Best of the Best Lists

Emotional Intelligence Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for emotional intelligence apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

Comparative Agility – Comparative Agility provides a vast database for administrators to assess and manage their decisions. The security system is state of the art, providing a safe storage facility for your data. It is based on 20 years of research on the Team Emotional Intelligence (TEI) framework.

The KidConnect Classroom App – was designed to help students develop emotional regulation and improve behavior. Teachers routinely lament how issues with behavior management cause a disruption in the classroom, prevent individual students from being ready to learn, and make it difficult for teachers to deliver the best instruction to all. KidConnect is a solution to this pressing challenge.

Calm Harm – Calm Harm is a tool that helps children with tendencies to hurt themselves manage their destructive urges. It comes with six modes (i.e., Comfort, Distract, Express Yourself, Release, Breathe or Random) that children can choose from to help them by simply selecting the “Ride the Wave” option. Each activity can be set to last for five or ten minutes. After each exercise, the student can enter a report in the datasheet that is compiled at the end of the week for more comprehensive assessments.

Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings – This is a social and emotional intellience app useful in early childhood. Some kids are familiar with Daniel Tiger, especially if they have watched the PBS series. The app includes Trolley, which children can swing on to land on a mini game; Sing-alongs with over 18 songs to choose from, and Photo Booth, where kids mirror the expressions on Daniel’s face by tapping the “feeling face” icon. More soothing activities are prescribed in this game.

Bouncy the People Trainer – Join Bouncy’s social and emotional intelligence classes as he guides children through their social challenges. The game starts with children customizing the avatar they will use in the game. There are five progressive levels that include activities such as reading, listening, watching stories, and answering questions. Children can complete their tasks in any order, but they earn badges in a coordinated order.

Mitra– If you need help aligning your life and controlling your emotions, core values, and lifestyle, Mitra may be the app for you. Doing daily exercises in emotion control and value analysis, you can make a great impact on your life. If integrity, community, courage, cultivation, or connection are highlights of your life, use Mitra to help you stay accountable with your values, interactions, and lifestyle goals. This app can help you get through a hard time and increase positivity or maintain a healthy and well-balanced life.

Fit Brains Trainer– Fit Brains Trainer, an award-winning app designed by Neuroscientists, trains your brain through various games and challenges. It stimulates your mind while you have fun. The Fit Brains Trainer is designed to train cognitive skills such as attention, emotional intelligence, memory, and speed.

Mood Meter– The Mood Meter app helps users manage, track, and control their moods and emotions. This app helps boost emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and lifestyle control. If you check in throughout the day (with the help of optional reminders), you will begin to be aware of your mood fluctuation, mood stability, common moods, and you will learn how to manage your emotions better.

Positive Penguins– Positive Penguins is an app that builds children’s concentration skills; it is designed to help children process their feelings and use them in the best way possible. The app has a five-minute guided meditation session that teaches kids to sit, take a deep breath, and let go of their issues and worries. It informs children that the emotion they are feeling is a consequence of an event or situation that happened to them earlier. The emotion is neither right nor wrong; rather, it is information that they need to learn to process. Children need to comprehend this and analyze the thoughts or stories they feed themselves about these situations.

Peppy Pals – Follow the adventures of four brave animal buddies and learn about emotions and friendship. This app helps children improve their emotional intelligence abilities. Download the app and join Sammy the horse, Eggy the dog, Izzy the owl, and Gabby the rabbit on an emotional rollercoaster ride in a colorful, exciting universe. Help them navigate through familiar experiences, play with them, or enjoy other mini games. Use PeppyPal to demonstrate empathy, social skills, and friendship to children in a controlled, fun environment.

Stop, Breathe & Think – This tool helps children and adults manage their emotional state and improve how they handle life’s ups and downs. From the Check-In screen, users can rate their feelings on a scale of “great” to “rough” and identify the emotions they are feeling at that moment. Based on their responses, the app prescribes appropriate calming meditations or other activities. The tool reminds users to check in daily; it can be linked with Alexa at home or Slack at work.

Aperture Education – provides strength-based online social and emotional learning assessments and resilience-building resources to help schools and out-of-school programs address the whole child. Its cloud-based SEL assessment, the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA), is well respected in the SEL field and has been mentioned in more than 100 peer-reviewed articles.

Elementary Social Studies Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for elementary school social studies, apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

Stack the States– With information about state capitals, flags, shapes, and more, Stack the States teaches students about the United States in a fun and engaging way. The app includes 50 state fact cards, an interactive map, high-resolution images of state landmarks, and hundreds of state questions. As students successfully complete levels, they collect random states to unlock hidden content, including four additional games: MapIt!, Pile Up!, Puzzler, and Capital Drop. Stack the States is an interactive addition to the elementary or middle school social studies classroom.

Political Animals – This is an election simulation games, which features animal candidates and different constituencies. The goal of the game is to choose a candidate and work towards winning the election. It is a turn-based strategy game that can be used in multiplayer mode. Students play as candidates and can make use of a variety of strategies to win the election, each affecting the election in different ways.

Win the White House – This is a game that lets young Americans experience a presidential campaign firsthand and understand the process it takes to run a campaign successfully. The game starts with the user choosing a political party and five issues they will represent. Users get to manage elements of a presidential campaign such as winning their party’s nomination, selecting a running mate, raising funds, polling voters, launching media campaigns, and making personal appearances. Meticulous planning and wise spending are encouraged.

Brain POP: Featured Movie– Learn something new every day from animation movies. Test yourself after every lesson with intensive free tests. The in-app purchases unlock over 750 science, math, art, and music subjects that you can access from your smartphone. All movies come with closed captions for people who might need them.

GeographyDrive USA– Geographycomes alive with this app as students learn as they use it. Textbook geography becomes a delightful cross-country adventure in this fact-packed game. Staying in the game requires you to answer questions correctly to unlock fuel stations and airports.

PopGeo USA Geography– This geography app about the United States is designed for elementary school students. It teaches students to recognize states, capitals, and much more. The beautiful images help students acquaint themselves with the map. Top performers make it to the leaderboard, and this motivates students to perform better. 

Geo Trainer– Geo Trainer, is a fast-paced game app used by geography students to prepare for their tests. It comes with multiple choice questions about flags, capitals, and various information about different countries. Students can focus on one continent at a time or the entire world.

KidzLearn Countries– Kids Learn Countries not only helps children become more knowledgeable about the countries of the world, but it also gives them many fun facts and hours of fun. This app provides descriptions of key aspects of various countries—their flags, forms of government, sports, and cultures—using high-resolution photographs. It helps children learn the alphabet and fractions. There are no advertisements or in-app purchases, making it a great app to download on a child’s mobile device.

Freckle Education– Students can easily fall in love with schooling again as this app enables them to work in various subjects at their pace. Teachers can monitor students’ progress across various subjects such as science, social studies, math, and English language arts.

iLearn: US States– iLearn US States comes with two modes in the Lite Version from which you will learn the names and locations of the 50 states in the US. It enables you to tap and highlight every state to check its name. You can also start the information panel to see more facts such as a nickname, the capital city, and more about each state. The game is fun and addictive which enables you to learn all the states within a few hours

Interactive Sites for Education– Select an interesting, interactive, and educational game and simulation for ELA, math, social studies, holidays, brainteasers, music, art, and science with Interactive Sites for Education. This app can be used at home for individual learning or in the computer lab or with your interactive whiteboard for a group of students. Many of the activities are flash-based and, as such, will not work on iPads unless you are running an app that let’s Flash play on iPads.

Sites in VR– Sites in VR allows students to explore famous landmarks from the classroom or their own home. This app primarily focuses on Islamic temples, tombs, and ancient cities; however, there is also an outer space component. Landmarks from Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco, Kuwait, Yemen, Macedonia, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, and Greece are included. If you’ve always imagined your history or social studies students touring through the pyramids of Egypt or the Colosseum in Rome, this app can fulfill that wish. Sites in VR includes more than 1,000 high-quality panoramic images and promises that “you will feel as if you are there…”

Smarty Pins– Well suited for history, geography, or social studies courses, Smarty Pins, was created by Google engineers as a fun way to brush up on map skills and review trivia. There are six main categories that students can choose from: March Madness, Arts & Culture, Science & Geography, Sports & Games, Entertainment, and History & Current Events. Once a category is selected, the student is asked a trivia question and prompted to find the location on the map that provides the answer. Bonus points are awarded for quick thinking! If a student finds themselves stumped, hints are provided as the remaining time to submit an answer runs out.

Study Island– Study Island is an all-in-one practice website for students to work on literacy, math, science, and social studies skills. It is built specifically around state standards, so regardless of your school’s location, you can rest assured that the content and practice provided on the website will align with your classroom teaching. Study Island is a great tool to use for high stakes testing preparation and provides real-time progress monitoring for teachers and parents. Beyond simple practice, Study Island can also be incorporated into classroom lessons for formative assessment and differentiation. It even allows teachers to import NWEA MAPassessment information for individual students and calculates a targeted learning path to fill in knowledge gaps!

TapQuiz Maps World Edition– Perfect for the geography or social studies classroom, TapQuiz Maps World Edition lets students learn the countries of the world in a game show environment. Simply tap the correct answer for each country on the map and track your progress mastering country names through the statistics page. Regions included in this app: U.S. States, Canadian Provinces, Mexico and Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia and Oceania. There are two modes: Tap And Type and Discovery Mode. In Tapand Type, students are prompted to type in the name of the country, state, or province.

The Hidden World of Our National Parks– Using 360° video, students can virtually follow park rangers into National Parks around the country and explore. From kayaking through icebergs to see a receding glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park to flying with thousands of bats through a cave in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, students can explore and discover fascinating corners of the U.S. National Parks system. Rangers provide facts and figures about each National Park as students move through the videos, so the website is both educational and engaging. It would be a good fit for any social studies or science class.

King Tut VR – King Tut VR provides a virtual reality experience of the tomb of King Tutankhamun. This app requires a virtual reality headset. King Tut was a great Egyptian pharaoh in the 18th dynasty. He was buried in a legendary tomb, which you can explore virtually while learning about the art, treasures, and hieroglyphics of the time. This app takes you back in time with a fully immersive environment, which makes you feel like you are in King Tut’s tomb.

Stack the Countries – A valuable addition to social studies, geography, and world history classes, Stack the Countries is a stacking and collecting game that teaches students about capitals, landmarks, major cities, and more. For each successfully completed level, students earn a random country to add to their world map with the goal of collecting all 193. With more than 1,000 questions and 193 fact cards, Stack the Countries is a wealth of information. Students have the option to play with the entire world or selected continents depending on prior knowledge or as required by the assignment. Stack the Countries also comes with two bonus games: Map It! and Pile Up!

Empathy Building Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for empathy building apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

Peppy Pals – Follow the adventures of four brave animal buddies and learn about emotions and friendship. This app helps children improve their emotional intelligence abilities. Download the app and join Sammy the horse, Eggy the dog, Izzy the owl, and Gabby the rabbit on an emotional rollercoaster ride in a colorful, exciting universe. Help them navigate through familiar experiences, play with them, or enjoy other mini games. Use PeppyPal to demonstrate empathy, social skills, and friendship to children in a controlled, fun environment.

Student Tracking System– This software program tracks bullying, bad behavior, good character, and sends alerts directly to educators and school administrators. This software was integrated with character education exercises that promote kindness, communication, cooperation, and friendship and include lessons and activities stressing empathy and conflict resolution skills for all students.

LearningBranch– LearningBranch is a soft skills assessment and training platform powered by AI and is used by frontline, customer-facing employees. The platform is built to reduce the time and cost required in the employee hiring process and improve users’ communication skills. The software’s assessment tools rapidly and accurately provide data related to job readiness for a potential employee. Some of the skills measured include empathy and active listening.

Social Adventures – Social Adventures is a self-contained resource to teach social skills and friendship. Developed for children between the ages of 3 and 13, it can be used to teach students how to initiate interactions, maintain interactions, negotiate, advocate, interpret non-verbal communication, negotiate personal space, and experience humor. The app includes over 80 activities that can be used in the classroom, on playdates, or at home. Each section has detailed parent tips to assist with understanding how to help children apply the skills they are learning. And if you’re not sure where to start, Social Adventures has a sample eight-week beginner program to get you off on the right foot.

Elementary School STEM/STEAM Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

As the American K-12 system searches for ways to boost student engagement and aptitude in STEM education, technology is playing a pivotal role. Young children who enter classrooms today have an aptitude for tech, and educators must nurture that skill set with resources and tools that implement STEM learning.

Where do teachers find resources to integrate into their STEM instruction? The easiest place would be online. To save you some time, we compiled a list of resources that provide teachers with the tools that they need to teach quality STEM instruction to their students. Without further ado, here is our list of elementary school STEM/STEAM apps, tools, and resources that we love.

LEGO Education LEGO Education has been working for over 37 years to find new and fun ways to encourage education among young children. From tangible to virtual, they offer resources to make learning interactive and rewarding and allow children to learn how they want. With the LEGO system for playful learning, preschool to middle school students will get a better approach to science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM).

Brilliant– This app teaches students key concepts in math, science, and computer science that are applicable in problem-solving scenarios. Back and forth, interactive lessons have been proven to be more effective than boring one-way lectures. Develop yourself using the materials assembled by top researchers and professionals. Suitable for adults and children over the age of 10.

A is for Amphibians Children can have fun playing with frogs without getting dirty on the A is for Amphibians game for children between the ages of 5 and 8. This app contains STEM-based vocabulary and 3-D pictures to feed children’s curiosity about the world around them. The app comes free with a limited time offer of no in-app purchases.

FlinnSTEM Powered by IMSA Fusion– IMSA Fusion is a complete STEM program that provides additional enrichment to students interested in science and mathematics. The name IMSA Fusion comes from the blending of inquiry-based student content and in-depth teacher content. Instructors who implement this program receive much more than teacher instructions with student pages and a box of supplies; they also receive hours of video-based, on-demand online training that truly sets IMSA Fusion apart from any other solution available. 

Elemental Path – This is a super smart company making super smart toys for kids. When Elemental Path debuted on Kickstarter in 2016, it was with the help of IBM Watson, which enabled the company to make toys that kids can communicate with. IBM Watson combines machine learning, computer vision, data mining, natural language processing, and human/computer interaction to mirror the actions of the human brain. The toy company, however, has switched to its own proprietary software for its new dino robot, the STEMosaur, that kids can build and talk to.

KIBO – The STEAM Robot Kit for Children 4 – 7– KIBO is created by KinderLab Robotics, a robot kit based on over 15 years of child development research that allows 4- to 7-year-old kids to program, build, decorate and run their personal robot. KIBO has proven to be effective in helping young students learn steam concepts and making them proud in the 54 countries where it’s being used. KIBO can be incorporated into the classroom without hassle to improve any theme or curriculum, thereby engaging students to learn STEAM concepts.

LittleBits Electronics– LittleBits Electronics encourages creativity and inquisitiveness in young ones to help them in their future. Using technology and electronic techniques, LittleBits has over 10 kits and 70 operable “Bits” to allow your child to create and play with endless possibilities. Children will learn lots about robotics and how to build things from scratch. They will also learn the basics of electronic components, powering, how things interact with one another to create an end-product, and much more. This app will also enhance their knowledge of STEM field mechanics.

Minecraft: Education Edition– This version of Minecraft will help you learn. Whether computer science, wilderness conservation, chemistry, coding, math, STEM topics, and more, you can learn educational topics the fun way. If you love Minecraft, you will surely love this version.

Morphi– Morphi is an app that allows you to create 3-D models that can – be printed into real tangible objects. Using visualization, innovation, creativity, prototypes, and education, create your best models today. Morphi can also be used as a starting place to learn any STEAM subject, stop motion animation, product or graphic design, or for Maker education. One version of Morphi is free, and volume purchases are available.

Bridge Constructor Playground– Build bridges using this app and your imagination. You build bridges across 30 different levels of difficulties and challenges. Your bridge will be subjected to a stress test for structural integrity. Compared to the #1 hit “Bridge Constructor,” this game provides easier access and more comprehensive tutorials. With no budgets or restrictions on available materials, you have the creative freedom to bring your ideas to life.

robots4STEM– In its bid to promote diversification and make education more inclusive, RoboKind created robots4STEM, a visual programming platform that provides students with the foundational knowledge required for computer science development. It uses a drag-and-drop programming system to teach students the logic of programming while they control Jett, a facially expressive, responsive, humanoid robot. It allows students to learn visual programming using a customized avatar and Jett, a technologically improved, facially expressive robot. This platform provides countless opportunities and activities to develop essential coding and programming abilities, and it is quite easy to install and use. It does not require a high level of coding or programming experience or proficiency for teachers and parents to use it to help their wards; its ease of use allows you to schedule classes at convenient times within or outside the instructional day.

Elementary School Science Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for elementary school science apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

LEGO Education– LEGO Education has been working for over 37 years to find new and fun ways to encourage education among young children. From tangible to virtual, they offer resources to make learning interactive and rewarding and allow children to learn how they want. With the LEGO system for playful learning, preschool to middle school students will get a better approach to science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM).

Gro Memo– Gro Memo is not an ordinary memory game but an eco-educational game that enlightens kids about simple environmental knowledge and explains the important sustainability issues simply and interestingly. It uses lots of animation, fun characters, and appealing illustrations in two major environments—the forest and the sea. Play for a better planet and help animals clean up their polluted homes with Gro Memo.

Legends of Learning– Legends of Learning has over 500 games about earth science, astronomy, life science, and physical science. With over 300 game developers and collaboration with Vanderbilt University, this is the hub for educational science games for middle school children. Many children get bored with cookie-cutter classes, especially when they have fun video games waiting for them at home. Bringing video games into education can help children learn because they can have fun while doing so. Academic ability, performance, and engagement have been increased by playing games such as these.

Toca Nature– In Toca Nature, children are free to explore a forest in open-ended play. They can plant trees, feed animals, gather berries and nuts, or create mountains. 

Toca Lab: Elements– Students can experiment with and learn about all 118 of the elements from the periodic table. Simulating a real lab, students have access to a centrifuge, Bunsen burners, ice, test tubes, and more. Using this lab equipment, students can combine elements in any way they want to explore, inspect, and study them.

Amazing Space Journey– Amazing Space Journey lets you explore the solar system, other planets, and all their satellites in detail. The Interactive Learning feature makes it a fun and memorable experience for people of all ages. The 3-D Augmented Reality feature lets you lose yourself in the experience of the solar system from your home, office, or on a local flight. 

Learning Games for Kids– Learning Games for Kids provides children with games that help them to learn math, language, science, history, and more. Geared toward preschool to elementary-aged children, these games are fun, visually stimulating, and auditorily appealing to keep kids engaged and wanting to learn more.

Nico & Nor Shadow Play– Shadow Play is an app that lets preschool children explore the science of shadows using beautiful simulations. With this app, children learn about shadows and develop their scientific method skills. The Shadows program has two apps (Shadow Play and Shadows Journal) working hand in hand to help preschool kids and their teachers to take pictures and partake in scavenger hunts and matching games.

Nico & Nor Coconut Star– Explore the Coconut Star World by solving puzzles using push, pull, and texture to get to new stars to win. This app provides a cheerful sojourn into the world of forces and motions using fireworks, water traps, and real-time feedback. The app provides opportunities for children to develop their scientific method skills. The Ramps program has two apps (Coconut Star and Ramps Journal) working hand in hand to help preschool kids and their teachers to record videos and results from experiments.

Frog Dissection– If your kids find it difficult to do Frog Dissection live, the Frog Dissection app will help them complete the frog dissecting experiments virtually. The app provides extensive information about the frog’s organs along with step-by-step instructions on how to do the science experiment.

Amazing Alex– Amazing Alex is a boy wonder that uses his endless stream of toys to solve problems creatively. In this app, Alex comes to test you and your ability to solve situations using your creativity. Amazing Alex lets you set objects to bounce, pop, ricochet, and create chain reactions as you create an elegant Rube Goldberg device. There are 100 challenges available, and other users continue to create new levels.

Bloom by Megalearn– Has your child ever asked why trees produce sweet fruits or how plants give birth? Bloom teaches your child the various methods that plants use to propagate their seed. The game teaches three methods of propagation and the plants that use them. Children also learn plant anatomy, physiology, and the names of common plants. There are no ads or in-app purchases.

Elementary School Reading Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for elementary school reading apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

1000 Sight Words Superhero– Children learn to read and spell the 1000 most commonly repeated words. The app groups these sight words into 50 sets containing 20 words each to avoid flooding the child with 1000 words at once. To avoid unintended repetition, the user can highlight words previously learned and focus on new words or a set of words.

First Sight Words Professional– The First Sight Words Professional is designed to help your child attain reading fluency. This app has more than 300 of the most common words in the English language; it focuses on the essential vocabulary your children will need throughout their lives. It also includes a list of about 100 common nouns as well as five levels of vocabulary to take your child from pre-kindergarten to third grade.

Reading Fluency Builder– This app goes straight to the point and tackles your child’s reading fluency and speed by pushing them to obtain grade-level reading expectations. Reading Fluency builder has been proven to help even the most hesitant learners. This app is designed to create a fun, game-like environment that uses modeled and repeated readings to increase fluency. This app has been tested for use by children with special needs and adults with aphasia; it can also be used by people learning English as a second language.

Whooo’s Reading – The goal of Whooo’s Reading is accelerated reading comprehension and improved writing skills. By using open-ended questions instead of the standard true/false and multiple-choice style, students are required to think independently about texts. The Whooo’s Reading program automatically reminds students to improve their writing by asking them to cite evidence or answer all the parts of a question. Teachers can monitor student’s reading with automatic quiz results, graded by the Whooo’s Reading app, available in the teacher dashboard. To increase student motivation, students earn Wisdom Coins for reading and writing. These can be spent on accessories and items for their Owlvatars (owl avatars).

BiblioNasium– A website exclusively for children between the ages of 6 and 13. It aims to promote the reading habit among children. Equipped with peer and parental controls, it presents an effective and stimulating program for the user. Using this app, you can adapt reading to fit the child’s needs, monitor his/her reading log, and help the child explore a variety of reading genres. Reading data is saved online and is always accessible.

Curriculet  This reading platform aims at overhauling and changing the way children study and the way teachers teach. Programmed questions and instructions pop up while a child is reading a text from the class. Using this tool, teachers can personalize the reading experience for their students; it also helps them to create and share the contents of their study digitally.

Kids A-Z– Children can select from a library of eQuizzes, eBooks, and hundreds of developmentally appropriate eResources by using the Kids A-Z mobile app. Students can complete corresponding quizzes to improve their comprehension skills and use interactive annotation tools that aid in the development of close reading skills. Kids A-Z mobile app is a must-have for kids that have access to Raz-Kids, Science A-Z, Headsprout, or Raz-plus.

1000 Sight Words Superhero– Children learn to read and spell the 1000 most commonly repeated words. The app groups these sight words into 50 sets containing 20 words each to avoid flooding the child with 1000 words at once. To avoid unintended repetition, the user can highlight words previously learned and focus on new words or a set of words.

ABC MAGIC– Help your child master phonology and pronunciation using this app. Children can choose to either match letters to pictures or pictures to letters. This helps them associate letters with their most popular pronunciation. Both the letters and pictures have touch-activated sound features to help children learn and retain what they learn.  

ABC Phonics – Short Vowel Words– Allows growing kids to master phonics by shooting missiles to identify words from the submarine they are navigating. PhonicsOne is especially for kids learning to read; PhonicsTwo and PhonicsThree are available for middle school kids. Children are rewarded with jewels and a mini game upon completion of a level.

ABC Phonics – Rhyming Words–Helps children to master phonics by matching rhyming word pairs. Children are rewarded with jewels and a mini game upon completion of a level. This app also helps children recognize how consonant and vowel placements affect pronunciation, such as in “ch” and “sh.”

ABC Phonics – Make a Word– Provides both phonics and spelling solutions to children who are learning to read. All the words have short vowel sounds. Phonics Advanced is available for older children, and it comes with longer and double vowel sounds. It also helps children recognize how consonant and vowel placements affect pronunciation.

ABC Phonics – Animated– Designed using the expertise of phonics teachers, this app is an excellent introduction to phonics. Letters are written on the screen with animated tracing for the child to follow, and the app pronounces the letters for the child. This combination helps the child build a solid basis to grow.

ABC Phonics – Word Family Tree– Combines phonics, spelling, beginning sound word family phonics, short vowel sounds, and images with many visual enhancements for each word. The app includes a total of 56-word family groups to be used to teach short and long vowels, spelling, and pronunciation using the Montessori Method.

Elementary School Language Arts Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for elementary school language arts apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

Click N SPELL– This app teaches prekindergarten to fifth graders to learn and spell the 800 most common words in the English language. It is also useful for teaching children who have learning difficulties as well as second language learners. Memorizing these words is important to learning English language skills because the 800 most commonly used words are used 13 times more frequently than the next 800. Hence, learning these words helps students communicate in some form.

Pili Pop English– Pili Pop English is geared toward children five to ten years old. It allows them to practice English verbally, learn new skills, learn new words, and learn pronunciation. Whether used for the native English speaker or bilingual child, Pili Pop will lead your child toward language fluency. You can begin with a free trial and then choose to pay monthly for full and continued access. Pili Pop is also available for Spanish language learners.

LearnZIllion– LearnZillion is a comprehensive curriculum for math, English, and language arts. It includes resources, analytics, and teaching guides. Individual teachers may use it for free, but a membership fee is required if the app is deployed across a school district. Not only does this app include learning material, but it also offers complimentary and supplemental resources such as videos to supplement the learning experience.

Study Island – Study Island is an all-in-one practice website for students to work on literacy, math, science, and social studies skills. It is built specifically around state standards, so regardless of your school’s location, you can rest assured that the content and practice provided on the website will align with your classroom teaching. Study Island is a great tool to use for high stakes testing preparation and provides real-time progress monitoring for teachers and parents. Beyond simple practice, Study Island can also be incorporated into classroom lessons for formative assessment and differentiation. It even allows teachers to import NWEA MAP assessment information for individual students and calculates a targeted learning path to fill in knowledge gaps!

IXL Learning– IXL Learning has been proven to be effective in providing comprehensive, curriculum-based math and English language arts content for kindergarten to grade 12. It also provides an immersive learning experience in science, math, language arts, and social studies for K-12. It produces real results, which is why it is trusted by top teachers and presently used by The Elite 100.

Elementary School Curriculum Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for elementary school curriculum apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

LearnZIllion– LearnZillion is a comprehensive curriculum for math, English, and language arts. It includes resources, analytics, and teaching guides. Individual teachers may use it for free, but a membership fee is required if the app is deployed across a school district. Not only does this app include learning material, but it also offers complimentary and supplemental resources such as videos to supplement the learning experience.

Study Island – Study Island is an all-in-one practice website for students to work on literacy, math, science, and social studies skills. It is built specifically around state standards, so regardless of your school’s location, you can rest assured that the content and practice provided on the website will align with your classroom teaching. Study Island is a great tool to use for high stakes testing preparation and provides real-time progress monitoring for teachers and parents. Beyond simple practice, Study Island can also be incorporated into classroom lessons for formative assessment and differentiation. It even allows teachers to import NWEA MAP assessment information for individual students and calculates a targeted learning path to fill in knowledge gaps!

IXL Learning– IXL Learning has been proven to be effective in providing comprehensive, curriculum-based math and English language arts content for kindergarten to grade 12. It also provides an immersive learning experience in science, math, language arts, and social studies for K-12. It produces real results, which is why it is trusted by top teachers and presently used by The Elite 100.

Big Seed– Formerly available only in schools, JiJi, the penguin makes its public debut! The objective of the game is to unfold the colored seed tiles to fit perfectly into all the empty cells. This is a MIND Research Math Curriculum to be completed by second graders.

Elementary School Math Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for elementary school math apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

Kids Numbers and Math– Kids Numbers and Math helps preschoolers and elementary school kids learn to identify numbers and carry out basic arithmetic. It is designed with little mathematicians in mind with its large numbers and a bright color palette, orchards, balloons, and old-fashioned blackboard to keep your child engaged.

YummyMath – Users have access to about 350 real-world math activities, providing a variety of tasks that teachers can use to train their students. The tasks are grouped by genres, including holidays, sports, movies, food, science, art, or social studies. Tasks are suited to the standards for multiple grade levels.

IXL Learning– IXL Learning has been proven to be effective in providing comprehensive, curriculum-based math and English language arts content for kindergarten to grade 12. It also provides an immersive learning experience in science, math, language arts, and social studies for K-12. It produces real results, which is why it is trusted by top teachers and presently used by The Elite 100.

4 Dice– 4 Dice Fraction Games is a math game designed to teach fractions to middle and upper elementary school students. The app teaches by first giving the answer and then working backward to teach students the methods in a fun and interactive way. Teachers receive instant email feedback about their students’ progress.

Chicken Coop Fractions Game– Children learn to convert fractions to decimals through the questions thrown at you in this game. The nest moves to the position you predict; then, the math genius hens fire their eggs toward the correct answer. If your answer is close enough to the correct answer, the egg is caught in the nest. Enhance your child’s fraction estimation abilities by taking advantage of this educational game.

Fractions. Smart Pirates– This app is a great way for students to work with fractions if they have had problems learning fractions. The app teaches fractions in easy to understand and fun ways by offering topics such as recognition of fractions, equivalent fractions, and comparison. This is an app for parents and teachers who want to help students learn fractions as quickly as possible.

Sums Stacker – Sums Stacker provides lots of addition and subtraction practice within a mathematical game setting using different number representations. Younger students can use fingers or dice as number representations because they are easily countable. More advanced students can choose between 25 other number representations, including Braille, U.S. coins, and fractions. To play, numbers are piled into three stacks with each stack having a target number. Students move numbers from stack to stack until each stack equals the associated target number. Sums Stacker comes with three modes (solve, infinity, and race) and two difficulty levels (easy and hard).

Math Leaper– Math Leaper, is designed to help preschool through grade eight students master mathematics. With power-ups, candies, achievements, and levels, Math Leaper makes learning a fun game. There are over 200 ways that Math Leaper tests students’ problem-solving abilities, and, while having fun, students may not even notice that they are learning so much.

Preschool Puzzle Math– Preschool Puzzle Math is a puzzle-solving game that teaches children math. It allows them to practice counting, simple addition, and subtraction. Preschool Puzzle Math helps your child develop the fundamental math skills that will help them going forward with mathematics. Your child learns to count, add, and find their way around tasking puzzle games with free-flowing gameplay. Suitable for ages three to seven.

Ladybird Maths– Ladybird Maths teaches your child mental math. Ladybirds are the small red insects with spots all over their backs that just happen to exhibit symmetry. Using the symmetry of a ladybird’s spots, children learn how to count, double, halve, add, subtract, and multiply numbers. This app is a great learning tool for young children who are new to math and who love to play with cute bugs.

Park Math– Learn to count, add, subtract, sort, and do more things with numbers while you play at the park with Blue Bear and his friends. Park Math introduces your child to basic math concepts. It is designed for children in kindergarten and preschool grades, between the ages of one and six. Take part in seven fun activities engineered to solidify their knowledge base. The game has two levels: Level 1 for counting to 20, and addition/subtraction with numbers up to five. Level 2 lets you count to 50 and add and subtract with numbers up to 10.

MathCoach Interactive – This is a website that teaches math to children in kindergarten through fifth grade using animated lessons, online practice, printable worksheets, and fluency games aligned with the Common Core Standards. It allows students to use yearly study plans or take a topic from the course.

Mystery Math Town – Fireflies are trapped in jars in houses all over Mystery Math Town. Children need math skills to proceed from house to house and free the fireflies. Releasing the fireflies in one house lets them advance to the next. The missions get progressively harder, so does the math. Some houses have gold coins that children can use to add portraits to their collection.

Native Numbers – Native Numbers is a group of math games that develops number sense in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children. The games cover five core concepts, with five levels dedicated to each one. Native Numbers gives feedback to players using percentage and time. The teacher’s dashboard is accessible from the website, and it allows you to monitor up to four accounts.

LearnBop – This is a complete guide to mathematics for young children, helping them simplify complex concepts with pictures, graphs, and videos. LearnBop works in tandem with LearnZillion to help streamline common problems that students face in the Common Core State Standard. Detailed reports are generated for teachers, showing performance, strong points, and weaknesses.

Motion Math: Cupcake! – This app has seven games dedicated to teaching mathematical concepts to children in kindergarten through sixth grade. It has a teacher dashboard that provides information about student Growth Mindset, Confidence, Productive Strategy, and Self-Regulation. Each game develops specific areas in children (Hungry Fish/Fish – addition and subtraction, Match – multiplication).

Team Umizoomi Math: Zoom into Numbers HD – This is a math game designed for children in kindergarten classes and below. It uses five minigames to teach them number recognition, number sequencing, number comparisons, and addition/subtraction. Kids earn rewards and unlock the next mini game by completing a round in the current game. Completing at least eight rounds in each mini game earns them the key to the city, where they can also interact with other objects.

Bugs and Numbers – This game allows kids to explore all the major math concepts such as sequencing, counting, time telling, subtraction, fractions, addition, matching, and money measurements. As the kids progress through the game, they learn these mathematical concepts.

Get the Math – This platform shows real-life applications of math. With short videos, students are taught how to apply math to video games, music, fashion, special effects, and sports. The site shares stories of how different individuals use math in their daily lives.

Love To Count by Pirate Trio – This mathematical app helps kids match mathematical solutions and real-life scenarios. This game allows kids ages four to seven to practice basic mathematical concepts while developing other quantitative skills. Tasks get harder as the kids progress from one stage to another, and children earn in-game rewards as they progress. This app allows teachers to keep track of students’ progress as they learn mathematics. 

Prodigy– This is an adaptive math-practice game that incorporates a lot of role-playing. Students create and control avatars who move around the fictional world. As kids progress through the levels and become masters at wizardry, they test their math skills. Teachers can change the curricular standard used in the game as needed.

SMART Adventures Mission Math 2: Peril at the Pyramids –  This is a series of mini-games that helps kids solve an archaeological mystery. It uses a game-based story to motivate the kids and get them searching for ways to beat each level. The game is divided into six main areas, and it becomes increasingly more difficult as players progress from stage to stage.

Twelve a Dozen – all-access – By following the guidance of a character known as Dot, kids can brush up on their mathematical skills. The game features 30 levels of increasing difficulty, each testing a different aspect of mathematics. While playing, kids learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Elementary School Assistive Technology Apps, Tools, and Resources That We Love

Are you looking for elementary school assistive intelligence apps, tools, and resources that you can use with your students? If so, we have you covered. Check out our list below. Let us know if there are any that we missed.

Natural Reader– This is a handy text-to-speech app that works in various formats, including PDF, Doc, and TXT files. As the name implies, you can choose your favorite natural voice type from over 50 choices available.

OCR Instantly Pro– Text-to-speech programs work fine with online material, but there is little in the form of books and worksheets. This app lets you take a photo from a hardcopy document and convert it into text format, that gets converted to speech. This app is available on the Android and iOS platforms. Optical character recognition (OCR) converts an image into a digitized text format that can be copied and pasted on other apps, including emails, IM apps, and SMS.  

ClaroCom ClaroCom is an iOS app for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). It uses text as a proxy for speech for people who have speech production difficulties. It can be used by children learning to read and adults with difficulties reading. Text-to-speech conversion is also available.

ClaroView– This app allows you to modify the screen of your Mac device. The app works as an overlay for the Mac screen, so it works for every app open on the screen. The overlay color can be chosen from any point of the color spectrum; shade or tints can also be applied.

Claro MagX – This app functions as a magnifier on your iOS device. It was developed by low-vision technology experts to provide an inexpensive alternative to handheld video magnifier devices. It has no in-app purchases and ads.

Claro ScanPen – This is a text-to-speech app for iOS devices that works for scanned documents. Take photos, scan or select from your gallery, and use your hand to select the portion you want to be read to you. It does not require Internet access.

ClaroPDF Pro – This is an iOS app that lets you make notes and highlights on your PDF files. PDF files can be read back to you in human-like voices. You can also listen to PDF files in the background while you work on another app (useful for proofreading).

ClaroSpeakThis is a text-to-speech app that allows for high-quality output. It can be used to proofread texts using the voice feature. The integration feature also allows direct text-to-speech conversion from platforms such as Mail, Google Drive, or Dropbox.

News-O-Matic School Edition– This tool helps students stay up to date on the latest news, events, and politics. Teachers can ask students to read and write reports on news articles, which are available for different reading levels; Spanish translations are included. The app also has a text-to-speech feature that reads the news aloud in an understandable voice.

Articulate it! Assistive Technologies– A multiplayer app created to help children with their pronunciation. The app contains over 1,000 images selected by a top language pathologist to enhance phonology at the word and phrase levels. Articulate it! is available on various iOS devices, making it convenient for mobile language pathologists, teachers, or parents.

Articulation Games Assistive Technologies– This app includes four entertaining games with a dynamic way of teaching sound production. The games were assembled by professional speech pathologists, and they contain over 40 phenomes arranged in order of sound placement. The app comes with flashcards and professional sound recordings. Children get rewarded for making progress on the game.

Click N READ Phonics This app was developed under the expertise of nationally renowned Prof. Ron J. Nelson to teach kindergarteners through third graders phonics using over 100 animated online phonics lessons. It can also be used for older children with learning difficulties and people learning English as a second language.

Citelighter– Citelighter is an assistive research tool that lets you gather facts and materials and arrange them in an orderly fashion. It only takes three easy steps to use Citelighter in your research. Create an account, and download the plug-in, begin a project with the toolbar or website, and you are good to go. Citelighter is also handy while you scour the Internet for suitable or appropriate information.

LibroVox Audio Books– LibroVox Audio Books gives access to over 50,000 downloadable audiobooks. Audiobooks are the reading of the future. They create an easy way to consume knowledge while running, driving, working out, gardening, or doing anything while anywhere. It also allows you to have more space in your home. Instead of having stacks of books, magazines, and papers everywhere, they are all stored on your phone that you always carry with you anyway. This app also helps us save countless trees.

Learning Ally– Learning Ally contains hundreds of audiobooks for children and teenagers. With a monthly subscription, you will have unlimited access. This app is designed to appeal to dyslexic and disabled learners who often have difficulty reading conventional books. Learning Ally allows for easy adjusting of text and fonts to accommodate any child’s needs.

MindMeister– MindMeister is an app available for both Apple and Android devices. It is geared toward dyslexic students, who typically have a difficult time reading the board, listening to the teacher, and taking notes. Using MindMeister to make mind maps and collaboratively create digital notes, students can get creative, keep up, and learn much easier. This app is useful in any classroom or school scenario, as you can analyze papers, notes, projects, or whatever you need with mind maps and graphic organizers.

Kids A-Z– Children can select from a library of eQuizzes, eBooks, and hundreds of developmentally appropriate eResources by using the Kids A-Z mobile app. Students can complete corresponding quizzes to improve their comprehension skills and use interactive annotation tools that aid in the development of close reading skills. Kids A-Z mobile app is a must-have for kids that have access to Raz-Kids, Science A-Z, Headsprout, or Raz-plus. Showbie – Showbie involves assigning, collecting, and reviewing students’ work in the classroom. This platform makes it easy to share assignments, instructions, and resources with your students. All submitted assignments are kept in a private and convenient server. It also reviews annotations; voice notes and text notes can be added directly to students’ work. Mingoville– With 10 missions, you can use Mingoville to learn the English language. The app has a dictionary that is available in 32 languages and contains over 10,000 audio clips to help you learn to pronounce all types of words. There are also 130 games and activities that will reinforce spelling, reading, grammar, and pronunciation. If you love to sing, there are also 10 songs that you can sing along; you can also participate with your friends.

Spelling Notebook – Spelling Notebook was originally designed to replace students’ paper spelling notebooks, where they listed the words to be learned each week. But this app has moved far beyond the functionality of a simple paper spelling notebook. Students can hear each word spoken aloud, focus on mastering only those words they don’t already know and earn stickers for correct word spellings. It contains a fully searchable spelling dictionary with over 100,000 words, so students can avoid manually entering words (and avoid entry errors!). Spelling Notebook is an excellent way for students to continue spelling practice outside of the classroom or independently during literacy centers.

Visual Thesaurus – The Visual Thesaurus is a dictionary and thesaurus that creates color-coded interactive word maps. It lets users find the precise word they are looking for, develop a better vocabulary through exposure to new but related words, master word usage by accessing definitions and example sentences, and learn to pronounce words correctly through listening to correct pronunciation recordings. The Visual Thesaurus also includes 39,000 proper nouns such as historical figures, phrases, and trademarks.

Word Hippo – Word Hippo is a one-stop website for all your word needs. It includes a dictionary, thesaurus, synonyms, antonyms, rhymes, example sentences, translations into over 80 languages, the ability to find words of different lengths based on specific letters or blends, the ability to find words in different forms (plural, past tense, present tense, etc.), and the ability to hear pronunciations. Word Hippo is particularly useful for ELL students, during writing or literacy classes, or while playing a Scrabble-type game.

Math Ref– To help students learn math and related subjects, this app combines 1,400 equations and formulas. It can be used in physics, chemistry, science, math, and more. There really is no reason to memorize equations nowadays; instead of writing them down or searching for them every time you need them, Math Ref will keep the formulas you need at your fingertips. The app also includes essential tools such as unit converting, triangle solver, and basic calculators to aid you in doing homework problems.