Thriving in Third Grade is all about doing the best we can with the little we have. So many of my students do not have internet access at home and the only interaction with technology they receive is during the school day. So I am always looking for ways to best teach my students, keep their interest and provide them with the technology they seem to crave. With this being my job, I am also trying to do it with limited funds and limited technology. It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it!
Today I am going to share with you some resources that I have found along the way. AND...wait for it...they are FREE!!! Some of these sources I found here and some of them are things I have found that work well in my classroom.
Watch, Know, Learn
This site has more than 33,000 educational videos available for download. This might be an excellent source for those who cannot use YouTube at school or for students to complete research. It is free for teachers and students can use it at home as well.
On the same note as #2, here is a place to store all of your downloaded videos. You can set up different libraries of videos you want your students to view. They claim that you can save YouTube videos and it blocks outside content and ads. Again, great for teachers whose school system does not allow YouTube.
This site provides teachers with lesson plans, bulletin board ideas, thematic units and teaching tips. You can also download “morning work” activities as well. It is a smaller site, but I have found several ideas I would like to try.
My kids LOVE this site! You can create spelling lists and save them on the site. When your kids go to that particular spelling list they can practice the words, take a test, or play a game using the words from that list. I create a list for each week’s spelling words from our StoryTown series. My kids love to play Hang Mouse and it uses their spelling words. There is a pay premium section but there are plenty of games and activities that are free.
This is a new site for me. It provides students with math practice. This includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or a mixture of those. Teachers can alter assignments based on what each student needs. The neatest part is that they will email you weekly updates on what your students have done, how they are progressing and which students need intervention lessons with certain skills. It is really easy to use and I am excited about getting started with it.
So, here are you six new sites or ideas to try. The article listed a few more if these do not catch your interest. It suggested that you pick one and try it. Take the time to dig into the site and find what would work best with your students. Once you realize how your students will benefit and that they actually enjoy it, it makes it worth the effort. I promise!
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteYou have given us so much great information at our fingertips with these websites. I know I will try out some of them with my special needs students.
My school is in a low socio-economic area and we are always looking for ways to use technology without having to purchase a program. I am going to share your websites with my fellow teachers. One idea that a teacher told me about, Facebook is not available for our school, so she said to ask the students to create their own Facebook page by illustrating it and writing comments and ideas which they would use if they could get on Facebook. You could also use this idea for the students to create their own Blog. This idea would be more for general education students but some of the special needs students could help to illustrate the page. This would be a great team building experience for small groups.
Thanks for all of the helpful websites.
That is a neat idea that I have never thought about. I like that, and you're right, everyone could be included regardless of ability.
DeleteThanks for all the great resources. Kids enjoy interactive and different ways of learning. Worksheets and teacher lectures have become boring. I cannot wait to use the websites that have videos. My kids love to watch things on schooltube and I think your blog has given me additinal options to use. On our school's website it lists free internet sites. I do not think we have all the ones you listed. I cannot wait to use and share them.
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