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.

7 science websites for students of any age

Science Clips
This BBC website provides students with the opportunity to conduct science activities online. It is targeted to students ages 5 to 11 and the site's activities are sorted by age group. Each age group is given 6 activities that they can perform with topics such as light and shadows, life cycles, using electricity, and forces in action. Each activity is accompanies by a quiz that checks the student's understanding.

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Learn 4 Good
This site has a large collection of science based online games for students grades 3 through 12. The site's nearly 30 games consist of games based on physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, brain teasers and puzzles. If you are looking for a fun way for students to practice science concepts, you can never go wrong with these science based games.

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Rader's Biology 4 Kids
This site is one of 5 websites by Andrew Rader Studios that focus on science. The site provides basic biology information about cells, microorganisms, plants, invertebrates and animals. The best feature found on this site is the collection of more than 25 online quizzes that students can take to test their general biology knowledge.

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Rader's Cosmos 4 Kids
This site from Andrew Rader Studios focuses on the wonders of space. Here you will find basic information about planets, stars, galaxies, and other space related topics. This site has 4 online quizzes and as well as space related wallpapers and a slide show about Saturn's Moons.

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Rader's Geography 4 Kids
This science site from Andrew Rader Studios is all about the Earth. If you are studying geology, the atmosphere, biosphere, or climate then be sure to visit this site because it is full of basic information on those topics and more. This site contains over a dozen quizzes as well as live web cams, wallpapers, and even beautiful panoramas from around the world.

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Rader's Chem 4 Kids
As you can see in the title, this site from Andrew Rader Studios is all about chemistry. Students who are learning about atoms, molecules, elements, reactions and even biochemistry can find a lot of information here. The sire contains a glossary and an encyclopedia like page called "real world examples" with pictures and chemical formulas of of chemicals and chemical reactions. As with the other sites, you can find online quizzes to test your knowledge of chemistry.

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Rader's Physics 4 Kids
The final site from Andrew Rader Studios is about the world of physics. The site provides information about motion. light, heat, electricity, magnetism, and gravity. You will find a dozen quizzes to test your knowledge of these things and other information found on the website.

6 Education websites you may not have seen

RSA Animate 
RSA Animate is a You Tube channel from RSA.org that contains a series of  thought provoking videos about education, economics and a variety of other important topics such as this one about human behavior and what motivates us. After watching this video you will want to share it with your bosses, managers, CEO's, politicians and other people in power. One of my personal favorites is  this one that describes the changing paradigm shift in education by Sir Ken Robinson. RSA Animate currently has 18 videos in their collection and I highly recommend you check out their collection of videos.

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Problem Attic
The school year is more than half over and end of the year state exams are looming. If you teach science, social studies, math, or ELA at the secondary level then you should really take a look at Problem-Attic. With this site you can quickly and easily create review tests and quizzes as well as flash cards for your students to use. Problem-Attic has a test bank of over 80,000 questions from old New York State Regents exams as well as science, math, and social studies state assessments from around the country. It is free to join and so simple to navigate. You name your test, browse their huge question bank, select your questions, format the test, and you are done. Problem-Attic is a fantastic tool for teachers because it will help you save your most valuable resource, your time.

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Learners TV 
Learners TV is an online resource that provides thousands of videos, lectures, tests, and animations on a wide array of college subjects and disciplines. The website currently has over 29,000 video lectures on topics such as biology, history, law, philosophy, and economics to name a few. This website is an excellent way for college students to support their classroom instruction and best of all it is free to join.

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Sketch Toy
Here is a website that allows you to draw a picture on their website and share it on your Facebook page. One advantage to Sketch Toy is their "graph paper" background to help you keep your art centered and symmetrical. They also have a feature that makes your art vibrate much like an old cartoon. If drawing is your thing, why not give Sketch Toy a try.

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Daily Infographic 
Daily Infographic is a website that features the best and most dynamic infographics found on the world wide web. If you are searching for an infographic about a specific topic then this website can help you as well. You can use their search bar or just select the category that interests you and they will more than likely have the infographic you were looking for. If you really enjoy their site then you can subscribe to their site and have daily infographics emailed to you.

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Google Tutor
Seems as though just about everyone uses some type of Google product these days. Google Tutor is a site that wants to be your resource for all things Google. They are one of the leading websites for news, tips, and tutorials for Google and their products and services They are not affiliated with Google, but are just huge fans of Google who want to share their passion with the world. If you have any Google related questions, go to Google Tutor and they should have the answer.

That Quiz - Review quizzes for math, science, vocabulary and more

That Quiz is a neat site that tests you on geography, vocabulary in four languages, science and a wide variety of math concepts. The site has been around for many years but I just Stumbled Upon it yesterday. There are 38 different categories that you can be quizzed on and 26 of them are math based. Each quiz allows you adjust the change parameters by setting timers, levels of difficulty and other factors according to what category you choose. Whether you teach math, science, languages, or geography, That Quiz is a great site for teachers to use in the class and for students to use at home.

CK-12.Org - An online learning environment for teachers and students

CK-12.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to education. Their website offers a large collection of resources for students and teachers like Brain Genie which I previously shared. The bulk of their resources are math and science centered where students can learn about chemistry, physics, algebra, and geometry just to name four. They also offer resources for other content areas as well including history, English, and SAT prep. Their website is free to join and offers a wealth of learning resources and activities. Their site offers articles, quizzes, interactive lessons, videos and students can keep track of their learning as they complete lessons and activities and members can upload their own resources to the site as well. If you are a teacher or a student then do yourself a favor by going to CK-12.org and signing up.

Problem-Attic - An Easy Way to Create Review Tests

The school year is more than half over and end of the year state exams are looming. If you teach science, social studies, math, or ELA at the secondary level then you should really take a look at Problem-Attic. With this site you can quickly and easily create review tests and quizzes as well as flash cards for your students to use. Problem-Attic has a test bank of over 80,000 questions from old New York State Regents exams as well as science, math, and social studies state assessments from around the country. It is free to join and so simple to navigate. You name your test, browse their huge question bank, select your questions, format the test, and you are done. Problem-Attic is a fantastic tool for teachers because it will help you save your most valuable resource, your time.