Children just love technology and all that goes along with this ever-changing medium. The vast social media, website and app offerings on the internet are both awesome and overwhelming. We sometimes worry that all of these choices are distractions when it comes to our students, but with some time and research we can target tech tools that will actually help with their schooling.
Here, in no particular order, are sites and tools for you and your child to explore:
Remember how complicated and sometimes frustrating it was to produce bibliography citations using the correct format? Well it’s even worse for our children. With the advent of websites, podcasts, blogs and other online resources, there are even more formatting styles to follow. Easybib.com to the rescue! This free site allows you to type in the website address or information/article source name and then will quickly generate a citation in the correct format. So easy!
Don’t we all just love Google? The folks at Google provide us with a little bit of everything these days and for students, Google Docs is super handy. There are free tools to help them organize, create, edit, store and share documents in all sorts of formats. Collaborating is easy with Google Docs too, so group projects are possible because students can work on the same document from their different locations. Teachers can also add notes, edit and make comments to the documents while they’re still in draft form. After the project is done, just save it to the computer and it’s never lost. No more “dog ate my homework” excuses!
Does your child have multiple books, essays or articles on his assignment list? HowLongToReadThis.com can make an overwhelming amount of reading more manageable. Just type the name of the assigned work into the search box and a sample paragraph and timer are generated. Use this app to determine your pace and then estimate how long it will take to read through the entire volume. Organize your reading list accordingly and voila!
A really helpful online support site is KhanAcademy.org. Struggling with fractions or frustrating polynomials? Just click on the associated subject and you’ll be taken to a virtual blackboard where you’ll be guided through example problems. You can also get help in other subjects, such as art history, economics, computer programming, history and science, all in real-time and when you need it.
Is your child utilizing a Kindle for his reading tasks? The Kindle e-reader has helpful features to explore, including highlighting and access to a built in dictionary app for easy vocabulary assistance. Need to go back to a section you’ve previously read but can’t take the time to search through all those pages? Just type a portion of the passage into Search. What a time saver! Book reports just got a whole lot easier.
For group projects needing a sharp class presentation, Prezi.com is a fantastic resource. Because it’s cloud-based, students can each work from their own homes and contribute to the project. Prezi also offers zoom, pan and other fun features to create a really fun final product.
Remember using flashcards to study for upcoming tests? Old-fashioned flashcards have arrived in he new millennium. Quizlet.com is a free site where students can create their own flashcards and then test themselves online with any internet-ready gadget. Better yet, they can make use of the over 40 million study sets already created and saved on the site AND set it up to run in “game mode” to make studying so much fun!
For writing assignments, Storybird.com is super. Storybird is a creative site where a wide variety of illustrations are available to enhance any writing project, so short stories, essays, poems can be turned into a truly beautiful presentation.
Did you use Cliff’s Notes to help with a reading assignment back in the day? Well, those yellow and black books are now a resource online and in an even more useful way via Sparknotes.com. When a shortcut is needed, students can turn to Sparknotes for recaps, analysis, quotes, key facts, study questions, essay topic suggestions and even quizzes. Going beyond basic literature review, Sparknotes also offers guides in the sciences, economics, film and more. We don’t recommend using Sparknotes to avoid the assignment, but as a valuable resource for supplemental materials it’s pretty great.
Making use of on-line resources is a valuable asset available to today’s students. Explore these sites, test them out, play with them and get to know them so that when the time comes that additional help is needed, both you and your child will have the knowledge and those skills ready. Let us know if you make use of any other resources we’ve not listed here. We’d love to see what you’ve discovered and learn about these helpful sites too!
Here, in no particular order, are sites and tools for you and your child to explore:
Remember how complicated and sometimes frustrating it was to produce bibliography citations using the correct format? Well it’s even worse for our children. With the advent of websites, podcasts, blogs and other online resources, there are even more formatting styles to follow. Easybib.com to the rescue! This free site allows you to type in the website address or information/article source name and then will quickly generate a citation in the correct format. So easy!
Don’t we all just love Google? The folks at Google provide us with a little bit of everything these days and for students, Google Docs is super handy. There are free tools to help them organize, create, edit, store and share documents in all sorts of formats. Collaborating is easy with Google Docs too, so group projects are possible because students can work on the same document from their different locations. Teachers can also add notes, edit and make comments to the documents while they’re still in draft form. After the project is done, just save it to the computer and it’s never lost. No more “dog ate my homework” excuses!
Does your child have multiple books, essays or articles on his assignment list? HowLongToReadThis.com can make an overwhelming amount of reading more manageable. Just type the name of the assigned work into the search box and a sample paragraph and timer are generated. Use this app to determine your pace and then estimate how long it will take to read through the entire volume. Organize your reading list accordingly and voila!
A really helpful online support site is KhanAcademy.org. Struggling with fractions or frustrating polynomials? Just click on the associated subject and you’ll be taken to a virtual blackboard where you’ll be guided through example problems. You can also get help in other subjects, such as art history, economics, computer programming, history and science, all in real-time and when you need it.
Is your child utilizing a Kindle for his reading tasks? The Kindle e-reader has helpful features to explore, including highlighting and access to a built in dictionary app for easy vocabulary assistance. Need to go back to a section you’ve previously read but can’t take the time to search through all those pages? Just type a portion of the passage into Search. What a time saver! Book reports just got a whole lot easier.
For group projects needing a sharp class presentation, Prezi.com is a fantastic resource. Because it’s cloud-based, students can each work from their own homes and contribute to the project. Prezi also offers zoom, pan and other fun features to create a really fun final product.
Remember using flashcards to study for upcoming tests? Old-fashioned flashcards have arrived in he new millennium. Quizlet.com is a free site where students can create their own flashcards and then test themselves online with any internet-ready gadget. Better yet, they can make use of the over 40 million study sets already created and saved on the site AND set it up to run in “game mode” to make studying so much fun!
For writing assignments, Storybird.com is super. Storybird is a creative site where a wide variety of illustrations are available to enhance any writing project, so short stories, essays, poems can be turned into a truly beautiful presentation.
Did you use Cliff’s Notes to help with a reading assignment back in the day? Well, those yellow and black books are now a resource online and in an even more useful way via Sparknotes.com. When a shortcut is needed, students can turn to Sparknotes for recaps, analysis, quotes, key facts, study questions, essay topic suggestions and even quizzes. Going beyond basic literature review, Sparknotes also offers guides in the sciences, economics, film and more. We don’t recommend using Sparknotes to avoid the assignment, but as a valuable resource for supplemental materials it’s pretty great.
Making use of on-line resources is a valuable asset available to today’s students. Explore these sites, test them out, play with them and get to know them so that when the time comes that additional help is needed, both you and your child will have the knowledge and those skills ready. Let us know if you make use of any other resources we’ve not listed here. We’d love to see what you’ve discovered and learn about these helpful sites too!
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