Discover resources and strategies for teaching core content areas. Explore tips, tools, and activities to enhance learning across all subjects.
Keeping students engaged while practicing their math skills can sometimes be difficult. But luckily, there is a powerful and free platform available for grades 1 through 8 that will help them achieve mastery and have fun doing it. And that platform is Prodigy.
What Is Prodigy?
More than 15 million students around the world are using Prodigy right now, a curriculum-aligned math game for elementary and middle school learners. With more than 1,200 crucial math skills covered and a guarantee that the product will ALWAYS be free to educators, you will definitely want to get your students registered to use this program. It begins with a diagnostic test for each student so that they begin working on their best level and follows up with embedded assessments and differentiation. And the teacher can see individualized reports about each student’s progress at any time.
Played like a video game, the platform includes the ability to create a persona, take part in quests, level up, and engage in social learning. It is game-based learning at is finest and most engaging. And the research behind the math learning is spot on, so as a the teacher, you know that your students are learning what they are supposed to be.
Getting Started with Prodigy
To begin using the program, the teacher creates an account with name, email, and password. Then you must select the curriculum you want your students to use. Choices include the Prodigy Math Curriculum, which is the default, along with Common Core Math Standards, Florida standards, and yes, standards aligned to the Texas TEKS. Set up your class and enter your students and then determine on what topic you want them to start. Then you are ready to go. You will receive a URL for each class created for your students to enter, along with a unique class code. Students will then be asked to create a character and can start playing.
More about this Math Game
Prodigy works on any device that can connect to the Internet, which makes it perfect for the BYOT classroom. In addition, there is also a Chrome extension for the game. The game even includes virtual manipulatives for the students to use, along with text-to-speech/question read-aloud features. And in case you’re wondering how Prodigy is paying the bills, they sell an optional membership to parents that allows them to see exactly what their child is working on and how he/she is doing.
In a time when some educational companies promise, but don’t deliver, and when those that do may come with a hefty price tag, Prodigy is a beacon of what is best for student learning. Create your teacher account today and get your kids engaged!
There’s been a lot of discussion over the last year about implementing genius hour in the classroom. Genius hour is the strategy of giving time for students to do self-directed learning on interests that they are passionate about. Google regularly provides employees 20 percent of their work week that can be devoted to “passion projects,” believing that this will better engage the staff and make them more excited about all of their work. There is nothing magical about the “20 percent” number; it’s more important that you give students some time for open-ended learning in which they can pursue their own interests. Here are a few resources to help you get started integrating this educational trend into your classroom.
that the option to access the Google Play Store on your Chromebook is enabled in the dashboard. You can check your Chromebook by going to Settings. Scroll down until you see the Google Play Store (beta) section. If the option is greyed out, then you’ll need to bake a batch of cookies to take to the domain administrator and ask if they can enable the feature. (Giving cookies increases the chances of having this feature enabled by 64 percent.) If you log in with your personal Google account on the Chromebook, you’ll notice that it is already enabled. But you do NOT want to use your personal account with your students and other teachers. For safety reasons, you always want to use your district account, even if that means bribing the domain administrator or waiting a few days for it to be enabled. 
Once the option to enable is made available, you’ll be able to enable it in Settings and manage Android preferences (similar to if you were setting Android preferences on an Android phone or tablet).
Yippee! You have it enabled. So where it it? Click on the Launcher icon which, by default, is the icon on the bottom left on the shelf. You will now see the Play Store (beta) icon. This beta Play Store is currently a stipped down version of the Play Store you would see if you accessed it through the browser. And yes, you will need to use the beta Play Store to install Android apps. When accessing the store via the browser, your Chromebook will not be an option in the dropdown list of compatible devices. Once you click on the beta store, you will recognize the various categories to help you narrow down what type of app you are looking for. If the developers have not completely finished updating the app in question, it may be available as a beta version. When I spot checked several of the Android apps I have on my phone, almost all were available and ready in the Play Store. You might even find that some app developers have made their product available as a Chrome app (that you install via the Web Store) and an Android app (that you install via the beta Play Store). Either way, once installed, they will appear in your launcher window.
Autodesk SketchBook – Whether it is illustrating, diagramming, or sketchnoting, you’ll find this to be a simple app to use. When done, save the image to your Chromebook.
Trello – More than just a to-do list app, Trello can help you keep track of projects. You can work alone or collaboratively with classmates to keep track of project-based learning activities.
Trading Cards – This isn’t your traditional trading card maker. Templates provided include fictional person, real person, fictional place, real place, object, event, and vocabulary. Once you enter information on the front and back of the card, you can share it as a photo to your photo gallery.
Pic Collage – Share your message with pictures! Pic Collage lets you start by selecting your photos and then adding them to a grid with templates (start with a themed background) or freestyle (begin with a blank slate and add to it). You can also easily add text and search for photos on the internet to add to your collage.
On April 25, Amazon announced a new Alexa designed just for children. 
As with any tool, the strength of the learning that results comes from how much thought students have to put into it in the first place. So they should definitely be asked to storyboard their cartoon first and have it peer edited for clarity, flow, and understanding. The app encourages students to use “Story Arcs” in planning their masterpiece. According to the website, “A Story Arc is a scaffolding tool that helps you map out a story’s plot. Whether they’re learning Language Arts or Science, kids can practice communication skills using story arcs as formulas for convincing arguments.”
