Remote Learning Ideas and Websites to Use

A compilation of our apps and websites that we have been using for distance learning with success.

There are so many options and choices for remote learning these days. It can be overwhelming and daunting to find them, learn how to use them, and then have our students utilize them in class or through remote learning. Here are a few of our favorite websites to use for distance learning:

Websites/Apps sharing documents and turning in work:
Showbie: This is one of our most used apps/websites. We use it for just everything. Check out our blog post about it for more info.

Google Classroom: I’m sure that most teachers are using this app/website, but in case you are not, this website is great for turning in student work. We prefer showbie more because it is easier to organize what gets shared for both students and teachers.

Websites for Checking for Understanding:
Peardeck: Peardeck is an add on app for google slides that can be used to make your teacher directed minilessons interactive. In peardeck, you can create interactive slides to quickly check for student understanding.

Edpuzzle: This is a great website where you can add youtube videos that stop periodically with questions that you want your students to respond to. It is easy to add your questions and even easier to grade student response. It can also be shared in google classroom.

Boom Cards: These are self grading gamified cards for students which provide feedback for the teacher. While these are a little time consuming to make, you can buy lessons from teachers pay teachers on just about anything.

Nearpod: This is similar to Peardeck, as it is an add on for google slides to help students check for understanding. It has different features than Peardeck. We like to use Nearpod when we are at the end of a unit of study to reinforce learning.

Websites for Creating and Sharing Work with Peers:
Adobe Spark: This is a one stop shop for students to showcase their learning in creative ways and then share it with everyone. Our school district pays for it, and it is connected to our google apps accounts.

Padlet - Padlets are like a post-it board where teachers and students can post pictures, videos, and links. It is a great place for students to share their ideas and work with their peers.

Flipgrid: This is a website where teachers can pose a discussion question and students can post a video or presentation to share with the class. Their responses show up like a grid similar to the look of Pinterest.

Jamboard: This is a google apps website that is similar to Padlet. Jamboard is an interactive whiteboard with a ton of cool features for students to showcase their learning and work together.

Skill Based Practice Websites for ELA:

Membean: This is an engaging and multimodal vocabulary instruction website for students. You do have to pay for your students to use it, but it is great for individual student learning of vocabulary at their own level and pace.

Listenwise: This is a subscription based website where you can add 3-5 minute audio clips from NPR. They have a multitude of lessons that go with each clip including comprehension quizzes that are tied to the Common Core reading standards.

NoRedInk - This is a part free and part paid for app. We use the free version because their prices are way too high. NRI helps students to practice grammar, usage, and mechanics with sentences created from each student’s individual interest.

Quill - This is another proofreading, grammar website. We use the free version, but there is a paid version that is MUCH cheaper than NoRedInk. This website makes students type out the entire sentence when correcting. Students hate it, but we love it because students can be so careless with not adding capitals and ending punctuation when writing. It reinforces the basic tenets of writing that students will often dismiss as unimportant.

Sentence Analytics - This is a website for sentence diagrams. Students can apply their new learning about how sentences work to their writing revisions.

We hope that you find these websites as useful in your everyday classroom as we do. Leave a comment down below on what are your go to everyday classroom apps and websites.

Happy teaching!