Math
Gracie & Friends Birthday Cafe
Numbers-and-quantity game has precise focus and superb scaffolding
Bottom Line: Super approach to teaching a very specific topic: Help kids develop an easy familiarity with quantities under five.
Cyberchase Shape Quest!
AR adds unique twist to geometry, spatial reasoning games
Bottom Line: Once kids get a hang of things, this app's puzzles will get them thinking creatively about shapes and spatial reasoning.
Matific
Engaging supplemental resource encourages conceptual understanding
Bottom Line: An engaging conceptual supplement for math lessons with easy-to-find standards-aligned activities.
Zearn
Innovative combo of live instruction and adaptive online math lessons
Bottom Line: It's a great balance of online lessons, in-person instruction, and instructional resources, all for free.
Inside Mathematics
Dynamic videos and printables support CCSS math practices
Bottom Line: An excellent, free resource for educators who need support and inspiration for teaching and addressing CCSS and mathematical practices.
NRICH
Untangle robust math problems for all ages; plenty of teaching support
Bottom Line: It's an excellent classroom companion that can be implemented quickly with little adjustment and a high probability of success.
Math Snacks
Satisfying mathematical treats kids will gladly gobble up
Bottom Line: Teachers and students will excel with engaging, often funny material; it's a pleasure to explore these extensive resources.
Desmos
Powerful graphing calculator deepens understanding with visualization
Bottom Line: Desmos combines interactivity, visualization, personalization, and collaboration to deepen students' understanding of geometry and graphing concepts.
GeoGebra
Create, share, and modify math models and simulations
Bottom Line: Free, open-source software that lets teachers build or adapt learning experiences to meet their kids' needs.
Mathkind
Grow math skills with global awareness and big questions
Bottom Line: An innovative math resource encourages authentic learning through global stories and connections.
Skew the Script
Use real data from hot topics to make math relevant
Bottom Line: Easy-to-access curriculum supplement will spice up algebra and statistics courses.
ELA
Duolingo ABC - Learn to Read
Variety of drills offer solid, thorough approach to reading fundamentals
Bottom Line: This can be a fun way to engage struggling readers or reinforce early reading classroom instruction.
Khan Academy Kids
Creative, smart mix of activities for pre-K to 2 is a breath of fresh air
Bottom Line: This early-learning standout offers scaffolded, creative learning of foundational skills.
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 online or offline targeted reading instruction in nearly any home or classroom.
ReadWriteThink
Free hub for literacy lessons aims to deepen learning, engagement
Bottom Line: This is a trustworthy site that teachers of all grades/subjects could find a way to use weekly for lessons or professional development.
StoryJumper
Free storybook creation site has great support for classrooms
Bottom Line: Reliable storytelling tool gives students solid tools to create, collaborate, and share work including real, printed books.
826 Digital
Popular after-school program shares its resources to inspire writing
Bottom Line: This is a worth-bookmarking resource thanks to relatable writing lessons and motivating examples of actual student writing.
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.
Rewordify
Text-leveling tool gives every student access to complex readings
Bottom Line: This utilitarian differentiation tool is useful enough to be in every teacher's toolbox.
Critical Media Project
Relevant media clips get students examining identity, culture
Bottom Line: Teachers will need to take time to build effective lessons, but if they do, this is a useful, relevant, high-interest resource for deconstructing identity and building critical thinking and empathy skills.
Whooo's Reading
Read, write, and share with innovative independent reading platform
Bottom Line: With a few thoughtful tweaks on the part of teachers, this can be a useful tool for building a classroom culture of active independent reading.
NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program
Wildly engaging contest turns students into novelists in 30 days
Bottom Line: A thoughtful adaptation of the famous and fun grown-up novel writing contest, NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program is brimming with advice and encouragement as well as classroom support.
ZoteroBib
Fewer clicks and less clutter equal a new go-to site for citing sources
Bottom Line: An intuitive site that takes the stress out of citing sources, but students will still need instruction to tweak auto-generated citations.
Science
NOVA
Compelling science videos have high-quality classroom applications
Bottom Line: Unparalleled science documentaries offer a window into real-world scientific topics in a high-interest way.
Code.org
Popular games, big names get kids and teachers pumped to program
Bottom Line: A thoughtfully planned, produced, and curated set of free resources bound to get kids hooked on learning to code.
CK-12
STEM and social studies resource with highly customizable content
Bottom Line: Making content accessible to kids with different learning styles, CK-12 could be the key to students understanding STEM topics.
NASA
Visually super NASA-backed treasure trove may overwhelm
Bottom Line: A visually stunning way to get kids interested in science and space exploration.
PhET Interactive Simulations
Massive collection of excellent (and free!) science and math sims
Bottom Line: Instantly add meaningful lab experiences to math and science classrooms for free? It's tough to beat that.
Prepmagic
Customize science simulations to highlight phenomena
Bottom Line: Science simulations become more effective with teacher-added edits and formative assessments.
High-Adventure Science
Highly relevant site teaches how to construct arguments, defend claims
Bottom Line: Provides a crucial and timely earth science backdrop to lessons on analysis, data, and modeling that are important for all students to grasp.
Arduino Science Journal
Turn your phone into a lab sensor to collect and analyze data
Bottom Line: Science Journal does a good job recording real-time motion, sound, and light data using phones.
BioInteractive
High-quality multimedia brings biological research to life
Bottom Line: Superb multimedia tools and lesson plans help kids explore biology through real-world examples.
Climate Science, Risk & Solutions
Comprehensive climate change facts visit history, offer solutions
Bottom Line: This sophisticated resource covers climate change thoroughly, but may not be accessible to all.
Social Studies
Google Earth
Dazzling globe-trotting tool has endless classroom applications
Bottom Line: This tool defines engagement and offers a completely open-ended experience perfect for use across the educational spectrum.
PenPal Schools
Give students global perspective with pen pal projects in any subject
Bottom Line: This is a thoughtful, ready-to-go platform that facilitates authentic and safe cross-cultural collaboration.
Ken Burns in the Classroom
Critically acclaimed documentaries repackaged meaningfully for classrooms
Bottom Line: Top-notch documentary clips offer opportunities to expand students' perspectives, but some lesson materials might be underwhelming.
TeachRock
In-depth, interdisciplinary lessons crank up the learning
Bottom Line: This site's materials have the potential to supplement, augment, or even replace favorite units of study, once teachers dig into and master what's offered.
Facing History and Ourselves
A wealth of resources explore racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism
Bottom Line: These valuable materials empower students to understand and address difficult ethical choices -- past and present.
iCivics
Well-designed games, lessons can spice up your civics curriculum
Bottom Line: This game-based curriculum would be an excellent addition to any secondary social studies.
The Learning Network
High-powered news site offers daily resource to process current events
Bottom Line: Backed by a world-class news team, this stunning free resource can fuel daily topical discussions.
Thinkalong
Civics site offers a PBS-guided approach to thoughtful debate
Bottom Line: This is a powerful framework for building critical media literacy, but teachers might need to bring in some extra perspectives.
World History Encyclopedia
Crowd-sourced ancient history site features extensive, varied resources
Bottom Line: It's free, web-based, and regularly updated with vetted info, so classrooms can turn to this site often to kick off research projects.
Stanford History Education Group
High-quality, document-based lessons spark stellar historical inquiry
Bottom Line: A gold mine of cross-curricular literacy lessons that encourage sound, research-backed strategies for reading, analysis, and critical thinking.
OER Project
Expansive world history courses powered by great open-source materials
Bottom Line: A stellar program for exploring foundational concepts in history, humanities, critical thinking, and science with tons of support for teachers.
Global Oneness Project
Captivating, cross-curricular stories increase cultural awareness
Bottom Line: Teachers looking to enrich their curriculum with high-quality, thought-provoking videos and photos will find plenty of inspiration, but may need to create or fine-tune some lessons.
Arts
Artsonia Kids Art Museum
Online art museum empowers students to exhibit, explain their work
Bottom Line: A time-tested digital art museum where students can share work, reflect on their artistic process, and help teachers assess artistic concept comprehension.
Kennedy Center Education
Stellar content, practical tips for integrating arts into every subject
Bottom Line: If you're willing to do some digging and prep, this is a terrific resource for integrating the arts across the curriculum.
Adobe Express
Enjoyable and practical design tool supports creators of all ages
Bottom Line: Beautiful templates and user-friendly tools empower students to turn their creative ideas into professional-looking media.
Scratch
Creative sandbox opens the door to coding in any subject area
Bottom Line: Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning.
Tate Kids
Hands-on activities and explorations give the art world a splash of color
Bottom Line: A wonderful site that really engages kids in the world of art and provides great inspirations.
Tinkercad
Amazingly simple yet powerful online CAD tool turns kids into makers
Bottom Line: Full-featured site and app make iterative 3D design accessible, social, and relevant.
Canva for Education
Create, collaborate, and share with versatile design tool
Bottom Line: From interactive presentations to group collaboration to parent communication, Canva is a one-stop shop for a variety of classroom tasks.
Google Arts & Culture
Well-curated art and history site inspires curious learning
Bottom Line: A beautifully presented one-stop shop for compellingly curated and contextualized art, history, and culture resources, but it's lacking educator supports.
Snapseed
Extremely powerful photo editor will equally delight pros, amateurs
Bottom Line: It successfully walks the fine line of photo-editing features, offering satisfying experiences for those making quick edits and those crafting perfect images.