The following are some of the apps that you may download if you have an iPad or an Android tablet.
- ABC Ya: ABCya.com is the leader in free educational kids computer games and activities for elementary students to learn on the web. All children’s educational computer activities were created or approved by certified school teachers. All educational games are free and are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way for children to learn.Grade level lessons incorporate areas such as math and language arts while introducing basic computer skills. Many of the kindergarten and first grade activities are equipped with sound to enhance understanding. Fun children’s Holiday activities are available in grade level sections!
- Accelerated Reader: This free app allows your child to take AR quizzes after reading a book to be tested for reading comprehension and vocabulary. School code: SBAES-C7KF
- for Apple devices
- for Android devices
- Epic: This is essentially a huge e-book library. “They have amazing stuff,” Luhtala said. The collection includes everything from picture books to graphic novels and even junior novels. One teacher described Epic as “Netflix for kids books” because it offers thousands of titles. The books are for ages 4 and up and are fairly interactive. It is free and works on iPads and iPhones.
- Lexia Core 5: Lexia Reading Core5 provides explicit, systematic, personalized learning in the six areas of reading instruction, and delivers norm-referenced performance data and analysis without interrupting the flow of instruction to administer a test. Designed specifically to meet the Common Core and the most rigorous state standards, this research-proven, technology-based approach accelerates reading skills development, predicts students’ year-end performance and provides teachers data-driven action plans to help differentiate instruction. This app focuses on the following:
- Phonological Awareness
- Phonics
- Structural Analysis
- Automaticity / Fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension
- To download this app: (Your child has the username and password.)
- RAZ Kids: This free app allows students to read online books and take a quiz to assess reading comprehension.
- SpellingCity: This free app allows the students to work on their spelling and vocabulary through games and tests.
Math Apps
- Addition: This free app drill students from simple 1-digit problems to more advanced multi-digit problems.
- Subtraction: This free app drill students from simple 1-digit problems to more advanced multi-digit problems.
- Multiplication!!: This free app drills students from 1 digit multiplication to 2 digit multiplication.
- Division!!: This free app drills students from simple 1-digit problems to more advanced 2-digit problems.
- XtraMath app:
- https://xtramath.org
- Prodigy Game: Over 1000 crucial math skills for grades 1 – 8: Prodigy has content from all major topics and will seamlessly cover Grades 1 – 8 to help ensure your students are ready for standardized testing.
- www.prodigygame.com/
- for Apple devices
- for Android devices
- Number Bond Blasters: This free app allows students in kindergarten through fifth grade to practice math facts with number bonds. This game is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and will have students fluently adding and subtracting or multiplying and dividing at their level.
- for Apple devices
- for Android devices
- Chicken Coop: A more fun way to teach students of putting fractions on a number line.
Utilities
ClassDojo: This tool is a fun and easy way to keep track of student behavior, allowing teachers to take attendance quickly and give positive or negative reinforcement, depending on a child’s actions that day. Each student gets a critter and some teachers find it very effective. It works on iPhones and iPads, as well as Android phones and the Web. It is free.
Edmodo is a web-based platform that provides a safe and easy way for your class to connect and collaborate, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices. It is like Facebook but in a safe and controlled environment appropriate for school.
Kahoot! is a game-based classroom response system and educational platform that leaves your students begging for more. With a refreshingly new take on introducing a subject and formative assessment – through quizzing, collaboration and presentation of content – Kahoot! initiates peer-led discussions, with students left on the edge of their seats.
Kahoots are best played in a group setting, like a classroom or a conference room – or even with family in the living room.
Games are displayed on a shared screen – for example a smart TV, a laptop or an interactive whiteboard. You can also use screensharing tools like Appear.In, Skype or Google Hangouts to include players from other classes or other parts of the world.
Players join in using their own device – whether that is a smartphone, iPad, laptop, or desktop doesn’t matter, as long as they have a browser and good internet connection.
Players do NOT need a kahoot account to play.
Plickers: Plickers lets you poll your class for free, without the need for student devices. Just give each student a card (a “paper clicker”), and use your iPhone/iPad to scan them to do instant checks-for-understanding, exit tickets, and impromptu polls. Best of all, your data is automatically saved, student-by-student, at plickers.com.
Remind, formerly Remind101, is a communication tool that helps teachers reach students and parents where they are.
Symbaloo: Many teachers love this organizational tool. It allows a librarian or teacher to create accounts featuring a group of apps appropriate for each group of students. Kids can get comfortable with the apps and sites the teacher expects them to use without distractions. “This has been highly effective in the elementary library,” Luhtala said. This app is available on the Web, Android phones and iPhones. It’s free for individual use, $34.99/year for a librarian or teacher account.
SeeSaw: This is an easy portfolio tool that allows teachers, students and parents to see and access video, audio, photo and text artifacts of learning. It’s easy to set up and even kids at the lowest level can use it. “You can watch the growth of the student and collect that formative assessment evidence through their progression,” Luhtala said. It’s compatible with iOS devices and is free.
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/07/29/teacher-recommended-50-favorite-teaching-apps/