Tech Tools
Technology Tools
The technology tools listed below include some of the most helpful and easy-to-use classroom tools available. All of the tools you see listed here are web accessible and are free for educators. Just click the links below to launch each site.
Teachers, please feel free to contact Mrs. Marlowe if you need assistance using any of the websites listed here.
News Websites
This site contains news stories that will interest your scholars, and help them to learn more about the world they live in. Content is available for grades K through 12. Users may also opt to select articles by their reading levels.
Users can search for news articles based on topic, interest level, or reading level. After creating a free account, teachers may assign news articles to their scholars in Google Classroom. Most articles have a content quiz, vocabulary section, and a reading comprehension section.
Teachers may use this site to create a free account. After setting up an account, teachers may use the Classroom feature to assign articles to their scholars. The content on this site is updated regularly and is age appropriate.
Keep your scholars up-to-date on all of the latest news in the world of science with this site. The articles are intended for upper elementary and middle school students, but all students can enjoy the video content that is embedded in most of the articles.
Website Creators
Google Sites is an excellent tool for building classroom websites. Since many scholars and teachers are already familiar with Google resources, there is a relatively small learning curve for this tool.
If a visually pleasing aesthetic is the thing you value most in a website, then Weebly is for you. You can use this tool to create professional looking websites that are easy to navigate and fun to look at.
WordPress is another popular website building resource. It is free and simple to use, but be advised that advertisements may pop up in your website content.
Reliable Supplemental Content
The purpose of this site is to allow educators to create digital lessons, and to store lesson content in one convenient place. However, teachers may also browse existing lessons created by other educators.
Discover inspiring lectures on a wide variety of topics to share with your scholars.
Users of this site have free access to hundreds of lessons on mathematics, science, arts, humanities, economics, engineering, and computing. Educators may sign up for an account and assign work or lessons to their students in just a few simple steps.
This site offers many short videos on a wide variety of science topics starring Bill Nye. Most of the videos are short, but they’re definitely worth adding to an occasional lesson to mix things up.
Spice up your science lessons with some help from the Magic School Bus team. All of these videos are available in Learn360.
Find reliable, educational videos in a flash with Learn360. Educators can search by standards, topics, or keywords. You can always trust a video on Learn360 to be appropriate for your classroom.
This site provides hundreds of live and prerecorded virtual field trips which you can access right from your very own classroom. It is free for all CCSD educators. Simply use your CCSD email to set up an educator account.
Poster and Flyer Creators
Create visually stunning invitations, posters, banners, and social media flyers using this free website. Just set up an account, and get started.
This is a great resource for creating fun and engaging educational flyers and posters for your students. Some features do require a membership, but basic access to the tool is entirely free.
Do you have a quote that you regularly use to motivate your students? Use that quote to create a motivational poster for your classroom using this great site.
Presentation Creators and Recorders
Are you bored with PowerPoints? If so, give Prezi a try. It may take some time to learn how all of the Prezi features work, but it will be time well spent. Prezi offers users with a wide variety of visually interesting presentation graphics and templates.
This site offers free access to screen and voice recording tools. Deliver lectures from right from your own home by using this amazing tool. Just make sure that there’s not too much background noise while you’re recording.
Screencastify is another great screen and voice recording tool. If you’re a Google Chrome user, this is the tool for you.
Google Slides offers appealing slide templates and quick sharing options for your presentations. If you know how to use PowerPoint, you’ll know how to use Google Slides.
Use Playposit to create videos that your scholars can interact with by inserting assessment checks and thought-provoking question bubbles.
EdPuzzle is free for educators, and allows you to add knowledge checks and quizzes to just about any video recording.
To access the free version of this presentation creator site, select the individual, basic plan. Users can preview templates before they take the time to register for an account which is a nice time saving feature.
Content Organizers
Use Pinterest to organize your ideas and lessons in handy, easy-to-use online boards. Users can upload their own content or pin content uploaded by other users. This is a great tool to keep visual learners organized.
Flipgrid is a scholar favorite. Just about any lesson can be made more interesting by incorporating this tool. Create your own videos right from your computer and upload them to your Flipgrid wall, or have your scholars create videos of their own.
Google Classroom is an extremely helpful tool for creating a digital space to organize class topics, assign work, share resources, and send out reminders to your scholars. Use your CCSD email to create a free account today.
Padlet is another visually striking way to organize notes and links. You may also have scholars write on your Padlet wall to share their thoughts and ideas on particular topics. Overall, this is a great site to keep a class project or collaboration organized.
Popplet is great for creating word webs and mind maps to keep your ideas and lessons neatly organized. Your scholars will enjoy the fun graphics provided in this tool.
Do you want a less messy, paperless, way to store your notes? If so, Lino is the tool for you. It’s basically an online sticky notepad.
Infographic Creators
Piktochart is probably one of the easiest free, infographic creator sites available on the web. Although premium accounts are available for a fee, educators can still make visually striking infographics for their scholars using the free access level.
If you need to create infographics with a lot of charts and graphs, then Vengage is the site for you. Basic access to the site is free.
Infogram is yet another infographic creator site with both free and subscription level accounts. What sets this site apart from competitors is the map creator and dashboard function which are both fun and easy to use.
To access the free version of this infographic creator site, select the individual, basic plan. Users can preview infographic templates before they take the time to register for an account which is a nice time saving feature.
Assessment Tools
You can put just about any set of boring old questions into Kahoot and instantly make it more fun. Your scholars will love competing against their classmates, hearing the riveting background music, and racing the clock as they complete your Kahoot quizzes.
Quizlet is another helpful online assessment tool. Be sure to check out the flash card feature for an especially effective way to test your scholars’ vocabulary knowledge.
Use Quizizz to create your own quizzes, or access the Quizizz library to browse some fabulous resources that have been shared by other educators.