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TOP PICKS | 36 TOOLS
ELA Tools Aligned to Common Core Standards
Top Picks
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HOMER Reading: Learn to Read
Interactive app engages beginning readers of diverse learning styles
Bottom line: Top-notch phonics program effectively balances and guides students through stories, activities, and games.
Grades: Pre-K–2
Price: Free, Free to try Teachers get access to HOMER for free.
Literator
Handy app helps structure and track reading conferences
Bottom line: Once teachers are all set up and organized, this can be a useful tool for conferencing and tracking student progress.
Grades: Pre-K–8
Price: Free, Paid There's a free mobile app that lets teachers do on-the-fly assessments. The paid account is $30 per month and includes a web version with goal-tracking and differentiation features. A school license is $2,799 per year. Districts can request a quote.
ReadWriteThink
Excellent free resource for all things reading and writing
Bottom line: A language arts teacher's dream; lesson plans, professional development, and all-around quality support.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free
Lalilo
K-2 literacy program offers comprehensive, adaptive activities
Bottom line: An easy-to-recommend tool thanks to its broad coverage of key skills and nice balance of student-driven and teacher-differentiated learning.
Grades: K–3
Price: Free, Paid The free version includes a basic dashboard and phonemic awareness and phonics exercises. Paid version (contact for quote) adds sight word and guided-reading exercises, weekly reports, lesson assignments, and an advanced dashboard.
Lexia Core5 Reading
Interactive reading program promotes targeted, individualized growth
Bottom line: A good blended reading platform that offers students some choices, and teachers, actionable data and useful offline resources.
Grades: Pre-K–5
Price: Paid Lexia doesn't publish pricing details. Contact the developer for more info.
Literably
Simple and useful reading fluency assessment tool frees up teacher time
Bottom line: Some districts may find this to be a cost-effective, time-saving option for reading records.
Grades: K–7
Price: Contact for pricing Contact for exact pricing. Pricing varies based on number of students and how frequently the school or district would like to find students' reading levels. Most plans are $6 to $9 per student with a minimum purchase of $1,000.
Flocabulary
Delightful hip-hop-based platform teaches vocab across content areas
Bottom line: Flocabulary has the goods: It's savvy enough to keep kids focused, and teachers will love the engaging, multi-modal platform.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free to try, Paid There's a free 30-day trial, then it's $120 per year for an individual teacher or $2,000 per year for a school. School plan includes additional features like assignable activities and progress tracking. District pricing is available by request.
LearnZillion
Quality Common Core-aligned lessons with great modeling for teachers
Bottom line: An innovative way to enhance lessons and tailor learning for individual needs.
Grades: K–8
Price: Free
Freckle
Target skills and differentiate with dynamic practice and assessments
Bottom line: Rich with content-aligned assessments, printable worksheets, and progress analytics; mindful teachers will find it a valuable resource to promote skills mastery through practice.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid The Teacher Edition is free with limited features and content. The School Edition has unlimited assignments and benchmarking and data capabilities. The District Edition includes district-level reporting and Clever integration. Call for pricing.
ReadTheory
Useful if not exciting adaptive tool for assessing reading ability
Bottom line: It's very utilitarian, but what it does it does well: getting students test-ready by effectively assessing and tracking reading ability.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
ReadWorks
Differentiate reading instruction with high-quality texts and lessons
Bottom line: The quality and scope of texts, lesson plans, assessments, and supports on this platform can help facilitate targeted reading instruction in any classroom.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
VocabularySpellingCity
Subscription-based, student-facing app fine for independent practice
Bottom line: A potentially more engaging -- although uneven -- option for your students, if you've got a Premium membership.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid Requires a $69.95 per year subscription through the website, and supports up to 25 users.
Quill
Let students do the writing to make grammar lessons more meaningful
Bottom line: Excellent opportunities for grammar and writing practice; teachers may need to tailor lessons to best fit into their own curriculum.
Grades: 1–9
Price: Free
826 Digital
Popular after-school program shares its resources with teachers
Bottom line: This is a worth-bookmarking resource thanks to relatable writing lessons and motivating examples of actual student writing.
Grades: 1–12
Price: Free Teachers can choose to make a donation.
LightSail
Powerful, flexible reading tool measures meaningful literacy gains
Bottom line: A powerful literacy platform for developing and empowering readers, with useful customization features for both teachers and students.
Grades: 1–12
Price: Free to try Free trial available. Contact for pricing.
News-O-Matic EDU
Daily news stories and supplements keep elementary schoolers current
Bottom line: This highly useful current events platform can be a daily fixture of elementary school classrooms.
Grades: 2–6
Price: Free to try Contact for price quote. Volume educational discounts and licenses available.
Biblionasium
Site for reviewing and sharing books makes reading a social adventure
Bottom line: This safe, simple social network lets kids share their reading success with friends, creating healthy competition and confidence.
Grades: 2–8
Price: Free, Paid The site is free. Schools can subscribe to an integrated version of Destiny Biblionasium.
TeachingBooks.net
Dense site collects resources on authors and books in one place
Bottom line: With time and effort, this database of literary resources can extend learning experiences with books and their authors.
Grades: 2–7
Price: Free to try A school-wide subscription starts at $400 per year. There are plans (each with unique pricing) available for homeschool caregivers, libraries, districts, and higher education institutions.
Grammaropolis.com
Catchy parts-of-speech instruction, from hook to assessment
Bottom line: The fun songs will stick, and so will kids' knowledge about the parts of speech.
Grades: 2–10
Price: Free to try, Paid Accounts range from $3.99 per month to $39.99 for lifetime access.
Newsela
Great stories, just-right leveled reading; now mostly by subscription
Bottom line: Up-to-date, high-interest articles will meet students right at their level, and help teachers bolster students' nonfiction reading skills.
Grades: 2–12
Price: Free, Paid Newsela News is free, but Essentials and Core Subjects subscriptions are paid; contact the developer for pricing information for schools and districts.
CommonLit
Feature-rich literacy resource offers superb support for readers
Bottom line: Access a hefty collection of reliable, ready-to-print, leveled passages that allow you to tailor lessons, assign online reading, and track progress.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
ThinkCERCA
Well-structured lessons encourage deep analysis, thoughtful writing
Bottom line: This is a ready-to-go, research-backed resource that focuses intently on CCSS-aligned and AP-level critical reading and writing skills.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid Free Basic version limited to four grade band-based differentiation levels, short reading lessons, and multiple-choice assessments. Paid Premium version adds 10 levels of differentiation (grades 3-12), more in-depth and varied lessons, writing benchmarking, rubrics, data dashboards, and more. Contact for a quote.
Writable
Stellar program scaffolds the writing process with peer review and feedback
Bottom line: This is an intelligently structured tool for teaching writing and review that focuses on process as much as product.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free to try 30-day free trial. Classroom subscriptions start at $7 per student per year. School price available upon request.
Readorium
Science and reading come together in aging but effective platform
Bottom line: There's not much out there that focuses specifically on reading science texts, so if your students can get past the dated design, this could be a handy tool to turn to.
Grades: 4–8
Price: Free to try There's a 14-day trial, then it's $120 per student per year. Contact developer for school or district pricing.
Actively Learn
Empowering reader keeps kids actively, independently engaged
Bottom line: Far beyond the average e-reader, this tool helps students connect and stay engaged while teachers easily measure progress.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free, Paid The free version has 3,000 texts, Google Classroom integration, and simple custom assignments. The paid Prime version adds more data, reporting, and differentiation. There's also an Unlimited plan with addition school and district supports. Contact for a demo and pricing.
Quandary
Slick ethics game teaches students to make tough decisions
Bottom line: This versatile game that can teach ethics, argumentation, and civics is light on interactivity but will come alive through discussion.
Grades: 5–8
Price: Free
Community in Crisis
Game shows real-world uses for literacy and decision-making skills
Bottom line: A clever, real-world, and civic-minded context to learn and practice ELA skills.
Grades: 5–9
Price: Free
Amplify Reading 6-8
Supplemental reading program puts sci-fi twist on core ELA concepts
Bottom line: This is a creative, thoughtfully built program that, while a bit contrived, could slot well into many classrooms with some scaffolding.
Grades: 6–8
Price: Paid Contact for a quote.
Listenwise
Bring real-world stories from public radio into the classroom
Bottom line: A fantastic resource that brings both historical and current event public radio stories into the classroom.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free to try, Paid Free, 30-Day premium trial for teachers. Request a quote for premium pricing.
StudySync
Superb ELA resource features engaging activities, stellar support
Bottom line: An exceptional, ever-growing resource for helping your students become close readers, careful writers, and critical thinkers.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free to try, Paid
Wordflex Touch Dictionary
Amazing interactive visual dictionary makes exploring words exciting
Bottom line: Dynamic, highly visual presentation makes learning new words exciting.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Paid $3.99 in-app purchase for full version.
The Learning Network
Process current events through engaging NYT-style lens
Bottom line: From a trusted news organization with its finger on the pulse of the world, this free resource can be a reliable source of activities and ideas for current event discussions.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
The Sports Network 2
Make news and build ELA skills with this cable sports show sim
Bottom line: It's a great blend of important cross-disciplinary critical reading skills and a fun newsroom context that'll show students how learning translates to working life.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
Youth Voices
Vibrant online community hosts authentic student writing
Bottom line: Supported student writing, collaboration, and communication make this a healthy space for kids to express themselves.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
Shakespeare In Bits: Macbeth iPad Edition
Multimedia shines in this elegant remix of an old classic
Bottom line: Engaging and supporting kids throughout, it breaks down Shakespearean language and brings the play to life.
Grades: 9–12
Price: $14.99 for iPad
iTooch 6th Grade Language Arts
Quality lessons, challenging quizzes help kids learn core concepts
Bottom line: This solid companion to the ELA classroom offers brief lessons and quizzes to reinforce key concepts and skills.
Grades: 5–8
Price: Free to try, Paid iOS apps in the iTooch series range from $0.99–$9.99 for one content area and one grade level, and many have free introductory versions. There are also bundles available. The Android versions are free, and students must complete each level to unlock the next. Users can unlock all levels of the Android app at once for an in-app purchase of $4.99.