Google Applications is a great resource for students to create meaningful work. Students use Google Classroom, Drive, Sites, Docs, and Slides to type papers, create websites, and organize their maters for class.
Storybird
Storybird is an awesome creative website for students to use to write their own stories. They love it because they can choose from many pictures already inside the site. Basically, they are creating their own professional picture books.
Planbook
I love Planbook because parents and students can easily access materials from class. Plus, it is a great way for me to stay organized! I can also attach documents relevant to that lesson plan so my students can access them if they are absent. Additionally, my administrator can see what's happening in my classroom.
Classroom Dojo
I use Classroom Dojo for rewarding student behavior. Parents can access the site as well to keep up on any behavior notes about their child. I give out rewards every other Friday (i.e., lunch with a teacher, 5 minutes of free time, choice of music to listen to, etc.) --conversely, negative student behavior eliminates points from their class.
Twitter
As you could probably see from my homepage, I am an avid user of Twitter. I have an account specifically set up for education, so I can learn from my colleagues, other working professionals around the world, as well as tweet resources for my classroom. Mostly, however, I use this platform to communicate what topics i'm covering and class, and seek out feedback from the rest of the world!
Newsela
I love using Newsela in my ELA classroom as a resource for students to read and answer reading comprehension questions. This is a great resource to connect students with things that are happening in the world today (articles are updated daily). Also, students can search by their interests and lexile levels!
PowerSchool
Bath schools is uses "Powerschool" software for entering and viewing grades. This source is very relevant for students and parents because their grades can be accessed through clicking on the parent and student portal on the Bath webpage. They can see specific assignments, scores, and notes from the teacher about the student's grade.
Pics4Learning
Pics4Learning is an awesome site for finding educational photos that are free to use and easily citable for students. Many photos can be found on the Michigan E-Library as well. This is a great tool for students because they cannot simply Google Search whatever photo they want to use for a project without first receiving permission to use that photo. This can be challenge through simply searching the internet. so Pic4Learning is an easy website to use where all of the photos are free to use and share.
Scope Magazine
We have a classroom subscription to SCOPE Literary Magazine from Scholastic. All of the resources and stories are connected to the Common Core standards and the articles are very interesting. The students seem to really enjoy the information and learn at the same time! They have both fiction and non-fiction articles, a listening option, helpful videos, author interviews, grammar rule practice, and much more!
Student Online Dictionary
Through my four years of teaching Middle School language arts, this seems to be the best online resource for dictionary work. You can locate the part of speech, phonetic pronunciation, synonyms, definition, and many other word parts through Merriam-Webster Dictionary. This website was specifically made with students in mind and works great for younger grades (6-8).
Purdue OWL
I always point students to Purdue OWL as the best online resource for citing their material. Many students enter middle school thinking they can just copy/paste the link they are using online for their projects and they have cited it correctly --WRONG! Students have found these guidelines and citations to be very helpful and informative. If they do need additional assistance with citing, I usually point them to the "citing" feature inside Google Docs or Citation Machine.
Quizlet
Since I am an English teacher, I often have students learn new vocabulary words from their readings and create vocabulary squares (these consist of synonyms, definitions, examples sentences, and a picture). When there are large groups of words they need to know, I create Quizlet pages for them to study the terms and their definitions. The website even creates games for students to practice their vocabulary words, as well as practices tests and flashcards. We play "quizlet live" where students compete against one another in real time in class!
Image Attribution:
Google: https://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/google-logo-1200x630.jpg Storybird: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/9090301512_902f78743a_o.png Planbook: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/originals/19/dd/da/19dddaea5cac89786eb128835c05126d.jpg Dojo: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jF1pXRdHZ4M6s97ArJ3kAI_1tvDrFEO6VWcna-_HxU1kneChX-AZNrxmVStyUCryZw=w300 Twitter: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9f/Twitter_bird_logo_2012.svg/220px-Twitter_bird_logo_2012.svg.png Newsela: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.eduspire.org/technology-blog-for-teachers/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Newsela-logo.png Powerschool: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/QK5p60aps8G1oOKRcYoFCAA4Gj8BYFaRJto87K65IP0SoPFIlr2hrT8KfuozsFPoR8t-5MbIMy3oUKET_rvWkA-jF9WZey8zAIIljiZWfzk8NT_oWswFyZTzhC_mHPhh_MArUKDm Pics4Learning: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://d1zqayhc1yz6oo.cloudfront.net/a7c418fea63a57eea266d3d91f4703f8.png Scope Magazine: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://amyplatt.weebly.com/uploads/3/1/2/9/31293069/5669731_orig.jpg Webster Dictionary: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://assets2.merriam-webster.com/mw/static/social-media-share/[email protected] OWL: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.glpls.com/resources/images/PURDUE.jpg Quizlet: [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jfA3KCHqNDb_Zt0CX8yCNtB50IUrTTYSxQtyFSgyEpa0zgV7f5ajG46nd0O6JO6xy1I=w300