Smarty Games has:
- memory games
- addition games
- puzzles
- and more (like Math Ski Jumps).
- It’s free, but there are ads on both sides (usually for specific sections of Smarty Games.
- Based on what I tried, it works best on an internet browser, not a smart phone.
Turtle Diary – there is an app available; however, I just looked at the free website. There are ads on both sides, which I didn’t love.
What I did like:
- games like racing and ninjas for quite a few subject areas.
- Educational videos such as compound words, what is math? and hammer subtraction
- Number detective activity, shape riddles
- There was a fun adjective activity where you practice adjectives in this describe the picture game. With each correct answer, you get the mouse through the doors and higher up in the castle (pictured below)
- A big focus seems to be that it has LOTS of printables
- To find online games, you have to scroll down to a link
- I noticed in one video A sounded like K
- games included concentration, short vowels, CVC words, beginning sounds
- Kids can collect stars
Have you heard of Youtube teachers? If not, take a look. If your school has regular Youtube blocked, you might be able to get this one okayed
- teachers: can also access your regular you tube information from Youtube teachers
- Suggested to me were videos and playlists such as figurative language , similes, metaphors, and what is hyperbole?
- 500 K videos with channels such as Stanford, TED, PBS, Steve Spangler Science
Manythings ESL is a very plain, not cute website but possibly useful, especial to English Language Learners or teachers looking for read alouds
- website, no app
- Not fancy at all or cute (I didn’t even take a screenshot)
- but useful
- You can get bilingual sentence pairs and listen to both
- Daily study options
- Learn – listen and read, for example Langston Hughes, People in America
Aplus Math is now owned by Varsity Tutors LLC – you get redirected to them
- Free online activities like flash cards.
- With them, students much press return to check their answers
- Online math games like Matho – screen shot below. I had to shrink my screen to see all of the board though.
- Ever present phone number you can call for tutoring but clean screen and little ad clutter
Math Pickle is a unique and fun website with a lot of puzzles
- Puzzles
- Games
- Mini competitions
- Games like sheets and sidewalk prinatble game cards
- An example of games included is Hex – made famous by John Nash ( but created by Piet Hein) with printable boards – some videos
- Possibly good for math enrichment
Life of Birds exists thanks to PBS and Sir David Attenborough
Students can learn about:
- Bird brains
- evolution
- champion birds
- parents’ songs
- Great for teaching history
- Educational videos like one of a Puritan family of early New England
- People timeline videos such as Presidents, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony
- events timelines
- videos on historical events such as the Gold Rush, Civil War
- History in a minute such the Mayflower, Minutemen, and the Cotton Gin
- Jamestown online adventure game where you are the captain
- Award winning activity
- Students act as history detectives and investigate what really happened at the first Thanksgiving (screenshots below)
- Also there is an online virtual field trip hosted by Scholastic
Now I will be totally honest and tell you some of these are much better quality then others, and all could be useful, but because they are free, their usefulness and quality is limited. Some of the websites I use every day like Spelling City and Dreambox require a paid subscription. However, if you are like most teachers, we don’t always get what we request for our students, so free websites and apps are a great option. Which one here is your favorite? Or did I miss one you use? Comment and let me know!
