Tech Tuesday: Top Websites for Students

Internet 4 Classrooms

This website has created direct links to learning opportunities from grades k – 8 in Language Arts, Math and Social Studies.  There are grade-level appropriate lessons for children to build their skills through many different games.  The games are entertaining, and can be played as many, or as few times as they like, plus the games are self correcting, so students can have instant feedback on how well they are doing.  The standards listed to not reflect the current Common Core Standards which many states across the country are adopting, however, the standards addressed are grade-level appropriate.

Fun Brain

Funbrain is a favorite for pretty much every student I know, including my own two!  Kids can explore book reviews with links directly to author websites, play math and reading games, read comic books (did you know that reading 30 minutes a day has proven to increase student vocabulary!!!), play Mad Libs Junior, and read web-versions of favorite books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  The games are broken down by grade-level, but I always think it’s best to explore and find the ones you like (challenging ones, that is!).

National Geographic Kids

Seriously, who doesn’t love National Geographic!  As a kid, I could spend hours looking through the pages of their magazines (the pages I was allowed to look at, that is…), to plan far-away, exotic adventures that I was sure I would go on some day.  Although I’m still waiting for that day to come, the National Geographic kids website is a fantastic way for kids to explore the world.  They have an amazing array of international-related and science-related videos for kids to explore.  There are high-interest learning games from track lions in Kenya, to exploring with Lewis and Clark, to taking Antarctic Adventures.  It’s got some very cool crafts – did you ever want to learn how to make your own kaleidoscope?  So, you want to be a chef you say?  Then check out their international recipes and try something new with your family!  They’ve got super science experiments that could help spark the interest of a future Nobel Prize winner too!  Seriously – this is one website not to be missed!

Origami Club

This is an absolute favorite for my eleven year old.  The variety of different origami designs she creates are fantastic.  They have step-by-step directions, as well as step-by-step videos for some of the items you can create.  They rate the difficulty levels with stars so you can see how advanced pieces are before you try them out.  The site is broken down in to lots of sections, including Easy, Traditional, Holidays, Foods, Flowers, Animals and lots more.  They even have decorated paper that you can print out, but I say – save your ink and had to the clearance bin of your local craft store.  You can always find square pads of scrapbook paper in lots of great colors and patterns!

Enchanted Learning & Kids Click

Enchantedlearning.com and Kidsclick .org are two very kid-friendly research websites that I have had positive learning experiences with the students in my class over the past few years.  Enchantedlearning.com has a free and a paid website – the main difference being the size of the worksheets you can print out.  Now, the good news – I’ve never paid for a subscription, because everything on their free website is fantastic!  You can simply use the search bar to try to find out about topics your child is researching, or simply interested in learning more about, or just explore the topics they have.  This website is best for 4 year olds, through elementary school because of the massive variety of topics available.  Kidsclick.org is a website for kids that was created by librarians.  Kids can do digital searches for pictures, sounds and video – just be aware that this site will give you links that you might want to preview (especially in the fine arts and historic photographs!).

Mr. Donn

I don’t know who Mr. Donn is, but I love him!  If you have a child doing a project on history – any history, from any era, this is your first place to visit.  This website covers so many topics from Ancient Civilizations to World Wars, from Science to States, and everything in between!  You can find links to many videos based on the topics you are researching as well.

Math Sites: 

These websites are completely math related by grade level and by topic.  They provide a variety of games, flashcards, worksheets for extra practice, homework help, and guided lessons so parents can be pro-active in helping their children be successful in engaging math activities.

 http://aplusmath.com/

http://www.321know.com/

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

http://www.kidsnumbers.com/

– Erin

* We did not receive monetary compensation or product for this review. This is information that Erin compiled and wanted to share with our readers!