Website Recommendations
Below are some of the Websites that I have evaluated for possible use in the classroom. Not every site is suitable for every age group or content area. In the near future I will be adding additional preview movies for each of these sites. Let me know if you find a good website that I have not included on this page and I will check it out. 
TweenTribune.com (Good for most age groups and content areas; Great for reading across the content)
Each weekday, this site scours the Internet for age-appropriate news stories that will interest students in Grades 1-12, then invite them to take quizzes or post comments. There are three main age catagories (TTJunior, Tween, and Teen) All quiz scores are delivered automatically to teachers. All comments are approved by their teachers before they are published.
TweenTribune, TeenTribune, TTJunior and TTEspañol are in full compliance with COPPA - the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act – as outlined by the Federal Trade Commission. This means that:
- Students may not use their last names.
- Students may not use their email address anywhere on the site.
- Teachers can moderate students' comments before they are published.
- Only news stories from reputable news organizations, such as the Associated Press, and local newspapers and TV stations, are used.
Web Based, Free Access to Teachers
Literacyshed.com (Literacy, particularly elementary level)
The Literacy Shed can help you improve your students literacy and critical thinking skills. The ideas it provides are applicable to different age groups and all you have to do is pick the one that best fits in your curriculum and don't worry there are hundreds of materials to choose from so you will never go short of ideas. It also features a section called resource of the week and blog of the week. The Literacy Shed broadens the learners imaginative scope and pushes them to explore to the extremes of their learning. What is really particular about this website is that it has divided its contents into sheds and each shed has animated stories in video clips accompanied by a teaching idea that includes discussion questions and writing prompts.
Animoto.com/education (Good for any age and content)
Educators can apply for a free Animoto Plus account for use in the classroom. Its powerful features can be used to create stunning presentations incorporating images, video clips, music and text.
Free version only allows for 30 second videos.
Storybird.com (Good for any content area but particularly good for the Literacy Standards digital storytelling requirement)
Storybird is a visual storytelling community. A global hub of readers, writers, and artists of all ages. Its one part educational platform, one part real-time publishing, and one part social network. And its totally fun (well, it is to me anyway).
Storybird lets anyone make visual stories in seconds. It's a simple idea that has attracted millions of writers, readers, and artists to this platform. Families and friends, teachers and students, and amateurs and professionals have created more than 5 million stories—making Storybird one of the world's largest storytelling communities
Scootpad.com (good for elementary ELA and Math)
This is a FREE site that allows teachers to setup practice lessons for ELA and Math based upon Standards. Teachers can get reports on how each student is doing and customize the pratices that students do as a group or individually. Parents can access info about their children tosee what and how they are doing. No student email is needed but students do have individual sign in names and passwords.
If you find any links on this site that are not working properly, please contact scott.schweitzer@spencer.kyschools.us