Top Tools for Teaching

Class Dojo is a platform that allows students, teachers and parents to connect, support and develop student skills. It is an app that teachers can use for free in their classroom and allows them to create classes with their students. Students are able to customize their avatars and see their individual progress.. Parents are also able to access Class Dojo when they are invited by the teachers and can track their students progress through the app. Teachers have the ability to reward students with positive feedback in real time and can communicate directly with parents. The program is completely customizable and teachers can change the skills for which the students obtain feedback to adapt the needs of the class. The app, which is available for iOS or android, encourages learning, skill development, and character building.
Direct site for Class Dojo
YouTube link to how to register and use Class Dojo

KAHOOT! is an app for teachers to use in the classroom to help make teaching and learning more interactive! Educators can put together a multiple choice question quiz that allows students to interact via iPad or computer. It also allows access to a data base with tons of question sets created by other teachers. Students will compete against classmates and try to win by getting the most questions correct. This app is great for test review, brain breaks and team play. Teachers are able to add pictures, music and YouTube videos to the questions. KAHOOT! is free to download and use, students can play on-line or use android or iOS app. It is a game based learning platform used as an educational technology tool in the classroom and other educational institutes.
Direct link to KAHOOT site
YouTube link to how to use KAHOOT!

Using Popplets in the classroom are definitely becoming a big deal. With this online tool, teachers can make fun, interactive graphs that are super easy to share with their students. Teachers can use Popplets in any content area, for presenting new information to students or for taking class notes. Students can create mind maps as a pre-writing strategy or use Popplets to create personal scrapbooks of information. When students begin in a project or presentation, Popplet can be used for brainstorming or the creating of flowcharts. Anybody can sign up for free, and it's super easy to navigate and use!
Popplet main website
Popplet tutorial

This teaching tool is one of the most fun that is available! It let's little learners drag and drop graphic sprites across the screen and bring scenes to life! The Lego-like, snap-together commands make the basic programs easy to create and share. Everything in this program is a tap or swipe away and the entire interface is well-designed to look like toys and art supplies carefully arranged on a desk so it's easy to engage the little learners. It is targeted for K-2 learners so they can be left to easily get lost in the various options but with a little guidance, they can design, build and enjoy their very own presentations that they created themselves. This program allows students to get a foot in the door when it comes to writing code, which is growing fast. ScratchJr offers a rich and challenging environment for very young programmers and may be one of the most important teaching tools for digital creation!
[ScratchJr's Site](https://scratch.mit.edu
Introducing ScratchJr

Story Jumper is a fun, interactive, endless possibilities website that is free for anybody. Students are able to write, illustrate and even narrate their own original stories. Story Jumper is a charming and very easy to use tool that gives kids a template to create their own short children's books. The stories are easy to illustrate. All students need to do is pick a background and drag and drop the props on it. There is a search button and endless pictures to pick from. How can teachers use this tool? I am so glad you asked. Teachers/Educators have a dashboard that allows them to create a secure virtual classroom where all students can be reviewed as well as sent home to parents. Students and teachers can even add personal photos as props and scenes.
Story Jumper Website
How to create a Story Jumper Book

Google Tour Builder is an amazing web-based storytelling tool which lets you easily create and explore stories and places around the world. You are able to create a tour of any subject in any content area of your choosing and zoom in to show the places where events took place/ Your tour will fly users from one place to the next along the storyline of your tour and immersing the students in the relevant places through the content that you provide. Imagine taking your students on virtual field trips anywhere in the world. Learning about the Great Barrier Reef? Take them there. Learning about The Egyptians? Show them. With this site, you can literally take your students on trips without them ever leaving their seats! This is the most interactive way to get students engaged in visual learning!
Google Tour Builder
Using it in the classroom

MindMeister is a powerful mind mapping tool that is aimed at adults but simple enough for older kids 5-12 grade. This websites dashboard immediately catalyzes creativity with premade sample mind maps and templates that range from basic brainstorming, to-do lists, and pre-writing to website planning and meeting notes. In the workspace, you can choose a main theme, then add notes, images, icons, links, attachments, and formatting. MindMeister lets you log in with Facebook, Twitter and Google and even export it to a PDF, word or PowerPoint. This tool just keeps getting better. It also has the potential to be a great tool to support students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, executive functioning disorder, and autism. This mind mapping tool lets users see what they are thinking and helps them organize their thoughts graphically. It is a very powerful productivity, creativity, collaboration, time management, and presentation tool for everybody!
MindMeister Website
Getting started with MindMeister

Knovio is an awesome technology tool that teachers or educators can use in their classroom. It is free to sign up but you would need to upgrade to their monthly plan to gain addition features. This presentation tool lets you put slides together, using text, pictures, video clips and even audio, in order to make a very appealing presentation. Teachers or educators can use this app on pretty much any device they have available in their classroom, making it easy to share their presentation.
Knovio's direct website
YouTube on how to set up and use Knovio

Prezi is best described as a PowerPoint but on steroids. There are so many different ways to present a Prezi presentation and unlimited possibilities. Prezi features a map-like overview that lets users pan between topics, zoom in on details, and pull back to reveal context. It is compatible with most modern systems and free to users. The purpose of Prezi is to replace less intriguing presentation tools with a more captivating and stunning presentation with incredible zooming capabilities. It is a presentation tool of tomorrow that can be utilized in the diverse world of education. Prezi's interactive nature makes it a very popular classroom tool!
Prezi Website
How to Use Prezi

Creaza is a cartoon creation website that allows kids to make their own online cartoons and mini movies. Students are able to use pre-drawn characters and backgrounds or they can choose to draw their own directly into a panel and then add some sound. Students will need a username and password to login to the secure website and their videos are private unless they choose to share through social media or email. This website can be so much fun, the characters are nutty-looking and there are a large selection of props for students to choose from. They simply drag and drop backgrounds, props and characters into the scene and can even change background to day or night and change the mood of their characters. This is an amazing learning tool for students to use in the classroom when learning about different time periods and special events in history!
Creaza Website
The New Creaza