🗑 Our best "end of semester" resources

📺 Free webinar: The PLAIground with Google AI tools

Ohhh, this is going to be fun!

I’m the guest on The PLAIground, a free webinar series by California educators Cate Tolnai and Ed Campos Jr. next week!

It’s a fun format: learn about some new tools … then experiment and explore with some fun challenges … then come together to reflect on the experience.

Topic: Google AI tools like NotebookLM, Learn About, and Google Arts & Culture

Date: Wednesday, Dec. 18
Time: 8:30-10:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern / 5:30-7:00 p.m. Pacific
Replay available: I think so?
Prior AI experience needed: None

🎟 Register here … and get more details here

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

✋🏼 40 sites for students with free time on their hands

At the end of the year, it seems like students are either wildly busy or sitting idly with time on their hands.

After a project, test, or other task is complete, sometimes students would ask me, “I’m done … now what do I do?”

Especially at the end of the year, I loved to have high-quality educational sites that they could use. You know, that would keep their attention and help them actually learn something.

Over time, I have added to this list little by little — and now I have 40 of them in this post.

Here are a few of my favorites — and afterward, I’ll add a few that aren’t on the list!

🎁 BONUS: Want your students to choose? Give them a link to this interactive free time choice board. It’ll guide them through some questions and then suggest options based on their responses.

1. Free Rice (freerice.com)

Each time you answer a multiple choice vocabulary question correctly, you generate enough money for the United Nations World Food Programme to buy 10 grains of rice to help reach Zero Hunger.

5. iCivics (icivics.org)

This site puts a flashy twist on civics-related topics, puts a ton of resources in teachers’ hands and lets students play REALLY fun games.

10. Google Maps Street View Treks

Street View Treks gives a first-person view to some of the most spectacular locations in the world, from Mount Fuji to the Grand Canyon to the Taj Mahal in India.

12. Pixar in a Box

Pixar has partnered up with Khan Academy to bring your students Pixar in a Box. With video tutorials and interactive lessons, this course gives us a window into the jobs of Pixar animators.

21. Dollar Street

Homes are sorted on Dollar Street by monthly income one end showing the poorest, the other the richest and everything in between. Click on any picture to view images and learn more about families around the world.

24. Interland (Be Internet Awesome)

Interland is an engaging and fun online site that makes digital citizenship and safety lessons into a game.

😱 More free time sites

… and that’s just the start! You can find all 40 of our free time site suggestions in this post. Plus, check out a few that I haven’t had time to add to the site yet …

1. Teachable Machine

Train a computer to recognize your own images, sounds, & poses. A fast, easy way to create machine learning models for your sites, apps, and more – no expertise or coding required.

2. Mice in the Museum (via Google Arts & Culture)

An AI audio experiment following two curious mice exploring museums and discussing art. Students choose artwork and the mice describe them and compare/contrast them.

3. Most Likely Machine

Algorithms power the world, but they can make mistakes. Build your own algorithm and see how it impacts the future – for good and for bad. (Thanks to Elissa Malespina for sharing this in her Substack!)

4. Talking Tours (via Google Arts & Culture)

An AI audio experiment touring cultural landmarks in Street View on Google Arts & Culture. Navigate to a landmark and snap a picture of what you want to learn about. An AI tour guide describes it.

🎯 QUICK TEACHING STRATEGY 🎯

✍️ 15 ideas for digital end-of-semester final projects

Final projects can help students summarize and review content from the entire semester. Plus, they can create fantastic products with what they've learned!

At the end of the semester, it’s easy to slip into “review for the test” mode.

Projects let students take what they’ve learned, put it all together and show off a little of their own creativity and personality.

And maybe, just maybe, that project may spark a passion that may stick with them for the rest of their lives.

Here are 15 ideas for digital end-of-semester final projects.

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!