesome See all your students working and give high-quality feedback–from anywhere. Sign Up (Free!)

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Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. Then share the Pix others as silly greetings, playful messages, or creative cards.

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Give your photos a voice with ChatterPix! Chatterpix can make anything talk -- pets, friends, doodles, and more!

Download for iPad & iPhone

Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. Then share your Pix with friends and family as silly greetings, playful messages, or creative cards. And best of all, it's FREE!

This App allows sharing via email, Facebook, and YouTube and is designed for adults. If you'd like to restrict these options, please download "ChatterPix Kids" - designed for kids with no sharing features.

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Give your photos a voice with ChatterPix! Chatterpix can make anything talk -- pets, friends, doodles, and more! Download for iPad & iPhone Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. Then share your Pix with friends and family as silly greetings, playful messages, or creative cards.

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Great decodable books for students to read at school or at home. They are organized by skills that first graders are working on throughout the year.

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Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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For Students - Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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Edpuzzle can be used to add narration or questions to educational videos. It holds students accountable for watching and understanding content.

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Nearpod is great for making interactive presentations!

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Nearpod: You’ll wonder how you taught without it

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Real-time insights into student understanding through interactive lessons, interactive videos, gamified learning, formative assessment, and activities -- all in a single platform.

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Great resource! There is so much on here!

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Online manipulatives bring all of the learning and fun without the mess. Our math virtual manipulatives help students grasp abstract concepts through modeling. Literacy virtual manipulatives create a fun space for practicing spelling, rhyming, and more!

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Virtual Manipulatives | Mathematical Modelling | Toy Theater

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Original teaching tools aimed at supporting teachers in the elementary school classroom. Two color counters, 3D dice, probability spinners, graph builders, fraction bars, base ten blocks, and more!

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Great activities and ideas for readers!

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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This channel has animals, jokes, geography, and things you want to know.

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Nat Geo Kids makes it fun to explore the world with weird, wild, and wacky videos featuring awesome animals like sharks, tigers and lions, cool science, funny pets, and more! Come back every week for new videos! Fuel kids’ curiosity with magazines designed to inspire and empower children ages 3 and up: https://www.natgeo.com/kids-magazine ➡ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@natgeokids Watch the newest videos on Nat Geo Kids YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQlnTldJs0ZQExTCjWSXXkCdfSvpjT5cO

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Playbook of ideas to incorporate SEL into the classroom.

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Ways to integrate SEL activities in the classroom.

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Kids and young adults need social-emotional skills to be successful at school, home, and for the rest of their lives. These are the skills that help kids build confidence, understand their own strengths and weaknesses, collaborate with others, navigate social situations, develop strong relationships, and make better decisions. Without a doubt, these are critical skills for all learners.

In my years as a teacher, I know there is just not enough time for everything. So often, social and emotional learning gets put on the back burner to other important skills like reading, writing, math, history, and science. While these skills are certainly important, I would argue that it's even more important that kids develop their emotional intelligence through social emotional learning activities. Simply put, if kids are mentally and emotionally healthy, they are better equipped to face the challenges life brings. We just have to make the time to teach, discuss, and practice these skills! Best of all, there are many ways to integrate social-emotional learning into what you are already teaching.

Below I share 25 strategies for integrating SEL instruction and activities into the day. Of course, if you're looking for a solution that targets these skills more explicitly, I created a yearlong curriculum for elementary social emotional learning and middle school social emotional learning to help all kids learn these skills.

Just a note that these strategies were originally written for use in the classroom. While many of the techniques can be used during distance learning, I also recently wrote an article all about integrating social emotional learning during distance learning.
Here are 25 ways to integrate social emotional learning into your classroom:
1. Use Journal Writing. You can use daily journal prompts to help kids think about social-emotional skills in all areas. For example, you might ask kids, "When was a time you used self-control? What was outcome?" to focus on self-management skills. After writing, it's helpful to have students share their responses with a partner and with the class as a whole. Kids will be practicing writing, partner work, group discussion, and SEL skills all at the same time. I love this yearlong Social Emotional Learning Journal for just a few minutes of writing and discussion every day.

2. Use Read Alouds. This is one of my favorite strategies for integrating SEL into everyday learning because it is something educators do so often already. While reading, spend time talking about how some of the characters might think and feel. Use this time to highlight that this is perspective-taking, a skill we use to understand others' emotions and thoughts. Best of all, it can be done with any text you are already reading. Grab this free read aloud list for social emotional learning to get you started with some ideas.

3. Do Daily Greetings. Kids and young adults need connection! One positive and simple strategy is to start your morning with daily greetings. You can do this as kids walk through the door or during the first few minutes of class. If you are teaching online, greetings can even be virtual. Use this printable greetings poster to get started.

3. Hold Class Meetings. You can choose to hold a class meeting once a day as a "morning meeting" or just once a week. The purpose of a class meeting can be to boost each other up, to help solve problems, and plan class events together. Having this space for community can help promote a positive climate for all kids. Use this morning meeting set to get started.

4. Incorporate Art Activities. Art can be a powerful way to target social and emotional skills. Creating a self-collage can help kids develop better self-awareness about who they are. Painting and drawing can serve as positive coping strategies to manage stress. Having partners work together on a shared drawing can increase collaboration and relationship skills. There are lots of opportunities for learning with art!

6. Talk About Managing Emotions. No matter what age, all kids and young adults need practice managing their emotions. This is another skill that can be weaved into literature as you talk about character's feelings and needs. You might say, "How did Theresa feel when her mom left? How did she manage her emotions? Do you think it was a healthy way to manage them?" Additionally, be open with kids about how to manage their own emotions and give strategies for what kids can do in your classroom. For example, "If you are feeling nervous about the test today, remember to use positive self-talk. Tell yourself that you've got this!"

7. Give Responsibilities. Giving kids responsibilities and jobs helps build their sense of self-worth and gives the message that we are all part of a larger community. It's important that every student has some type of responsibility, whether it is a class librarian, lunch counter, or part of a "clean up crew".

8. Practice Problem-Solving Skills. If students have an issue or challenge to overcome, avoid solving it for them right away. Encourage kids to think about how they could solve their problem and have a 10 minute policy - students can get your help but they need to think about the problem for at least 10 minutes first. Often, kids will figure out a solution on their own or with a friend during that time. You can use these free social problem solving task cards or grab the full set to get started! Again, this is another skill that can be strengthened through literature by discussing characters, problems, and making predictions about solutions.

9. Build Community with Teamwork. For class projects and assignments, have students work in larger teams to complete a task. Teach students to assign different jobs when working in a team, so that all students have important responsibilities.

10. Encourage Positive Self-Talk. Self-talk is voice in our minds that reassures and encourages us. It also helps us control our emotions so we can deal with problems appropriately. Today, kids hear a lot of negative, so teaching positive self-talk explicitly is really important. Model this and encourage this every day. Use this free positive thoughts and affirmations list to get started.

11. Celebrate Diversity. Spend time discussing and learning about people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and ability levels. Kids need to hear, see, discuss, and understand that we are part of a larger community within our countries and world. Early discussions about diversity can help promote tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion for everyone.

12. Incorporate Hands-on Crafts. If your students need a craft break or activity before a holiday, use that time to promote social and emotional skills. The craft below is a Positive Self-Talk Flower Craft. Kids can add their own positive self-talk statements, color the craft, cut it out, and then keep it to help remind them how to use this helpful strategy. This is just one small example that can help to maximize your learning time by incorporating SEL into activities like crafts.

13. Encourage Reflection. After students complete a task, assessment, project, or assignment, encourage them to reflect about their own progress. This is a critical SEL skill that can be used across all curriculum, such as math, reading, writing, science, history, and more.

14. Practice Mindfulness. Using mindfulness in the classroom can help teach kids how to calm down before a big test, manage their emotions when they are upset, and just feel happier in the moment. Sometimes, kids don't really know how to calm down on their own. Teaching mindfulness can help kids learn breathing strategies, how to focus on just one thing at a time, and relaxing our bodies. You can use these Mindfulness Activities to teach kids these strategies right away.

15. Create a Calm Down Area. Not all kids will use this area, but there are some students who truly need it. Set up a small area in your classroom with a bean bag, a few books, a calm down jar, a few fidgets, and anything else you have that is calming. Students who need this space can sit, use coping strategies, and return back to class when they are calm again.

16. Promote a Growth Mindset. Embracing a growth mindset helps kids and young adults learn that we can accomplish our goals with hard work, good strategies, and persistence over time. Sometimes kids feel they are just as smart as they'll ever be (i.e. "I'm just never good at math, so there's no use in trying). This mindset can be detrimental to student growth, so it is worth investing time into teaching kids to embrace a growth mindset and instead say, "Math is tough but I'm going to study, work hard, and ask for help so I can accomplish what I want to." Use these free Growth Mindset Task Cards to get yourself started!

17. Encourage Kindness. One of my favorite ways to promote kindness is encouraging random acts of kindness. Set up a bin where students can write and add a note when they notice someone else doing something kind or helpful. Once a month, draw from the bin to award a small reward. You can also post the random acts up on a bulletin board so that everyone can see.

18. Play Games. It's helpful to have an assortment of games that focus on social-emotional skills, such as communication, empathy, and problem-solving. Read up more on how you can integrate social emotional learning through games. You can also read my blog post about games you can use to strengthen executive functioning skills, such as self-control, planning, attention, and more.

19. Provide a Daily Check-in. You can do this either through a morning meeting, or just a quick check-in for specific students in need. Have students identify how they are feeling and consider what they might need to improve their emotions in the moment.

20. Discuss Empathy. To me, empathy is one of the most critical skills for kids to develop. It is the foundation for considering about how others think and feel so that we can respond in socially appropriate and compassionate ways. You can practice empathy on its own or through literature by discussing characters and how they might feel in a variety of situations. I also love these social skills task cards to practice the skills when time allows.

21. Create SMART Goals. SMART goals are another way to help kids have control over what they want to accomplish in life. You can have students write SMART goals for an academic area that they need to improve or a social area that needs work. Make sure to check-in on these goals periodically so that students can identify if their strategies are working or not, and make decisions about how to change their approaches to make their goals a success.

22. Teach Coping Skills to Manage Stress. All kids and young adults experience stress even when we don't see it. It is so important to teach them actual strategies they can use when they are feeling overwhelmed. It's critical that kids practice these strategies when they are actually calm and don't need them. That's so they can effectively use those skills in the moment when they are struggling with emotions. I love this Coping Strategies Wheel to teach and practice some of these skills in a hands-on way.

23. Highlight Skills Throughout the Day. Just teaching or addressing some of these social-emotional skills isn't enough. When you see them in action in the classroom, highlight and encourage the skill! For example, you might say privately to a student, "I noticed you were frustrated when you couldn't work with the group you wanted and you did a great job using your self-control and flexibility to go with the flow and choose another group. Thank you." You can highlight the skills to the whole class, too. You might say, "Before this test, I want everyone to just stop and use some positive self-talk. Give yourself a compliment."

24. Teach Active Listening Skills. All kids need to learn strong active listening skills for success at school, with friends, and at their future jobs. Kids will use them in your classroom when you are teaching, when they are working with a partner on an assignment, and when they are just chatting with a friend.

25. Teach Group Ground Rules. Group work is an important part of learning in the classroom, but it is not a strength for all learners. Have your kids develop "Group Ground Rules" for what is important when working in a group. Some examples might be: Do your fair share of the work, stay with the group, and give everyone a chance to speak up. Continually remind students of these rules when working in groups or partners.

26. Practice Respectfully Disagreeing. People are going to disagree sometimes, so learning how to disagree respectfully is a critical skill (especially in our digital world). Have students discuss and debate topics, making sure that they actively listen to the other person and respect that opinion even when they don't agree. You can use these Free Communication Skills Lessons to practice!

Remember that a social-emotional learning isn't just one thing. It's an approach that brings all of these aspects into your classroom and supporting your learners every day. I also have developed a yearlong curriculum for elementary social emotional learning and middle school social emotional learning to help all kids learn these skills. Kids deserve to have them!

These are just some ways you can incorporate social-emotional learning into your already-busy classroom. If you have more ideas about SEL, please share!

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25 Ways to Integrate Social Emotional Learning

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Kids and young adults need social-emotional skills to be successful at school, home, and for the rest of their lives. These are the skills that help kids build confidence, understand their own strengths and weaknesses, collaborate with others, navigate social situations, develop strong relationships

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Teaching our students how to understand and process their emotions is incredibly important now, more than ever. Art teachers are perfectly equipped to start conversations about identifying, expressing, and accepting all kinds of emotions with lessons specifically geared toward Social-Emotional Learning.

What is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)?

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

There are 5 main components of Social Emotional Learning:

Self Awareness: Understanding yourself

Self Management: Controlling impulses, stress, and emotions

Social Awareness: Understanding the perspectives and feelings of others

Relationship Skills: Communication, Cooperation, and Conflict resolution with others

Responsible Decision Making: Identifying problems and brainstorming solutions

Once you are aware of the components that make up Social Emotional Learning, it's time to make some art! Creating art that engages and strengthens your social and emotional muscles is a great way to make connections between feelings and creativity.

15 Art Lesson Ideas to Support SEL:

1. Partner Art Trade- Making something for someone else is a great way to encourage students to think about others. Have students create a small artist trading card, mini-masterpiece, or positive portrait of a friend. Intentionally taking the time to focus on creating something for another person specifically strengthens the social awareness and relationship skills of students.

2. Mantra Paper Beads- Have your artists think inward about what kinds of character traits make them special and strong. Using long strips of paper, instruct students to write and decorate each strip with a positive sentence about themselves. Then, tightly roll each strip of paper around a pencil, securing the strip together with glue or tape at the end. Once they have created a handful of positive rolled paper beads, students can make necklaces, banners, or decorations to remind them what makes them special.

3. Paper Chains- This classic lesson is a tried and true way to add positivity to the daily routine of a child. Using strips of paper, have students write a positive trait or a task to spread kindness. Then, loop the strips together to make a large paper chain. Each day, have students tear off a link to guide their SEL check-in for the day.

4. Scribble Art- Sometimes, we just need to "get the scribbles out!" Teach students how to hold one or many drawing tools and scribble all over a blank sheet of paper, letting their emotions come out on the paper. Artists can use the scribble paper to create something else, such as a sketchbook cover, bookmarks, or a decorative hanging banner.

5. Circle of Control- Start by discussing situations you can or cannot control. Create a piece of art with a circle on it. Then, inside the circle, draw and write things you can control. Outside the circle, draw and write situations that you cannot control. This can help calm children and adults who experience anxiety during uncertain times.

6. Personal Mantra- Discuss specific words that encourage and lift you up. Have your artists decorate a poster, or even write on a window or mirror to be reminded of their daily positive mantra.

7. Repetitive Motion Projects- Incorporating the therapeutic nature of art, try having your students do repetitive drawing such as a Zentangle project or calming coloring.

8. "I am" Self Portrait- Having students reflect on their own amazing character traits will allow them to have a better understanding of what makes them unique. Using their own creativity, draw an outline of the profile of their face and write powerful statements about what makes them amazing.

9. Wrinkled Hearts- Have students cut out a paper heart then wrinkle it all up. Then, start a conversation about thinking first using the phrase, "Before you speak, think and be smart, it's hard to fix a wrinkled heart."

10. Intuitive Abstract Art- Let students create explorative abstract creations using inspiring artists. Model how to follow your heart to create abstract art.

11. Emotional Color Wheel- Speak to students about the connection between colors and emotions. Ask: "How does the color red make you feel? What about blue?" Using these emotional connections, have students create an artistic representation of a color wheel or rainbow that addresses these emotional connections.

12. Vision Board- Have students create a vision board of things they want to do in the future. Suggest thinking ahead in a day, a month, and in years. Have students decorate their vision boards to reflect their goals and interests.

13. Hidden Hearts and Positive Phrases- Hearts are a classic symbol to represent feelings. Have students cut out paper hearts and write a positive phrase on each heart. Then, have students secretly hide their hearts around their living space to spread positivity and joy with the people around them.

14. Helping Hands- Encouraging students to think about others can make them realize how much control they have over the feelings of others. Have students trace or draw their own hands and reflect or write what their helpful hands can do for others.

15. Calming Weaving- weaving has a naturally calming effect on students. Try having students create paper weavings with positive self-affirmations woven together. Or, if students are using yarn to weave, encourage them to make connections to the emotions tied with the colors they are choosing.

A great way to start a conversation about SEL is also by simply reading a book to your students.

25 Books to Read with Students to Address SEL:

1. A little SPOT of Anxiety by Diane Alber
by Peter H. Reynolds
3. Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin
4. Chocolate Milk, Por Favor by Maria Dismondy
5. Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by Shelly Becker
6. Exactly You! The Shape of Your Feelings by Sarah Krajewski
7. Grumpy Dinosaur by Michael Gordon
8 by Grace Byers
9. I Can Handle It by Laurie Wright and Ana Santos
10. I Think, I Am!: Teaching Kids the Power of Positive Affirmations by Louise Hay
11. I Will Be Okay by Laurie N. Wright
12. MySELF - Self Control & Self Esteem by Newmark Learning
13. The Boy with Big, Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee and Jacob Souva
14. The Color Monster - A Story About Emotions by Anna Llenas
15. The Don't Worry Book by Todd Parr
16. The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
17. There's Nothing to Do by Dev Petty
18. Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
19. Train Your Angry Dragon by Steve Herman
20. Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems
21. We're All Wonders by R.J. Palacio
22. What Should Danny Do? by Adir Levy and Ganit Levy
23. What Were You Thinking? by Bryan Smith and Lisa M. Griffin
24. When You are Brave by Pat Zietlow Miller
25. Worry Says What? by Allison Edwards

Playing interactive games with your students is also a great way to start conversations about their feelings. It can make the conversation more centered around fun and less stressful.

10 Games to Play that Explore SEL:

1. Anger Slayer- Kids Anger Slayer Board Game
2. Feelings & Choices Flip Book
3. Don't Go Bananas Card Game
4. StrongSuit - The Tower of Self Esteem
5. Match Master Card Game-Social Emotional Learning Game
6. Emoji Stories Dice Game
7. Mad Smartz Card Game
8. Love Language: Kids Conversation Starters
9. Mindfulness Therapy Games: Mindfulness Cards
10. Totem: The Feel Good Game

Our connections to our students are essential during this unprecedented time of teaching. Strengthening our SEL curriculum is a great way to start building even deeper connections with our artists.
What SEL lessons do you like to create with your students? Why do you feel it is important to make SEL connections? What do you feel may be an untapped resource in your school regarding SEL?

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50 Activities That Support Social-Emotional Learning - The Art of Education University

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Return to Learn with The Art of Education University Teaching our students how to understand and process their emotions is incredibly important now, more than ever. Art teachers are perfectly equipped to start conversations about identifying, expressing, and accepting all kinds of emotions with lessons specifically geared toward Social-Emotional Learning.

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An article about the importance of SEL in helping teachers.

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When students have limited social-emotional skills, they're more likely to struggle when they face a new challenge or conflict. A lack of social-emotional skills can even cause kids to drop out.

Teaching SEL is not a solution for all of the challenges our students face. But there's a lot we can do as educators to make a significant positive impact. It starts with our own social-emotional skills.

Why your social-emotional skills matter

To teach SEL, we need to be aware of and continue to develop our own social-emotional skills as educators. Only then can we model and teach those skills to our students.

Learn more about the five core competencies, why they're important to our practice as teachers, and how you can model them in the classroom.

Identifying and expressing your emotions

Recognizing your strengths and challenges

Having an accurate self-perception and self-confidence

Practicing a growth mindset

Why self-awareness is important to your teaching

Have you ever been upset about a student's behavior, but paused to ask yourself, "Why am I feeling so angry?" You might have run through a quick series of responses in your mind before deciding what to say or do. That is self-awareness.

This response may have been instinctual. Or maybe someone taught you self-awareness skills: how to self-reflect, accurately perceive your feelings, and express those feelings to others.

It can be hard to maintain that level of self-awareness in a busy classroom. We're all human. We won't always be our best selves at every moment of the day. Embracing that reality helps us authentically engage with students, check our biases, question our own motivations, and pause to take stock of our decisions.

Ways to practice self-awareness in the classroom

Acknowledge your own emotions and how they may play into your reactions.

Name the skills you're using (or "think aloud") for your students as you model them. (It's important for students to recognize that you're still learning and practicing these skills, too.)

View students as partners in developing social-emotional skills.

Understand that it may take a little longer for some students to learn social-emotional skills as they develop self-confidence.

After you're aware of your emotions, then you can work on managing them. Self-management is the ability to regulate your emotions, thoughts, and behavior in varying situations. Self-management skills include:

Why self-management is important to your teaching

As educators, we're constantly using self-management skills to meet the demands of a high-stress job and manage life outside of school. So it's not surprising that we all struggle from time to time.

Using these same skills can be hard for students too, especially when you think about the barriers they face in and out of the classroom. Some students might have trouble managing the stress of "not getting it" when the curriculum isn't flexible for their learning and thinking differences.

The same curriculum may also not be historically and culturally diverse enough for them to see themselves represented in it. You might see students who appear to lack motivation or interest.

The barriers that students face can affect not only their readiness to learn, but also your own self-management. It's normal to feel challenged or stressed when you try to grow your classroom practice. It feels new and requires attention when time is short. Consider it an opportunity to build your self-management skills.

Ways to practice self-management in the classroom

What is social awareness?

Social awareness is the ability to understand other points of view, show empathy, respect diversity, and understand social norms. In many ways, social awareness is what helps relationships to thrive. It includes:

Why social awareness is important for your teaching

To maintain and build healthy relationships with students, we need to be aware of and respect other perspectives, values, cultures, and differences. Equity and empathy are both at the heart of this work.

One of the best ways to use social awareness with your students is to get to know them and their families. It helps you decide how to approach lessons, present content, react to student behavior, and more. It also allows you to create opportunities for students to bring their whole selves into your classroom. That is one of the best ways to show your respect for differing perspectives and life experiences.

Ways to practice social awareness in the classroom

Build a classroom community that values the collective good and concern for other people.

Create space and norms for you and your students to talk about how hearing a new perspective changed your point of view.

Ask for your students' feelings and perspectives on the classroom environment.

What is responsible decision-making?

Responsible decision-making is the ability to think about how what you do impacts yourself and others. You make choices about how to behave and interact, based on ethical and social standards and safety. Responsible decision-making includes:

Identifying and analyzing problems and situations

Solving problems as they arise

Evaluating and reflecting on the consequences of your actions

Taking ethical responsibility for your decisions and their outcomes

Why responsible decision-making is important for your teaching

As educators, we juggle decisions every day about workload, time management, and self-care. We all have different values, priorities, and experiences that impact our decision-making.

Because of the different factors that influence our decisions, it can be helpful to draw on colleagues' knowledge and experiences to make choices, like how to best support students who learn and think differently.

Decision-making is a big part of how we interact with students, too. We make choices each day about instruction and classroom management. We also make choices about how to help our students become decision-makers.

Remember that schools have their own set of values that influence decision-making. Many schools value higher education and may focus on sending graduates to college. Think about the decision-making process this requires of students. Imagine how difficult that process may be for students who would be the first in their families to go to college.

Your role in supporting students may be to acknowledge that their process may be very different from your own. Help them identify people with similar experiences who can serve as models.

Ways to practice responsible decision-making in the classroom

Recognize that students need your help to learn to become responsible decision-makers in developmentally appropriate ways.

Share with students your own process as you make decisions and explain the "why" behind them.

Seek out and provide access to diverse role models who have similar experiences as the students in your class.

What are relationship skills?

Relationship skills are the ability to build and maintain healthy and fulfilling relationships with others. Humans are wired for relationships, connection, and community. But these skills need to be developed. Relationship skills include:

Why responsible relationship skills are important for your teaching

Relationship skills help us connect with others. Listening skills, conflict resolution, and communication are important tools we use to navigate relationships.

Like the other social-emotional competencies, building relationships skills is hard work. You need to use the skills of self-awareness and self-management, and to engage with others in a meaningful way. Relationships also require a certain level of trust, vulnerability, and practice. Without practice, we often default to the emotions we are more comfortable expressing.

In the classroom, it can be a challenge for both teachers and students to build trusting relationships. But when it comes to modeling social-emotional skills, there's an added layer: You need to partner with students on building their emotional vocabulary so they can become agents of their emotions.

Students might struggle with expressing themselves, so they need your support. Being able to give and receive help is an important way to build and maintain relationships. It means not just seeking help in a time of need, but also being able to offer help to others. Many of us are better at offering help than we are at asking for it when we need it.

Ways to practice relationship skills in the classroom

Search for the "why" behind a student's behavior before responding.

Identify when an action wasn't appropriate. Provide an appropriate alternative action or response.

Acknowledge that these skills can be difficult to practice.

Find ways to practice problem-solving without actual conflicts, like role-playing.

Build in ways for students to reflect on their own thinking, patterns, and relationships.

Be an active listener and show students you are listening and responding to their feedback.

Plan classroom activities that focus on building trust and a sense of belonging.

As educators, we may not be able to control some aspects of our jobs. We may not be able to directly help with the many challenges our students face outside of school. But we can use our own social-emotional skills to make our classes a safe place where students know we value them, their families, and the experiences they bring to school.

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Social-emotional learning help students learn to manage emotions, make decisions, and solve problems. But social-emotional skills help teachers, too. Learn why SEL is important to your teaching and how it shapes your classroom.

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Newsela allows to find articles on a variety of topics at different reading levels.

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It's time to improve literacy skills during social studies instruction and ensure that readers of all abilities have what they need to access grade-level social studies concepts.

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a look at scaffolded materials that provide extra literacy support while building key social studies concepts and skills.

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Newsela | Content and assessment platform

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Content Aligned To National & State Standard, Flexible To Support Relevant Curriculum. Find the Perfect Piece Of Content For Lessons. Go beyond the book.

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Learning games for assessment and review

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Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

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Make short videos to explain learning and share with others.

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We express ourselves in different ways. On Flip, you can use our simple and fun built-in camera to record your thoughts, add effects and share within your Flip group as video, audio only or text in your web browser or mobile app.

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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Literacy Resources

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Lexia Learning Systems https://www.lexialearning.com/Assets/img/logo.svg 1984 978-405-6232 info@lexialearning.com 300 Baker Avenue, Suite 320 Concord MA 01742 USA

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Why Lexia

For forty years, Lexia has been at the forefront in the science of reading revolution, offering trailblazing professional learning, curriculum, and embedded assessment solutions that provide districts with actionable ways to accelerate literacy gains.

Having a literacy partner you can trust makes all the difference.

Proven literacy solutions give educators confidence as they strive to help every student read at grade level. That's why we diligently research and continuously prove our science of reading-based solutions work for every student and educator.

Together, we can make real literacy change.

Proven by Research

RAND ESSA Moderate Study Finds that Core5 Helps Students Accelerate Learning

This RAND ESSA Moderate Study finds Lexia® Core5® Reading helps students accelerate learning.

Lexia for You

Lexia provides science of reading-based professional learning and curriculum solutions to 6.7 million K-12 students and their 360,000 educators at more than 23,000 schools nationwide.

Learn more about Lexia for your state.

Proven by Users

Lexia's Core5: A 'Top-Notch' Data-Driven Literacy Platform for Michigan Educators

Before, During, and After the Pandemic: Core5 Helps Michigan Educators Take Reading Scores to New Heights with 93% NWEA Growth Rate.

"I never dreamed that there would be acceleration support for kids like what we have now with Lexia." —Christine Cyporyn, Waterford School District Title I Coordinator

Our Literacy Suite

Our science of reading-based professional learning, curriculum, and embedded assessment literacy solutions can be used together or individually to meet the learning needs for any student as well as teachers who support them.

A Cambium Learning® Group Brand

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All for Literacy. Because Literacy Can and Should Be for All. | Lexia

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Lexia is a leader in science of reading literacy solutions. | Lexia

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I use some of their videos in science class to get kids excited about an activity/experiment or as an introduction or reinforcer of a topic.

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From the team behind the YouTube series SciShow comes SciShow Kids! Join Jessi, Mister Brown, Squeaks the Robot Lab Rat, and all their friends at the Fort as they conduct experiments, research new questions, and talk with experts to learn about the science-filled world around us. There’s always s…

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How to drawings of favorite characters and other fun designs!

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Hey, art friends! Welcome to Art For Kids Hub! 🎨✏️ Here, you’ll discover all sorts of awesome art lessons, from drawing to painting, and even some super cool origami. Whether you’re a beginner or a budding artist, there’s something fun for everyone! I’m Rob, and along with my amazing wife, Teryn, and our four creative kids, Jack, Hadley, Austin, and Olivia, we make art together as a family and love sharing it with you. ❤️ Ready to jump in and start creating? Most of our art lessons are self-contained, so grab your favorite black marker, some paper, and your coloring supplies, and let’s get drawing! 🖍️📒 Join us on this colorful adventure, and let’s make art that brings smiles and joy. Happy creating! 🌟

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I would like to try this in the classroom!

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Start creating your screens here, no account needed.

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Lots of fun brain breaks and engaging videos!

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Free activities kids love and teachers request.

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A great resource to learn more about the research and expertise that are out there.

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Science of Reading: The Podcast, hosted by Susan Lambert, delivers the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Listen today!

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Read Aloud stories read by famous people. They have some great animations for their stories too!

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Sacred art for Visual Thinking Strategies and for talking about teachings, celebrations, and dogmas of the faith

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How to Use

Because sacred art is a proven way to infuse your classroom with beauty while encouraging fruitful discussions, we have included several images below, along with ways to bring the painting to life.

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Sacred Art Library | Sophia Institute for Teachers

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How to Use Because sacred art is a proven way to infuse your classroom with beauty while encouraging fruitful discussions, we have included several images below, along with ways to bring the painting to life.

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Information on new tech development and things to try in the classroom.

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Abstract

The EDUCAUSE Horizon Report® profiles key trends and emerging technologies and practices shaping the future of higher education, and envisions a number of scenarios and implications for that future. It is based on the perspectives and expertise of a global panel of leaders from across the higher education landscape.

2021 Reports

Looking for past reports? Horizon Reports 2005-2020
History of the Horizon Report
For more than a decade, EDUCAUSE partnered with the New Media Consortium (NMC) to publish the annual Horizon Report. The New Media Consortium (NMC) was acquired by EDUCAUSE in February 2018. All the NMC publications are available in the EDUCAUSE library.

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The EDUCAUSE Horizon Report ® profiles key trends and emerging technologies and practices shaping the future of higher education, and envisions a number of scenarios and implications for that future. It is based on the perspectives and expertise of a global panel of leaders from across the higher education landscape.

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Primary Source lessons

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KidCitizen provides a growing set of interactive Episodes where K-5 students work with primary source photographs to explore Congress and Civic Engagement. The episodes work on Macs, PCs, Chromebooks, iOS and Android tablets.

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This site has some great inquiry-based mysteries for students to engage with and try to solve.

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History’s Mysteries is now Private i History Detectives! Explore the updated and expanded resources available with iCivics.
Teaching kids about history and civics has never been more important. Find your favorite mysteries at iCivics, alongside new resources to help make Social Studies education

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Genital herpes is a widespread sexually transmitted infection caused by the herpes simplex viruses. Suppressive valtrex therapy has been shown to significantly reduce HSV transmission.

The Absent Narratives Resource Collection is a searchable database of ready-to-use videos, educator guides, and readings that will support your efforts to include Absent Narratives in your classroom or workplace. Items included in the resource collection have been created or developed by the Humanities Center and its partners. New resources will be added as they become available.
Overview of Resources Know Where You Are - Bdote
In this 17 minute video, Ramona Kitto Stately and Ethan Neerdaels guide viewers on a tour of several Dakota sites in the Twin Cities.
Ohéyawahe (Pilot Knob): A Teacher Guide and Supplementary Lessons
"Ohéyawahe (Pilot Knob): A Teacher Guide and Supplementary Lessons for Learning about Mnísota's First People" was created by Priscilla Buffalohead, Ethan Neerdaels, and Ramona Kitto Stately in partnership with Osseo Area Schools and the Minnesota Humanities Center in 2019.

These tools provide a framework to respectfully interrogate resources as you seek to include typically absent(ed) narratives into curriculum, public life, and practice.
Absent Narratives Resource Assessment Tool
K-12 curriculum often absents whole cultures and peoples, or relegates their importance to a unit, celebration day, or month. This absence bears a tremendous cost for all students. Curriculum that devalues the contributions of cultures and communities detracts from a message of shared humanity. Use this framework as a guide to assess and interogate resources for use in your classroom and curriculum.
View Resource Considerations for Selecting and Assessing American Indian Resources
This document is adapted from "Choosing Good Books: Guidelines and Commentary on Assessing Indians in Children's Literature" (2006) by Gregory O. Gagnon, and the "American-Indian Internet Search Checklist" by the National Museum of the American Indian.
View Resource Bdote Memory Map Social Studies Standards Alignment
The Bdote Memory Map is a geography-based, digital media resource for Dakota people to express connections to traditional places and to help non-Native citizens see Minnesota from an indigenous point of view.

This resource shows how different elements of the Bdote Memory Map align with Minnesota Social Studies Standards (grades 6-12).

View Resource

Why Treaties Matter Educator Guides

Why Treaties Matter is a traveling and virtual exhibit that serves as an educational tool for schools, community organizations, and beyond. in 2013, a team of community members and educators developed educator guides to accompany the Why Treaties Matter exhibit content. These guides provide educators with background, student readings and activities, vocabulary lists, and suggested web and print resources.

See how the seven Why Treaties Matter educator guides, as well as the exhibit video "A Day in the Life of the Minnesota Tribal Nations," align with Minnesota Social Studies Standards (grades 6-12).

View Resource

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Genital herpes is a widespread sexually transmitted infection caused by the herpes simplex viruses. Suppressive valtrex therapy has been shown to significantly reduce HSV transmission. The Absent Narratives Resource Collection is a searchable database of ready-to-use videos, educator guides, and readings that will support your efforts to include Absent Narratives in your classroom or workplace.

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Create digital posters that incorporate multimedia.

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Use Quizizz for formative assessment games. You can use ones already created or create your own.

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Quizizz | Free Online Quizzes, Lessons, Activities and Homework

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Motivate every student to mastery with easy-to-customize content plus tools for inclusive assessment, instruction, and practice. Engage students with Quizizz today!

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Read Works has reading passages that are differentiated for different reading levels on a variety of topics. There are also read-to-me features and comprehension questions.

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis.

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Create Books - Students or Me!

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Book Creator - Love Learning - Book Creator app

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Teachers love it. Students love it. Book Creator is the simplest, most inclusive way to create content in the classroom.

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Create Online Books

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StoryJumper: #1 rated site for creating story books

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Easiest way to create, narrate, and publish your own hardcover and paperback books. Read and listen to books from our worldwide community.

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A great LMS for elementary students.

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Seesaw creates a powerful learning loop between students, teachers, and families

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"vlog music" "vlog no copyright" music vlog "no copyright music" free "background music" "audio library" "royalty free music" "free music" copyright "no copy...

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Audio Library - Music for content creators

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Audio Library is a channel dedicated to search, catalog, sort and publish No Copyright Music, Vlog Music and Royalty Free Music for content creators · https://www.audiolibrary.com.co --- ✅ About using the music: - You MUST include the full credits in your video description - You can NOT claim the music

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Search now to download properly attributed, Creative Commons photos for school!

Teachers have told us they need a place to access safe images that are available to be used in the classroom and for educational purposes. Plus, they want accurate image citations. We've heard you and created "Photos For Class" to meet your needs for images!

Age Appropriate Images - All images are appropriate for the school setting, thanks to Flickr and Pixabay SafeSearch and our proprietary filters - Read More

Automatic Citation - Downloaded images automatically cite the author and the image license terms - Read More

Creative Commons - All photos shown are, to the best of our (and Flickr's / Pixabay's) knowledge, licensed by Creative Commons for public use

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Photos For Class - The quick and safe way to find and cite images for class!

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The World's easist way to search for safe, creative commons images and cite them.

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Free Icons and Stickers - Millions of resources to download

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We are sorry you canceled your Premium subscription You can still enjoy Flaticon Collections with the following limits: You can choose only 3 collections to keep You can only add up to 100 icons per collection You cannot add Premium icons to your collection The advantages of your collections changed

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Pictures to be used for teachers and students

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Thousands of copyright free and copyright friendly images and photos for teachers and students.

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Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash

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Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.

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https://www.videvo.net/

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Free Stock Video Footage HD 4K Download Royalty-Free Clips

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Download free stock video footage with over 300,000 video clips in 4K and HD. We also offer a wide selection of music and sound effect files with over 180,000 clips available. Click here to download royalty-free licensing videos, motion graphics, music and sound effects from Videvo today.

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https://www.theedublogger.com/copyright-fair-use-and-creative-commons/

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It has never been easier to publish online or consume digital content. This comes with many advantages and can make teaching and learning so much more targeted and impactful. Living in a digital world also brings up many questions - one issue that is very important to understand is copyright.

Whether you're an educator, student, or blogger, copyright is a topic that is often overlooked as it can be confusing or just not considered important.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of myths about copyright circulating amongst the education community. Maybe you've heard that you can use any images or texts you find online if you're using them for education? Or perhaps you've heard that you can use any songs in your videos as long as you use less than 30 seconds? Yep, both not true.

Copyright is important for all teachers, students, and bloggers to know about. And it doesn't have to be as complicated as you think. We're here to break down the basics of copyright and other related topics like fair use, public domain, and Creative Commons.

There's a lot to learn in this post so remember to bookmark it and use the menu below to navigate.

Let's get started with the basics.

Let's begin with the 5 main rules you need to remember about copyright.

1) Just because you found it online, doesn't mean it's free to use (even if you're a teacher or student).

2) There are a lot of resources you can use freely including work that has a Creative Commons license or is in the public domain.

3) You have a right as a creator to have your work protected from copying and you can also give your own content a Creative Commons license.

4) If in doubt about using content, ask the creator for permission, find a free alternative, make your own material, or purchase an alternative that has the usage rights you're after.

5) Instead of looking for loopholes, consider whether you're being the most responsible and ethical digital citizen you can be.

📌 Want a poster for your classroom or staffroom? Download a letter-sized poster of the 5 rules to remember here.

Copyright is a form of legal protection offered to creators by default. That means, in many countries (like the USA and Australia), you don't have to register your work to have it protected by copyright.

Some creators do register their work with the U.S. Copyright Office (or the equivalent in their own country). Usually, this is to provide strong evidence to a court that the creator is the copyright holder if there is ever an infringement case. You don't need to have registered your work with the Copyright Office in order to pursue a copyright infringement case.

It's a myth that you have to display a copyright symbol © to protect your work.
Can Others Use Your Copyrighted Work?
If you're a copyright owner, someone else can't copy your work without your permission. They also can't perform the work, distribute copies of the work, display the work publicly, or create derivatives.

If someone does use work that's protected by copyright without permission, that's called copyright infringement. We'll cover this later.
Who Owns The Copyright?
Usually, the creator of a work is the copyright owner but the copyright can also be sold, traded, or inherited.
What Does Copyright Cover?
Copyright covers both published and unpublished works that are tangible in format. So, all tangible original work is protected by copyright whether it's a blog post, music, artwork, photo, play, poem, novel, dance choreography, movie, software, architecture, or more.

Copyright does not protect works that are not tangible, like facts or ideas. Copyright only protects the tangible expression of your ideas. So you might have a great idea for a blog post about teaching 5th grade math but unless you actually write the post, you can't protect the idea that's floating around in your head. And you can't stop others from writing about the same idea.

You can read more about the basics of copyright on the U.S. Copyright Office website (or on your own country's official site). There are some variations between countries.

So now you understand that most of the work you're accessing online or in books is going to be protected by copyright (images, text, videos, music, and more). This means you can't necessarily use these materials freely on your class blog, website, or with your students in your classroom.

"But fair use applies here doesn't it", I hear you ask? Because you're using images, text, videos, or music for educational purposes, that's okay, right? Teachers and students don't have to worry?

Not necessarily.

The more you dig in to the topic of fair use, the more you come to realize it is a gray area.

As the U.S. Copyright Office explains, The Classroom Use Exemption 17 U.S.C. §110(1) allows you to use copyrighted material when you meet certain criteria.

If you're teaching online or wanting to hand out copies of work, then you may not be covered by this exemption. Furthermore, these fair use laws are specific to the U.S. so if you're in another country, you may not be covered. Some countries don't have a fair use law or they may be more specific or broad than the U.S.

For example, in Australia, there is " Fair Dealing " which is an exception to copyright infringement that's a little more specific than in the U.S. You may be able to use portions of copyright material without permission for the purpose of:

research or study

criticism or review

parody or satire

reporting news, or

enabling a person with a disability to access the material

Overall, fair use isn't as simple as it seems, right? Instead of trying to find loopholes with fair use, a better approach is to look for materials that you can use freely.

The best place to start is with public domain or Creative Commons materials. So let's dig into that.

In general, in the U.S., copyright lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years after the author's death.

What happens to work after the copyright expires? Well, it becomes part of the public domain. Works can also enter the public domain if they are factual (e.g. charts or calendars), they are published before a certain date, or a creator has assigned their work to the public domain.

When something is in the public domain it means the work is owned by the public and you don't have to get permission to use it. This is great for educators looking for materials they can freely use with their students.

Example Public Domain Resources

There are many places online where you can find books, images, audio, and videos that are in the public domain.

Some popular choices for public domain materials include:

Sometimes creators (copyright holders) are happy for others to use their work, as long as they meet certain conditions.

A creator can place a Creative Commons license on their work which describes the terms of using, modifying, and sharing the works. A simple license removes the hassle of others having to ask the creator for permission.

Creative Commons is an international organization that made this system possible. The mission of the Creative Commons organization is clear,

By helping people and organizations share knowledge and creativity, we aim to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world.

If a creator decides to attach a Creative Commons license to their work, there are six Creative Commons licenses to choose from.

I have written a post on my own blog about copyright and Creative Commons that includes a poster to simplify the licenses.

The poster includes a Creative Commons license so you're welcome to use the poster in your classroom or share it with your colleagues (a poster about Creative Commons licenses that includes a Creative Commons license - meta, right?). There is a PDF version of the poster on my blog.

👉🏽 If you'd like to learn more about Creative Commons licenses, the video below by McLaughlin Library is a good place to start. You can learn more about Creative Commons Licenses on the official website of the organization as well.

If you need images for your blog, website, videos, or other projects, Creative Commons images are a good choice. As long as you're using the image according to the license with attribution, you won't be infringing copyright.

If you're looking for images that have a Creative Commons license, there are an increasing number of options out there. We'll show you some of the more popular options, but first, it's important to understand attribution.

All Creative Commons resources require attribution unless they're licensed with the least restrictive Creative Commons Zero license. That means no attribution is required and you can use the resource however you like.

Let's take a look at how to attribute Creative Commons images. The same instructions apply to other works (text, videos, etc.).

How To Attribute Creative Commons Images

When you use a resource with a Creative Commons license, you have to attribute it in a particular way. Attributing means sharing the details of the work and giving credit.

The acronym TASL can help us remember what to include.

Title of the image or material (don't worry if there is no title)

Author or creator of the image/material

Source of the image/material. Where is it from? Include a link if possible so others can find it

License - include which of the six Creative Commons licenses applies to the work

Here's a photo I found on Wikimedia Commons of a bridge in Western Australia. You can see I included the attribution below the image.

By Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84138882

If you use images from Wikimedia Commons, getting the attribution information is easy. As you go to download the image, you're prompted to copy the attribution information.

You can copy the attribution information either in plain text format (as in caption above), or as HTML as shown below.

If you insert HTML into your blog post, it'll become hyperlinked. Learn more about inserting custom HTML in Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress block editor here.

👉🏽 If you'd like to learn more about attribution and explore some examples of ideal, acceptable, and unacceptable attributions, check out this page on the Creative Commons wiki. There's also a handy PDF about attribution on the Australian Creative Commons website.

Now you know the basics of attribution. Let's take a look at where you can find images and music that have a Creative Commons license. We'll begin with images that don't require attribution.

Creative Commons Zero Images
(No Attribution Required)
There are a number of websites where you can find images that are free to use without attribution (Creative Commons Zero).

I've written a post on my blog about the best websites to find Creative Commons images that either don't require attribution or the attribution is included within the image like the example below from Photos For Class:

The sites reviewed in my post and the summary diagram below are:

* Photos For Class currently has fewer options than it used to. The team has told us they aim to improve this in mid-2020. 🤞🏽

Here's a summary poster that you're free to use in your own teaching.

The one issue that a lot of educators overlook is that a lot of these free image sites are age-restricted. So if you teach younger students, many sites are not going to be suitable.

Another thing to consider is that even though the images from these sites don't need to be attributed (or they include the attribution information within the image) it's still a good idea to teach students about copyright, Creative Commons, and attribution. As producers and consumers on the web, these are really vital understandings for students and all internet users. Just remember, even if attribution isn't required, it's always appreciated by the creator.

Creative Commons Images That Require Attribution

Apart from the sites listed above with images that don't require attribution, there are other places to find images with one of the six Creative Commons licenses that do require attribution.
Creative Commons Search Engine
The first place you might want to look is the search engine on the official Creative Commons website. This is an excellent tool that was updated in 2019. It allows you to search through millions of CC images from more than 20 different sites.

When using the search engine, you can easily filter the search results - for example, you can filter by file type, use, or license.

There's also a Creative Commons search browser extension that allows you to look for Creative Commons images on the go.

Wikimedia Commons
We already mentioned Wikimedia Commons above in the section about attribution. Wikimedia Commons has a large collection of images, audio, and videos that are free to use. Most require attribution.

Wikimedia Commons collections are included in the Creative Commons search engine so that tool really is a one-stop shop.
Search For Creative Commons Images On Google
Sadly, it is common practice for many teachers, students, and bloggers to take images straight from Google. Most images on Google are protected by copyright and using these images is illegal and unethical.

You may know that you can do an advanced search on Google to find Creative Commons images, although it does require a few steps. First, you need to filter your search results to find images that can be reused.

This video from Jurupa School District explains how to do that.

Then the next step, that is not shown in the video, is you have to click through to the site the image is from, look for the Creative Commons license, and attribute your image correctly.

As we saw above, using the Creative Commons search engine or Wikimedia Commons makes it really simple to attribute your chosen image. All you really have to do is copy/paste. Using Google search doesn't make it easy to attribute Creative Commons images. So this is not the way we'd recommend finding Creative Commons images online.

No doubt there have been many times when you want to use music on your blog, in your content, or in class. When you're creating a video it can be extremely tempting to use popular music that reflects the mood and emotion of the footage. Or maybe you want students to play popular music at a performance or public event.

As you probably know, most music is protected by copyright. It doesn't matter if you paid for a song or not, it's still protected by copyright. It doesn't matter if you're only using 30 seconds or less of a song, it's still protected by copyright.

Let's take a look at some specific examples of music and copyright.

Using Music In Projects Like Videos

Normally, you can't just use any music you like in your projects or videos.

However, in many countries, there are exceptions. For example, in the U.S. and Australia, you are allowed to copy music to add to a video if:

a) it's for educational purposes and
b) you're not sharing your video publicly (or selling it!)

So, if you make a video with music that's protected by copyright, it's not okay to publish this on a public blog, social media, YouTube, and so on. And you couldn't show your video at a public event. However, it's okay if the video is just being shown privately to teachers, students, and families at home/school.

It's also important to note that background music is not considered "educational use".

Paying For Music And Streaming

There are popular sites and apps where you can pay to download or stream music legally - for example, Apple Music, Google Play Music, and Spotify.

You can listen to your downloaded music yourself, but can't upload the music to your blog or to a video or other project you're working on.

It's fine to stream music videos on sites like YouTube too but it's not usually legal to download the audio from a YouTube video as explained in this article.

Also, streaming music is meant for personal use - not for a public broadcast.

As Spotify says,

...it's not possible to use Spotify in public places (such as bars, restaurants, stores, schools, etc.). You may only make personal, non-commercial, entertainment use of the content.

Most streaming services are similar.

Embedding Music Videos

Embedding a music video from a site like YouTube or Vimeo into your blog is usually allowed.

As Richard Byrne says,

If the host provides an embed and you embed it using their code according to their rules (usually that means not trying to hide branding), you can embed it without violating copyright.

You can also link to music files or videos that are publicly available on the web.

Using Purchased CDs

Some people still listen to music by buying a CD or borrowing one from the library, although, of course, digital music is becoming a lot more popular than CDs in many parts of the world.

Again, you can't copy the music from a CD and use it for another public project (e.g. upload it to your blog or add it to a public video). It doesn't matter if you have purchased the CD legitimately.

👉🏽 If you'd like to learn more about using music in education for other purposes including school concerts and online learning, check out this fact sheet from the National Association of Music Education.

Creative Commons Or Copyright Free Music

Even though most music out there is protected by copyright, there are many places online to find Creative Commons or other copyright free music options.

You might first like to check if your district has any subscriptions you can make the most of. For example, Soundzabound.

If this isn't an option, there are lots of other sources of free music online.

Three options for free music and audio are:

Let's take a look at how these three sites work.

Dig CC Mixter

Dig CC Mixter offers thousands of hours of free music.

The music on this site has different Creative Commons licenses so you need to check whether you need to attribute the music or not.

Educational Blogger Richard Byrne explains in a video how to use Dig CC Mixter and filter by license.

YouTube Audio Library

YouTube has a great library of music you can use. Visit the Audio Library on YouTube to browse the selections.

If you click on Attribution, you can filter your results to find music that does or doesn't require attribution.

You can preview the music to see what it sounds like and download the music you want to use.

Here's an example called Sunshine in my Heart by Jingle Punks.

BBC Sound Effects

During 2018, the BBC made over 16,000 sound effects available to use. These sound effects are not actually Creative Commons - they're protected by copyright but the BBC gives permission for the sound effects be used for personal, educational, or research purposes.

You can browse by category to find the sort of sound effect you're after for your project.

You should put a link in your project or blog post to say that your sound effects are from the BBC and link to their site.

Here is an example of a sound clip. This is the sound of the surf at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.

Surf - Bondi Beach, bbc.co.uk, copyright 2020

Where would we be without all the awesome video content we now have at our fingertips on the web? In the education world, extensive video libraries like YouTube are becoming priceless.

Video copyright can be complicated as video can draw together multiple elements - video footage, images, music, sound effects, and so on. When using, sharing, or creating video, you need to make sure all of these elements are not protected by copyright.

Can You Link Or Embed Videos?

You are free to embed any video from sites like YouTube, Vimeo, TeacherTube, TedED etc. on your blog or website as long as it gives you the embed option. It's a good idea to add a link to the video as well.

Linking or embedding from YouTube or other sites on the web is not considered copying. Just make sure the videos aren't violating copyright. If they are, they'll probably be taken down by the site eventually but some content gets through.

Can You Download Videos From Sites Like YouTube?

While linking and embedding videos is okay, you shouldn't download videos from YouTube. Sometimes this is tempting for teachers especially if they have unreliable internet connectivity, they're worried about a video being removed in future, or they want to add a video to a learning management system. However, downloading videos raises many legal questions and generally violates copyright.

Additionally, you can't necessarily use parts of videos from YouTube (or other sources) to make mashups or remixes. If you want to cut or remix videos, it is better to use Creative Commons content, public domain content, or request permission from the copyright holder.

Uploading Your Own Videos To YouTube

If you want to upload your videos to a site like YouTube remember to respect copyright. You should only upload videos that you made or that you have permission to upload. Make sure there aren't copyrighted elements (e.g. music or images) in your videos. Of course, get permission from your school or district if these videos are being used professionally.

Educators should be especially careful about permission if using footage of students. Some teachers use the blurring tools available in YouTube to blur student faces and identifying objects. Richard Byrne shares a demonstration of how to do this on his website.

👉🏽 If you're a creator and would like to learn more about videos and copyright, YouTube has a useful playlist of eight videos on their YouTube Creators channel.

Showing Videos To Students

Teachers can show videos in class for educational reasons, such as videos legally uploaded to YouTube (however, some districts don't allow YouTube to be used in schools).

If you have a legitimate copy of an offline video (e.g. DVD), you're allowed to use this in class for face-to-face teaching as long as it's for educational purposes (not for entertainment or a reward).

Remember, this would be in line with the U.S. fair use policies we described above, so check your own country's guidelines if in doubt. If you're in Australia, a useful website for all things copyright is https://www.smartcopying.edu.au

Say you've purchased a textbook or other teaching materials. You can obviously use these materials in class and you might be able to make photocopies, however, in most cases you can't upload purchased curriculum or books to a public site. That means don't put scans, photos, or PDFs of textbooks, worksheets, posters, picture books, novels, or other learning materials on your public blog or website.

If in doubt, seek guidance from the company you purchased the curriculum materials from about reuse.

Marketplaces Like Teachers Pay Teachers

Not so long ago, we were all purchasing our curriculum materials from professional organizations. Now anyone can be a creator and with the rise of sites like Teachers Pay Teachers, new copyright questions have arisen. As Education Week has pointed out, copyright infringement is rife on this popular marketplace.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you're uploading to a site like Teachers Pay Teachers you need to make sure you have permission to use all your elements including fonts and images.

If you're downloading resources from Teachers Pay Teachers, you need to seek clarification about how these can be used. And also keep an eye out for resources that look like they could be violating copyright before you use them (e.g. copies of a published textbook). There is limited vetting of copyright materials on Teachers Pay Teachers. As a savvy internet user, we all need to have an awareness of the larger copyright traps that are out there.

Link To Curriculum Resources

Linking may be a useful alternative to copying curriculum materials. If third-party text, articles, or other content is available on the web, teachers or students could include a link to the content on their blog or website.

Like embedding, linking is not a copyright activity because you're not "copying" the content. You're just providing a path to the original location that the readers can access themselves.

Creative Commons Textbooks And Curriculum

Another option to avoid copyright violations is to use curriculum materials that have Creative Commons licenses. One example is OpenStax. You can browse to find textbooks for a range of topics and the materials are free to use however you see fit.

You'll find some more open textbooks and course materials listed on this Open Washington page.

We know that most images, text, music, and other content are protected by copyright by default. Using work protected by copyright without permission is called copyright infringement. This is unethical and illegal. "Using" the work might involve reproducing, displaying, distributing, performing, or making your own derivatives.

But I Won't Be Caught...

If only that were true.

Google makes it incredibly easy for companies and content creators to seek out those posting their work on the web. In fact, most large companies now aggressively patrol the internet looking for copyright infringement.

Sadly, we are also noticing more and more "law firms" and organizations out there looking for copyrighted content as a way of generating business. They then contact the copyright holder offering their services to get the content removed (for a fee of course). It is a ruthless (and apparently profitable) practice.

Another issue that is important to be aware of involves Creative Commons Zero sites. There have been cases where people have used images from free image sites like Unsplash and then were hit with a copyright infringement case. Sometimes people put images up on these sites in order to sue. They leave the images up on the site until they are downloaded multiple times and then remove them. This is a dark side of Creative Commons Zero that's important to be aware of.

What If I Am Caught?

In many countries, copyright infringement brings hefty penalties including fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars and imprisonment, depending on the situation.

Of course, a good offense is your best defense. Check your blogs and class websites for any potentially offending material. Has anyone uploaded images straight from other websites or Google? Are there are educational materials (e.g. copies of textbooks) that shouldn't be there? Has copyrighted music been used publicly? If you find anything, just remove it.

The law requires copyright holders to give you (and the host of your site, such as Edublogs, WordPress, etc.) an official notification. Take these seriously and act quickly to remove what they want if you are in the wrong. That should be the end of it.

Here at Edublogs and CampusPress, we're contacted about copyrighted materials regularly. These are mostly images from Google, curriculum documents, or PDFs (e.g. textbooks or sheet music), or music files.

We were once notified about a teacher with a blog on Edublogs that had a harmless world map image on his blog that he had presumably found using Google image search. When we contacted him telling him why we had removed the image, he asked if he and his students could write an apology letter to the copyright holder.

It was excellent - turning what could be a bit of an embarrassing mistake into a teachable moment for his students. Now this teacher had a good reason to discuss copyright and Creative Commons with his students.

Even if you haven't done anything wrong, having a space to publish online like a blog or website is one of the best ways students can learn about copyright and Creative Commons.

Whether you're a teacher, a student, or a regular blogger, when you're publishing online you must do your best to be a responsible digital citizen. This means respecting others' work and respecting copyright.

Here are three key things to remember when publishing online to be a legal and ethical digital citizen:

1) Steer Clear Of Google Images

Don't copy images off Google or other websites. Even if you include an attribution it is still illegal and unethical.

If you like an image and don't know where it originally came from, a reverse search might help.

If an image is created by someone that you can contact, you could always ask their permission to use it.

Remember the best bet is to find Creative Commons or public domain images. Otherwise, take/make your own images or purchase some from a stock photography website.

2) Embed Or Link To Audio Or Video Clips

If you're going to include a video or an audio clip, embed the file from the source and include a link as well. Don't download audio or video files as this brings up many questions about copyright.

If you're embedding from a site like YouTube, make sure the content doesn't violate copyright law. YouTube is usually pretty good at cracking down on this but there is some content on there that does violate copyright - e.g. copies of television shows.

3) Never Copy Someone Else's Blog Post

You might find this a little hard to believe but unfortunately people copy posts from other blogs and publish them on their own site all the time. Or they publish the blog post in another format such as a PDF document or slideshow.

And in case you're wondering, copying someone's blog post and then including an attribution does not make this okay.

If you do want to share someone else's blog post on your own blog, consider writing a short description of the post on your blog and then inviting readers to click on a link to read the post themselves. In your own post, you could include some key points about what you agreed or disagreed with. Or maybe you can expand on the topic in a different direction. All this would be perfectly acceptable and no doubt the author would appreciate the interaction.

Hopefully you now know that you definitely can't copy and paste someone else's whole blog post or image, but you can include a quote of some text.

Here are a few points to be aware of that we included in our post on The Edublogger about quotes:

Make it obvious which words are your own, and which words belong to someone else by using quotation marks or block quotes.

Make your quotes brief. There are no universal rules here. Some larger organizations have guidelines around how much you can quote (e.g. Hubspot's rules are 75 words). If you're unsure or think you might be using too much of someone's article, contact them to ask permission. Never copy the whole post.

Always include the person's name, and link to their site, article, or book if you can.

If you're using blockquotes, the attribution could be before the quote, inside it, or below it.

If you shorten a quote, use an ellipsis (...) in place of the missing words.

If you're adding any words or corrections to the quote, use brackets.

Earlier, we looked at the six types of Creative Commons licenses available to creators. If you're publishing online, you're a creator too! And you don't have to be a professional. Maybe you share memes or lesson resources on social media? Perhaps you write blog posts? Maybe you take your own photographs that you share online?

Have you ever considered adding a Creative Commons license to your own original work?

As the Creative Commons organization explains,

When you apply a CC license, you give permission to anyone to use your material for the full duration of applicable copyright and similar rights.

This is therefore a serious decision but an important one. You can contribute to building a collection of art and knowledge that's accessible to anyone in the world. How cool is that! You remain in control by choosing your own license, and people who like your work can use or share it without having to contact you for permission.

Before you choose a Creative Commons license, you need to make sure you are the copyright owner and the work is copyrightable (e.g. in a tangible format).

If you're unsure which license to choose for your own work, there is an interactive tool on the Creative Commons website. This tool suggests a license after you answer a few questions. It also gives you a CC button that you can attach to your work to display your license.

If you would like to display your creative commons license on your blog, the easiest way is to use a text widget in your sidebar.

From your dashboard, go to Appearance > Widgets and select a Text widget to add to your sidebar. Paste the code provided by your Creative Commons license provider in the widget's text box, and click "Save".

Adults aren't the only ones who can add Creative Commons licenses to their work. In many countries, children can too. What an authentic way for students to learn about copyright and sharing online.

Perhaps a whole class or school could make a library of Creative Commons content (e.g. images or music) that can be used freely by the education community? Talk about authentic learning!

If you've made it this far into the guide you will have realized that copyright is a vast and complex topic, however, you don't need to be an expert to understand the basics.

We've made a collection of slides which you're welcome to use in your own classroom or perhaps you'd like to use them as part of your professional development program. Want to make a copy? Scroll down for instructions (don't request access).

Want a copy of the Google Slides presentation? Don't request access, just follow the steps below.

1) Click on this link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jK-_bTIBa9CZAC-bqKd0PQc7ohG9L47KSdcvfHgIxqw/copy?usp=sharing

2) You will be prompted to make a copy (screenshot below).

3) The Slides will be saved in your Google Drive.

4) You can edit the Google Slides to suit.

Before we conclude, take a moment to reflect back on the rules to remember about copyright.

1. Just because you found it online, doesn't mean it's free to use (even if you're a teacher or student).

2. There are a lot of resources you can use freely including work that has a Creative Commons license or is in the public domain.

3. You have a right as a creator to have your work protected from copying and you can also give your own content a Creative Commons license.

4. If in doubt about using content, ask the creator for permission, find a free alternative, purchase an alternative, or make your own material.

5. Instead of looking for loopholes, consider whether you're being the most responsible and ethical digital citizen you can be.

Do you have any other tips to add about copyright for educators, students, or bloggers? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know. We'd love to hear your suggestions.

For any specific questions regarding your own copyright dilemmas, please consult professional legal advice.

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The Educator's Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons

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Copyright is important for all teachers, students, and bloggers to know about and it doesn't have to be as complicated as you think. In our ultimate guide, Dexter the cat helps us break down the basics of copyright, Creative Commons, and fair use....

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This allows you to make a fair use evaluation for resources that are used in the classroom.

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A timeline with concise information about key learning theories.

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Instructional * Learning Design * myBRAINisOPEN

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This interactive learning theories timeline highlights 50 key ideas or research papers related to nine key theories which can inform the design of blended and online learning in Higher Education.

My choice of these nine theories stems from a synthesis of three major books on learning theories: Schunk (2020), Lefrançois (2019) and Harasim (2017). You may find the first post in this learning theories series 'What are learning theories and why are they important for learning design?' useful when interacting with this timeline.

If you found this post useful, please consider sharing on Twitter:
Tweet this post
If you have any comment or question, then feel free to tweet or to direct message me:
Follow @myBRAIN_isOPEN
References

Clark, D. (2020). 100 learning theorists. Retrieved 02 October 2020, from https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2020/08/100-learning-theorists-2500-years-of.html

Culatta, R., & Kearsley, G. (n.d.). Learning Theories. InstructionalDesign.Org. Retrieved 25 July 2020, from www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/

Harasim, L. (2017). Learning Theory and Online Technologies (2nd edition). Routledge Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315716831

Hendrick, C., & Kirschner, P. A. (2020) . How Learning Happens: Seminal Works in Educational Psychology and What They Mean in Practice. Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429061523

Learning Theories and Models. (n.d.). Learning Theories. Retrieved 27 May 2020, from www.learning-theories.com/

Lefrançois, G. R. (2019). Theories of human learning: Mrs Gribbin's cat (Seventh / Guy R. Lefrançois.). Cambridge University Press. www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/psychology/educational-psychology/theories-human-learning-mrs-gribbins-cat-7th-edition

Mcleod, S. (n.d.). Theories of Psychology. Simply Psychology. Retrieved 25 July 2020, from www.simplypsychology.org/theories.html

Schunk, D. H. (2020). Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective, 8th Edition. Pearson Education. www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Schunk-Learning-Theories-An-Educational-Perspective-8th-Edition/PGM1996609.html

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Learning theories timeline: key ideas from educational psychology

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This interactive learning theories timeline highlights 50 key ideas or research papers related to nine key theories which can inform the design of blended and online learning in Higher Education. My choice of these nine theories stems from a synthesis of three major books on learning theories: Schunk (2020), Lefrançois (2019) and Harasim (2017).

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Information about a variety of learning theories.

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Information Pickup Theory (J.J. Gibson) Information Processing Theory (G.A. Miller) Lateral Thinking (E. DeBono) Levels of Processing (Craik & Lockhart) Mathematical Learning Theory (R.C. Atkinson) Mathematical Problem Solving (A. Schoenfeld) Minimalism (J. M. Carroll) Model Centered Instruction and Design Layering (Andrew Gibbons) Modes of Learning (D. Rumelhart & D.

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I have followed many of the Brown Bag Teacher's resources and pages. She has made some really great resources for first graders that I use in the classroom. I especially like her beginning of the year writing activities and her math games and activities.

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Teach the Children. Love the Children. Change the World.

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Kiddle is a visual search engine for kids to use.

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Kiddle is a safe search engine, offering a safe web, image, and video search. Results are vetted by editors.

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KidRex is a safe search engine for kids to use!

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Kidrex is provided free of charge, as is and with no warranty of any kind by Alarms.org.

Alarms.org goal is to provide friendly and easy to use to resources for both online and offline safety. Our team of experts posts new information all the time with a goal of helping you live a safer, more secure life.

Getting bullied online? See our guide to cyberbullying for tips and useful resources.

Some of our most useful resources include the following guides:

Notes about ads and content:

Ads are provided by Google. We do not have any control of them. If you find an ad that is inappropriate please contact Google directly.

We work diligently to remove reported material that is not appropriate for children; however all removal is at our sole discretion. While we do our best to screen for unsuitable material, use of Kidrex is at your own discretion. As a general rule, do not leave children unsupervised in front of a computer with internet access.
© Alarms.org 2019 and beyond.

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KidRex - Kid Safe Search Engine - Now powered by Alarms.org

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Official Site. Fun and Safe Search for Kids, by Kids. Google Custom Search.

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I would like to use this with my students for them to upload artwork and audio to tell a story that can be shared with their families.

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I am planning on using this website as my students learn about the past and present in social studies. There are primary sources that can be explored with K-12, along with lesson plans on civics and government.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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I use Epic! Books in order to have a larger classroom library for my students and to use with science and social studies for teaching content. It is also great for holidays! I have students do a research project on habitats in the spring, and I am able to easily save book sets in Epic! for them to use in their research. I love the Read to Me books that are available for students who struggle with reading.

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This site has some great online math resources from geoboards to number charts to ten frames.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.
Watch the video to learn how sharing works.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.

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I have not tried this yet but want to try it after seeing great reviews!

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I started using IXL this year with my students in reading and math. It has been very helpful for differentiation. Students are able to work on problems at their level and can be challenged if they are ready for a step up. I am currently working on integrating my textbook/standards with it.

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My students love using Freckle! They are very motivated to practice math facts and other reading and math concepts. It is motivating for them because they earn coins to buy things for their avatars.

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This YouTube channel has a lot of animated videos on stories from the Bible. My students have really enjoyed these! I find it helpful to watch along with reading the story from a Children's Bible as another way to learn the stories and messages.

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"saddleback kids" "kids ministry" kids children "children's church" "sunday school" "bible stories" "children's curriculum; teaching tools" "saddleback church"

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Welcome to Saddleback Kids YouTube channel. Saddleback Kids, the children's ministry at Saddleback Church has developed these fun and creative ways to teach children about God's word. We are here to help parents connect kids to the content that they learn each weekend at Saddleback Church.

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I have not used this yet, but I am planning to after seeing on another list of useful tools!

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Bouncy Balls – Manage classroom noise with bouncing balls!

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A free classroom noise level meter, monitor and management tool. Perfect if your school kids are too noisy! Bouncing balls react to sounds from the microphone.