While visiting classrooms every day, I see teachers utilizing a great deal of technology. Our district is currently in the early stages of a 1:1 Chromebook implementation, and also installed interactive projectors in all of our classrooms. Teachers have been utilizing the new technology to engage students using many different websites and resources.
Below is a list of the ten most popular websites that our teachers love right now!
- Geoguessr lets students journey and explore throughout the world. This site uses Google Maps and starts students in a specific location somewhere in the world. Students must navigate throughout the landscape to find clues to identify their specific location. Once a guess is made, points are awarded based on how close the guess was to the actual location. Teachers love this addicting game because it teaches students a great deal about world geography as well as critical thinking skills at the same time!
- Go Noodle is a great website for getting kids up and active in the classroom. The site features videos that can be shared with a class to incorporate brain breaks throughout the day. Videos include catchy tunes that will soon become class favorites. Our students and teachers absolutely love Pop See Koo, even recording their own video of the song. Each song allows for students to stand up and actively participate in a short 2-minute break to stimulate and re-energize them physically and mentally.
- Flippity.net allows teachers and students to create awesome learning tools using Google spreadsheets. Templates can easily be turned into flash cards, Jeopardy-style quizzes, random name generators, or even quizzes that award student certificates. Teachers and students love this site for the simplicity, quickly creating their own quizzes and flashcards using the simple templates.
- Kahoot is a fantastic website that allows for quick quizzes in the classroom. Students absolutely love participating in these contests! A teacher can create their own Kahoot or find one created by another teacher. Students then login to the quiz using a device. (Our students use Chromebooks, but it could be any other device like an iPad, laptop, or other smartphone.) Students have a short amount of time to answer each question, and points are awarded based on how fast students provide the correct answer. A great activity for review prior to any assessment!
- Today’s Meet provides a forum for student discussion. The website allows students to backchannel during discussion. A teacher can set up a discussion room for a set amount of time, and allow students to post discussion comments, questions, and relevant links or resources. Even the quietest students will engage in classroom activities, when they can express themselves and post their innermost thoughts. Teachers have used this site during fishbowl activities, Socratic Seminars, or for students to post exit tickets to a question at the end of a lesson.
- Flocabulary gives teachers an online library of educational hip-hop videos and songs. Teachers love using the songs to engage students in everything from grammar lessons to multiplication practice to social skills. Videos are searchable by subject area or by Common Core Standard. Students love singing along while also learning key content!
- Google Classroom has been very popular with our teachers and students this year! This resource allows districts who are utilizing Google Apps for Education to easily share and manage assignments within a classroom. In many classrooms, teachers post questions that students can instantly answer using their Chromebook (or other device). The website can help save time, make classroom workflow more efficient, and improve communication with students.
- Code.org is a wonderful website for teachers looking to teach coding and programming to their students. A great website to promote the Hour of Code with students, our teachers have expanded use within the classroom and across the curriculum. Step-by-step videos and tutorials provide students with an easy-to-use resource in order to learn computer programming. The website proved to be a hit with students and parents at one of our Family STEM Nights last year.
- Biblionasium gives teachers and students a social network for promoting reading. Students can provide book reviews and recommendations to classmates. Our teachers have used the site to create reading challenges among their students and classes, as well as provide reading lists to students and parents. Students can also maintain their reading logs online with this wonderful website!
- Goqr.me is a great website for teachers looking to implement QR Codes in the classroom. The site allows teachers and students to easily create QR codes for website URLs, documents, and other text. Teachers have created QR codes to provide answer keys, or links to lengthy website URLs. Students have utilized QR codes to provide links to their projects or to check answers when completing assignments.
These websites have been very successful for teachers and students in our district! Try them in your classroom or school. If you have utilized other websites that have been successful in your classroom, be sure to share them in the comments section below.
By @RACzyz
This is still a great site for quizzes and games in any subject. Either you can create your own or borrow via ‘browse’ and post to a specific class.
Edutopiahttp://www.edutopia.org/ should definitely be on this list for PD.