Free educational tools—what could be better? Anytime, anywhere, teachers like to have plenty of resources to pick from to help them create great classroom experiences to engage their students. We've got some wonderful content-packed free educational tools for teachers to explore. They're online and ready to be discovered!
There are slideshows, printables, lesson plans, downloadable content and guides, videos, and much more. The sites listed below offer lots of stuff for all subjects and grades, so dive in and see what you can dig up.
20 Terrific Free Educational Tools
Who doesn't love free educational tools, especially teachers? Happy hunting, teaching, and learning!
General Sites
EdTech Teacher—a professional development resource that offers a wide range of high-quality content and resources for every kind of teacher.
Internet4Classrooms—a long comprehensive list of tons of free content—everything from games and flashcards to assessment and planning tools.
Teachnology—a website chock full of worksheets, lesson plans, rubrics, printable, and other resources for every teacher's needs. They also offer a membership tier that's very affordable, and that allows you to create and share your own content.
Better Lesson—browse more than 10,000 Common Core-aligned lesson plans for K–12 grades on this site.
Discovery Education—explore categories aimed at teachers, parents, and students—this site also includes a selection of textbook and app downloads for use on mobile devices.
Teacher Vision—another great site with lots of lesson resources, including graphic organizers and tools for classroom management strategies.
Crabtree Books: Free Educational Resources—a list of downloadable resources including teacher guides, graphic organizers, standards, and more—all in pdf format.
Teachers First—a free resource site for teachers created by the non-profit organization Source for Learning. Explore categories that assist with classroom management, professional development, and more.
Special Sites and Resources
iRubric—a site full of rubric templates for all subjects and grade levels, with a tool that also lets you build your own custom rubrics.
DonorsChoose.org—a unique site in the spirit of Kickstarter that allows teachers to post projects online and have people donate to the ones they like best. When a project reaches its funding goal, the materials are shipped to that school. Give as little as $1 or fund an entire project that excites you.
Teacher Tube—a video website similar to YouTube, with a wide range of video content and other helpful tools created and shared by teachers themselves. Lots to explore and use here.
Top 100 Tools for Learning 2014—this page gives you a list of the top 100 teaching and learning tools chosen for this year by Jane Hart, founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT). Jane surveyed and consulted more that 1,000 educators in over 60 countries to create this valuable list, and it's really worth exploring.
Edudemic's Teacher Guides for Technology and Learning—from Edudemic's vast collection of teacher resources comes a list of 10 great technology guides that cover such topics as Twitter and Pinterest, Google Glass, choosing digital content, and so much more.
WatchKnowLearn—an extensive and diverse database of free educational videos which you can filter and search by age and subject. This site also allows you to upload videos of your own to add to their rapidly expanding list of content featured from sites such as TED and YouTube.
iLearn Technology—a wonderful edublog featuring a broad list of sites and tips on using tech in classrooms, compiled for teachers by IT integration specialist Kelly Tenkely.
Kid Stuff
ABCTeach—there's plenty of free content for your young pupils here, and an inexpensive annual membership fee gives you access to even more.
Activity Village—this UK site offers games, puzzles, worksheets, and more.
Teaching Ideas—another great site based in the UK with teacher resources and lesson plans.
Busy Teacher's Cafe—a K–6 website with strategies, printable, and lots of other resources including an online shop for purchasing affordable lesson pack and activity bundles.
Magic Keys—free online storybooks for kids of all ages.
