As a third-grade teacher, I have been extremely fortunate to navigate a wide variety of online platforms for my students to use in order to be successful in school. There is an incredible amount of educational websites for kids to be accessing from home in order to help with acquiring grade-level skills. So much in fact it can be grossly overwhelming as a parent. Where do you even start? What is actually worthwhile and what is not? Most families in my experience have no idea what their student is learning in school or especially what they should be learning for their age level. A lot of parents struggle to understand that there is age-appropriate material and concepts at each grade level for a reason. Kids need to build up their skills in a subject much like the foundation of a house. Without the foundation, the walls will fall down and nothing can be built. Kids need structure and success in one area before moving forward to the next. Now I am definitely not advocating you glue your kid to a computer screen all day long to implement an education. Although here is a list of available resources that are incredibly helpful and fantastic that kids really do enjoy! You don’t need to be a teacher yourself to use any of these and the best part is, they are all FREE! At the bottom, I also included a small list of sites that cost a monthly fee with a subscription but are totally worthwhile!
1. Prodigy– Oh wow do kids LOVE this site. I had my students begging and pleading with me each and every day to get on here. It is an interactive math site that is like a kid-friendly version of the video game “WOW” (World of Warcraft). Kids get to create their avatars, then meet up with other players to “battle” and complete math facts faster than their opponents in order to earn items in the game. It is adaptive to the player and automatically sets them at their own level with an initial placement test. I love this site because it does adapt and differentiate so well with the kids at their skill level while they play. It features math concepts that range from first grade to eighth grade. Also, it is super cute and fun to play!
2. Xtramath– This site is all about building fluency through fact practice with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Using this daily has been a wonderful resource to have in my classroom for my students to fill their gaps with fluency on previous, as well as current grade-level work.
https://xtramath.org/#/home/index
3. Khan Academy– This site is packed with subjects ranging from preschool all the way up to college-level! It is all completely free! Most people use it for math and that is amazing because you can go at your own pace and you can advance as quickly as you like. It also has topics like science, engineering, computer sciences, test prep like the SAT’s, grammar, writing, history, art, social-emotional learning, etc. SO much here, and for all ages! Very easy to use and access.
4. Readworks– This is probably my favorite academic site to use with students! It is a HUGE database of kids’ stories, both fiction and non-fiction that range from kindergarten all the way up to twelfth grade. It comes with read-aloud options and comprehension questions which students can answer through multiple-choice or short answer combinations. There are a plethora of genres and topics for students. Another great aspect is that the interface comes with an answer key for every story, including the short answers. You can also leave comments to students on what they need to work on and it will even grade all of the assignments for you!
5. Scholastic News-This IS free but also not, it’s about $12 (not sure if it is mo/yr) to access the current magazine issues. But this one DOES have FREE news magazines and is amazing! It is a digital version of the magazine online and also has older editions for free. Features you can access include read-aloud, sticky note-taking, highlighting text, quizzes, games, English and Spanish options, and is just overall really amazing! Grades focused on are Kinder/first up to fifth/sixth. Truly such a great site to use for reading and writing, and just getting kids to learn about fascinating real-life events going on in the world around them.
https://scholasticnews.scholastic.com/
6. Ducksters– This is a FANTASTIC informational site on ANY topic/person/animal/event/place, etc. I would use this a lot for my students’ research projects, or biography projects. It has an abundance of information as well as games and other fun things for kids to learn about. All the information you want on a topic is right there, and it is safe for kids when doing online research.
7. National Geographic Kids-This site was more for games or learning about animals in different locations around the world. It is really fun for kids to explore and learn cool facts. There are stories, pictures, games, videos, and so much more! I will admit I used this more as a free time option than with academics, but it is educational.
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
8. Kiddle– Oh boy this search site has been AMAZING to have as a teacher! It’s a Google search engine, but for kids!! So it already has safe search settings and will only produce safe internet results for students. I discovered this late as a teacher and wish I had known about it so much sooner. Before this site, my go-to for my students doing any computer work is that they had to type in what they wanted to look up followed by, “for kids”. It was our class rule and helped give kids sites that were also kid-friendly with the language and outpour of information for them to sift through and digest. This site really saves time for kids to find answers quickly and safely.
9. Art Hub on Youtube– Okay so this one isn’t an educational site, but it is a lot of fun for kids! This is a step-by-step guide of an amazing artist showing how to draw fun current pictures. And there are TONS of different pictures such as holidays, cartoons, movies, etc. There are also ones that are super easy and some that are a little more challenging. Some of the videos have the artist and his kids doing the drawing with him so you can see an actual kid following along and creating the picture.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ArtforKidsHub
10. GoNoodle– Again, not entirely an educational site, but it does have multiple channels on different topics with videos for kids including indoor recess, dance videos, funny jokes, secret handshakes, all the way to relaxed calm down breathing exercises and yoga. Kids need brain breaks in order to be successful in their learning. This site is by far my FAVORITE go-to for students to have interactive fun! My third graders were begging to watch these short break videos, and I gladly obliged! Ranging from one minute to five minutes, this site features fun interactive games, dancing, songs, breathing exercises, etc. There is SO much on here and many schools use it. Koo Koo Kangaroo was my favorite!
Not free but still AMAZING and some of my favorites….
- Get Epic- Okay seriously this is an INCREDIBLE resource! It costs about $8 a month, but there is also a free trial. This is like Netflix, but with books. It’s amazing and you can personalize whatever you are interested in. You can select the age range, subjects of interest, listen to read-aloud books, videos, also there’s a huge Spanish selection among other foreign languages, etc. My students were obsessed with this site and always wanted to be on it for free reading time, or when they were done with a task. One of the favorites from my class was the “Weird but True” books, they have tons of cool facts and pictures for kids to learn about interesting things.
- Reflex Math– Amazing program for kids to become fluent in their math operation skills on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The other site this is offered through has so much more and offers ALL mathematics for your age/skill-level. It is all fun games and lessons, my students loved this site! About $40 per kid, per year.
- Typing Quest– If you want your kid to learn the necessary life skill of typing…. and you should, then this is THE site to use! It is amazing, interactive, easy to use, and fun! I have tried other programs and websites to teach typing skills but this surpasses all of them. It is worth the money to get and have your kids learn how to type proficiently. We live in a digital age and this is a skill that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. It’s about $10 for 2 months, About $15 for 6 months, or About $20 for 12 months.
https://www.typingquest.com/personal.html
- Abcmouse– This is not free, except with a trial, and it does cost about $10 a month. But it is amazing and kids actually WANT to be on it. Always a classic, this site is so great, especially for younger kids. It works on reading, writing, math, science, and social studies, it seriously has everything! It has a lot of games and stories to facilitate learning, and it really does help kids with their letter and number recognition, sight words, spelling, etc. Tons of printables, interactive zones, games, and areas to explore!
https://www.abcmouse.com/abt/homepage?8a08850bc2=T1135131745.1587073952.5886
I’d love to her in the comments what sites have been some of your child’s favorites!
