My Favorite Tech-Tools for Middle School!

Document editors: 

  1. Kami– This chrome extension has become a lifesaver for my school this year. You can take a PDF and assign through classroom for students to edit. They can do anything they would do to a paper plus more. Text to speech buttons are included, as well as speech to text for students that struggle with typing. (For all you math folks it has an equation editor button). The free trial is much longer than typical 30 day free trials! Yes it is worth the money.
  2. Explain everything- Think a big whiteboard that you can work on with students digitally! Super cool.
  3. Google Slides- Not my favorite but making a pdf into a background on slides and inserting text boxes for students to write in (takes longer to work with).

Game Practice:

  1. Word wall– This is my new favorite! Free to make up to five resources and you can assign them or embed games that you create. You can make the games have up to 100 questions! The game format is up to you whether matching, multiple choice, a pac-man like game where you find the answer and lead your character to it. There is also a plane game where you fly into the answer. This is super cool! After creating the questions you can move between the format of the game and choose different games without going back to the question entry!
  2. Kahoot– A kid favorite for all. My classes always have more students online if Kahoot is involved.
  3. Quizlet– Students can play at their own pace or in a similar way to kahoot play as a class. This one has the answers shown rather than the color boxes.

Math:

  1. Math Games– No it is not just games that you do a few problems on. Compare to IXL. The ads on this have become a bit extreme but is still functional for some specific skill practice. You can also create worksheets from the site and a grade book feature for paid accounts.
  2. Mathaids– free worksheets for math that can be downloaded.
  3. Kahnacademy- Nice for review and practice when you don’t have the time to work with individuals.
  4. Prodigy– Kids love it. I like that they love it but practice is game based, and they do answer math questions to fight off the bad guys. Students can also connect with  one another and play together.

Reading:

  1. Epic– Students can read books or listen to audiobooks and teachers can see how much they have read weekly. Teachers can also assign “libraries” where students can choose from various books within the assigned limits.
  2. Vocabulary– Students can work through learning vocab they have learned in class!

Science:

  1. Legends of Learning– Assign topics for your class, and watch them progress. This is similar to prodigy with science and math options.
  2. Mope.io– Ecosystems where kids play a game. (kids do get obsessed and want to play all the time). Climb the food chain with cute little characters.

1 Comment on My Favorite Tech-Tools for Middle School!

  1. drannasmith
    May 1, 2021 at 10:13 pm (3 years ago)

    I love learning about new tools and you have given me not one, not two, but four new tools in one post! I will pass these on to a professor who is teaching a course I usually teach in the summer on technologies in the disciplines. Very cool…and thank you!

    Reply

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