Helpful Websites & Apps
The following are useful websites for you and your child. Some of these websites and apps are ones that we use in our classroom, and others are great when used at home. Parents please visit each of these sites with your child!
We've all been there - waiting for a table at a restaurant, a long road trip, or even just waiting at the doctor's office. So I thought I would share some of my favorite educational Apps for your second grader! Please note that some of them are free while other may cost up to $1.
Scroll down to see a full list of apps and websites for your child!
Phone, ipod & ipad Apps:
Math:
Kakooma - ($1) Do you love the challenge of a great puzzle? This App is the quick-thinking, brain-building app that is getting kids and adults of all ages hooked on numbers! It is deceptively simple: from a group of numbers, find one number that is the sum of two others in the group. Great for developing mental math!
Math Bingo - ($1) Just like Word Bingo this one is based on math problems. Math problems are presented at the top of the game screen and students chose the correct answer, when they get five in a row, they have Bingo! You can also chose the type of math problems, at the beginning of second grade we stick to the addition and subtraction levels but towards the end you can let them practice multiplication.
Kids Clock Challenge - ($1) This App is a fun and challenging way to quickly learn how to read an analog clock.
Addition & Multiplication Number Bubbles - (Free) This App contains two games, but we focus mostly on the addition part. The app will show lots of popping bubbles on the screen the student will have select number bubbles whose sum is equal to the target number at the top. Another great way to learn basic math facts!
LetsTans Lite - (Free) This app helps them build the foundation for mathematical concepts of fractions, spatial awareness, geometry, area, and perimeter. This app give students a shape they are to create using the given geometric figures.
Bubbles Math ($1.99)Addition: The student is given a target number. They have to click on two bubbles whose sum is equal to the target number.
Hungry Fish (Free) This game lets you choose a target number or range of numbers. Students have to select 2 bubbles that the fish can eat that will add up to equal the target number. Great for practicing number bonds and for mental math!
Butterfly Math (Addition = Free, Full version = $1.99) This app is perfect for helping review and practice missing addends, or unknown numbers, in an equation. Students are given an equations, like 6 + ___ = 8, they have to figure out how many butterflies would go in the blank to make the equation true.
Sushi Monster (Free) This game allows students to practice, reinforce, and extend math fact fluency is completely engaging! It strengthens reasoning strategies for whole number addition by helping monsters make a target sum .
Splash Math Grade 2 - (Lite version = Free, Full version = $9.99) Splash Math is a fun and innovative way to practice math. With 13 chapters covering over 185 math skills and an endless supply of problems, it is by far the most comprehensive math workbook in the app store! I know this app is pricey but it is FULL of wonderful math games!
Butterfly Math (Free or full version $1.99) This is an AWESOME app! The full version offers unknown numbers (addition), shapes, sequencing and it aligned with common core. Perfect to help enforce the things we are learning in class!
Banana Math (Free or full version $1.99) This is another app that I absolutely love! It offers a wide variety of games and different math concepts like addition & subtraction word problems, Shapes, Symmetry, and Time. Great for practice in math and fun for your child! *Please note that free version only offers a select amount of concepts.
Know Your Math Facts (Free) This app correlates with what we teach in my class about fact families. It use a math triangle and provides students with numbers that are missing in the triangle. This helps teach unknown numbers and helps them to understand the relationship between addition and subtraction; all while making recall easier and quicker!
Number Math (Free) Great app with multiple activities to choose from. These are a few: Missing Number patterns, Before & After numbers, Greater Than & Less Than, Skip Counting, Rounding, and Place Numbers in Ascending Order. Great for beginning of the year review and for students who are struggling with basic number sense.
Cookie Factory: (Free or Full Version $1.99) - This app allows students to be the owner of a Chocolate Chip Cookie Factory where they have to ship and deliver cookies. The cookies are sold by ones, tens or hundreds. This app teaches place value concepts and practices math facts as you count, add, subtract! Just go into the settings and select if you want them to count.
Bedtime Math : (free) We all know to read to our kids at night, but what about math?! Bedtime Math is a great app to make make a fun part of your routine - as beloved as a bedtime story! Chose the Math Problem of the Day, and then choose the level of the challenge ("Wee Ones", "Little Kids", or "Big Kids"). Then let them have fun solving it! You can also check out this organization's website for more fun was to incorporate Math into your daily routine! www.bedtimemath.org
Reading:
OverDrive Media Console: (free) this is a app through our local library. It allows your child (or even you!) to check out and download library books for 2 weeks as ebooks (better known as kindle books). In order to use this app you must have a library card and pin number. The have popular titles such as Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, Fancy Nancy, etc. For more information please visit our local library or click the following link: http://ccml.libguides.com/content.php?pid=359206&sid=2937528
Word Bingo - ($1) This App is set up just like regular Bingo, except it tells the student a word and they have to find it in a bingo grid. You can also choose the level of words. This app is perfect for students who are developing their ability to read sight words.
Bookster (Free app, but adding extra books cost up to $2) This is a read-along storytelling app that reads to your kids, or allows them to records and plays their voices reading, and teaches them new vocabulary along the way. The first 2 books are free when you download the free app. Their are 11 books you can purchase to add to the collect for your child.
Storia (Free & comes with 5 Free books). This is another book app that reads to or allows your child to read independently different books. It comes with 5 free books, others will cost extra, but you can order new books through our classroom Scholastic Book Order - which will earn points for free books for our classroom!
Grammar Jammers - (Free) Catchy animated songs and rhymes make English language arts exciting! Grammar Jammers animations will have you tapping your toes to the beat while learning grammar usage and mechanics. Each animation unlocks a quiz. Answer all the quiz questions for all the Grammar Jammers topics and unlock an interactive reward.
Sight Words 1&2 (Free) - This app helps strengthen sight word recognition. It teaches 140+ words in multiple games.
Sentence Maker ($1) - This game helps your child learn to make and complete their own sentences. The settings let you decide what kinds of phrases or sentences to focus on. Whether you want to get started with 2 word combos or jump straight to 5 word sentences is all up to you and what your child is ready for!
Phonics Word Families (Free) This app lets student listen, make, and read words in word families. It helps teach beginning sound, word family phonics, short vowel sound, and offers images with a lot of animations and interactions for each word.
Make a Word (Free) This app will show your child a picture and tell them a word to build/spell. The words all have short vowel sounds. More advanced children should try Phonics Advanced, with long vowel sounds and double vowels.
Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe (Free) Great to reinforce the phonics skills we are learning in class! This app offers games where they get to practice blends, digraphs, blends, syllables, and more!
Sound Sorting ($1) Another great phonics app to practice and reinforce sound skills, especially for students are struggling with segmenting or blending sounds. Kids match or "grab" words that share the same beginning sound!
Tales2Go (Free) This app received a "Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winner" that streams on-demand, unlimited access to more than 1,000 stories. This does not allow students to see the pictures or words, it just reads a story to them so they have to use their imaginations. But you can scroll through and sort by reader age, genre, and characters like: Froggy, Henry and Mudge, and JUNIE B. JONES and more!! . Bookmark and build a favorites list for easy return visits! There's also an "original version" that's free as well, it offers MORE book titles too!
Grammar Wonderland (Elementary) ($2.99 or the lite version is Free) Your kids can fly, swim, feed and toss their way to grammar mastery! You can choose a skill and a practice level to better suit your child individual needs!
Grammar Quiz Free - This app has been developed by professional educators to improve children’s grammatical understanding through multiple choice challenges. You can even select to go back with your child and review the questions they missed!
Painless Grammar Challenge - This game is based off of the Barron’s Painless book series and they just took Grammar to the next level of fun!
It’s the ultimate Grammar and arcade game challenge! Your child gets to test their knowledge of grammar while challenging their arcade skills!
Multiple Subject Areas:
BrainPopJr Movie of the Week (Free) This app is ideal for kids in K-3 it has short movies that focus on lots of topics including: Science, Math, Reading, Writing and Health and more! The two characters, Annie and robot Moby will guide your child through a topic empowering them to form their own ideas. It is designed to cultivate critical thinking skills and encourage questions all while making connections. There's also activities like games and quizes to go along with each movie topic.
Second Grade (Free, Full version $2.99) 10 fun mini-games to help your child learn Second Grade lessons! It supports reading, spelling, math, fractions, compound words, contractions, and more! Perfectly aligns with what we are learning in second grade!
Kakooma - ($1) Do you love the challenge of a great puzzle? This App is the quick-thinking, brain-building app that is getting kids and adults of all ages hooked on numbers! It is deceptively simple: from a group of numbers, find one number that is the sum of two others in the group. Great for developing mental math!
Math Bingo - ($1) Just like Word Bingo this one is based on math problems. Math problems are presented at the top of the game screen and students chose the correct answer, when they get five in a row, they have Bingo! You can also chose the type of math problems, at the beginning of second grade we stick to the addition and subtraction levels but towards the end you can let them practice multiplication.
Kids Clock Challenge - ($1) This App is a fun and challenging way to quickly learn how to read an analog clock.
Addition & Multiplication Number Bubbles - (Free) This App contains two games, but we focus mostly on the addition part. The app will show lots of popping bubbles on the screen the student will have select number bubbles whose sum is equal to the target number at the top. Another great way to learn basic math facts!
LetsTans Lite - (Free) This app helps them build the foundation for mathematical concepts of fractions, spatial awareness, geometry, area, and perimeter. This app give students a shape they are to create using the given geometric figures.
Bubbles Math ($1.99)Addition: The student is given a target number. They have to click on two bubbles whose sum is equal to the target number.
Hungry Fish (Free) This game lets you choose a target number or range of numbers. Students have to select 2 bubbles that the fish can eat that will add up to equal the target number. Great for practicing number bonds and for mental math!
Butterfly Math (Addition = Free, Full version = $1.99) This app is perfect for helping review and practice missing addends, or unknown numbers, in an equation. Students are given an equations, like 6 + ___ = 8, they have to figure out how many butterflies would go in the blank to make the equation true.
Sushi Monster (Free) This game allows students to practice, reinforce, and extend math fact fluency is completely engaging! It strengthens reasoning strategies for whole number addition by helping monsters make a target sum .
Splash Math Grade 2 - (Lite version = Free, Full version = $9.99) Splash Math is a fun and innovative way to practice math. With 13 chapters covering over 185 math skills and an endless supply of problems, it is by far the most comprehensive math workbook in the app store! I know this app is pricey but it is FULL of wonderful math games!
Butterfly Math (Free or full version $1.99) This is an AWESOME app! The full version offers unknown numbers (addition), shapes, sequencing and it aligned with common core. Perfect to help enforce the things we are learning in class!
Banana Math (Free or full version $1.99) This is another app that I absolutely love! It offers a wide variety of games and different math concepts like addition & subtraction word problems, Shapes, Symmetry, and Time. Great for practice in math and fun for your child! *Please note that free version only offers a select amount of concepts.
Know Your Math Facts (Free) This app correlates with what we teach in my class about fact families. It use a math triangle and provides students with numbers that are missing in the triangle. This helps teach unknown numbers and helps them to understand the relationship between addition and subtraction; all while making recall easier and quicker!
Number Math (Free) Great app with multiple activities to choose from. These are a few: Missing Number patterns, Before & After numbers, Greater Than & Less Than, Skip Counting, Rounding, and Place Numbers in Ascending Order. Great for beginning of the year review and for students who are struggling with basic number sense.
Cookie Factory: (Free or Full Version $1.99) - This app allows students to be the owner of a Chocolate Chip Cookie Factory where they have to ship and deliver cookies. The cookies are sold by ones, tens or hundreds. This app teaches place value concepts and practices math facts as you count, add, subtract! Just go into the settings and select if you want them to count.
Bedtime Math : (free) We all know to read to our kids at night, but what about math?! Bedtime Math is a great app to make make a fun part of your routine - as beloved as a bedtime story! Chose the Math Problem of the Day, and then choose the level of the challenge ("Wee Ones", "Little Kids", or "Big Kids"). Then let them have fun solving it! You can also check out this organization's website for more fun was to incorporate Math into your daily routine! www.bedtimemath.org
Reading:
OverDrive Media Console: (free) this is a app through our local library. It allows your child (or even you!) to check out and download library books for 2 weeks as ebooks (better known as kindle books). In order to use this app you must have a library card and pin number. The have popular titles such as Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, Fancy Nancy, etc. For more information please visit our local library or click the following link: http://ccml.libguides.com/content.php?pid=359206&sid=2937528
Word Bingo - ($1) This App is set up just like regular Bingo, except it tells the student a word and they have to find it in a bingo grid. You can also choose the level of words. This app is perfect for students who are developing their ability to read sight words.
Bookster (Free app, but adding extra books cost up to $2) This is a read-along storytelling app that reads to your kids, or allows them to records and plays their voices reading, and teaches them new vocabulary along the way. The first 2 books are free when you download the free app. Their are 11 books you can purchase to add to the collect for your child.
Storia (Free & comes with 5 Free books). This is another book app that reads to or allows your child to read independently different books. It comes with 5 free books, others will cost extra, but you can order new books through our classroom Scholastic Book Order - which will earn points for free books for our classroom!
Grammar Jammers - (Free) Catchy animated songs and rhymes make English language arts exciting! Grammar Jammers animations will have you tapping your toes to the beat while learning grammar usage and mechanics. Each animation unlocks a quiz. Answer all the quiz questions for all the Grammar Jammers topics and unlock an interactive reward.
Sight Words 1&2 (Free) - This app helps strengthen sight word recognition. It teaches 140+ words in multiple games.
Sentence Maker ($1) - This game helps your child learn to make and complete their own sentences. The settings let you decide what kinds of phrases or sentences to focus on. Whether you want to get started with 2 word combos or jump straight to 5 word sentences is all up to you and what your child is ready for!
Phonics Word Families (Free) This app lets student listen, make, and read words in word families. It helps teach beginning sound, word family phonics, short vowel sound, and offers images with a lot of animations and interactions for each word.
Make a Word (Free) This app will show your child a picture and tell them a word to build/spell. The words all have short vowel sounds. More advanced children should try Phonics Advanced, with long vowel sounds and double vowels.
Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe (Free) Great to reinforce the phonics skills we are learning in class! This app offers games where they get to practice blends, digraphs, blends, syllables, and more!
Sound Sorting ($1) Another great phonics app to practice and reinforce sound skills, especially for students are struggling with segmenting or blending sounds. Kids match or "grab" words that share the same beginning sound!
Tales2Go (Free) This app received a "Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winner" that streams on-demand, unlimited access to more than 1,000 stories. This does not allow students to see the pictures or words, it just reads a story to them so they have to use their imaginations. But you can scroll through and sort by reader age, genre, and characters like: Froggy, Henry and Mudge, and JUNIE B. JONES and more!! . Bookmark and build a favorites list for easy return visits! There's also an "original version" that's free as well, it offers MORE book titles too!
Grammar Wonderland (Elementary) ($2.99 or the lite version is Free) Your kids can fly, swim, feed and toss their way to grammar mastery! You can choose a skill and a practice level to better suit your child individual needs!
Grammar Quiz Free - This app has been developed by professional educators to improve children’s grammatical understanding through multiple choice challenges. You can even select to go back with your child and review the questions they missed!
Painless Grammar Challenge - This game is based off of the Barron’s Painless book series and they just took Grammar to the next level of fun!
It’s the ultimate Grammar and arcade game challenge! Your child gets to test their knowledge of grammar while challenging their arcade skills!
Multiple Subject Areas:
BrainPopJr Movie of the Week (Free) This app is ideal for kids in K-3 it has short movies that focus on lots of topics including: Science, Math, Reading, Writing and Health and more! The two characters, Annie and robot Moby will guide your child through a topic empowering them to form their own ideas. It is designed to cultivate critical thinking skills and encourage questions all while making connections. There's also activities like games and quizes to go along with each movie topic.
Second Grade (Free, Full version $2.99) 10 fun mini-games to help your child learn Second Grade lessons! It supports reading, spelling, math, fractions, compound words, contractions, and more! Perfectly aligns with what we are learning in second grade!
Websites:
Math Websites:
Zearn- This is the BEST!! It goes perfectly along with our Eureka Math. There are tutoring videos, math fact sprints, and word problems! Couldn't say enough about it! Students just need to log in with their school username and password.
Greg Tang: Calling all deep thinkers! Check out Greg Tangs website to help dig deep and think about your number sense knowledge.
Fuel the Brain- Fuelthe brain.com is a great math website that has some of the common core math standards and games to go along with them.
IXL- This is a very basic website but it is packed with grade common core style math problems - it's a great way to practice specific math skills by topic or by grade level.
Greg Tang Math - These are math games that teaches students sensible strategies but a huge focus of this website is creating that mental math fluency.
ABCya - This is a WONDERFUL website to practice grade specific math & reading skills. One of my FAVORITES! Just be careful because there are a few uneducational games they tend to play more than the educational ones!
Reading Websites:
Reading Resources This is a WONDERFUL sight full of LOTS of different reading activities. Just pick an area your child needs help in and then select a game they can play!
Earobics! This is a great sight for building phonemic awareness and phonics skills. There are many fun, interactive games for children to play and learn at the same time!
Florida Center for Reading Research This site has many great interventions to use with students who are struggling in reading.
Star Fall This site is great for students who are struggling with phonemic awareness. It promotes students to read with phonics by allowing them to play games and read online interactive books.
Storyline Online This site has famous people from the Screen Actors Guild Foundation who read popular books aloud to your child.. It is a great way to model fluency and expression.
Sight Words This is a great site to help parents and educators teach sight words to kids from Pre-K to 4th Grade.
Spelling:
Spelling City Please use this site for help with weekly spelling words. Each week their spelling list can be used at this site. Students can play games and practice spelling their words. This will help them ace their tests!
Discovery Education This is a great sight to make spelling word searches, crossword puzzles and more!
**This is the website used on Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe.
Wordle - This is a great tool that we have used for all sorts of things, like spelling words - have a blast creating these beautiful word clouds!
Multiple Subject Areas:
Brain Pop Jr. This is a fun site with many, many fun videos to watch on so many different subjects. You will learn a lot from Annie and Moby!
Freerice.com Go to this site and help feed the world! With a knowledge of vocabulary words, art, chemistry, geography or math you can help the World Food Program end hunger.
About Different Books:
Leveled Book List This site will help you choose from hundreds of books on your (or your child's reading level. There are so many to choose from!
Multicultural Children's Literature This website is a resource for many works of multicultural children's literature. There is a wealth of knowledge that can be found in literature from across the globe!
Phoneme Segmentation Games:
Big Brown Bear Phoneme Counting This website lets students read a word and then drag the word to the number of phonemes (or sounds) they hear.
Zearn- This is the BEST!! It goes perfectly along with our Eureka Math. There are tutoring videos, math fact sprints, and word problems! Couldn't say enough about it! Students just need to log in with their school username and password.
Greg Tang: Calling all deep thinkers! Check out Greg Tangs website to help dig deep and think about your number sense knowledge.
Fuel the Brain- Fuelthe brain.com is a great math website that has some of the common core math standards and games to go along with them.
IXL- This is a very basic website but it is packed with grade common core style math problems - it's a great way to practice specific math skills by topic or by grade level.
Greg Tang Math - These are math games that teaches students sensible strategies but a huge focus of this website is creating that mental math fluency.
ABCya - This is a WONDERFUL website to practice grade specific math & reading skills. One of my FAVORITES! Just be careful because there are a few uneducational games they tend to play more than the educational ones!
Reading Websites:
Reading Resources This is a WONDERFUL sight full of LOTS of different reading activities. Just pick an area your child needs help in and then select a game they can play!
Earobics! This is a great sight for building phonemic awareness and phonics skills. There are many fun, interactive games for children to play and learn at the same time!
Florida Center for Reading Research This site has many great interventions to use with students who are struggling in reading.
Star Fall This site is great for students who are struggling with phonemic awareness. It promotes students to read with phonics by allowing them to play games and read online interactive books.
Storyline Online This site has famous people from the Screen Actors Guild Foundation who read popular books aloud to your child.. It is a great way to model fluency and expression.
Sight Words This is a great site to help parents and educators teach sight words to kids from Pre-K to 4th Grade.
Spelling:
Spelling City Please use this site for help with weekly spelling words. Each week their spelling list can be used at this site. Students can play games and practice spelling their words. This will help them ace their tests!
Discovery Education This is a great sight to make spelling word searches, crossword puzzles and more!
**This is the website used on Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe.
Wordle - This is a great tool that we have used for all sorts of things, like spelling words - have a blast creating these beautiful word clouds!
Multiple Subject Areas:
Brain Pop Jr. This is a fun site with many, many fun videos to watch on so many different subjects. You will learn a lot from Annie and Moby!
Freerice.com Go to this site and help feed the world! With a knowledge of vocabulary words, art, chemistry, geography or math you can help the World Food Program end hunger.
About Different Books:
Leveled Book List This site will help you choose from hundreds of books on your (or your child's reading level. There are so many to choose from!
Multicultural Children's Literature This website is a resource for many works of multicultural children's literature. There is a wealth of knowledge that can be found in literature from across the globe!
Phoneme Segmentation Games:
Big Brown Bear Phoneme Counting This website lets students read a word and then drag the word to the number of phonemes (or sounds) they hear.
Classroom Technologies
In our classroom we are well equipped with technology! In our classroom you can expect to find the following equipment:
Your child will work daily using the different types of technology! We have computer and Ipad centers, and work interactively with the Smartboard throughout each day!
- a teacher workstation
- a computer with a DVD drive dedicated to a ceiling mounted LCD projector
- a digital document camera (Elmo)
- speaker system
- a mounted SMARTboard (an interactive whiteboard)
- 2 Ipads
- 4 student computers
Your child will work daily using the different types of technology! We have computer and Ipad centers, and work interactively with the Smartboard throughout each day!
Animal Research
Here are a few kid-friendly websites your student can use at home to help with their animal research project!
www.kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals.html
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/
www.kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals.html
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/