Teachers across the district have many ways they use to keep in touch with students and families for a variety of reasons, many of which are digital. Whether it be Seesaw, Bloomz or Class Dojo, text or Twitter, any way that you can stay engaged with your students can provide them an anchor point to school that is invaluable.
Remember that our district has a subscription to Remind, a service created to make it easy for teachers, parents and students to stay connected across distances. If you’ve yet to get started with Remind or need a refresher:
So you want to go a more traditional route - I get it. Obviously, you can use the options above to send out messages to all of your students/parents at once. But there are other more traditional means to do this as well:
The list below are some of my favorite web-based tools which are especially useful for blended or fully online learning. Have a look and experiment to see what suits you and your students. The list is not exhaustive - there are any number of sites available on the web, and the number grows literally by the minute. If you’re looking for even more, you can check out this list that focuses on sites that are offering additional support due to the events surrounding COVID-19.
Erie 1 BOCES has also stepped up to put together some resources for online learning. You can find their website here, which will be updated as the days roll by.
Most of the sites listed below are offering premium access for free at this time due to broad school closures.
Book Creator is an app students can use to create digital books. It’s a great option for a student project, and the app itself is awfully easy to use.
You may have played a Breakout game in your classroom with boxes and locks, but did you know your kids can play at home?
Edulastic is an online assessment platform with a bank of available questions and content a mile deep.
Freckle is an online learning platform with pre-made lessons on all subjects. The lessons are interactive and high-interest.
Kami is a PDF and document annotation tool built for use in schools. It works great with a Chromebook (especially one with a stylus).
Kahoot is rather prevalent these days, but for those uninitiated: Kahoot is a platform for playing engaging games with your class to review or introduce curriculum concepts.
Nearpod is an interactive learning platform. Teachers create lessons with engaging content that can be delivered in teacher-paced or student-paced formats.
Quizlet is a platform for creating digital flashcards for study, but it’s a bit more than that - it introduces a number of engaging ways to study vocabulary, and has an awesome live game mode.
Adobe Spark is a powerful tool for creating graphics, videos and simple websites. Students can access and create with Spark using their Google account.
Making digital comics has never been easier. Storyboard That provides the templates and graphics needed to create engaging assignments and level the artistic talent gap.
Workbench is really something - a website that allows you to either find or build high interest digital lessons that you can easily share with your students (especially via Google Classroom). Topics range, but focus mostly on STEM concepts and phenomena.
Have you heard of this website called BrainPop? How did this thing fly under the radar for so long?
Check with your computer aide for your school’s login.
We all love Edpuzzle, an app that allows you to add interactivity and accountability (like quiz questions) to instructional video. Kids love video, we love the interactivity.
Flipgrid is as good as it gets, providing students an avenue for authentic conversation, dialogue and debate via video.
There’s never a bad time for vocabulary practice (or hip-hop). Flocabulary makes learning vocab fun by presenting it via catchy rhymes.
Don’t sleep on Khan Academy - they have an expansive library of content and solid structures in place for sharing that content with your students.
Our district has enabled Screencastify for all users via your Google account. As long as you are signed into Chrome on your desktop, or on your Chromebook, you’ll have access to record your screen, your camera and your voice using this easy tool so you can create digitally recorded lessons.
With your Google account comes a YouTube channel. You can use this channel to post content that you create, and easily share links to your videos in Google Classroom or via email or Remind.
I mean, reading, right? We all want our students to find more time to read, and this may be the ultimate opportunity to encourage that. Have your students journal about their reading adventures, or take some #booksnaps (and more #booksnaps) while they lounge with a book that’s grabbed their attention.
One of the best things you can do for your students is to encourage them to use some of their time soaking up great writing - no need to build in unnecessary accountability. Stories are awesome. Emphasize that to your students and they’ll be all the better for it.
If you’re looking for some digital opportunities that focus on reading, the list below includes some solid options that span all content areas.
Epic! is probably the most comprehensive reading app around, with books available from beginning readers all the way through the middle grades.
Read-alouds, interactive book talks, crafts to go along with books - this is a great resource to continue building a love of reading.
A number of authors have taken to social media to share their plans to read their works aloud until kids get back to school. What a neat opportunity to hear these texts straight from the authors who created them!
Peter Reynolds is on the list!
Also, follow along with #readaloudalert on Twitter & Instagram as more authors jump on board.
Keep your kids up with current events and a vast library of other non-fiction content with Newsela’s simple web-reading interface.
Readworks has been around forever, but still offers a consistently solid reading experience with a deep library of both fiction and non-fiction texts.
Rivet is a reading app similar to Epic! Made by Google. It features a simple interface and their book selection is broad and unique.
The kids can take a break from watching Minecraft tutorials, make-up advice and unboxings. Youtube has a wide selection of channels whose focus is read-alouds. The links at right are just a selection.
Did you know that 21% of 187 students surveyed at Hamburg Middle School identified math as their favorite subject? It’s true! There’s never a bad time to get a little extra practice with mathematical concepts.
Desmos is a digital learning platform focused on math from the folks who created the well-known graphing calculator app. It’s pretty great, and has a huge library of content to give you a quick start. Geared mostly toward secondary learners.
I love Greg Tang’s books, and I love the way he presents mathematical concepts. His website features games and activities for kids of all ages.