51 Resources for Elementary Educators
Elementary-aged children thrive on interaction and variety and the right resources can transform their educational experience. From interactive games and visual aids to engaging reading materials and innovative classroom tools, these recommendations are designed to capture kids' attention and support their development in meaningful ways. The resources highlighted here have been praised for making learning fun and approachable, helping students stay focused and enthusiastic about their lessons.
Whether searching for ways to make lessons more interactive, finding tools to help with classroom management, or looking for new ideas to inspire creativity, these teacher-approved resources are sure to be valuable. They’re tried and tested by educators who have seen firsthand how these tools help students stay engaged, understand concepts better, and enjoy their learning journey.
99Math is my favorite resource to use with my students. 99Math covers Math for all grade lessons. Just like IXL, you can import your class through Google easily. Once they are in, you can do live games with the students, or have them work on individual needs. My students love this website because it gives prizes every time they hit a new level. A little competition and incentives can result in improved learning. (Nicole P, K-5)
They have activities and levels to continuously give students a fun time which learning. (Michelle Z, K-5)
The benefits of this site is it offers grade levels from pre-k to 6+. It's nice to have different grade levels available because not all students are on the same level and you don't want to hold a child back because of that. The kids look at this website as fun because it has games. But it is an educational website and it is a great reward to work towards while still learning and aiming to get better. (Lexie C, K-5)
Angela Watsons's Truth For Teachers
I link to the podcasts. I started listening to them starting with episode 1. They resonate greatly with me as a new teacher, and help me rearrange some of the clutter in my mind, and reduce some of the teacher noise I hear throughout the week. The podcasts are short and they help me stay true to the teacher I want to become and the practices I want to use. (Vanessa S, K-5)
BetterLesson is a website that allows you to access multiple resources that promote your professional growth. You can have personalized sessions where you talk specifically about your needs as a teacher and those of your students. You also have access to teaching strategies, and professional training workshops and you can also share your own experiences as a teacher through a journal, like The Teaching Channel, but in my opinion much more interesting. (Lina R, K-5)
This site has video instructions on teaching sentence writing as well as printable cards for students to use as physical reminders of the things that all sentences must have in order to be complete. (Amanda K, K-5)
It's not a free product but for any teachers who have students that use Chromebooks/laptops for their work it is great tool. A teacher can see the students' screens, send them messages individually or to the whole class, send a "heads up" which temporarily stops everything on their computer and block or restrict access to certain websites if needed. (Ann Marie, L, K-5)
allows for fun interactive practice / ready-to-be-used material / tech-based / can be assigned individually or group. (Joseph M, K-5)
Brainpop is a great supplemental source for teachers and students. It has videos of a variety of subjects from history, language arts, science, math and more. It can be used as a refresher/ pre-teaching tool that gives teachers ideas for what to add/how to structure their instruction, and it has multiple resources on each topic such as quizzes, related readings, and games for students. (Zaria R, K-5)
various manipulatives for students to use such as base-ten blocks, fraction circles, numberlines, place value disks. (Vanessa S, K-5)
This site covers so many topics, especially in writing and math. The videos are short and friendly, and the students enjoy the characters. (Amanda M, K-5)
ClassDojo is a classroom management tool and a way to keep in touch with parents. I use ClassDojo to provide weekly class updates and to contact parents individually. It helps connect me with them and it is a great place for positive interaction, which can sometimes be absent. ClassDojo also works as a classroom management tool because the students can earn "points" for specific traits, such as kindness. These points can then be adapted to the classroom however a teacher finds beneficial. (Madison B, K-5)
It breaks down the information by grade and is not extremely broad. There are sections in addressing certain material that may be difficult to discuss with younger ages and how to go about some discussions. (Elyse C, K-5)
Meets students where they are in their math skills and provides math games to build their knowledge. (Lareiny F, K-5)
This site offers a variety of resources for teachers to learn a lot from. There are many current topics that any teacher can relate to as well as tips to become a better teacher and create a more effective classroom environment. (Marilyn T, K-5)
Epic is an online reading site with tons of books on every topic. As a teacher, you can create an account and add your students. Students can access Epic from home which is nice, and can look up any topic they want and find a bunch of books. There is a feature to read the book aloud for students who are still learning to read and there are quizzes on there for them, too. (Jenna F, K-5)
This site provides a fun interactive way for students to review math. They have 2 different programs: reflex and frax. Reflex goes over addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; frax goes over fractions. (Ameerah F, K-5)
different fun way of having the students upload their work and have classmates view it. They get to record and publish. (Melissa R, K-5)
Freckle is a great way for students to focus on specific standards in Math or ELA to review. (Jaclyn C, K-5)
Generation Genius has SO MANY great videos for science I use all the time. The videos are kid-friendly with humor thrown in and each comes with an assessment about the video as well. The best part- the kids love these videos and I think that helps them retain the info even better. (Alyssa K, K-5)
This site has great information on a variety of topics on culture and history. (Faiza Z, K-5)
Imagine math has a regular math mode, and then a math facts mode. Both begin with an assessment that allow the game to be tailored to the particular student. The teacher is also able to access student progress. (Amanda M, K-5)
IXL is a great website to monitor student's progress in all content areas. You can easily import your class from Google and an account is made for them. As a teacher, you can highlight the different tasks/lessons you want your students to work on, and ask they log in, those highlighted lessons will be right there for them to work on. It gives students a lot of practice questions and does not allow students to move on until they reach a certain score which allows me to check for understanding. (Nicole P, K-5)
it has worksheet/resources you may need for class activities/homework. (Khin A, K-5)
educational "videogame" type setting where students can play and review what they previously learned. students love to compete against each other. Also allows the teacher to see who really needs more help on the lessons. (Melissa R, K-5)
I've used this site for my own benefit in math. I just got approval for this to provide supplemental help to my 2nd-grade math students. Lots of practice, video explanations and quizzes. (Denise F, K-5)
Access to lesson plans and other related resources for a culturally relevant classroom. Topics include race and ethnicity, religion, ability, class, immigration status, gender and sexual identity, bullying and bias, and rights and activism. (Kristen S, K-5)
Gives extra comprehension and phonics help. (Josleyn H, K-5)
Linkedin Learning provides training on many different skills from technical to social. This is a great resource for teachers who need a refresher on computer applications or want to take a course that may better their classroom instruction such as "teach others how to think critically." (Zaria R, K-5)
Luck Little Learners is a blog created by a teacher who specializes in grades K-2. The website includes training, resources and lesson plans. I have used it when I felt like my curriculum was not providing me with content that my students would understand and enjoy. There are thousands of resources, the website gives you differentiation suggestions, and fun ideas to incorporate into your learning. (Shayla M, K-5)
Lumio has been very useful for me, as I am not a very skilled person with the use of ICT in my classes, I learn a lot from the number of activities that I can find to support my students’ learning. I can create games, videos, puzzles, and many other interactive activities to share with my students or parents so that they can review the concepts we see in class at their own pace. (Lina R, K-5)
Mystery Science provides engaging and standards-aligned science content with focus on hands-on learning. It can be a valuable resource for educators and parents seeking to make science education more enjoyable and effective for students. (Mike P, K-5)
This site shows excellent resources for showing history and culture in a kid-friendly format. (Faiza Z, K-5)
A plethora of interactive lessons. They have lessons for just about anything. Students can follow along on their Chromebook which I believe is helpful for engagement. There are so many different resources and lessons on this site. I believe no matter what grade/subject any teacher will find this useful. (Taylor L, K-5)
Newsela is an incredible site that allows educators to access current events/informational articles at all reading levels. The content is edited to serve students of all ages and grades, which makes real-world connections to curricular content all the more possible. Search anything from a news article covering an event that occurred this week, to a step-by-step breakdown of a science, social studies, or ELA concept. Then use drop-down menus to automatically edit the text to fit your students' reading levels! (Annie L, K-5)
An excellent resource for succinctly drilling grammar concepts. Upon account creation, students add lists of interests that they have, which the site incorporates into the example sentences given during the practice. There are a wide range of topics that range from simple things like capitalization up to more involved things like how to punctuate dialogue correctly or how to identify compound/complex sentences. It is quite smart too - if a student repeatedly gets questions on a certain topic wrong, it does not progress them to the next section until they are getting a reasonable amount correct to demonstrate understanding. (Tristan D, K-5)
Great for quick Do Nows during Word Study, this is the first thing my students do in the morning as a warmup before we get started with our word study lesson on whatever prefix/suffix is being taught that week. (Tristan D, K-5)
OTIS for Educators is a site that I have been exploring thanks to the NPS training, I have found it very interesting because it offers professional development courses, they offer training on how to incorporate ICT to make your classes more interesting. You can find lesson plans that you can adapt to your needs, it is a great site for all teachers. (Lina R, K-5)
What a website it is!!! I just love it. It is such an amazing place to get stuffed with all the matter a teacher needs for reading and language art. It is fully loaded with reading passages suitable for all different grades from elementary to high school. It provides a lot of stuff for different skills students need to develop and work on like comprehension, making inferences, key ideas and details, summarizing, drafting, and increasing vocabulary with audio and videos along with the pictures and different sets of questions available at one location. It has fiction, non-fiction, poems, fantasy, etc. in abundance. I personally prefer it a lot. (Bhawna J, K-5)
Responsive Classroom (Resources)
Offers a huge variety of resources for educators about how to ground your practice of teaching in the core principles of culturally responsive and relevant teaching. (Kristen S, K-5)
Much but not all functions are free. A teacher can create lessons here in a digital format to be completed on the computer and there is vast library of lessons, both from SeeSaw and from a community library where other teachers include lessons they created. Students submit their work, and the teacher can review it easily or share completed work with the whole class. (Ann Marie L, K-5)
A bunch of **FREE** resources that focus on sight words, it includes Dolch, Fry, and written sight words, and even has flashcards, lists, and a template to make your own sight words. A must-have for anybody teaching guided reading! (Eddie D, K-5)
This site helps to remediate or enhance learning that occurs in the classroom. (Sydney E, K-5)
This site is amazing. I can find all the content related to the curriculum on this platform. It has all the useful resources available at one single stop. It has videos, anchor charts, PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, activities for science, Math and many other subjects based on the curriculum as well as grade level. It has a variety of graphic organizers available here. It also has pictures for different topics available to aid students with audio-visual aids. I prefer to use this website because its activities keep the students entertained as well as engaged. (Bhawna J, K-5)
It has a multitude of sites that are kid-appropriate and instead of sending kids to YouTube, you can ensure all videos watched are appropriate. (Stephanie H, K-5)
TED is my absolute favorite resource for my personal and professional inspiration and education. While it has engaging and informative talks on almost every subject, a simple search under the topic "education" opens up a world of curated talks from experts in their field. Some are inspirational (which we teachers all need now and then), others are data-driven (giving us proven strategies to improve our practice), and almost all open our eyes to new world-views and ways of leading our classrooms. (Annie L, K-5)
They have academic math games that target different objectives in grades 1st - 8th. (Michelle Z, K-5)
On this site I found population numbers dating back to colony times and was able to use them in a lesson. Also, there are many Activities Overview Math History/Social Studies Geography Sociology. Activities Grades K - 2 Grades 3 - 5 Grades 6 - 8 Grades 9 – 12. (Kostas P, K-5)
So many great worksheets, activities, relevant blog posts, etc. to use and can search by grade or subject. (Alyssa K, K-5)
It is a great resource in terms of interactive games. The teacher can create his own game or pull from the site and use it for the class. It is good for exit ticket or practicing. (Ozenc Y, K-5)
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Sara Hanafi is an upcoming Sophomore at Rutgers University-New Brunswick where she is working towards a degree in Cell Biology & Neuroscience. She has worked with Rutgers-GSE as a student worker-data and communications intern since March 2024. Published works by Sara are completed in collaboration with the Rutgers Alternate Route Team. 
