Best Sites for Math, Reading, History, and English

Submitted by Paul Rogers on Sat, 08/10/2013 - 12:36
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Below is a list of best sites for education that should be useful.

Best Learning Sites - Arkansas Adult Learning Resource Center

The AALRC has put together a list of “Best Free Learning Websites” and we would like to hear from you about your favorite free websites. What good sites are you using now? What are your favorites from this list? This list is not complete yet - we need your help to make it a better list for everyone. Please email Rob Pollan rob@aalrc.org for comments and suggestions.

Updated 4/25/2012

 

Math

  • Khan Academy - fantastic website with great videos that students can watch over and over till they get the concepts. The math section includes practice and an extensive tracking program for the teachers. http://www.khanacademy.org/
  • BBC English and Math for Adults - lots of good stuff in here including videos, training, quizzes, and games. http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise
  • TV411 - Get practical practice - reading, writing, vocabulary, math, learning. http://www.tv411.org/

 

Reading

  • Goodwill Community Foundation - includes Reading, Computers, and Math. Nice layout with lots of activities. http://www.gcflearnfree.org/
  • Fonics - good audio and pictures that go along with the words http://www.fonetiks.org/foniks/
  • Literacynet Learning Resources -Great reading site with stories from CNN and a local CBS affiliate. You can read the story and view the video, then look for the activities on the left to test
  • your knowledge and comprehension - vocabulary, word selection, multiple choice, sequencing, conclusions, and “your turn”. http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/home.html
  • Web English Teacher - good resource for English teachers. http://www.webenglishteacher.com/index.html
  • California Distance Learning Project - many stories that can be read aloud to the reader by the computer. Includes comprehension qui and other activities. http://www.cdlponline.org/
  • Montana’s list of Reading and Listening Activities - Includes GED practice tests. http://www.nwlincs.org/mtlincs/pilotproject/reading/readingindex.htm
  • Starfall - starts at the beginning and works its way up. The site is designed for children but is effective for anyone. http://www.starfall.com/
  • The Learning Edge - has newspaper articles and stories that can be read aloud to the reader. It has good quizzes and is a well laid out website. It has workplace stories and quizzes. http://www.thewclc.ca/edge/
  • U.S.A. Learns - Learn English and improve basic reading, writing, speaking and life skills. Slick website with videos and audio. www.usalearns.org
  • Learning English - free printable materials http://www.englishbanana.com/
  • BBC English and Math for Adults - lots of good stuff in here including videos, training, quizzes, and games. http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise
  • Pearsonlongman - Online practice reading tests http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/marketing/sfesl/practicereading.html
  • TV411 - Get practical practice – reading, writing, vocabulary, math, learning http://www.tv411.org/
  • RHL School - Reading comprehension worksheets http://rhlschool.com/reading.htm
  • Read Write Think - Lesson plans, guides, materials, and more. http://www.readwritethink.org/
  • Thinkfinity - Lesson plans, interactive games and tools. http://www.thinkfinity.org/student-interactives

ESL

  • PUMAROSA - this site is bilingual phonetic and is designed to help you learn English as quickly and easily as possible. http://www.pumarosa.com/
  • ESL Resource Center - has various stories with multiple choice exercises. http://eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/READ.HTM
  • Rong-Chang - conversations with audio and exercises. Large selection of lessons for beginners and intermediates http://rong-chang.com/
  • English Speak- text and audio that allows the user to point at any text in the story and it will instantly read it out loud at your chosen speed. http://englishspeak.com/
  • ESL Cyber Listening Lab- stories are read out loud to the listener with quick quizes afterwards. http://esl-lab.com/
  • Colorin Colorado - is a free web-based service that provides information, activities and advice for educators and Spanish-speaking families of English language learners (ELLs). http://www.colorincolorado.org/

Typing

  • Sense-Lang - Great typing website. Tutorials and games that are well thought out and informative. Even includes a school section that allows you to register as a teacher and make assignments for your students. http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/
  • Typing Web - Another good typing website. Tells you your problem keys, has “Tools for Teachers” that allows you to track your students progress and time. http://www.typingweb.com/
  • Type Online - lessons, number pad, speed test http://www.typeonline.co.uk/index.html

Computers

  • BBC Computer Tutor - BBC’s guide to using computer was made for folks with little to no computer experience. Great guide to getting started that includes mouse, keyboard, and screen (desktop) skills. http://www.bbc.co.uk/computertutor/more_info.shtml
  • GCF - Goodwill Community Foundation - Computers,reading, and Math. Computer section includes Computer Basics, Microsoft Excel, Facebook 101, Microsoft Offce, Internet Basics, Google, and more. Most sections have lessons, interactives, quizzes and videos. http://www.gcflearnfree.org/
  • For a full list of topics see http://www.gcflearnfree.org/topics
  • HP Learning Center - large selection of courses and quizzes including Microsoft Office and PC security and maintenance. http://h30187.www3.hp.com/all_courses.jsp?hplcpsession.id=1270f75f7d8009bc912c38fc649a
  • McGraw Hill
  • http://activities.macmillanmh.com/reading/treasures/stories/teachcls.html Interactive with audio and video lessons. Extensive collection of lessons.
  • Microsoft Office Skills Assessment Tests - Office skills assessment test with detailed reports.
  • http://www.skills-assessment.net/
  • Microsoft Office Training - courses for specific parts of Office. Courses include practice and tests.
  • http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/training-FX101782702.aspx
  • Jan’s Computer Literacy - not the best of the bunch, but some useful components including quizzes.
  • http://www.jegsworks.com/lessons/
  • Computer Literacy Innitiative - Sample Computer Literacy Test http://computerliteracyusa.web.officelive.com/default.aspx http://computerliteracyusa.web.officelive.com/sample.aspx

Various

  • Adult Learning Web Resources - Comprehensive list of learning websites http://www.alresources.com/
  • Arizona Association for Lifelong Learning - good list of links to English, adult basic education, GED, and more. http://www.az-aall.org/AALL/Pages/Links/Studentlinks.htm
  • Books Should Be Free - audio books that can be downloaded or streamed. http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
  • Watch Know Learn - large list of learning videos for many subjects. http://watchknowlearn.org/default.aspx
  • Free Rice - Great vocaulary site that also includes several other subjects. Works like a multiple choice game. http://freerice.com
  • Hippo Campus - In depth website with interactive topics and courses. http://www.hippocampus.org/
  • Spelling - very good site that allows you to type in your own words and then it will test you by reading the words out loud, also has flash cards and more http://www.spellingcity.com/
  • Spelling - you can use this site to get lists of words for a certain grade level, then copy and paste them into spellingcity.com (above) to learn and test http://www.homespellingwords.com/index.htm
  • Spelling - list of most common mispelled words on the GED test. Copy and paste parts of the list into spellingcity.com to learn and test http://www.gedforfree.com/free-ged-course/language-arts/most-commonly-misspelled-ged-words.html
  • Interactive Online Activities for ESL and ABE / GED - great list of websites. If you can't find it on our page look here https://docs.google.com/document/d/
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Vocabulary

  • Free Rice - Great for vocabulary. It will automatically adjust to your vocabulary level, or hit the change level button to access all levels of vocabulary. It also has several other subjects to choose from. http://freerice.com
  • Vocabulary.com - Puts words into context and asks multiple choice questions. Works well and you can sign up so it can track your progress. http://vocabulary.com

History

  • History Channel - quiz game http://quiz.history.com/game_complete
  • Khan Academy - history videos http://www.khanacademy.org/
  • Hippo Campus - In depth website with interactive topics and courses. http://www.hippocampus.org/

GED Practice Tests

  • Steck Vaughn - practice test by category http://steckvaughnadult.hmhco.com/en/gedtestmenu.htm
  • Test Prep Review - Printable GED practice test with answer key http://www.testprepreview.com/ged_practice.htm
  • Study Guide Zone - GED study guide and practice http://www.studyguidezone.com/gedtest.htm
  • Quizmoz - Lots of quizzes including GED - http://www.quizmoz.com/

Aztec

Aztec Learning Essentials Series - it's not a free program, but it is free for you and your students in Arkansas' Department of Career Education programs. See http://www.aztecsoftware.com/_aztec/products/les.html for more information about content. Students use this link: http://aztec.aalrc.org

Please contact Nancy Loftis to get setup using Aztec. She is at the AALRC in downtown Little Rock. Her number is 501-371-3040, email nancy@aalrc.org

 

 

   

Arkansas is a member of LINCS (Literacy Information aNd Communication Systems) which provides a Regional and National network of electronic support for Adult Education and Literacy. Arkansas is part of the Southern LINCS consortium. Click on the buttons below to search for resources outside of Arkansas.

 

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Funded by the Arkansas Department of Career Education, Adult Education Division

 

  

 

 

Comments

 

 

 

Paul,

This is a great list.  However, you have missed two of my favorites.  I would like to recommend them to all members of the community.  The first is Wonderopolis, which is part of Thinkfinity.  Wonderopolis  http://wonderopolis.org/ is sponsored by the National Center for Family Literacy and provides exciting opportunities for learning in everyday life.  Another excellent resource for both adult educators and students is KET’s GED Connection and Adult Learning Resources at http://www.ket.org/education/ged-dt.htm.

Meryl Becker-Prezocki

 

 

 

 

Some of my favorite resources are from TERC's Teaching Instructors Adult Numeracy project, I was a part of a few years ago. The TIAN model for teacher development has shown to be effective and the materials and lessons have been field tested. The free resources are available at http://tian.terc.edu/TIAN_teacher_resources.html The TIAN resources are excellent materials that are built on the following topics and can be used for Math Teacher's professional development.  A description of the content of each TIAN bundle is provided below. The topics are: 

  1. Number Sense: Flexibility and Fluency
  2. Operation and Symbol Sense
  3. Number Sense Integers
  4. Algebraic Thinking
  5. Geometric Thinking

What is included in each bundle?

Each TIAN bundle has 3 sections:

  • A Math Topic which includes an Introduction giving an overview of the focused math topic; a set of Activities for teachers to explore, learn, discuss together, and possibly adapt for classroom use; Connections to State Standards; Classroom Resources for continuing to explore the topic with students; Articles & References for furthering participants own understanding of the math topic, including research and strategies for teaching.
  • Key Learning/Teaching Issues which includes a Problem Statement describing a key issue in teaching and learning numeracy in adult education classrooms; a set of Questions to guide discussion about the issue.
  • A Facilitator's Guide which includes suggestions for organizing and facilitating a regional meeting group with the Bundle materials.

Meryl-- I explored a bit on Wonderopolis, and for astute English speakers, it seems to offer a lot!. However, I moused over the words that had definitions, and sure enough, the definitions are much more difficult than the new words themselves--and sometimes wrong-- the first word I looked at was "wallow" as a verb, which was defined as a noun and used the word wallow in the definiton!!   I personally avoid like crazy putting ESL learners in the position of being totally baffled by a supposedly helpful website like this, despite the information that is there. 

But perhaps there are parts of it you find useful for ESL students.  Can you tell us more about how and why you use it?   Robin Lovrien

 

 

Dr. Robin,

Thanks for your comments.  I am sorry for the delay in responding.  I do want to share that I am a great fan of Wonderopolis because of the endless possibilities that exist for children and adults who use the site.  For those of you who are not familiar with that site, please check it out at http://wonderopolis.org/about/.

I am not teaching in the classroom at this time but can share some ideas for how to use Wonderopolis with adult basic education students and ESL students.  Did you notice the speech-enabled feature by ReadSpeaker?  This feature would be beneficial for the ESL audience.   I would also suggest clicking on educator sandbox for lots of classroom ideas.   The reading passages can certainly be used for finding the main idea.

I took notice of your comments about the definitions and went to the National Center for Family Literacy for clarification.  This is what they said,

“The vocabulary service we use for definitions is not perfect, in that the definition does not always match the context of the example in the text and does not have every Wonder Word in its database. The definition function is a brand new addition to W since the last upgrade.  We’ve been able to make corrections to all the new Wonders, but the older ones… like WOD #360 will probably have some issues.  We're able to review and customize any definitions for new Wonders, and are working to check the vocabulary for the 940 Wonders that existed before the service was put in place. We're working to improve the accuracy of this service, but there will undoubtedly be some errors throughout the first 950 or so WODs. While a more full-scale change is in the works, we encourage users to help us improve this feature by pointing out any terms/definitions that need our attention. Referencing the word and Wonder number is most helpful in these efforts.”

Meryl Becker-Prezocki

 

 

 

Meryl--thank you VERY much for taking the time to find that out about the definitions.  I just like to be very careful with readers who are making the effort to try difficult text so that they are not submerged in incomprehensible definitions.  The problem of definitions that are way beyond the level of the text seems to come up now and then.   The Kurzweil system also had definitions that were very difficult to understand--but that was a few years ago and may have been solved by now.

There seem to be some good features on Wonderopolis for higher level, motivated students.   I will try them out with a couple of my students.  

 

Robin Lovrien

Meryl, Dr. Robin, and Paul, 

I stumbled upon this thread while searching for articles on the use of Wonderopolis in adult education. I wanted to share that Wonderopolis is now linked up with Microsoft's Immersive Reader, an accessibility tool. With the Immersive Reader, users can adjust the text size, listen to the text read aloud (and change the rate of speech), view word translations (sometimes with picture dictionary) or full text translations into other languages, and more. You can read more about this here on the National Center for Families Learning blog here - https://www.familieslearning.org/blog/wonderopolis-adds-new-microsoft-immersive-reader-technology##targetText=%E2%80%9CThe%20Immersive%20Reader%20feature%20will,students%20choice%20in%20their%20learning.%E2%80%9D. 

 

The Immersive Reader has been used at Briya Public Charter School's family literacy classes. Their Digital Literacy Coordinator wrote up a piece featuring how one teacher of literacy-level adults has used it to great effect. https://educationblog.microsoft.com/en-us/2019/08/learning-to-love-language-and-technology-immersive-reader-and-presentation-translator/

 

I'd love to hear if others have used the Immersive Reader (with or without Wonderopolis) with their classes. 

 

Regards,

Xavier

I would recommend CollectEdNY, which is a free collection of teaching resources specific to adult numeracy, adult basic education, adult literacy, and high school equivalency. 

Here is a sample of the different sections of what the site has to offer:

  • Resource Reviews: Free, quality teaching resources vetted and reviewed by adult education instructors, for adult education instructors. Post comments, share experiences and ask questions and engage with adult educators across the state and country.
  • Framework Posts: Download the CUNY HSE Curriculum Framework for teaching math, science and social studies (integrated with reading and writing). On Framework Posts, find additional lessons, problems, activities, & readings organized by HSE subjects, domains & subdomains.
  • Math Packets: 8 math packets targeting high emphasis HSE math topics, designed for independent student learning, and adaptable for classroom use.
  • Math Memos: Adult educators share non-routine math problems, samples of student work, and practical suggestions for bringing the problems to life in your classroom.
  • Career Posts: Find highlights, selected activities and supplementary materials for the NYSED/CUNY CareerKits. Download all of the toolkits, including Career Fundamentals.

yours in productive struggle, 

Mark Trushkowsky