Teacher Tools

I love finding new (free) websites to use  that make my life in the classroom easier. 

The first is a new collaborative blog started by some excellent teacher bloggers I follow:

Here you will find a ton of lesson ideas that are all aligned to the common core standards.  You can either search by standard on this site or by your grade level.  The blog just started, so it doesn't have too many resources yet.  However, it seems to be growing everyday with some really high quality stuff and lots of freebies that you can use in your own classroom. 

The creators have also made a companion site specifically designed for parents and also those who homeschool:

Another site I love to use is ClassDojo. 

This site makes it very easy to keep track of classroom behavior points, especially if you run a token economy.  Each student gets a little avatar which can be displayed on a projector in your classroom - or for those who are lucky enough to have Smartboards.  You get to assign the behaviors for which students earn points or get points taken away.  For example, I like to give points for helping others, 100% on classroom tests, insightful answers, and taking your time on your work.  I take points away for chewing gum, tardies, forgetting homework, etc.  Class Dojo keeps track of all these points and then gives you the option, with just a click of a button, to email behavior report cards to parents.

One of the best features:  Class Dojo links up with your smart phone so that you can use it as a classroom remote.  I'm not tied to my computer if I want to give a student a point.  I can reward them when I'm on the other side of room!

This year, my team is going to use Class Dojo to keep track of points for a weekly raffle.  Every five Class Dojo points will get each student a raffle ticket for the chance to win some fabulous Target Dollar Spot prizes.    We can also work into our raffle discussions of probability and percent chances to win. 

What are other amazing sites that you find helpful in your classroom?