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This is a platform for elementary students to create a portfolio and track goals. This promotes personalized learning. It empowers the students to take active roles in their educational goals.

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Elementary Learning Experience Platform | Seesaw

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Seesaw is a Learning Experience Platform with 25M+ users, enhancing elementary education, engagement, and school culture while improving academic success.

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This is an interactive game and curriculum that promotes safe online behavior. It can also be played on Roblox. One of my students' favorites!

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The Internet Keep Safe Coalition is dedicated to protecting children, families, and schools by assessing, advising, and certifying organizations that collect, use, and share personal information and data that is protected by law.

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Be Internet Awesome is a multifaceted program that includes a fun and free web-based game called Interland and an educational curriculum to teach kids how to be safe and responsible explorers of the online world.

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In my first year of teaching, I taught a class called technology literacy. We did a lot about how to be safe online and talked about their digital footprint. They then had to do a Google Search of themselves and see what was already all over the internet, only being in 6th grade. We also created a Facebook post and asked people to share it and comment where they are seeing it from. In just one week we had reached close to 10 countries and 30 states. A real eye opener!

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Give a Grad a Go - Graduate Recruitment Agency

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This site provides leveled texts for students to research and gather credible information on various topics and subjects. Could be beneficial for all grade levels.

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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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Smithsonian Learning Lab is a credible page that allows students access to millions of artifacts to build their knowledge. This could be used at almost any grade level. This fits well with 1.3.a effective research strategies.

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Smithsonian

Learning Lab

Discover the digital education platform that connects people to Smithsonian objects, resources, and stories.

Collections by Grade

Explore some of our most popular Learning Lab Collections. Use them as a springboard to continue your exploration of the many collections available on the site.

Talk with Me!
Learn about your community and neighborhood. In this Toolkit, leaners explore different homes, shops, and people in your neighborhood and have fun with related activities.

Talk with Me Toolkits provide you with chances to talk with your children to improve thinking, vocabulary, and language development. Talking with your child is great-and research shows that the quality of words children hear matters more than how much you talk.

Talk with Me Toolkits give you ideas to begin conversations that are organized around a theme. The Toolkits feature videos, photographs, paintings, and artworks along with questions to talk about with your child. At the end of each toolkit there are more activities to do and books to read together. Go through this toolkit with your child and see how many topics there are to talk about!
This toolkit was adapted with a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

Links to third-party websites and videos are included in this Toolkit for informational purposes only. They do not indicate the Smithsonian's endorsement, sponsorship of, or affiliation with the third party or content of the linked site, including any advertisements that might be posted.

Learn More

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

What inspires you? Get to know Alma Thomas, (b. Columbus, Georgia; lived and worked in Washington, DC, 1891-1978), an American artist and educator known for her signature painting style using bright colors and patterns inspired by nature. She became a full-time artist late in her life. Born in a time of horses and buggies, she lived through big advancements in technology, such as the space race and moon landing. Her art was inspired by the nature she saw outside her home studio, and awe for the exploration of our vast universe.
Get To Know Alma Thomas Use it in the classroom to teach:
is part of the Hirshhorn KIDS About the Artist series. About the Artist biographies are designed for kids under age 12. Modern and contemporary artists' lives reflect recent human history and events. Sharing these life stories and artworks can help kids see their own potential and better understand the world and their place in it. It is our goal to inspire future generations of artists, makers, and creative problem solvers-sharing artists stories is one way Hirshhorn KIDS realize this goal.
Art classroom: Color Theory, Pattern

Language Arts classroom: Biography

Social Studies classroom: 20th century

Learn More

National Museum of American History

In this playlist you will learn about how three of the first presidents shaped the executive branch of the United States government.

Start by clicking on the first tile in the upper left hand corner. Then move through the playlist by clicking on the ">" symbol at the bottom of the page. Look for the information and paperclip icons to provide more information about selected resources. There are 34 tiles in this collection.

Learn More

Educator Programs

Cultivating Learning is a professional development series where Smithsonian educators model teaching techniques for using digital museum resources to support student learning. This year's series celebrates America at 250. Programs are free and accessible to anyone.

Wednesday, April 15, 4:00 PM EST

Join Phoebe Sherman of the National Postal Museum to explore how postage stamps can be used in the classroom to encourage civic awareness and engagement. We'll examine how stamps can spark curiosity and deepen understanding of civics, American history, national identity, and commemoration by using thinking routines that focus on both subject matter and artistic design. You'll see how these approaches come to life with students and leave with classroom-ready resources and fresh ideas for incorporating postage stamps into your teaching practice.

Watch

Wednesday, May 20, 4:00 PM EST

Join Nyssa Buning of the National Museum of American History's Spark!Lab and Carol O'Donnell of the Smithsonian Science Education Center to explore strategies for cultivating an inventive mindset in your students. We'll discuss the history of STEAM innovation in America and try an open-ended invention challenge that uses object-based learning techniques to encourage creative problem solving and support curiosity and perseverance, skills essential to inventors throughout history. You'll leave with a set of facilitation tools to support students as they develop their own inventive identity and become future problem-solvers. You'll also receive access to a newly released e-book from the Smithsonian Science Education Center, STEAM Innovation: Celebrating Our Nation's 250 Years.

Register

Wednesday, June 17, 4:00 PM EST

As America turns 250 in 2026, young people are writing its next chapter. Join a group of educators who apply interdisciplinary approaches to learning to engage young people in civic dialogue tied to their communities.

Register

What will you find in the Smithsonian Learning Lab?

Resources

Millions of Smithsonian digital images, recordings, texts, and videos in history, art and culture, and the sciences

Collections

Thousands of examples of resources organized and structured for teaching and learning by educators and subject experts

Resources

Millions of Smithsonian digital images, recordings, texts, and videos in history, art and culture, and the sciences

Collections

Thousands of examples of resources organized and structured for teaching and learning by educators and subject experts

Browse individual resources by type

Browse model collections on different topics

Tips

Tips

Create collections of resources to engage learners, or freely adapt ones already made by Learning Lab users like you.

Use Learning Lab tools to customize and enhance your collections.

Browse ready-to-use model collections by educational use

Browse ready-to-use model collections by learning strategy or theme

Tips

Tips

Subscribe to our Bright Ideas newsletter

To learn more about the Smithsonian Learning Lab and to read about strategies, approaches, new features, and more, subscribe to the Bright Ideas newsletter. We'll be sending out a new issue every few weeks.

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Smithsonian Learning Lab: Discover, Create, Share

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Smithsonian Learning Lab Discover the digital education platform that connects people to Smithsonian objects, resources, and stories. Explore some of our most popular Learning Lab Collections. Use them as a springboard to continue your exploration of the many collections available on the site. Talk with Me! Learn about your community and neighborhood.

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Tinkercad is a STEM based app for 3D design, electronics, and coding. Our elementary uses this some as well as our computer science teacher for all grade levels. Students learn by doing hands on projects. This directly relates to the 1.4 standard because students have to work through design processes and solve problems.

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Tinkercad | From mind to design in minutes

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Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding.

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This website is more elementary to middle school age based. The site offers STEM challenges and activities. Students are challenged to think about the design process (1.4.a) and problem solving (1.4.b).

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Be creative and help people with engineering at DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL. Watch videos, play games, try activities, and share designs with the community.

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CS unplugged has a ton of resources for teachers and students to teach complex concepts without being on a device. They have something for every age! This correlates to standard 1.5 because students develop and use strategies to solve problems.

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CS Unplugged is a collection of free teaching material that teaches Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around.

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Scratch is a block based coding platorm for anyone at all ages. Students can think critically to build games, animations, and much more. I have had a few students use it to create a more interactive presentation slide deck. Students have to use coding strategies and problem solve to create something (1.5.d). I love this because it helps foster the soft skill of creativity.

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Using Canva, students can create flyers, presentations, posts, and much more to communicate clearly and express themselves using digital media (1.6). My students wrote a children's story in ELA and then used Canva to generate AI images. Some of them took on the challenge of animating so when we shared the stories with the Kindergarten, they were fascinated.

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Previously know as Flipgrid, Flip is a video platform that allows students to share their ideas and reflections through a video. This would be a great tool to differentiate for students who might not be able to write as well as the general population. They are able to communicate complex ideas (1.6.c) and make the message their own (1.6.d).

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PenPal Schools is an online platform that connects students around the world to discuss real world topics. I used this when I was in middle school and really enjoyed it. This could be used in the middle to upper level classes. Not only does it motivate students to write but it also is safe. It has an AI guide to help them write more clearly as well. This fits perfectly with the standard as they are using a digital tool to collaborate with other kids in the world.

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This is a very similar platform to PenPals. What I like about this platform is you can set the student age range from 3-19. There are other filters as well such as language spoken, interests, subjects, and many others. It is an online community that promotes collaboration on projects. I think this would be really good at opening up students perspectives and empathy.

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Standard 1.1.c is feedback to improve. This tool, Brisk, is an AI generated program that can give feedback to students among many other things. Teaching ELA, I ask students to peer edit. If they cannot find anything I run it through Brisk quick to help them get some ideas and look fors. I especially like using the grow and glow function. This could be used at any age.

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Free AI Tools for Teachers and Educators – Brisk Teaching

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Brisk is the best AI for teachers and schools, offering free AI tools for education that fit seamlessly into your routine. With an AI lesson plan generator and tools for instruction, feedback, and differentiation, Brisk helps lighten your workload. Grade essays before the bell or create lesson plans in seconds. Install now and thank yourself all year!