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In Blackboard Course : Distance Learning Tools

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This is a 3-question survey Ms. Walser issued to her students to touch base!

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Google Forms - create and analyze surveys, for free.

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Article: Overcoming Problems with No Grades

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Article: Overcoming Problems with No Grades

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Discusses strategies for no-grade situations including: portfolios, written feedback, engaging activities, and self-assessment.

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In my previous post, A Teacher's Journey to a No Grades Classroom, I talked about turning my classroom into what I later called a Results Only Learning Environment (ROLE). Using technology helped me rebuild myself as a teacher and reimagine teaching and learning in my classroom, but the journey was not without challenges.

Transitioning away from grades

The transition to teaching without grades is no small task, as it requires rejecting an established model that has dominated education since its inception. There are many barriers to this change. Most administrators are bound by long-standing policy and aren't comfortable with this kind of sweeping change. Students maintain the misperception that grades demonstrate learning. Parents operate under this same delusion, and they struggle to comprehend a class that is driven by iteration and feedback. Of course, college admission is always an issue, as many colleges still require a GPA as part of the admission process.

When I decided to throw out grades-which was the founding principle behind my new student-centered classroom-the college admission process was far less important at that point than helping students grow to value learning for the sake of learning, rather than for a grade. Still it is one of many problems that teachers must face, as they create a no-grades classroom.

Problems and Solutions for teachers in a no grades classroom

Problem - Insufficient preparation

Some teachers learn about powerful digital portfolio tools, like FreshGrade, and begin collecting student assets, and their enthusiasm toward de-emphasizing grades immediately explodes. This exuberance can lead to a hasty decision to throw out all traditional grades, so they just do it. While I'm a huge fan of the "all-in" approach when it comes to building a no-grades classroom, it's easy to fail if you throw out grades with no preparation. If you walk into class tomorrow and tell students there won't be a grade on the next assignment or project, they're sure to balk at this unorthodox change.

Solution - Wade in slowly

Plan a unit of instruction, in which you'll eliminate number and letter grades. Consider the timing. Waiting until the end of a school year, when a large assignment or project can impact report card grades is probably not the best time. If it is near the end of the year, plan to toss your grades for a single assignment that isn't typically worth a large portion of the final grade.

Whether your plan is built around a single activity or an entire unit, inform students and parents about this dramatic change in assessment. Explain that you want students to focus on the learning, without considering the ramifications of a low or a high grade. Make stakeholders comfortable; assure them that this activity or unit will not negatively impact their report card grades and that you'll answer all questions along the way. Expect pushback and be ready to answer all questions. Remember, the key to the "experiment" is to emphasize learning and to de-emphasize the grade.

Problem - Students won't work if they're not graded

This is more of a myth than a real problem. It may seem that students are motivated to work for grades, but in reality, most are motivated by fear of a bad grade. If they receive a low mark, their parents will punish them, or they won't be allowed to play in the big basketball game, or they might not be admitted to their favorite Ivy League college.

Solution - Make activities engaging and fun

When students are curious about a new concept or skill, and when they see activities as enjoyable, they'll always participate. If you say there won't be a grade on the assignment, and the activity is a fill-in-the-blank worksheet, many students won't do it, because they see no value in it. Give them value, and they'll do the work.

Problem - Providing feedback takes too long

When you move away from traditional grades, you will begin to assess learning differently. You'll observe more and converse with students about their strategies, their successes and their failures. You'll likely write a ton of meaningful narrative feedback. In fact, in a no-grades classroom, observation and feedback take up the bulk of teachers' time, and this can be daunting.

Solution - Leverage technology

When I launched my no-grades classroom many years ago, I quickly became overwhelmed with writing feedback. Equally important, I soon learned that students weren't reading all of the feedback I provided, which was frustrating and made me feel like my grand experiment was failing. It struck me one day that I had access to some useful technology that could help. I didn't have a powerful e-portfolio program like FreshGrade, so I improvised and started filming students in action and recording our conversations about learning. Then, I added the videos and audios to students' websites and blogs. With today's technology, it's easy to casually record learning, as you circulate around your classroom. Students can record their own work and collaboration, too, and add it to their individual portfolios. Use these assets to facilitate assessment, and cut back on how much narrative feedback you write. This doesn't mean you'll never write feedback, but you'll save hours weekly if you leverage the technology.

Problem - School policy

Your school's grading policy and/or your building principal may mandate that an official grade is assigned weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Parents will be accustomed to seeing some kind of label, and administrators most likely won't want you to deviate from the practice.

Solution - Students grade themselves

This may be the most challenging strategy for no-grades teachers to grasp, at first. We're used to the math doing the work. We assign points to activities, and a computer translates the points to percentages and a letter grade. I used to tell students, "I didn't give you a grade; it's all about the math." How ridiculous that sounds today. When teachers assign grades, it has little to do with the math. It's a subjective process that falsely labels learners. However, most schools still require a letter grade.

Placing a grade on a report card is not as difficult as it may seem, in a no-grades class. When it's time to grade, ask students what grade they should receive. Remind them that you don't believe in grades and your class is driven by conversations about learning. Still, since the principal asks for a grade, who better to provide it than students? After all, in a successful no-grades classroom, they are the best judges of their learning. Instruct students to reflect on what they've accomplished during the grading period (this is a fantastic process) and, based on their prior knowledge of how grades work, assign a grade that makes sense. Be sure to emphasize that it must make sense, based on the traditional grading system. I did this for years, and it works beautifully; in fact, you'll find that kids are typically much tougher critics of their own learning than teachers.

These are a few problems no-grades teachers face and some possible solutions. Are you trying to eliminate grades in your class? What problems do you encounter, and what solutions have you found?
FreshGrade Advisor Mark Barnes is a longtime teacher, author, international speaker, and publisher of the Hack Learning Series, books that provide right-now solutions for educators. Mark is a recognized authority on digital learning and is the creator of Teachers Throwing Out Grades, a global Facebook group with more than 5,000 educators working to improve assessment practices around the world. Follow Mark on Twitter @markbarnes19.

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Overcoming Problems in a No Grades Classroom

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In my previous post, A Teacher's Journey to a No Grades Classroom, I talked about turning my classroom into what I later called a Results Only Learning Environment (ROLE). Using technology helped me rebuild myself as a teacher and reimagine teaching and learning in my classroom, but the journey was not without challenges.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Resources collected by week; videos, articles, quizzes, etc. organized by lesson or theme.

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Raise a reader by getting the best book recommendations, reading tips, and discounts delivered straight to your inbox.

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E-books and Audio books from Poe's library

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A reading log with online sources at the top; maintaining expectations around reading. At the bottom there is even a reading response choice board!

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Allows teachers to call parents and students through a secure phone number; protects your personal information.

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Google Forms - create and analyze surveys, for free.

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Encourage responses with video from students

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No-download book source for Graphic Novels, Enhanced Novels, eBooks, classic literature, National Geographic videos, educator resources, and audio books

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Featured Books

"I work in [a school] for the Deaf and Blind so our population requires accessibility that the general population does not.

The accessibility options included with each book on your website far exceeds my expectations for meeting the needs of our students.

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Debora Lillard
Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind

"We are using and loving Tumblebooks and TeenBookCloud more than ever. We are 1:1 in grades 6-12, and have many, many devices at the elementary level. Students are using it for their free reading, class novels and we really love the audiobooks, especially for our students who need some assistive help with reading.

Products continue to work well with all our devices and our network, keep up the great work and adding more content."

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Fargo Public Schools

"I love TeenBookCloud. It is such an amazing site that offers unlimited access to several classic readings like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Romeo & Juliet." The enhanced eBooks are one of the best features. To have the text highlighted as read is a necessity for our struggling readers. We are 1:1 with Chromebooks and TeenBookCloud works great on them. It is a great value for the price."
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"One of my favorite things is that you have included some of the classics like Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, The Scarlet Letter and many others! With TumbleBooks we no longer have to purchase class sets of novels which get worn and then tossed!! Great way to get kids interested in reading again!!"
Tina P. Bullington
Stokes County Schools

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Featured Books "I work in [a school] for the Deaf and Blind so our population requires accessibility that the general population does not. The accessibility options included with each book on your website far exceeds my expectations for meeting the needs of our students. Both Tumblebooks and TeenBookCloud are welcome additions to our library."

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Online Databases and eBooks

These databases and eBooks are centrally purchased for the use of all Fairfax County Public Schools students and staff. Many schools purchase additional databases. Please see your school's librarian for more information. Home access requires a password. See your librarian for a password list.

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These databases and eBooks are centrally purchased for the use of all Fairfax County Public Schools students and staff. Many schools purchase additional databases. Please see your school's librarian for more information. Home access requires a password. See your librarian for a password list.

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Poe subscribes; Picture book and graphic novel collection; Plays picture book audio and visual. Great for mini-lessons. Also has graphic novel collection.

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What a treasure. This site is extremely useful for non readers of all ages. My children just love it. I have shared this site with many of our special needs teachers across our county. Thanks so much for providing such a fun, affordable, and worthwhile product.
Renee
Special Education Teacher, MI
We love TumbleBooks!!! I should add the kids do, too!! TumbleBooks has allowed us to introduce a vast collection of books to students and they W A N T to read. It gives them choice, gives them some control over their own learning, all while at an appropriate reading level. What could be better?
Kathy
Reading Consultant Seth Haley School, CT
I love this site! The fact that the levels of books available are so far-reaching makes this a wonderful site for classrooms---virtually any child can utilize the features on this site. The book report feature is great as well--right along with many of the standards we are teaching in our classrooms, and a great tool for guiding students. The quizzes offer students feedback, and also encouragement as they continue to read. This promotes a feeling of success among students, and furthers their love for literature and reading.
Tammy
Curriculum Coach, SC
This is the best interactive read aloud website I have found. My students and I love it. We can always locate a book easy that connects to what we have been studying. The students love to watch the pictures, and as they progress with their decoding skills they pick out words that they know. When we watch one of these books, I have to pause it after every page so they can find all their sight words that are on the page. The website makes it like have a celebrity reader in our room daily. Thank you so much for your wonderful reading website.
Brandi
Kindergarten, AL

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TumbleBookLibrary is a curated database of children's e-books, available by subscription to Elementary Schools and Public Libraries around the world. TumbleBookLibrary Premium has over 1100 titles for grades K-6, and includes our unique animated, talking picture books, read-along chapter books, non fiction books and videos, curated playlists, as well as books in Spanish and French.

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Newsela Pro is currently free to teachers which means that you can either use the articles or you can create a class and assign materials

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Free resources during this time

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Now students can follow the latest news. All tailored to their reading level. To explore the kids' website, select a grade and discover new stories each week.

View articles by grade level

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Now students can follow the latest news. All tailored to their reading level. To explore the kids' website, select a grade and discover new stories each week. View articles by grade level

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Teachers can sign up and create a class.  Then you can assign book or kids can use the library.  Either way you will get usage reports.  Each book offers a read aloud, read to self and quiz after it.

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Educator sets up class, assigns class code; Ages 12 and under; Lots of graphic novels, picture books, magazines, and fiction. Spanish access.

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

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Deadline: May 1; Students create 3-12 minute podcast and teacher submits;

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We have a new home! Check out npr.org/studentpodcastchallenge2023 for this year's 5-12 and college contests!
Welcome to NPR's Student Podcast Challenge! If you're looking for our college contest

We're inviting students around the country to create a podcast, then - with the help of a teacher - compete for a chance to win our grand prize and have your work appear on NPR.

Be a part of the NPR Student Podcast Challenge.

Here's how it works: Put together a podcast with your class or extracurricular group. Then your teacher can submit it to us.

This contest is for teachers with students between 5th and 12th grade. Each podcast should be between three and 8 minutes long.

The winning podcast submissions will be featured in segments on Morning Edition or All Things Considered.

We don't expect you to be experts. In fact, we're guessing that most of you are putting a podcast together for the very first time. Don't panic!

Visit our submission guide to find suggested prompts, guidelines for submissions, and a list of questions you might have.

But before you do anything, it's important to read the official rules here.

Sure, this is a competition, but it's also about learning new skills in a fun way. We want to make that learning easier - so we've put together materials to help both teachers and students along the way.

Our panel of expert judges will be listening for creative work that stands out. You can find a full set of judging criteria here.

Questions? Read through our frequently asked questions here. If you're still looking for an answer, send us an email at studentpodcastchallenge@npr.org.

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We have a new home! Head over to npr.org/studentpodcastchallenge2023 for the contest.

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Digital lessons for nonfiction texts; can add students and assignments; gives formative data feedback.

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

World-class content

Access thousands of reading lessons and our comprehensive ELA curriculum, CommonLit 360.

Accessible for all learners

Tailor instruction to students' needs with text-to-speech, translation, and digital note-taking.

Actionable data

Track students' reading performance, set goals, and plan instructional next steps.

CommonLit
Digital Library

Discover thousands of free, supplemental lessons and quizzes in English and Spanish - all featuring great authors.

CommonLit
Assessment Series

Measure growth in reading comprehension with three benchmark assessments when you unlock our premium packages.

CommonLit 360 &
Professional Development

Support a successful rollout of our research-backed ELA curriculum with personalized webinars and on-demand trainings.

"

CommonLit has made a tremendously positive impact on my teaching practice. I'm very proud to teach CommonLit!

Jennifer Lane ELA Teacher

"

CommonLit definitely keeps me organized. It's easy for me to grade and it's easy for me to see students' reading growth increase throughout the year.

"

The CommonLit assessment questions are aligned to our ELA standards, which is extremely helpful when prepping for the state exam.

Teachers trust CommonLit to foster students' reading comprehension

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CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

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CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

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See column for Reading: Nonfiction; Common Lit has a Spanish Library.

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

CommonLit is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction for 3rd-12th grade classrooms. Search and filter our collection by lexile, grade, theme, genre, literary device, or common core standard.

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. CommonLit is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction for 3rd-12th grade classrooms. Search and filter our collection by lexile, grade, theme, genre, literary device, or common core standard.

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This has articles, but also groups topics for a learning experience that the students can go through.  For example, read an article, watch a video, play a game etc.

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Video chatroom; Students may only use this when they are with their parent, since it's not "secure".

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Google Hangouts Meet Guide for Teachers, Students and Parents

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A free version of Rosetta Stone, use this to learn a new language!

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Duolingo is the world's most popular way to learn a language. It's 100% free, fun and science-based. Practice online on duolingo.com or on the apps!

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List with descriptions of kid friendly podcasts.  Good K-5 ones that students can be encouraged to do with a sibling.

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Add diverse voices and fresh content to your lessons with free, high-quality podcasts.

If you haven't thought about how you might use podcasts in your teaching, take note: A 2019 study found that over 50% of people in the U.S. age 12 and up have listened to a podcast. In addition, podcast listening among young people age 12-24 increased 48% from 2017 to 2019. This fresh, engaging medium has gone mainstream and can be a great addition to your lessons.

There are lots of benefits to using podcasts in the classroom. For one, podcasts are free. Plus, you can find podcasts on nearly every topic, from science questions to lesser-known history, and in nearly every genre, from short fiction to in-depth journalism. And, as the popularity of podcasts continues to grow, more creators are focusing on content for young people. So why not give podcasts a try this school year?

To help you get started, we've put together a list of our favorite podcasts for the classroom. We took our best guess for the target grades since we couldn't listen to every episode. Use the grade recommendations as a guide, and age them up or down as needed. Some content in these podcasts can be mature, so always preview the episodes before you share them with students.

Grades Pre-K-2
The catchy soundtrack is the star in this delightful podcast from children's music duo Andrew & Polly (not surprising, since the hosts have created songs forWallykazam! and Sesame Studios). But this funny program also covers a range of topics by talking to actual kids as well as experts, providing thoughtful fun for young ones and their grown-ups.

Grades K-5
Kids are always asking seemingly simple questions that have surprisingly complex answers, such as "Why is the sky blue?" and "Who invented words?" This cute biweekly radio show/podcast takes on answering them. Each episode features several kid-submitted questions, usually on a single theme, and with the help of experts, it gives clear, interesting answers.

Grades 1-6
Similar to But Why, this is another podcast that takes kid-submitted science questions and answers them with the help of experts. What makes this one different is that it tends to skew a bit older, both in its questions and answers, and it has a different kid co-host each week. The result is a fun show that's as silly as it is educational. Teachers can encourage students to take one of the topics and research it more completely or to use it as a jumping-off point for science experiments and research-related questions.

Grades 3-6
Often compared to a kid-friendly Radiolab, this podcast not only addresses fascinating topics but also tries to foster a love of science itself by interviewing scientists about their process and discoveries. The hosts don't assume that listeners have a science background -- but even kids who think they don't like science may change their minds after listening to this podcast. Teaching materials for the episodes are available for purchase on the podcast's website.

Grades 3-8
This fun and fast-moving spin-off of the popular Brains On! podcast is a kid-friendly debate podcast. A kid judge listens to and scores the rousing, fact-based arguments of two contestants. With episodes like "Piranhas vs. Venus Flytraps" and "Pizza versus Tacos," kids will be hooked, and they won't even notice that they're learning how to defend their ideas along the way. Use Smash Boom Best in a persuasive writing or speech unit, or as a fun addition to your science or history class!

Grades 6-12
This Peabody award-winning radio series/podcast delivers scientific ideas in a creative, innovative way. The episodes are a joy to listen to, with a great deal of emphasis put on sound design in addition to the hosts' clever banter. Teachers of science, math, ELA, and other subjects can use full episodes or segments as prompts to get kids thinking or to kick off a discussion. Some episodes feature strong language, so be sure to preview them before sharing with students.

Grades 9-12
Grammar is notoriously boring, but Grammar Girl, part of the Quick and Dirty Tips Network, manages to make it interesting, and English teachers everywhere are grateful. The website has transcripts of each episode, but the audio delivery is animated and friendly and probably of more interest to students. This podcast is best for middle and high school students and incorporates both traditional grammar questions and more quirky analysis of new types of grammar (e.g., grammar unique to social media).

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16 Great Learning Podcasts for the Classroom | Common Sense Education

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If you haven't thought about how you might use podcasts in your teaching, take note: A 2019 study found that over 50% of people in the U.S. age 12 and up have listened to a podcast. In addition, podcast listening among young people age 12-24 increased 48% from 2017 to 2019.

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Tour our very own Natural History Museum

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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

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The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History virtual tours allow visitors to take self-guided, room-by-room tours of select exhibits and areas within the museum from their desktop or mobile device. Visitors can also access select collections and research areas at our satellite support and research stations as well as past exhibits no longer on display.

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Vocabulary and Grammar work in a game format

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2009-09-06 - ESL Games and Exercises Online - Vocabulary Games, Hangman, Snakes and Ladders, Wheel Game, Maze Games, Memory Games and more

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2007-6-10 Fun English exercises with interactive online Crosswords, Word Search & Cloze exercises.

2007-1-7- Building vocabulary through prefixes & suffixes. See our Intermediate, Advanced & Grammar areas for interactive affixes quizzes. For teachers see English word formation Worksheets on the ESL Galaxy. 2006-12-20- Advanced/Upper intermediate quizzes updates. Interactive vocabulary and grammar quizzes for Advanced students have been updated.

English Media Lab, Free English Video Lessons

Beginner video lessons: Learn & teach country names, animal vocabulary, colours, clothes, days more...

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Business English Quizzes: self-grading vocabulary tests on a number of topics, Banking, negotiations, money idioms, money talk, business across cultures and many more...

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Pronunciation Exercises and Listening

Pronunciation and intonation: English pronunciation and intonation exercises, phonetics, diphthongs,word stress quizzes, and more...

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Chinese Lessons online: For those interested in learning survival Chinese, this website will take you a long way with free podcasts, mp3 downloads and more.

New ESL Kids Lab: Fantastic Free Resources for ESL Kids, K-12 - PPT Videos, Flashcards, Handouts and Phonics

ESL Tower : There are grammar & vocabulary quizzes, crosswords, word search and several fun puzzles that make the learning and teaching of English easy and fun. Pronunciation is one area we have recently added more content. We have added phonetic vowel and consonant exercises in the form of videos, worksheets, self-tests and mp3 downloads.

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ESL, English Grammar Exercises, Video lessons,Quizzes, Vocabulary Exercises

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2009-09-06 - ESL Games and Exercises Online - Vocabulary Games, Hangman, Snakes and Ladders, Wheel Game, Maze Games, Memory Games and more 2009-07-01 - Learn Chinese Online.

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Ted Talks all done by people under the age of 20 years old

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Ted Talks all done by people under the age of 20 years old

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Talks from scientists, musicians, innovators, activists -- all under the age of 20. Watch these amazing wunderkinds.

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Add to google chrome and you can scaffold, annotate or add questions throughout any text

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Insert instructional content into any web page

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Podcast: Could You Teach without Grades?

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Podcast: Could You Teach without Grades?

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Mentions some specific strategies, like: structuring rubrics, ongoing projects, authentic feedback, self-assessment, etc.

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Episode 13: Could You Teach Without Grades?

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The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast, Episode 13 Transcript Jennifer Gonzalez, host Listen to the audio version of this podcast. Jennifer Gonzalez:This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 13 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast. In this episode we'll talk about how to teach without giving grades. [music playing] Gonzalez: Hi.

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Free signup, tons of fun movies to learn from!

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BrainPOP - Animated Educational Site for Kids - Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health, and Technology

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Brain Pop specifically for ELL students

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Gamified learning environment; contains ready-made lessons or you can add your own curriculum to their stories. Motivate students to complete activities through a Quest structure.

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Motivation and engagement

A study of 44 students and 15 teachers revealed:

2X increase in participation in tasks requiring a device

89% improvement in digital citizenship

6X increase in in sophisticated / independent device use

The power of collaboration

This study found that Classcraft has an influence on how students collaborate with their teammates and that the game reaches its objective of fostering social engagement.

Case study

East Paulding Middle School near Atlanta saw an 85% decrease in referrals after using Classcraft for PBIS for only one term.

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Classcraft - Coronavirus - Motivate your students, no matter where they are

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A study of 44 students and 15 teachers revealed: 2X increase in participation in tasks requiring a device 89% improvement in digital citizenship 6X increase in in sophisticated / independent device use This study found that Classcraft has an influence on how students collaborate with their teammates and that the game reaches its objective of fostering social engagement.

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Teachers can encourage students for any skill or value — whether it's working hard, being kind, helping others or something else.

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ClassDojo helps teachers, parents, and students build amazing classroom communities.

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Kami is a PDF and document annotation app for schools. Think of it like digital pen and paper for interacting with your students.

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Find hundreds of handy resources on our blog for every teacher, grade and subject. Browse our blogs on Kami how-tos, teaching tips and classroom celebrations.

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How to create a post badges in Google Classroom that positively reinforce WHOLE CLASS behaviors.

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One of my classroom experiments last year that was very successful was using Google Classroom to distribute digital badges to my students. Here's the run-down of this classroom experiment and how you can easily distribute badges with Google Classroom.

Experiment Rating 1-5 (5 being Ultimate Teacher Happiness)

Ease of Implementation: 4/5 (very easy to do)
Cost: 5/5 (free!)
Tech Rating: 3/5 (average tech skills required)
Enhances the Learning Environment: 4/5 (easy incentive for positive behavior)

The Question

I knew I wanted to implement a digital badging system with my 7th graders, but I did not want it to take up too much time and I really wanted to try utilizing the tech tools that I already use regularly in the classroom in the hopes it would help the practice of badging stick. My question was this: what tech tool can I use to simplify the digital badging process?

The Research

In my research, I found lots of teachers who were using digital badges, but many of them were utilizing tech tools specifically designed for badging. I then learned that Canvas, a popular LMS, integrated a badging system powered with Badgr. We are a Google school, so surely Google Classroom could be utilized for distributing digital badges, right?

Hypothesis

Here was my hypothesis: I can use the Google Classroom announcement feature to distribute badges to individual students.

The Experiment/Procedure

Here is my procedure for distributing badges in Google Classroom.

Step 1: Create the badge using Canva. I use Canva all the time, so I knew that was the tool I wanted to use to create my badges. If you want to keep it in the Google family, you could also use Google Drawings to make your badges. I start in Canva by creating a logo.

The primary reason I chose Canva was because of their amazing frames. Utilizing the frame feature, you can create a Badge Template.

Then, each time you want to create a new badge, simply make a copy of your Badge Template.

On your copy, you just change the name of the badge, the background image in the frame, and the color of the frame. Download the badge.

Voila! You have a badge! Using your template, you can whip up a badge in just a couple of minutes. #timesaver

Step 2: Create a badges folder in Google Drive. Once you have downloaded your spiffy new badge, add it to a Badges folder in Google Classroom. This will make it very easy to locate your badges! Here's a peek at my school badges folder.

Step 3: Create an announcement in Google Classroom. In the Stream, create an announcement. Personally, all of my announcements follow the same formula (again, let's #streamline this process!).

You've earned a badge! You earned the ________ badge for (doing this awesome thing). (Add something punny and motivational!)

Side note: my personal favorite announcement is, "You've earned a badge! You earned the Iron Bladder badge for not going to the bathroom during class all quarter! Way to (not) go!"

Then attach your badge you created. (Should be super easy to find since you put it in your nice new Badges folder in Drive.)

Finally, you will see a drop-down that says "All students." Now if all students earned this badge at the same time, you can just post the announcement. However, you can also select the students who have earned that particular badge from the drop-down, so when you send the announcement it will only show up on the Streams for those students.

Your students will now have an announcement on their Streams that awards them the badge!

Conclusion

This was a very successful method of awarding digital badges to students! It was one less place for them to look for something since they visit Google Classroom pretty much every day, and they now had a digital badge and an inspiring note to go along with it! What do they do with the badge once they have it? That totally depends on the system you have in place. You can see that my badges all have "X Coffee Beans" on them. I tied badge achievement into the classroom currency (last year the currency was called Coffee Beans), so this was basically the way students were given their currency, in addition to me adding the amount to their Coffee Beans accounts. I also created a very simple badge display board using Google Slides, so kids could post their badges on the Google Slide to display them. It's really whatever you and your kids would like to do with the digital badge. Just remember that, since they now have their own copy of the badge, they could theoretically share that picture with another kid.

Digital badging was an excellent motivational tool for many of my students last year for two reasons:

1. The badges were tied to the classroom currency, so more badges = more currency.

2. The badges were not tied to their academics. My badges were strictly awarded for exemplary behaviors and work habits. This meant that kids who often don't experience success in the classroom by earning points on academic work could still kill it in the badging department just by being awesome humans.

This experiment is quick, easy, and could be very useful in motivating your students! If you've got access to Google Classroom, giving digital badges a go!

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Experiment: Distribute Badges with Google Classroom

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One of my classroom experiments last year that was very successful was using Google Classroom to distribute digital badges to my students. Here's the run-down of this classroom experiment and how you can easily distribute badges with Google Classroom.

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Free online resources via We Are Teachers; lot of other options to explore!

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With school districts starting the 2020/2021 school year online, parents and teachers are continually looking for online learning resources. Teachers have been tasked with delivering lesson plans and classroom activities as part of distance learning. Parents are trying to keep students on track with their studies and educational growth. We are here to help! This growing list offers a wealth of resources for all ages of students, parents, and teachers!

Go to:

Online Resources for Kids in Grades K-5

These sites have ready-to-use lesson plans and activities for a vast amount of subjects for younger students.

What It Is: This comprehensive program covers a wide variety of subjects for students aged 2-8 (Pre-K through second grade). It offers more than 850 self-guided lessons across 10 levels. A companion program focuses on teaching English as a second language for this age group.

What It Is: This MMO game gives kids something other online learning resources may lack: a sense of community. Students up to age 13 play games to learn across a range of topics (math, reading, social studies, science, and more), while also creating their own online persona and interacting with others in the game.

What It Is: Daily free resources and activities in American Sign Language and English, for young deaf children ages 3-10. They offer weekly activities based on their award-winning VL2 Storybook Apps to support bilingual language development. It is run by Motion Light Lab, part of a research center on Visual Language and Visual Learning at Gallaudet University.

What They're Offering: Free access to Motion Light Lab's award-winning VL2 ASL Storybook Apps. Every week, the Motion Light Lab offers a free Storybook App which includes daily offerings in ASL and English, live storytelling "sign aloud" on Mondays, and an ASL/English literacy lesson live-streamed every Wednesday on YouTube featuring deaf narrators and accompanying worksheets for a deeper dive into each story.

What It Is: BrainPop offers in-depth learning on topics across the curriculum for upper elementary and middle school students. Each topic includes videos, quizzes, related reading, and even coding activities. Teachers have access to planning and tracking resources too. They also offer BrainPop Jr., specially designed for younger kids.

What They're Offering: All schools get free access to their COVID-19/coronavirus online learning resources for talking to students about the topic.

What It Is: A character education video subscription series for K-2 students that highlight positive character traits, exemplified by prominent figures.

What It Is: A nonprofit and charity, Classroom Champions connects volunteer Olympians, Paralympians, Student-Athletes, and Professional Athletes to K-8 classrooms through a social and emotional based curriculum and mentorship experience.

What It Is: A fun and educational game-based environment where kids learn to code without any prior experience. After completing CodeMonkey's award-winning coding courses, kids will be able to navigate through the programming world with a sense of confidence and accomplishment.

What It Is: Turn writing assignments into something amazing with the illustrations, animations, and sound effects available. Kids can even write their own choose-your-own-adventure story!

What It Is: This research-based emotional skills program is designed for children ages 4-11 and gives kids practical tools for dealing with impulse control, frustration, and acting out. Emotional ABCs teaches children how to figure out what they're feeling, why they're experiencing that emotion, and how to make better choices for lifetime emotional resilience.

What It Is: Three beta-stage eLearning tools from the scientists in their R&D division to help improve reading, writing, and English language speaking skills.

What It Is: A science teaching resource that brings school science standards to life through fun and educational videos paired with lesson plans, activities, quizzes, reading material, discussion questions, and more.

What It Is: Using multimedia Interactive Posters, students can express ideas with ease by combining images, graphics, audio, video, and text on one digital canvas!

What It Is: Happy Numbers helps teachers deliver quality math instruction, monitor progress, and math growth-all remotely. Students can access Happy Numbers from any Internet-enabled device (even a smartphone!).

What it is: HearBuilder, from Super Duper Publications, is an online, research-based, foundational literacy program. It helps students in PreK-Grade 5 strengthen skills in the essential pre-literacy areas of following directions, sequencing, auditory memory and phonological awareness.

What they're offering: HearBuilder is available free for 60 days. Teachers, parents and therapists can access self-directed activities and short and targeted tasks for students, as well as tools to monitor student progress. HearBuilder is accessible at school or during distance learning.

What It Is: Highlights @ Home is a new, free service for families and teachers that delivers themed content bundles twice a week from the well-known children's magazine creator, Highlights.

What It Is: iknowit is a site with over 500 common-core aligned activities and math games for students in the elementary grades. The site keeps track of progress, offers graphical hints and explanations, and there are also animated characters to cheer students along.

What They're Offering: A free 30 day trial with unlimited access and no credit card required.

What It Is: A platform for reading comprehension passages and skill assessment in early education and home schooling.

What It Is: Mentoring Minds impacts millions of students every day by partnering with principals and teachers across the country to improve student achievement and teach critical thinking. Find educator resources that focus on the 9 traits of Critical Thinking.

What They're Offering: Free coloring book in English and Spanish, as well as a new animated video series.

What It Is: Mindsets Live Classes and Open Math Challenges help teachers & families keep learning going in math, science, & STEAM with fun and creative real-world problem-solving.

What It Is: This popular differentiated learning site provides instruction across a wide array of elementary subjects. Available for at-home instruction and classroom instruction, online training on effectively using the site is also available.

What It Is: PebbleGo offers safe, interactive online research resources on topics selected by their teachers for students K-3.

What It Is: Hands-on, minds-on learning can happen anywhere and everywhere. If you're looking for STEMspiration because of an unexpected homeschooling need, you're in the midst of an uncommon education experience, or you just want to have some STEM fun, Pitsco has great resources that are always available for free.

What It Is: Produced by RedRover, Kind News magazine is a Parent's Choice Approved Award winning children's magazine that inspires readers to explore the relationship between people and animals. It includes engaging articles, colorful illustrations, activities, and games to help kids explore the relationship between people and animals and develop knowledge and skills necessary for empathy and kindness.

What They're Offering: KindNews.org includes free lesson plans, links to past issues, and humane-themed books.

What It Is: Scholastic created the Scholastic Learn at Home website to provide students with an array of learning journeys that span various content areas. Subscriptions include several learning opportunities per day, including projects based on articles and stories, virtual field trips, reading and geography challenges, and more.

What It Is: Seekadoo is a safe, kid-friendly search engine app for children ages 3-13. Seekadoo's content database is carefully curated to ensure appropriate material for children and integrated ad-blocking eliminates tracking and monetization of children's data so their digital footprints remain private.

What It Is: The Square Panda Smart Letters playset engages children's tactile and kinesthetic as well as visual and auditory senses, because neuroscience shows that early readers learn best in a multisensory environment.

What It Is: An online learning tool which provides personalized math and spelling practice. It adapts questions to each student, using engaging games and rewards for effort and achievement to build their confidence, and is proven to accelerate progress. Teachers can set focused work to consolidate existing knowledge and get real-time feedback on each individual child, making it an ideal home learning tool.

What it is: Super Duper Publications has created an online library of its most popular print materials to provide access for teachers and parents doing distance and hybrid/blended learning.

What they're offering: The Super Duper Digital Library is available at a discounted rate of 199.95 for an annual subscription or $19.95 for a monthly subscription. It provides more than 365 standards-based online resources (with more being added daily) for students PreK-Grade 5. Resources include unique, engaging instructional games, cards, and worksheets to target specific skills, such as basic concepts, literacy, grammar, social skills, critical thinking, sequencing, listening, early skills, articulation, phonemic awareness, memory, motor skills, sensory integration, phonics, reading, and more.

What It Is: Super Star Online, by Help Me 2 Learn, is a supplemental reading, phonics, and math program featuring a wide variety of songs, interactive activities, and games in an engaging and easy-to-use format. Features include the Super Star Motivational and Data Tracking System.

What It Is: Super Teacher Worksheets has tens of thousands of printable teaching resources for Kindergarten through 5th grade teachers and parents working with Pre-K through 5th grade students. Topics include math, reading, writing, phonics, grammar, spelling, science, and social studies.

What It Is: A digital series that aims to give young people a fun and active way to use their imaginations while learning about the process of creating theater.

What It Is: A nationwide writing curriculum designed for teachers, administrators, and parents. It takes away the stress of finding and developing a curriculum for their students.

What It Is: A program for PreK-1st grade students and those with special needs to learn to write their letters, numbers, and shapes using fun visuals, rhythmic chants, and repetition.

What It Is: A web-based keyboarding program that teaches students how to type and has unique transdisciplinary Common Core and NGSS aligned content provided through its lessons.

What It Is: Virtual Field Trips specializes in K-8 social studies, life science, geography, and ancient civilization curriculum content. Their website has online learning videos and quizzes along with a list of the national and state Standards that the videos align with.

What It Is: An easy-to-use platform designed to empower K-8 students to master math content at their own pace.

Online Learning Resources for Grades 6-12

Use these ready-to-implement resources in your virtual classrooms for older learners.

BBC My World Media Literacy

What It Is: A complete web-based math curriculum designed to help students ages 8-13 deepen their understanding of math.

What It Is: Math lessons, skills practice resources, and at-home learning videos for grade 6-12 students.

What It Is: NativeAccent delivers spoken English skills practice with targeted feedback to students on their computers and mobile devices using advanced speech recognition and A.I. technologies.

What It Is: Software engineers from some of the leading technology companies, including Google, Facebook, and Amazon, are volunteering their time to help students learn how to code while schools are closed.

What It Is: Free, interactive virtual classes open to students, teachers, and anyone else interested in learning to code in a fun and engaging manner through game development. The program is aligned to ISTE Standards for computer science education.

What It Is: GeoInquiries™ are free, standards-based, online explorations of maps and data about a wide variety of content plus an initial introduction. Any school can also request a free account with logins for teachers and students, so they can create, save, and share content, with free Mapping Hour videos to instruct teachers and parents.

What They're Offering: Free online content and accounts for schools on an interactive mapping platform. Learn More.

What It Is: Everydae is an online SAT math prep program. 10-minute micro lessons match busy schedules. Built by industry experts with 17+ years industry experience.

What It Is: Teaches STEM and STEAM with a game design focus. GameSalad is best suited for 6th grade and up depending on student readiness. Detailed instructions for students and full lesson plans for teachers make a great introduction to coding.

What It Is: A unique cultural immersion resource for Spanish, French and German language learning for grades 6-12. iCulture offers travel videos, day in the life videos, current news articles, and songs that are all 100% target language, age and school appropriate, and include topics of interest to teens and young adults.

What It Is: Popfizz CS is a computer science education platform for grades 6-12. Popfizz offers a wide range of online student courses and professional development for educators.

What They're Offering: All their tools are easily accessible on their website for free.

What It Is: An interactive AP Biology course with engaging content and interactive activities in the form of quizzes and flashcards to provide immediate reinforcement of the material. Teachers can assign portions of the course to their students, and track their progress. Or students can work independently and track their own progress!

What It Is:Thousands of free study guides, test prep, and video learning resources.

What It Is: Resources include free trials to Vernier Video Analysis™ and Pivot Interactives, the Vernier Physics with Video Analysis e-book and extended demo of the LoggerPro software needed to complete the experiments, Scratch coding activities, experiment content and access from ADInstruments and LabArchives, and more than 200 experiments with sample data covering a large range of subjects. With these tools, teachers can help students form a deep understanding of key scientific concepts outside the classroom and laboratory.

What It Is: VidCode is an online coding and computer science curriculum specifically for teens. It teaches JavaScript, web programming, design, and more.

What It Is: Online close reading instruction, leveled authentic texts with comprehension quizzes, and gamified vocabulary for grades 6-12.

K-12 Online Learning Resources

These sites have lesson plans and activities ready to go on a variety of subjects for any grade.

What It Is: A comprehensive suite of digital solutions that significantly accelerate literacy and deepen learning across the content areas.

What They're Offering: Achieve3000 Literacy at Home Digital provides access to engaging non-fiction articles at 3 reading levels. Sign up for a free account here. Additionally, they are offering Literacy Printable Packets for students who do not have internet access at home.

What It Is: K-12 personalized online math instruction that provides each student with a unique study path through skills at each level. Individual study plans are prescriptive, adaptive, and automatically assigned

What It Is: An eBook hosting platform for schools and libraries.

What It Is: BoomWriter offers a variety of tools, features, and resources that lets teachers conduct fiction, nonfiction, and vocabulary-focused writing assignments. BoomWriter inspires students to write on any subject and integrates easily with existing curriculum. Try it for ELA, Social Studies/History, Science, and even Math.

What It Is: A digital portfolio that allows students and educators to shape knowledge and ideas into practical, usable, and shareable work. With bulb, educators can track progress, measure competency, and create dynamic curricula or use one of their templates.

What It Is: A PreK-12 educational company that provides a supplemental, and highly differentiated literacy digital curriculum with demonstrated efficacy.

What It Is: CCC! Streaming Media helps students visualize printed text and aids their understanding of complex concepts. The content has been vetted by educators and aligned to Common Core and state standards, and is supplemented with Teacher's Guides, Student Activities, and Knowledge Checks (quizzes).

What It Is: Century was designed as an intervention tool to identify and remedy gaps in a student's education. It uses artificial intelligence to tailor the learning experience to the learner, much like an actual teacher in the classroom would.

What It Is: ClassHook offers quality media clips on every conceivable topic. Pre-curated playlists make it easier to find what you need for the subject at hand.

What It Is: Crabtree Publishing Company is dedicated to producing high-quality books and educational products for K-9+. Through their website, different selections of their books can be accessed along with free online resources that are included in a Crabtree subscription.

What It Is: The Critical Thinking Co. publishes award-winning PreK-12+ educational textbooks, activity books, e-books, and apps that help children become better problem-solvers. The approach is unique: help kids develop foundational reasoning & critical thinking skills while learning the core subjects (reading, writing, math, science, and social studies).

What It Is: Discovery Education provides online textbooks, multimedia content, and professional development support for virtual classrooms and teachers. Daily DE offers supplemental learning activities, including virtual field trips and lessons, for both educators and parents that will update daily to align with a new educational theme.

What It Is: Innovative math and science online solutions that are fun to use and really work. Gizmos, Reflex, and Science4Us are used in classrooms in every state and over 50 countries worldwide.

What It is: Hip-hop videos and instructional activities that promote literacy and spark creativity.

What It Is: Follett offers over 1,000 PreK-12 titles in science, social studies, language arts, math, and more. AV2 World Languages features high-interest titles in 10 different languages with full audio support. Parents and students will find these resources interactive, easy to use and a great way for students to independently explore a new topic.

What It Is: Interdisciplinary, curriculum-aligned resources to support online learning from Pre-K through undergraduate; Live and on-demand training materials to help optimize existing resources; Professional development eBooks to help transition to and strengthen virtual learning and Authoritative Gale resources on health-related topics and global issues.

What It Is: A math practice program for concept mastery and retention.

What They're Offering: Free, unlimited trial usage for schools until July 2021.

What It Is: Original, fully-customizable musicals that not only enhance Reading and Communication skills, but also employ Arts Integration and Social Emotional Learning to encourage strong character development both onstage and off.

What It Is: A website loaded with standards-aligned lessons, games, and activities that will keep K-8 students engaged while learning from home.r.

What It Is: A highly adaptable program that teaches challenging life skills to school students with various special needs. The full program offers 39 lessons, 65 videos, visual components, and role plays around the topics of hygiene, social skills, relationships development, and health that can be implemented both virtually and face-to-face.

What It Is: InferCabulary is a web-based, research-backed, device-agnostic, K-12, fun, game-based, visual approach for teaching nuanced vocabulary that simultaneously improves students' critical thinking skills. InferCabulary is the opposite of rote memorization of definitions - they mimic the act of avid readership so students deeply learn words and improve comprehension.

What It Is: Do you Kahoot! Teachers have loved this fun online quiz game platform for years. Here's why we're into it.

What They're Offering: Kahoot! Basic is free for educators and students, but they're also currently offering their Premium distance learning tools for free. Learn more here- Kahoot!

What It Is: A weekly current events-based program. It presents engaging and important stories from around the world in a newsmagazine format.

What It Is: An online core supplement for grades 1-12 that was designed to be used in classrooms to help teachers with increasing responsibilities and numbers of students.

What It Is: At the Lerner Bookshelf, they've set up two collections of eBooks (Grades PreK-5 and Grades 6-12) that allow for unlimited simultaneous access by every student in a school. They also offer reading book lists, videos, educational downloads, information on authors who are available for virtual visits, and more.

What It Is: Listenwise teaches students to be better listeners using podcasts, comprehension questions, and quizzes.

What It Is: MAD-learn's web-based mobile app development tool is a holistic set of modules for students to experience the software development lifecycle firsthand.

What It Is: NGSS based science lessons for 4th-8th graders that can easily be done from home.

What It Is: This is the only online learning management system for teaching music at all age levels. Band practice might be off the table for now, but students can still work on theory, notation, sight-reading and more.

What It Is: The NASA STEM Engagement site offers STEM resources, activities, lesson plans, virtual field trips, and more! Also check out NASA Home and City to find out how space travel impacts your daily life.

What They're Offering: Explore the Hubble Telescope and listen to astronauts share their stories. All for free!

What They're Offering: All resources are free.

What It Is: News-O-Matic features five daily news stories specifically for kids, written at a variety of reading levels from grades K through 8. Every story is translated by native speakers from English into Spanish, French, and Arabic. And all these texts, at all levels and languages, are read out loud so kids can listen along. Teachers have access to a special dashboard to track students' reading progress, change their reading levels, and see students' answers to comprehension questions for each article.

What it is: PBLWorks, the leading provider of professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL), has created a free eBook to support high-quality Project Based Learning at home.

What they're offering: This Teachable Moment, a free downloadable eBook offers a primer on Project Based Learning (PBL) and 21 easy implemented, "follow the recipe" PBL projects, informed by educational research and designed for children of all ages. Projects such as creating a cooking show focused on family recipes and the history behind them, or creating a plan for a new school that meets our new reality, engage children in real-world issues and activities that matter to them while also teaching concepts like literacy, math and more.

What It Is: Perfection Next is a digital learning platform offering access to our entire catalog of digital resources including AMSCO Advanced Placement, Language Arts, Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies, and World Languages.

What It Is: A web-app that gives teachers and students a unique way to create stories, demonstrate learning, and enhance writing assignments - in any subject - through digital comics. Users can explore topics in Math, Science, Social Studies, History, English, Art, or any other subject. They can also choose images from popular content, books and movies like The Hunger Games or The Outsiders, plus other topics like the solar system, black history, or the environment - all Common Core aligned.

What They're Offering: All-access for free for 30 days during the COVID-19 crisis. Learn more here- Pixton EDU.

What It Is: Quill offers a set of diagnostic assessments and independent practice activities that focus on grammar, sentence construction, and other writing and literacy skills. All the while, Quill provides teachers with free, in-depth data reports on student performance.

What It Is: An online guided reading tool that "listens" while a student reads a selection aloud, detects when they falter, and provides immediate intervention in the form of correct pronunciation.

What It Is: Teachers and parents can keep their child's reading instruction moving forward with Reading Horizons' library of virtual webinars and lessons.

What It Is: Readorium helps students learn nonfiction reading strategies as they build rich background knowledge in science at school or at home.

What It Is: RoboKind's virtual coding course will help districts provide elementary and middle school students with engaging computer science content during this unexpected period of school closures.

What It Is: Rozzy Learning has engaging lesson plans and other resources for science, social studies, math, and STEM for K-8th grade.

What It Is: This brand-new virtual classroom platform integrates PowerPoint, Zoom video webinars, and Slido quizzes into one streamlined package.

What It Is: SMART Learning Suite is a virtual classroom platform that easily integrates everything you already have on Google Drive or in Microsoft documents. You can add videos and other online resources as needed.

What It Is: Join their expert staff in learning about awesome topics like 3D design, video game design, coding, and more all from home. Their staff deliver lessons virtually and are available live to help provide targeted guidance and assistance to students as they work through awesome activities and projects.

What It Is: Study Island provides standards-based practice, test preparation, and formative assessments in grades K-12. Students get feedback to guide their learning and educators get immediate data to determine who needs intervention and who is ready to move on.

What It Is: A K-12 publishing company that creates science and social studies curriculum to enable educators to improve their ability to engage students in a diverse classroom.

What It Is: With Tyto Online, students solve authentic science problems as they learn, using a video game to power their experience. 'Tyto Online' is NGSS-aligned, covering life science and some Earth and space science.

What It Is: These online learning resources are specifically for those who teach French, Spanish, and ESL. Students get audio and video, interactive writing and speaking exercises, and more.

What It Is: Students and families can access news stories about the world, politics, United States, science, sports, and more. Xyza also recently launched www.newsicle.co where students try and answer one news-related trivia quiz every weekday.

What They're Offering: Completely free and unlimited access to 1000+ Xyza: News for Kids articles.

Remote Learning and Virtual Classroom Platforms

These sites allow you to follow your existing lesson plans by creating your own online learning resources. Some also provide the platforms you need to host virtual interactive multimedia classrooms.

What It Is: With Bloomz, teachers and schools save time by having all the tools they need to communicate with today's parents and students in one easy-to-use (and free) app.

What It Is: Life Skills Academy by Conover is an online video library designed to be used outside the classroom so parents or guardians can help learners with disabilities learn how to function independently at home, work, or in the community. Based on the concept of video modeling, users watch someone do the desired behavior and then do it themselves.

What It Is: EduGuide saves schools time and money by efficiently multiplying their student support system, building self-motivation that keeps students learning, even when they are remote. EduGuide provides a simple way for every student to both be mentored by a caring adult and learn to mentor their peers on key social-emotional SEL habits that boost student success.

What It Is: Teachers can access a collection of learning paths from some of the most well-known thought leaders in education covering topics such as Understanding by Design, Habits of Mind, Social Emotional Learning, Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Personalized Learning, and Growth Mindset.

What It Is: Get the most out of Google Classroom and other Google tools with this platform. They offer webinars and other resources to help teachers create and manage the best virtual classrooms.

What It Is: A cloud-based solution from Impero Software to help schools manage and record student safety and health information, from first aid to COVID-19 symptom tracking, to more complex mental health issues. Impero back:drop gives districts a way to keep track of and communicate about potential concerns safely and securely and eliminates the need for paper-based reporting systems.

What They're Offering: Impero has made Impero back:drop free indefinitely, helping schools fill a critical need for staying on top of student mental and physical concerns during the pandemic and beyond.

What It Is: A collaborative online image and video editor with a cloud storage Workspace. Teachers can make video lessons to send to students for remote learning, students can work together on a group project, and classrooms can share multimedia projects with each other.

What It Is: Projector App helps teachers project their real word notes onto a professional-looking, virtual blackboard.

What it is: PBLWorks, the leading provider of professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL), has created a free eBook to support high-quality Project Based Learning at home.

What they're offering: This Teachable Moment, a free downloadable eBook offers a primer on Project Based Learning (PBL) and 21 easy implemented, "follow the recipe" PBL projects, informed by educational research and designed for children of all ages. Projects such as creating a cooking show focused on family recipes and the history behind them, or creating a plan for a new school that meets our new reality, engage children in real-world issues and activities that matter to them while also teaching concepts like literacy, math and more.

What It Is: A cloud-based lesson delivery software service that energizes students with polling, timed assessments, interactive lessons, activities, and millions of immersive resources from educators around the world. ClassFlow is certified by iKeepSafe as compliant with federal and state requirements for handling protected personal information, including student data, and is safely used by over 4.5 million students worldwide.

What It Is: SafeToNet makes the digital world safer for children to explore and enjoy. Its award-winning AI-powered software safeguards children and their mental wellbeing when using their mobile devices, without sacrificing their privacy. The app provides an intelligent safeguarding keyboard and wellbeing tools that respond in real-time to help children make better decisions online, identify when they are under threat or distress, and prevent messages from being sent that could harm them and others.

What It Is: Free K-12 Math, ELA, Science and Social Studies resources! Create effective classwork and assignments that have been proven to increase performance. All content is designed to engage and challenge students at their own level./li>

What It Is: Keep your music students practicing at home with this online music classroom. You can track student progress, and they'll get instant feedback from the online tools.

What It Is: More than just a computer, classroom, STEM kits, or a project - SmartLabs are a comprehensive and immersive solution.

What It Is: StudyBee is a grading and student feedback system that extends Google Classroom functionality, with the ability to link assignments to custom or standardized educational objectives from the US.

What It Is: A collaborative presentation tool used for all grade levels that works perfectly for the remote classroom.

What It Is: An online bookmarker for educators. Committed to making personalized learning and educational technology easily accessible for everyone, everywhere.

What It Is: Companies across the world use Webex to keep their teams in contact remotely. They offer lots of tools that are ideal for taking your classes online.

What It Is: Rather than fighting smartphones, Wooclap turns them into an exceptional learning tool. Wooclap is a free tool to help maintain interactivity and effective pedagogy. Their goal is to capture the attention of students to improve their learning whether they're in the classroom or at home taking an online course.

What It Is: Project your lessons in group settings with Zoom. You can even record the sessions for students who need to review later. This video and audio conferencing tool has a chat functionality where students can ask questions as you teach.

Professional Development & Training

These sites assist with continuing professional development and curriculum for teachers.

What It Is: Nomadic is a digital learning pioneer launching a Remote Work Boot Camp to help newly remote folks get better equipped to face our current working reality.
Feeling overwhelmed? You're definitely not alone. Join fellow educators in the WeAreTeachers Chat group on Facebook to get support from others just like you.

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350+ Amazing Websites For Kids Learning at Home

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Looking for distance learning and online learning resources for kids, tweens, and teens at home? Parents and teachers, we've got you covered.

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Listenwise teaches students to be better listeners, using podcasts and comprehension questions and quizzes.

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Listenwise | Listening Comprehension Matters

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Listening comprehension matters | Listenwise

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Explore the best podcast lessons for grade-level rigor. Curriculum aligned lessons with literacy & language supports, great for English Learners. Free sign up!

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Student Counseling Services: Journaling to Cope

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Student Counseling Services: Journaling to Cope

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Research on the "why" for journaling along with prompts you might give.

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A professor of history is interviewed and describes how journaling now might be crucial.

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Find the latest information on the University's response to the coronavirus here.
"You do not write alone," Herbert "Tico" Braun tells his University of Virginia students. Even before this time of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, those words could be comforting, his students have told him.

Now they mean something more.

Braun, a professor in the Corcoran Department of History, has been teaching in the "Engaging Differences" part of the College of Arts & Sciences' new curriculum since 2017. In his "The Individual and Society" course, Braun leads the students in exploring the historical impact of society on individuals and how individuals form communities.

He sent an email on Monday to his current and former students asking if they would participate in a voluntary project to keep a record of their daily lives during this unprecedented time.

"Our 'engagement' courses aim to help our first-year students connect to the world around them," Braun wrote in an email. "I hope that when they have taken this course and others, they have become imbued with the idea that they are citizens.

"The mantra of our course is, 'Write it down.' When you do, much of your life and who you are will be different than if you don't," he wrote.

Braun offered many suggestions for how the students could contribute, suggestions that just about anyone else could also use to create a record of what's happening - for the sake of history and to be part of a different kind of community.

There is a possibility Braun and his students will find a way to share this project at some point. UVA Today adapted his email into this Q&A to share his ideas with our readers now.
Q. Why do you feel it's important to create a record of one's daily life these days?
A. Our normal days in the now-suddenly-distant past may well have often dulled us into just getting through them. Our sudden lives now stop us, and lead us to wonder about our experiences and our feelings on many passing moments.

This [project] will, of course, not be routine writing and composing. That's the point. There is much that all of us and each of us have already experienced in the past few weeks that is shocking, unexpected, unpredictable, unknowable, new; much that we have not felt before and not seen. What is it like to live today knowing that we do not know what tomorrow and the day after will bring?
Q. What are you suggesting your students do that others could also do?
A. I suggest that you keep a record - in one or more different forms of your own choosing, a journal, a blog, an e-portfolio, a film, a series of artworks, a short story, poems, a series of haikus - of your life in these unprecedented days. Each individual perspective is valuable, and adds to the whole.

If you are going to compose a journal of these times, make it something easy to do. If a journal becomes onerous, it does not work. You do not have to write or do things for the journal every day. Keep your writing and composing close by, so you can jot things down to return to them later. Jot things down, a few words here and there, but then compose them in full sentences.

When you read an article that you find telling, produce a link in your journal and write a few brief reflections. Include photographs, from the press and those that you take.

Many of us are writing today and producing our work on social media. It is an explosion. You can gather these voices, these experiences, all this creativity. They are all a record of our times. These voices are urgent.

How will we deal, socially, psychologically, with the increasing number of deaths all around us? Many are saying that around the globe our lives will not be the same again.
Q. How does this project relate to the course, "The Individual and Society"?
A. I have claimed that the subject of the course touches on everything - almost everything - about our lives. I have told my students, "You will come up with this subject time and again in your lives, and you will find it in different Engagements courses, and in quite a few of your other courses.

"Write about what you learned in those courses, about you and your education, all of this today in this maelstrom. Those connections are what the liberal arts are about."
Q. Why do you think it would be helpful to do this?
A. Think of your children, your grandchildren, your friends down the road, who will ask you what was it like during that pandemic - "What was it called? Corona-something? You know, the one that was named after a Mexican beer ... back then in 2020 or '21. When was it?"

When you think about the individual in this pandemic, think of yourself and you can write about yourself, think and write about other individuals, and about your relationships to others, to your society, societies, to your loved ones, your friends, your institutions.

When you think about society, think about parts of it; death, disease, Wuhan province, the Chinese government, medical systems, Italy, the stock market, shaking hands, online classes, isolation, your town, your family, rich people and poor, social distancing, public events, the market, vulnerabilities, hoarding, hospitals, politicians, health insurance, selfishness, fear, sick leave, economic policies, exponential expansion, individualism, cooperation, competition, solidarity ... and more.

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'Write It Down': Historian Suggests Keeping a Record of Life During Pandemic

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Find the latest information on the University's response to the coronavirus here. "You do not write alone," Herbert "Tico" Braun tells his University of Virginia students. Even before this time of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, those words could be comforting, his students have told him. Now they mean something more.

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Students can create free Blogs through Google and use their @fcpsschools.net account information.

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Blogger.com - Create a unique and beautiful blog easily.

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Publish your passions your way. Whether you'd like to share your knowledge, experiences or the latest news, create a unique and beautiful blog.

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NoRedInk builds stronger writers through interest-based curriculum, adaptive exercises, and actionable data.

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Unlock Every Writer's Potential | NoRedInk

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NoRedInk offers authentic assessments, adaptive practice, personalized content, and actionable data to improve your students' writing and grammar skills!

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PenPal Schools not only lets you engage your own students, but those from around the world, on a wide variety of subjects.

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Free vocabulary practice; students "calibrate" to find their vocab level and practice individual words through video, questions, word association, and spelling. Mel has extensive practice with this.

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Impacted by COVID-19?

Is your school impacted by coronavirus closures? Need to come up with distance lessons? Membean is available to use with all your students for free until Sept 1st, 2020. We'll work with you to help you get started quickly. Membean is fully self-guided, will work on all devices, and requires no installation; best of all, it needs little or no supervision from you.

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We want you to be convinced that Membean is the best vocabulary training tool on the market today.

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The best way to experience Membean is to try us. Once we've answered all your questions, we'll get you up and running quickly with very little time investment on your part.

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Impacted by COVID-19? Is your school impacted by coronavirus closures? Need to come up with distance lessons? Membean is available to use with all your students for free until Sept 1st, 2020. We'll work with you to help you get started quickly.

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Create a badge board per classroom; You might use Google Drawing to create a badge and post next to the student's name.

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Audacity is available on all computers in FCPS. Go to the Start menu and search for “Audacity”. You don’t need to log in,

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Justice HS Website for resources

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Templates for student choice boards and playlists.

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Online picture books read by celebrities! Shared by Michelle Berret

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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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Free audio books. No signup required.

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© Copyright 1997 - 2023 Audible, Inc Conditions of Use…

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I use this to connect with students. They can also reach out to me.