May 29, 2022

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Featured EDTECH Resources Reviewed by TeachersFirst

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Engagement Tools for Summer Reading

The end of the year is almost here! Discover resources students and families can use for summer reading.

Grades K-6

Camp BOOK IT!

Camp BOOK IT! is a summer home reading program where students in grades K–6 earn pizza for achieving monthly reading goals. After enrolling in the program, parents use the digital dashboard to track their student's reading progress all summer.

Grades 2-8

Dreamscape

Try out this curriculum-aligned reading game for students in grades 2–8. As students read short passages and respond to questions, they build their place within the Dreamscape world. Upon successful completion of passages, the reading levels increase.

Grades K-8

Whooo's Reading

Discover an alternative to traditional reading programs that offers short response book quizzes instead of multiple choice questions. After reading, students answer three quick higher-level questions that are automatically scored and earn coins.

Grades 6-12

Story Share

Story Share is the perfect solution for finding relevant, readable content for older students who read at the elementary level—without condescending to teen readers. Scroll down to filter for the correct reading and interest level.

Grades 6-12

Sync: Audio Books for Teens

Don't miss this free summer audiobook program for teens. Each week from late April through the summer, participants receive two thematically paired audio books. You can listen to a short introduction to the book before reading.

Grades 1-7

Bookopolis

Bookopolis is an online social reading club for children ages 7–12 that includes digital reading logs, reading log prompts, and suggestions for places to find comprehension questions about books. There is also a link to summer reading activities.

Grades K-8

News in Levels

Find high-interest, leveled news articles and lessons for English language learners. These pieces would also be helpful in elementary classrooms looking for informational texts that can be differentiated for various reading levels.

Cross-Curricular Summer Engagement Tools

In this section, you will find resources students can use during the summer to practice writing, math, science, and other curricular areas. Use these resources to avoid the summer slide in various subjects. 

Grades K-5

SplashLearn

SplashLearn is a game-based math curriculum for students in grades K–5. The learning path is adapted to fit individual student responses and interactions in the elementary math curriculum as students play games and earn coins as they proceed.

Grades 5-12

Write and Improve

This tool provides practice and instant feedback on responses to writing prompts. Choose a topic and write postcard responses, longer articles, and many other genres and forms. Feedback includes a graph of the writing level.

Grades 5-12

National Park Service

Celebrate and learn about America's national parks through the homepage of the National Park Service. This site provides comprehensive information on planning a park visit (during summer or any time), exploring nature, and becoming a volunteer.

Grades K-3

PBS Summer of Possibilities - Play Your Way

Download the free summer activity book for new daily adventures, such as using bath time to explore math or learning how to make a bird feeder. Scroll through the site to find reading charts, map skills, activity booklets, themed collections, and more.

Grades K-8

Freckle Education

Share this Common Core-aligned program for grades K–8 that adapts to individual student skills and includes resources for math, ELA, science, and social studies. There are 50,000 math questions and more than 500 nonfiction articles!

Grades K-6

ABCya

ABCya provides educational games, videos, and activities for elementary students that cover nearly every subject. Specific topics include basic typing activities, creating word clouds, grammar games for all levels, and so much more.

Grades K-6

E-learning for kids

This site offers learning courses in science and math, including environmental, health, and life skills. In addition, students can travel the world to learn about topics and about the continents, countries, and oceans.

This Week at TeachersFirst

We invite you to join us this Thursday for our next bi-monthly Twitter chat and to register for our summer book club. We are also sharing a related blog post and kindly request your input on our weekly poll. 


  Twitter Chat: Fostering Engagement & Creativity image

Thursday, 6/2, 8 PM ET

Twitter Chat: Fostering Engagement & Creativity

Come and tweet with us using the hashtags #OK2Ask and #TeachersFirst. During this chat, participants will define and discuss creativity and engagement in the classroom and explore strategies for creating creative and engaging classroom experiences.

Share tech tools and resources that foster creativity in the classroom »


  Summer Book Club image

Encouraging Empathy through Critical Thinking with Literature

Summer Book Club

In this free virtual book club, teachers will learn to use critical thinking strategies to help students develop habits of mind that encourage the growth of empathy. Apply for this discussion-driven professional learning opportunity by 6/24!

Learn how to use popular books to spark discussions about challenging topics »


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Infusing Blog Post

Let’s Talk About: Reading and Empathy

As Get Caught Reading Month wraps up, we’re sharing a blog post that demonstrates how to use books to encourage the growth of empathy in your students. Read the suggested activities and learn about literature to share with your students.

Engage your students in reading this summer »


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Share your thoughts with our community

Weekly Poll

This week, our poll asks: “Do you assign any mandatory homework for your students during the summer break?” Share your response and view the replies of other educators when you click submit.

Do you give summer assignments? »

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TeachersFirst is a collection of curated, classroom-ready content and ideas — including teacher-authored reviews of thousands of web resources. Built-in guidance from seasoned professionals makes effective classroom technology use trouble-free. TeachersFirst is made available free to K12 teachers by The Source for Learning, Inc., a nonprofit that has been providing educational resources for more than 40 years.