MATH Sites That Students Can Use

MATH Sites That Students Can Use Independently by Larry Ferlazzo

10The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress is a “The Best…” list that can come in very handy for teachers and for students. It lists free sites where teachers can register their students, and both can keep track of their progress. They can be useful for reinforcing concepts and language learned in the classroom. Most, thought not all, of the sites on that list focus on English.

I thought a similar list targeting sites that let teachers and students do the same with Math could be useful. I know that over the years I’ve seen a number of them, but never bothered to bookmark the sites.

So I put out a call this blog and on Twitter for suggestions. Here is what people recommended, and I hope others will contribute more:

Brad Wilson made this suggestion: Ten Marks is one that focuses on math. A colleague of mine really liked it, although I have not registered my own students before. Another for both ELA & math assessments is Easy CBM.

Nancye Blair wrote: Sokikom.com has a free component for number sense- fractions/decimals/prevents – that is very well developed, adaptive, and includes video tutorials. My students love it! They also have several components that one could pay to add on.

Bryan Corcoran said: One site that I’ve found to be quite beneficial is ThatQuiz.org. Toying around has found quite a variety of items to introduce and review with the students, and it catalogs quite a bit of data, making it easy to pinpoint individual problems, as well as class issues with specific math concepts.

Carrie Ward commented: In the past I have used Tutpop to register a whole class and track the progress they make with math through games played with each other as well as students from around the world! There are different levels, but it is aimed at elementary. I can’t remember who first told me about this site, but I like it.

This comes from Tracy Macfarlane: I love xtramath.org. It is a free site that helps kids master their math facts. Initially, the student takes an assessment quiz of what they already have mastered as indicated by a response of 3 seconds or less. Each consecutive session is based on the outcome of the previous assessments. It takes about 5 minutes a day, provides corrective feedback, visuals for goal setting, and can be used for the whole class or set up at home by a parent.

A big thanks to Kelvin Hartell, who let me know about Study Ladder. It has impressive literacy, science and math interactives, and teachers can set-up “classrooms” to keep track of student work. Plus, it’s free!

LearnZillion has tons of free video math lessons that end with a quiz. Those in themselves are not that big of a deal, but three nice things about them are that they are designed by teachers, are free, and that teachers can create “virtual” classes and monitor student progress on them.

As a non-math teacher and as someone who detests anything to do with math, I cannot vouch for the quality of these lessons. I heard about LearnZillion on NPR’s Market Watch program, and you can read/hear it here.

ZooWhiz is a good — and free — Australian site with tons of interactive games and exercises for pre-school, elementary, and middle school (and for English Language Learners who are even older). Users have to register for the site, and teachers can create virtual classrooms for their students.