3 Sites every teacher should try this year

Newsela is a site that offers a wide variety of current events articles for students to read. Users can browse for articles by searching one of their eight categories and many articles come with ready made quizzes. What separates Newsela from other sites is the ability to set the articles to varying reading levels. Any article can be set for lexile levels ranging from a low of 530 up to 960 which is an invaluable feature in today's heterogeneous classrooms. The site is free to use but they do offer additional features for a fee.

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Kahoot is a great tool for creating formative assessments and review games for students of any age and it will be an instant hit as soon as you use it with your students. Creating Kahoots is very simple and intuitive and it allows you to add text, images and even  videos. Kahoot doesn't require any student information and kids simply use a special code to join your game. Kahoot also allows you to add YouTube videos to play at the beginning and when the game is over you can download your student's results to see how they did.

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Tackk is a great site where students can easily create online posters that can be shared via email, social media or be embedded onto a webpage or blog. As soon as you arrive on the website you can start creating your poster by editing their ready made template. The site is simple to use and users can easily add a title, body text, pictures, videos, and even songs. Content can be added from YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo, Sound Cloud, Hulu, and Spotify. Tackk is free to join and it is one of those great websites that anyone can use and students should enjoy.

9 sources of news for kids that you may not know about

Newspapers have always been an excellent educational resource for teachers. Now with the Common Core's focus on reading non-fiction material, they are more valuable than ever. Many of the classrooms that I have visited have been using either Time for Kids or CNN Students News and with good reason as both are terrific resources. Below are nine additional websites to consider when incorporating news into the classroom.

Newsela
Newsela is an awesome site that I previously shared and it helps students develop close reading and critical thinking skills by offering current event articles with varying levels of text complexity. Lexile levels of an article range from 2nd grade up to 12th grade which allows for differentiation within the same classroom. The articles are categorized by war/peace, science, kids, money, law, health and arts. Many of the articles are accompanied by quizzes that provide quick feedback. Newsela is currently in beta and is free for all teachers.

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Science News for Students
Science News for Students features a collection of science related stories. Each week several new stories are added to the site. The stories come from a wide range of science disciplines as well as math and technology.

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DOGO News

Dogo News is a current events website designed for kids and teachers. For kids, the stories are interesting and written at appropriate level. For teachers, each article is identified for grade level and Common Core Standards and is accompanied by key vocabulary. An added feature is that each story is tagged for its geographical location which can be located on the site's "map" tab.

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Tween Tribune
Tween Tribune  posts age appropriate news stories found on the internet for students grades K-12. The stories are sorted by age group and there is spanish section as well. At the end of each story, students can respond by leaving comments or take a quiz.

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National Geographic News for Kids
One of the great features on National Geographic's Kid webpage is their news story section. Their stories range from science, people, animals, and even history. Each story is accompanied by additional resources related to the story which can be found to the right of the article.

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Our Little Earth
Our Little Earth is a free digital newspaper for kids that is published every two weeks. The news stories come from all over the world and are age appropriate for most learners. They do have "extra" activities that accompany each addition which do cost money. Their policy is "pay us what you want" and you get a one year subscription to their "extra" activities.

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Teaching Kids News
Teaching Kids News looks like a real newspaper and it read like one as well. The website shares stories from the areas of news, entertainment, sports, science, arts, and politics. Their content contains media literacy activities and is targeted to learners grades 2 - 8.

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Discovery News
Discovery News has a huge collection of stories gathered from a variety of sources. The topics range from science and tech to animals, history, and adventure. Each story ends with an area that allows students to react to what they have read. Stories can be search by category or by using the site's search bar.

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The Why Files
The Why Files is a website that I have shared earlier which helps students understand science through current events or maybe it helps kids understand current events through science. Each story explores is explored from a science perspective and includes pictures, diagrams, and charts to help students understand the topic. In addition to news, the site contains a classroom activities pages with discussion questions and quizzes from stories found on the web page. There is also an interactive section where students can learn about science based concepts through games and activities. Due to its focus on current events, the Why Files is just as useful to social studies teachers who may want to use it for current events and infuse some cross curricular science content.

5 Great Science Websites For Kids That You May Not Have Seen

1- Science Made Fun
Science Made Fun wants kids to love science by showing how fun science can be. The site is colorful and makes silly sounds as you move your mouse around the page. Kids can read science trivia, science jokes, and play science games. The site also has just over a dozen experiments that kids can perform in school or at home under the supervision of their parents.

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2- BBC's KS2 Bite Size

This site from the BBC offers information, games, and quizzes on a wide variety of scientific topics. The site is very simple to navigate with only three categories: Living Things, Materials, and Physical Process. Each category contains the specific topics such as food chains, microorganisms, changing states, and  friction just to name a few. Each topic has opportunities to learn, play games, and take a quiz on the topic. 

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3- EurekAlert

EurekAlert is a science based site that offers a large collection of kid friendly, science based new articles. Their collections of news stories is extensive and would work well with the new Common Core State Standards. In addition to their news articles, they do have science trivia as well as a collection of science videos. 

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4- Love My Science

Love my Science offers a large selection of fun science experiments that can be performed safely at home or in school with everyday objects. There are well over one hundred experiments that cover biology, chemistry, and even physics.  The site also has fun science games and trivia for kids to enjoy.

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5- Cells Alive

Cells Alive is the place for students to go when learning about cells. They cover cell biology, microbiology, immunology, and microscopy while offering the type of features that keep kids engaged.Using animation, games, and puzzles, this site will help kids learn about cells. The site also has quizzes, worksheets, and a cell cam for kids to watch. 

Newsela - A Powerful Common Core Literacy Tool

My school's media specialist recently showed me Newsela and I was awestruck. This website helps students develop close reading and critical thinking skills by offering current event articles with varying levels of text complexity. Lexile levels of an article range from 2nd grade up to 12th grade which allows for differentiation within the same classroom. The articles are categorized by war/peace, science, kids, money, law, health and arts. Many of the articles are accompanied by quizzes that provide quick feedback. Newsela is currently in beta and is free for all teachers. I think you will find Newsela to be a valuable resource for your students.

The Why Files - The Science behind the news

The Why Files is a website that helps students understand science through current events or maybe it helps kids understand current events through science. Either way, the site provides a variety of opportunities for students to learn about science in interesting ways. The home page looks like a newspaper and contains a few news stories from around the world. Each story explores is explored from a science perspective and includes pictures, diagrams, and charts to help students understand the topic. In addition to news, the site contains a classroom activities pages with discussion questions and quizzes from stories found on the web page. There is also an interactive section where students can learn about science based concepts through games and activities. Due to its focus on current events, the Why Files is just as useful to social studies teachers who may want to use it for current events and infuse some cross curricular science content.

Life Organizers - Solutions to many of life's problems

Life Organizers is a website designed to help you organize every aspect of your life. Messy homes, clutter, relationships, exercise, finances, travel, time management. These are just some of the areas that Life Organizers can assist you with. Their website contains both articles and check lists  to assist you in getting control over a challenging or time consuming part of life. Teachers and parents will be happy to know that Life Organizers has a section dedicated to education and helping your children/students with school. Most of us have an area of life that needs attention and Life Organizers just may have the solution to your problem.

Spark People - Resources to Spark Better Health

Every New Year millions of people pledge to eat healthier, lose weight, and exercise. The majority of those people fail to keep their resolution and return to their bad habits. Spark People is a site that wants to help those who are struggling and inspire those who haven't started trying to get healthy yet. Their site is free to join and offers a wide variety of resources to help you improve your health. The site offers articles, calculators, food guides, quizzes, nutrition information, exercise videos, workout guides, calendars, recipes and tracker tools. Spark People is a fantastic place to assist you in meeting your health goals. If improving your health is something you want to do, go over to Spark People and join. What is there to lose?

Comparison Maps, Questions, and Headlines

Overlap Maps is a website by Sunflower Education that allows you to compare the sizes of nations, states, bodies of water, man made features and objects from nature. You simply select from two columns, click the green arrow, and presto, you get a picture with the two selections overlapped. Below you see an overlap I did between Texas and Germany. It is easy to to, it is fun, and it is educational for everyone.

101 questions is a website I found out about from Doug Brunner on Diigo Education. Go there and you will see a picture or video above the words "What's the first question that comes to your mind?." If you wish to respond you type your question in the box, if not click "skip it, I'm bored.". The site is simple but it could be a great way to challenge students to think.

Headslinger is a social media site that focuses on articles found on the web. After signing up (it's free) you begin by choosing a news site you like. You are shown the top headlines from that site for the day. If you like an article and wish to share it you simply click the "sling it" button. As you add favorite sites, suggested site appear on the left. You can choose up to 17 different categories to explore such as news, sports, humor, or entertainment to name a few. Headslinger is a great source to find and then share interesting stories with friends and family.