Resources
This page is pretty messy right now... I'm in the process of converting to this new website. It will look prettier soon!
Math Sites
Khan Academy
Khan Academy offers fantastic free tutorials. Definitely worth checking out!
Dr. Mike's Math Games for Kids
Dr. Mike offers fun math practice and printable math games (my favorite is the Traffic Jam!).
Math-Drills.com
More worksheets than you can imagine to practice basic skills like math facts, rounding decimals, etc.
Sumdog
Great for practice with basic math facts. Kids have individual log-ins.
A super-fun and user-friendly site that helps you make your own graphs
Social Studies
News and videos supplement the weekly magazines.
Videos, games, cartoons, articles. A top-notch site.
Science
"The Science Behind the News"
All sorts of weather information.
Includes an "Idea Finder" and suggestions for a timeline.
Science fun and games.
This is a fun site to assist scientists in tracking penguin populations.
Links for Parents
The Curriculum Essentials Document lays out what fifth graders need to learn. It is aligned with the Common Core national standards.
Language Arts
I love Merriam-Webster and use the online site all the time. Word Central is an online dictionary, thesaurus, and more for kids. (It includes a rhyming dictionary too!)
The Book Wizard helps you determine the level of books, and it also gives you the option to find books similar to one that you like at varying levels. As a guideline, in BVSD we use the DRA level, which for grade-level fifth graders ranges from 40 early in the year to 50 by the end of the year. The Book Wizard is also available as a super-cool app that provides book levels and information by scanning the book's bar code.
This is Scholastic's site for kids 8-12. It is all about books (yay!)—including games, surveys, and videos with some favorite authors.
April is National Poetry Month and April 30, 2015, is Poem in Your Pocket Day. Hooray!
Scholastic offers some fun contests, most of them centered around writing.
Miscellaneous: Homework Help, Puzzles & More
Hour of Code is officially in December, but tutorials remain available!
Offers videos and interactive pages to help with science, math, English, and social studies. (Choose the Students tab or scroll down on the left.)
Spelling practice, math practice, puzzles, and more. My favorite is the Word Clouds! The Verb Viper is good practice with subject/verb agreement.
An online almanac, encyclopedia, dictionary, and thesaurus.
Great for making crossword puzzles, word searches, cryptograms, mazes, and more.
Fabulous for making quizzes, such as for vocabulary.
An online authoring tool, particularly good for illustrating. Students login using their Google ID.
Thanks to Cameron for introducing me to Conceptis--in particular, the Link-a-Pix. I would have spent hours on this site in fifth grade!
Newsela
National Geographic for Kids
Videos, games, cartoons, articles. A top-notch site.
Scholastic News