For this year's installment of "Free Classroom Apps to Try This Fall" I decided to round up a collection of apps that might be somewhat lesser known, but still offer lots of classroom potential. Additionally, I tried to find apps that could be used across grade levels and/or subject areas.
If you're interested in checking out our previous lists of free apps, here they are:
If you're interested in checking out our previous lists of free apps, here they are:
2017's Free Classroom Apps to Try This Fall
Kiddom: A Collaborative Platform for Teachers and Learners
Kiddom is a free platform for teachers and students that is perfect for classrooms using standards-based or competency-based grading. Teachers can create assignments, collaborate with other teachers, and track performance related to specific standards (CCSS, NGSS, state, or customized). Plus, students can gain a better understanding of their own achievement levels.
In short, Kiddom offers an easy way to plan, assess, and analyze student learning. Teachers use one collaborative platform for planning, assessment, communication, and analytics. You can also plan curriculum and differentiate learning pathways for groups or individual students. Kiddom also offers a huge content library of standards-aligned resources that teachers can use and modify.
In short, Kiddom offers an easy way to plan, assess, and analyze student learning. Teachers use one collaborative platform for planning, assessment, communication, and analytics. You can also plan curriculum and differentiate learning pathways for groups or individual students. Kiddom also offers a huge content library of standards-aligned resources that teachers can use and modify.
Generation Global: Preparing Students to Navigate Difference
Generation Global is a completely free resource that is designed to help students learn how to work across cultures. Cross-cultural dialogue is at the core and heart of what they do and how they believe we can better counter conflict and violence around the world. They have an excellent collection of resources and a wonderful platform for helping to bring students together to begin discussions.
Within that overarching mission of helping students learn how to navigate difference, Generation Global focuses on three specific approaches:
Within that overarching mission of helping students learn how to navigate difference, Generation Global focuses on three specific approaches:
- To equip teachers with resources to better prepare students with dialogue skills (all free)
- To connect students through a secure online platform to engage in dialogue
- To connect students through facilitated video conferences and/or cross-cultural dialogues with each other.
Quill.org: Free Interactive Writing and Grammar Activities for K-12
Quill.org is a free tool that is designed to help K-12 students develop their writing skills by providing activities and feedback as they progress through a variety of activities. In its current state, the tool is designed to help students begin constructing complex sentences, but in the future the team has plans on expanding that to include thesis and essay writing.
Quill was founded as a nonprofit with the singular goal of helping struggling writers, particularly in low-income schools, improve their writing abilities. As so much of successful communication depends on writing, I couldn’t agree more with their mission.
Quill was founded as a nonprofit with the singular goal of helping struggling writers, particularly in low-income schools, improve their writing abilities. As so much of successful communication depends on writing, I couldn’t agree more with their mission.
TinyTap: Create Games and Interactive Lessons for preK-12 Students
TinyTap is a preK-12 educational platform that can be used to create interactive games and then share and sell those games through their online marketplace. While TinyTap does offer a Pro version, the free version of the platform has a lot to offer and can be a great classroom resource for teachers and students alike. TinyTap can even be used by students to create their own interactive games as a way to present and share what they’ve learned.
Where I think TinyTap truly shines is in its potential use as a student creation tool. By asking students to create their own interactive activities and presentations, you can open up unlimited possibilities for how the creation app can be implemented in the classroom. Plus, you can do all this for free!
Where I think TinyTap truly shines is in its potential use as a student creation tool. By asking students to create their own interactive activities and presentations, you can open up unlimited possibilities for how the creation app can be implemented in the classroom. Plus, you can do all this for free!
Workbench: A Comprehensive Platform for Project-Based Learning
Workbench is a platform that provides teachers and students with everything they need to organize, create, and share projects, equipment, and student project portfolios. The Workbench team provides a place where teachers can get ideas, students can find new ways to use products, and everyone can share code, lessons, experiences, and tips with the community.
Overall, Workbench is an absolutely wonderful platform. Implementing Project-Based learning can be an enormous challenge, even for experienced teachers. By using Workbench, teachers can get ideas of what has been successful for others, use and remix existing lessons, create their own lessons, and communicate with other teachers to share ideas and get tips. For a completely free platform, Workbench has a lot to offer for both teachers and students.
Overall, Workbench is an absolutely wonderful platform. Implementing Project-Based learning can be an enormous challenge, even for experienced teachers. By using Workbench, teachers can get ideas of what has been successful for others, use and remix existing lessons, create their own lessons, and communicate with other teachers to share ideas and get tips. For a completely free platform, Workbench has a lot to offer for both teachers and students.
CommonLit: Free Literacy Resources and Progress Tracking Tools
CommonLit is a completely free literacy resource design for 5th - 12th grade classrooms. The resource is accessible on any internet-enabled device and offers a growing collection of literacy resources, questions, and tools for helping students improve their ELA skills. Overall, CommonLit is incredibly user friendly, and for a free resource, it offers a wealth of possibilities for the classroom.
The overall goal of CommonLit is to provide teachers with a free collection of readings that they can use to address a wide variety of topics in 5th - 12th grade classrooms. If you are in need of high quality ELA lessons for your classroom that are aligned to the CCSS and come with a variety of pre-built assessments addressing both lower and higher order thinking skills, CommonLit is absolutely worth exploring.
The overall goal of CommonLit is to provide teachers with a free collection of readings that they can use to address a wide variety of topics in 5th - 12th grade classrooms. If you are in need of high quality ELA lessons for your classroom that are aligned to the CCSS and come with a variety of pre-built assessments addressing both lower and higher order thinking skills, CommonLit is absolutely worth exploring.
Science in the Classroom: Annotated Research Papers & Teaching Materials
Science in the Classroom (SitC) is an online resource from that folks at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The resource is meant to provide students with access to annotated research papers from Science’s journals, as well as provide teachers access to a wide variety of teaching materials that can be used to support the use of these articles in the classroom.
Overall, Science in the Classroom is a completely free, mobile-friendly resource for teachers and students that is grant-funded by the NSF. The primary audience for the resource is undergraduate students and advanced high school students; however, I think it can definitely be a useful resource throughout many secondary science classrooms as well.
Overall, Science in the Classroom is a completely free, mobile-friendly resource for teachers and students that is grant-funded by the NSF. The primary audience for the resource is undergraduate students and advanced high school students; however, I think it can definitely be a useful resource throughout many secondary science classrooms as well.
Flipgrid: Use Student Videos to Promote Discussion and Engagement
Flipgrid is a new K-12 resource that is designed to promote open discussion between all students within your classroom. Teachers post topics, videos, or links for discussions and students respond to the prompt and to each other with short video reflections. It’s a wonderful resource, and Flipgrid's free plan offers a wide range of functionality and classroom possibility.
Overall, Flipgrid is meant to provide a digital space for students to share and reflect on ideas with their teacher and with their peers. It’s a wonderful way to get students participating equally in discussions, and for students to hear their peers voices and insights.
Overall, Flipgrid is meant to provide a digital space for students to share and reflect on ideas with their teacher and with their peers. It’s a wonderful way to get students participating equally in discussions, and for students to hear their peers voices and insights.
That's it for this year's post! I hope you find these resources helpful, and always feel free to email me with any questions you might have! If you're interested in more free apps, don't forget to check out our posts below from previous years. Have a wonderful school year everyone!
-Mike
-Mike
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