11 Free Websites Every Teacher Should Know About
I’ve included websites which I use all the time to make my classes more interesting, my students better behaved and my worksheets more fun. These websites are all free, although some ask for a teacher’s email to get full access to their resources. Peruse around and let me know what you think and which websites you know and love!
If you like any of the websites, simply type their names into google and it’ll be the first result.
#1 Prezi
This presentation-based website is an alternative to PowerPoint and Google Slides. Everybody knows and loves those two presentation power houses, but they accomplish similar things. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how to jazz up your presentations or how to get students out of their comfort zone when doing a project, you might want to consider Prezi.
This website offers a remarkable range of free features which allow students to create a very dynamic and engaging presentation. I would recommend checking out the website before assigning it to the students so you can clarify any usage doubts.
It allows you to create presentations based on templates. The fun part of it is that these presentations move and glide. They are visually striking. For a group project I assign students a topic and then introduce them to Prezi. They then have two jobs, gathering the information for the project and organizing it in a digestible way on Prezi. I have found that students are more interested because it’s a new medium and so they get to figure out how it works.
Prezi also allows you to make video presentations which can be made at home and played online or in class.
Another plus for Prezi is that it saves everyone’s presentation for anyone to use, so, say you’re too lazy to create a presentation for a topic on geography. You might want to type the topic into google followed by Prezi and see what comes up.
#2 Canva
I have been loving this website lately. One big reason is that it is free for teachers! If you have a school email, just popped that into Canva and you get immediate access to so many things.
My personal favorites are their selection of worksheets. They have so many styles and funky elements to choose from and are entirely customizable. I have often been guilty of just typing questions into Microsoft word and handing out plain, old, boring worksheets.
With Canva, you type in worksheets into the search bar, select one with a funky design, change the questions to fit your class and download it ready for printing. It took my plain worksheets to another level, and I’ve noticed students are much more interested in a funky worksheet with catchy elements than just a blank piece of paper with some words on it. Give it a try!
#3 ClassDojo
I’ve talked about this website before on my “5 Point Systems to try in the classroom” blog post. It’s a nifty little tool which allows teachers to give points to well behaved students as well as take away points to naughty ones. The reason the website is so well liked is because it allows teachers to set up different classes and add the students in by name. The website proceeds to give funny little avatars to each student which they all quite enjoy.
It is especially popular for online classes. Having used it for both online and in-person classes, I can say that it is useful for both. Using it online allows you to just share your computer tab and show the students how many points they have and why they are getting them. It also has a fun sound effect when giving a point which students come to associate with good behavior.
#4 Oxford Owl
Younger students benefit from reading, but it is not always easy to get them to read on their own. Oxford Owl is therefore helpful for just that. It is a free library of books meant for different ages. Why do I need books? You might be asking. Well, the useful thing about the Oxford Owl is that it reads the book aloud. The voices they use are very expressive and fun and students get a kick out of listening to them. It is similar to what you might get with an audiobook but with children’s books so there are pictures and all sorts of funny stories.
I’ve used several of their stories in class, and they have not let me down yet. Students are engaged and you can hear them laugh at the funny stories. You can also select the age range you are teaching so that your older classes don’t get bored, and your younger classes can follow along with the easier language. All of this for free is the icing on top of this literary cake.
#5 Teachers Pay Teachers
This online resource often feels like a teaching cheat code. Teachers publish materials they have created for free or if the materials are worth the time and money, they can choose to charge for it. The reason this website is so helpful is because you might not have any idea on how to teach a subject, book, or story but if you type it into Teachers Pay Teachers you are sure to find loads of helpful resources from other teachers who are teaching the same thing.
Their free resources are great, but after a while you might end up spending some money for teacher’s awesomely planned lessons, worksheets, and resources. They are just too good and sometimes, not having to plan for a lesson or even a semester is well worth the cost.
As a bonus, other teachers profit from your purchases and if you’ve ever created a lesson that you’re proud of, put it on Teachers Pay Teachers and make money by helping other teachers out.
#6 Notion
Notion is a note taking app that really takes note taking to the next level. There is a monthly fee that people must pay. The upside? It’s free for teachers! As long as you’ve got a teacher email, you can use it to sign up for the website and there you go. I use it for everything, I take notes for my day, keep my recipes in there and class notes as well.
Try it out and if you’re like me and need to take notes about everything or you’ll forget, you’ll love it.
#7 WordWall
Wordwall is a staple amongst teachers online or teachers with a smartboard in the classroom. Its smart, interactive games are so much fun, and you get access to a lot of these games for free. When you sign up, make sure you pick many different games because you only get a few in the free version. After picking a few different templates, you can edit them, but you can’t pick new ones. That’s a paid feature. What we do at our school is pool together and share an account. The free version is totally worth it on its own.
#8 Kahoot
Kahoot is the most fun and rewarding website to use in class. It’s great for online teaching or if you’re lucky like me, on the classroom’s smartboard. You can make your own questions using words or pictures and have the students do them by themselves on an iPad or together as a class. The best thing about it is that you can use other teachers’ resources, so if you’re reviewing a story, just type that in the “discover” section and a teacher will have probably made a game for it. It makes my life so much easier!
#9 Blooket
Blooket is an educational game on steroids. You enter your own questions and can use it as review. They’ve also got templates other teachers have made. I would say they toe the line between fun and learning. There have been times when I have noticed some students mashing buttons to try to outsmart the game and get more points. At the end of the day, it is a fun way to have students answer questions and to keep them motivated while doing so. Be warned that once students try these games, they will never want anything else.
Blooket is great for classes with iPads, smartboards, or online teaching.
#10 Nat Geo Kids
I like to use Nat Geo Kids as much as I can because they have so much fun educational content. They have many different games and videos. We’ve even mentioned one of their games in another post here!
Nowadays, I mostly use their Amazing Animal videos. They are fun, educational, and you never have to worry about inappropriate content showing up. Whenever you are stuck in science class and want to fill in a few minutes you can use Nat Geo Kids. It also works well as teachable moments, as kids are always so curious about animals.
#11 Flipbuilder
Flipbuilder is an amazing resource for teachers. It provides a digital copy of a book with the audio files included linked to the pages. It makes it so easy for the teacher to have students follow along with them as they teach and it makes it so that you don’t have to keep switching pages to access the audio files.
There are numerous books on the flipbuilder website, so I usually just type the name of the book followed by flipbuilder to see if it pops up. After that, I just bookmark it and it’s ready to be shown in class.
