Whether you're a computer savvy, technology-yielding super-teacher or one who is just dipping their toe into the sea of educational technology, here are 30 awesome sites every elementary teacher should have bookmarked. These sites can be used in class or the computer lab, both individually or as a whole group, and aid in both instruction and reinforcement of various topics across the elementary grades. The best part is, many are aligned with the Common Core Standards. Enjoy!
Mr. Nussbaum - Learning + Fun
Though this website has a wide variety of subject areas covered, my favorite reason to visit Mr. Nussbaum's site is for the excellent supply of free comprehension reading passages and quizzes based off relevant elementary subject areas. I particularly loved using his resources about the Age of Exploration. These are great for shared readings on an interactive whiteboard, as students can highlight the text for proof of quiz answers as they go along.
ReadingResource.net
I am particularly fond of this site as it provides a plethora or reading game resources, groups according to specific reading skill such as letter recognition, phonemic awareness, fluency and more. This is a great site to have bookmarked on computers students access independently for practice or review, or even for teaching on a whiteboard.
Starfall
A very comprehensive website for emergent and early readers featuring games, stories and activities to reinforce or teach reading skills. Ideal for K-2, ESL or Special Needs.
ReadWriteThink.org
This site is an excellent resource both on and offline as it provides not only a wide array of interactive graphic organizers and student scaffolding devices, it also feature thousands of standards-based lesson plans for teaching reading across the content areas. I have utilized this site more times than I can count over the last several years and have found it to be of great value in my teaching.
The Teacher's Guide - An Interactive Reading Resource
This site is simple and neat, a lists several good reading interactive resources as well.
Mrs. Alline: Directory of Educational Resources on the Web - Reading
This site offers some good resources for free digital storybook sites as well as some literature quiz resources.
Vermilion Parish Schools - ELA
If your school is currently using Harcourt trophies as their basal reader this is a great resource for vocabulary Power Points and reinforcement materials that go along with each story.
Math
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/maths.htm#numbers
This is probably one of my all-time favorite resources for math instructional PowerPoints, lessons, games and whiteboard activities. The materials are grouped by topic and then progress from grade K-6 giving you a full scope of resources. I like the way it is set up because, if you have a struggling student, you can go further back in the grade level resources on the same topic and build up the knowledge that the student is missing.
http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/math-games/
Cyber chase is a favorite kid's math cartoon of mine that teaches valuable math concepts in ways that students understand. This site provides associated activities to go along with concept math concepts taught in various episodes.
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activities.aspx?grade=1&grade=2
Another must have link to lessons and interactive models that are based on the Common Core standards. This lessons will take student understand of math concepts to a deeper level and are differentiated to meet a wide variety for students at various levels.
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/topic_t_2.html
This site provides a bank of virtual manipulative for use in math lessons - great for whiteboards!
Science
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities.html
Offers a variety of engaging games and animations for learning or review a multitude of elementary science topics.
Foss is an inquiry based learning curriculum, offering this website chock full of activities and lesson plans for use on computers or whiteboards.
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/teachers.htm
I love this site because it not only spells out the standards and objectives covered in each lesson, it also features real world animations and video clips to show student how engineers use science concepts each day in their work. This one is definitely a keeper!
http://www.learningscience.org/
I like this website because it is a place where teacher from anywhere can add resources related to science that are standards based.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/Science/
Another comprehensive science game resource.
Social Studies
http://docsteach.org/activities
This is a fascinating website that offers both teacher and students scaffolding as they begin to work with authentic documents and complex text required in the Common Core Standards. Designed by teachers, this site beautifully links key documents in American history to relevant lessons and resources. An excellent creation sure to make teaching complex texts a bit easier.
http://www.digitalvaults.org/#/browse/?record=1061
If you prefer to create your on document based lesson plans, the National Archive's digital; vault offers everything you need to get going!
http://teacher.scholastic.com/whiteboards/socialstudies.htm
Though Scholastic offers some nice interactive materials in all subject areas, my favorite by far are their Social Studies interactives. These activities are so in depth including vivid pictures videos and real-life accounts and often include lesson plans as well. One of my favorites is The First Thanksgiving
http://socialstudiescentral.com/?q=content/online-interactive-simulations
This unique site offers links to online simulations, interactive web sites, virtual museums and lessons for face-to-face simulations. There are some very cool things listed there. Make sure to check it out!
http://www.lmsd.org/staff/elemtech/InteractiveSites/interactivesocst.htm
Offers a nice listing of interactive history websites on a variety of topics.
Videos, PowerPoints, and Lesson Resources on All Subjects
http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/
Great resources of popular educational children's videos such as Bill Nye the Science Guy, Liberty Kids and School House Rock
The most comprehensive resources of educational Power Points on the web. I've probably visited this site more than any other in search of gems for teaching everything from grammar to the gold rush!
An amazing collection of videos, lessons, activities PowerPoints and more in a neat and easy to navigate website.
On of the most talked about resources on the web for instructional videos - great for use whole class, small group, individually or in the flipped classroom.
http://www.teachersdomain.org/
This resource was put together by the Public Broadcasting system and offers is a free digital media service for educational use including support materials such as videos, lessons and activities. I have used this site extensively for aid in teaching math and science.
http://www.uen.org/k12student/
Created by the state of Utah this website offers a vast resource of lesson plans and activities, but has recently added interactives as well. A nice addition to your link library.
http://www.kleinspiration.com/p/project-based-learning.html
This site is a new one to me, but one that is definitely worth browsing around. It has been thoughtfully designed, listing a variety of resources on the web for planning projects, teaching students to get along and working technology into your Common Core lesson plans.
