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Teaching Young Students

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of Sesame Street and seems like a good time to share tools that are ideal for working with primary students.

Grades K-2

OK2Ask®: 3 Cool Tools for Literacy in the Primary Classroom

This archive of a recent virtual workshop highlights using multiple senses as an effective strategy for teaching early literacy. Explore three free educational tools to support literacy instruction in the primary grades and plan an authentic lesson.

Grades K-5

Build Math Minds YouTube Channel

View this collection of videos discussing methods and pedagogy for teaching elementary math: building number sense, telling time, ways to develop fact fluency, and more. Each video includes a short description of the topic and teaching suggestions.

Grades K-7

Words for Life

This site is ideal for promoting literacy and communication skills among children from birth through age 11. Select an age level to find tips and information, expected milestones, books, and "fun stuff to do together" such as videos or games.

Grades K-4

Bouncy Balls

Control the noise level in your primary class with this engaging tool that offers balls flying and jumping around the screen, based on the noise level. Alternative visual clues include bubbles, eyeballs, and emojis.

Game-Based Learning in Primary (K-2)

Game-based learning is the use of games in the classroom to achieve academic goals. Games are a great way to practice, perfect, challenge, and enrich. Games are particularly engaging for our youngest learners. 

Grades K-2

Preschool and Kindergarten Games

This colorful site includes: animals, letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. Play alphabet activities to learn letters. Choose from the activities in the animal section of the site sorted into categories: look, create, play, count, learn, and find.

Grades K-2

Fisher-Price Online Games

Play games that include popular characters such as Thomas the Train or Fisher-Price Little People. Choose from different learning activities such as colors, shapes, ABC's, and more. Sort games by age range, character, or type of content.

Grades K-2

Scholastic Family Playground

Navigate your way through the games, stories, videos, and more available for early elementary students. Familiar stories and characters are the foundation for activities: Clifford, Word Girl, Magic School Bus, and more.

Cross-Curricular & Creative Connections

Games can be used to foster an understanding in all content areas. From typing to art to math, discover new resources for young students.

Grades K-9

TypeTastic!

Learn letter placement on the keyboard through gameplay. Be sure to choose the keyboarding exercises designed for K-2 Elementary. The free activities help to teach and practice the location of letters on a keyboard through visualization and colors.

Grades K-2

Math Resources for Numbers & Operations - Grades K-2

Help young students grasp the beginning concepts of counting, numbers, and basic operations with this collection. Many of these tools are ideal for use on your interactive whiteboard, at a math computer learning station, or in your BYOD classroom.

Grades K-6

Tux Paint

Tux Paint is an "open source" drawing software for young students (preK - grade 6). Allow students to draw responses, illustrate stories, label images, and more. There is a large canvas area with drawing tools on either side and a color palette below.

This Week at TeachersFirst

Check out our next OK2Ask® virtual workshop: Tech Tools for Multilingual Learners, this Tuesday (11/12) at 7 pm ET. Take time to catch-up on our recent blog posts. Plus, be sure to share your thoughts in our weekly poll!