Apps and Websites for Differentiation
General Tools
Edpuzzle: Good for any subject. You can use a preexisting video with questions or you can import your own. This can be used with a whole class or videos can be assigned for enrichment or intervention.
Formative: Good for any subject. You can create assessments here that you can watch the students take in real time. You can intervene before the student is finished with the assessment if you notice a trouble spot appear.
Seesaw: Good for any subject. Students can explain their thinking and share ideas using this app.
Kahoot: Good for any subject. Game-like learning experience where students compete to get questions correct on a given topic. It has results that can allow you to see which students need reinforcement on particular skills.
Quizizz: Good for any subject. Students can compete in a game-like way, but, unlike Kahoot, at their own pace to demonstrate knowledge in any subject. They can also be assigned as reviews or practices for the whole class or just targeting specific skills for a few students. For instance, I have used Quizizz to create individualized reviews for students who were struggling with a particular phonics skill.
Math
Xtra Math: A place for students to work on their fact fluency. It has basic facts in all four operations.
Freckle: There are problem based lessons for many math standards available for free (more if you have the paid version) that can serve as enrichment for students or whole class activities. It has many tools for differentiation. There is the adaptive math pathway, where students take a pretest in a particular domain in math and then they receive questions at their level in that area. There is targeted math practice where teachers can assign a particular assignment, but you are only limited to one assignment at a time with the free version. There is also fact fluency practice in all four operations, that students can complete up to twice a day.
IXL: IXL has many skills that align with the common core standards, and they are constantly adding more. The students receive questions at their level, with explanations of how to solve each problem after they have attempted it. On IXL you can see which students are struggling with the same type of problem and use that information to form small groups for instruction. There is also the diagnostic area where students are assessed to see which individual skills they need to grow their knowledge.
Khan Academy: Khan Academy is a free resource with a wealth of material to meet common core standards at each grade level. The lessons can be used as a way to introduce concepts, provide practice, or reteach or enrich concepts. Teachers can track where students are having difficulty and intervene. I have also used Khan Academy videos with Edpuzzle and created my own questions around them.
eSpark: I’ve had a free trial of it, but it provides differentiated content for students based on a pretest. The teacher can adjust the levels if necessary or assign particular standards to students. The students love the activities in each “quest,” which include games, videos, and questions to answer. They have quests that match up with many of the common core math standards.
Prodigy: Prodigy provides pretests to place students into levels. This data is useful to teachers, but it also allows them to provide questions at the students levels. It is also great for differentiation because the teacher can create plans for the whole class, small groups, or individual students to target skills that need practice. Hints are offered to help students while solving the problems.
ELA
IXL: IXL has some reading strategies covered, but it is best with language skills. The IXL language skills can be used to teach grade level skills or reinforce and review skills that particular students may be missing. There is also the diagnostic area where students are assessed to see which individual skills they need to grow their knowledge.
Khan Academy: Khan Academy is beta testing reading skills and they have many language skills covered. Khan Academy allows for ways to reinforce skills or introduce new skills for enrichment extensions.
Freckle: Freckle has three differentiated ELA pathways. One is word study, which provides students with practice with different word patterns after a pretest assesses them. Skills practice also uses a pretest to place them into a level, or you can assign students specific skills to work on (but with the free version, you only get one assignment at a time). Finally, the library provides articles and stories after a pretest that students can read through on their own. Teachers can also assign articles to read that will appear at different reading levels, allowing for differentiation of materials in ELA, science, or social studies.
NewsELA: Students receive current events articles targeted at their own reading level. Once again, the entire class can read the same content, but they can read it at their own level.
Readworks: Texts are provided at many levels. Students can read in a library, or teachers can assign passages to use in guided reading groups or content areas.
Commonlit: Provides both fiction and nonfiction texts with questions that can be good for guided reading groups. The selection for grades 3-4 is limited, but it has more for higher grades, making it especially good for enrichment purposes.
eSpark: I’ve had a free trial of it, but it provides differentiated content for students based on a pretest. The teacher can adjust the levels if necessary or assign particular standards to students. The students love the activities in each “quest,” which include games, videos, and questions to answer. They have quests that match up with many of the common core reading standards.