Test Conducting feature is now live. You can now conduct tests from your generated question papers.
Planning lessons and classroom activities are time-consuming and effort-intensive. However, the increase in EdTech tools has made it possible to simplify tasks by downloading free materials from curated websites. We’ll discuss the top free websites to access educator resources.
Teachers have many responsibilities, from curriculum planning to teaching students and conducting assessments. Planning lessons itself is a huge task and requires several working hours. Fortunately, technological advancements have led to the creation of many online resources for teachers.
Educators from around the globe can connect to the free and paid resources available to streamline their workload. Teachers are networking and sharing their work with other teachers. Many EdTech startups are coming up with new apps and tools to assist educators with different areas of the job.
In this blog, we compiled a list of free teaching resources easily available online with just a click. The resources are varied and suitable for all subjects and grades.
Top Free Lesson Planning Resources for Teachers
1. PrepAI
PrepAI is an artificial intelligence-based assessment tool. It uses NLP (natural language processing) algorithm to automate the process of creating a question paper. It works in three simple steps-
- Enter input data to create the question paper (upload Docx/ PDF, copy-paste text, use built-in search, or upload video/ video link).
- Click on a button to generate questions (MCQs, fillups, true/ false, & descriptive) and remove the ones you don’t want.
- Add new questions and save the paper before exporting it as a PDF, Docx, or Excel sheet or conduct the test online and share instant results with students.
Instead of manually creating the assessments, teachers can use PrepAI to speed up the process. It is hassle-free and convenient. PrepAI is one of the most reliable AI resources for teachers, with a 15-day free trial plan. Teachers can plan and streamline lessons and assessments using this tool.
2. ReadWriteThink
ReadWriteThink has been created by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to provide educators with free lesson planning resources. The lessons are divided into assignments, which are further divided into theory and practice sections. They come with an instruction plan and links to other resources for the topic. You can not only make use of the resources but can also share their material and earn some money.
3. EDSITEment
EDSITEment is a result of the collaboration between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Trust for the Humanities in the US. The website caters to ‘humanities’ fields and provides a plethora of free resources for languages, arts, social studies, history, culture, and literature. All the content on the website is reviewed to ensure that it meets the educational standards and is useful for teachers. The site also offers access to student resources.
4. PBS LearningMedia
PBS LearningMedia is one of the teacher resources websites that offer videos, lesson plans, activities for student interaction, and much more. It deals with subjects like arts, social studies, science, math, and the English language. New and latest resources are updated periodically to ensure teachers have access to the current topics. The videos and lesson plans are created to make the topics easily relatable for students.
5. Scholastic
Scholastic is a free teaching resource for K-8. It offers planning guides, book lists, lab sessions, whiteboard activities, vocabulary lists, discussion guides, reading and writing activities, etc. The USP of the website is that the lessons are planned about current events and Holidays. It makes the concept easier to understand for students. You can download the resources and use them throughout the year. Scholastic has endless resources, though they are limited to K-8.
6. PhET
The University of Colorado has created PhET to provide free educator resources for math and science. Teachers from engineering, technology, science, and math can access the free simulations to increase student engagement in class. You can create a competitive environment in the classroom to make learning easy and fun. The resources are easy to use and can be seamlessly blended with the existing lesson plan. This is an excellent way for students and teachers alike to learn and enjoy classroom sessions.
7. The Stanford History Education Group
This free resource for teachers deals with history. The lessons are created around historical questions. Reading material is provided to teachers and students to know more based on their learning levels. The resources are created for students to find out additional information by finding more sources, contextualizing, and cross-checking the details from different sources.
The primary intent of this resource is to help teachers create a setup where students will learn to read and evaluate online content (and determine how much of it is genuine/ authentic). Given the extent of whitewashing historical crimes from around the world, this resource will help students deal with misinformation on the internet and in books.
8. Epic!
Epic! is one of the best online resources for teachers and librarians. You can access more than 25,000 ebooks on different subjects and topics. The website includes resources in the Spanish language too and offers other materials like quizzes, lesson plans, etc. It also has an interactive whiteboard feature so that you can encourage students to read aloud in class or share reading material with them for individual learning. There are experiments and activities for students from STEM fields.
9. Teaching Tolerance
Teaching Tolerance has wonderful material for K-12 teachers. The free resources focus on important concepts like social justice, equality, etc., and aim to make learning more inclusive. The site has material to improve interactions between student groups by removing prejudice. You can create a student support system at school to enable them to become better individuals in society. The website focuses on helping teachers with extracurricular activities that shape students to become responsible and reliable adults.
10. NCTM Illuminations
Illuminations has been created by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) to provide lesson planning resources for free. Teachers from all grades can access the website to download lesson plans, activities, interactive tools, and Calculation Nation games. The website provides instructional support for you to make math more engaging and interesting for students. You can use interactive tools to make students a part of the teaching lesson and keep them involved throughout the session.
11. National Geographic
Nat Geo is one of the oldest websites that has been providing free teacher resources in different formats. You can access activities, lessons, and units from the site. Activities are for daily classes, and lessons can last for a week. A unit is more comprehensive and contains enough information to plan for a couple of weeks or more. The website offers ways to empower students with critical thinking and gain factual knowledge.
12. LearnZillion
LearnZillion’s main aim is to help teachers and students move to the Common Core Standards in the US. The website has more than 2000 resources for you to plan the lessons and activities at school. You can download the curriculum for the year and follow it to plan your classes. The company has a Dream Team of 123 teachers who create resources that align with the Common Core Standards. The website is a reliable place for teachers and students to improve the quality of learning.
13. Share My Lesson
Share My Lesson is another website providing teaching resources based on the Common Core Standards. It was developed by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to resemble TES Connect. The website has more than 250,000 user-generated resources you can access for free. From lesson plans to presentations, activities, and worksheets, you can find just about anything you want from different fields/ subjects. It is suitable for teachers from all grades.
14. Thinkfinity
Thinkfinity has been created by Verizon Foundation to offer free educator resources for K-12 teachers. The resources for each subject are curated and created by experts in the domain. You can download course material, lesson plans, and classroom activities based on the state and Common Core Standards. The website has an array of multidisciplinary resources for teachers and students from any grade. The site is particular about the quality of material offered to teachers.
15. ReadWorks
ReadWorks is a free resource website for teachers for K-6. It deals with the Common Core Standards and has lesson plans to improve classroom learning quality. This is your go-to site if you want to see an increase in student grades. It offers activities and worksheets (for handwriting). The website is fondly called the solution for reading comprehension.
16. Teacher Lingo
Teacher Lingo offers creative teacher resources as a free and paid service. Teachers can share and sell their material on the site (and earn extra money). Betty Miller, a retired sixth-grade teacher, and her son-in-law Preston Ridley (a software engineer) created Teacher Lingo for teachers to connect with each other and exchange material. It first began as a teacher forum, and when more educators started to share lesson plans and worksheets, the forum was expanded into a marketplace. You can join the site to access teacher resources and upload the ones you created.
17. Teacher Planet
Teacher Planet is another aggregated database with an assortment of lesson plans, activities, assignments, and printables for educators. What makes this site a favorite of many is the quality of the content. The best resources from all over the internet are collected at a single website and presented in a structured format. You can look for resources based on the subject and resource type and download them easily. It is neat, organized, and easy to use.
18. BetterLesson
If you want a platform to connect and collaborate with other teachers, check out BetterLesson. The website has been created by Alex Grodd, an alumnus of Teach for America. Teachers can share resources with others and download lesson plans, activities, etc. It has free and paid resources for teachers to improve their skills. BL Connect is one such offering where you have access to a library on different topics (math, literacy, critical skills, etc.)
19. Federal Resources For Educational Excellence
Also known as FREE, it is a huge database of teaching resources aggregated from various federal agencies. It has more than 1600 learning resources in subjects like history, arts, math, science, and languages. The resource is provided by the Department of Education (US). The history topics are categorized in chronological order for convenience.
20. Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers is an open online website created by Paul Edelman for educators to share, buy, and sell resources. He is a former Middle School teacher from New York City with practical experience in dealing with various difficulties at school. Over a million users access the platform and 50,000+ free resources. It also has 300,000+ paid resources where a teacher pays another teacher to buy their material. The website is suitable for teachers from pre-K to K-12. A kindergarten teacher, Deanna Jump, earned a million dollars by selling her teaching material on this website.
21. Watch Know Learn
Watch Know Learn has more than 33,000 videos on the site. You can find resources for all subjects and grade levels for free. This website focuses mainly on video content, which is neatly categorized subject-wise, grade-wise, and classroom-wise. The number of videos is also mentioned besides the subject name. Each subject is further classified into different topics.
22. SEN Teacher
If you are a special needs educator, this teacher resource website is the best place to find content for your students. You can download printable sheets, free software, links to other resources, and much more. The website has 300,000+ users. The biggest benefit of using SEN Teacher is that you don’t have to create an account or log in to access the resources. From flashcards to certificates, labels, math concepts, and more, there’s a lot of content available on this website.
23. OpExams
OpExams is an AI-powered question generator designed to assist teachers with automated test creation. Teachers can upload text, PDFs, or URLs to webpages or videos to generate assessments. The platform supports multiple-choice, true/false, and open-ended questions with customizable difficulty levels. OpExams also features multilingual support, allowing teachers to generate questions in various languages. It provides flexible output options, including exporting quizzes as Word, Excel, or CSV files, and sharing via links, making it an excellent tool for both classroom and remote learning. Additionally, teachers can use OpExams’ bulk generation and API integration features to scale assessments for larger student groups.
24. ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a generative AI tool developed by OpenAI. It took the world by storm and became one of the most popular genAI platforms in the market. ChatGPT is among the user-friendly and free lesson plan resources that teachers can use to structure their notes and lessons for any subject. The interactive ability of the tool makes it easy for teachers to ‘discuss and brainstorm’ ideas with the chatbot. It neatly presents the responses with proper subheads and pointers. Any topic from the given data or a fresh subject can be explored using this tool. However, teachers should cross-check the references to ensure accuracy.
25. Youcubed
Youcubed is a platform developed by the Stanford Graduate School of Education to inspire a love for mathematics by providing lesson plans and other resources for innovative teaching methods. It has subscribers from over 140 countries around the world. Teachers can choose the grade and topic to access existing templates and material in the content library. The interactive nature of the lessons makes it easy for teachers to encourage greater engagement from the students. Be it videos or tasks, teachers can use them in classrooms and online sessions. Moreover, Youcubed offers professional development courses (online and in-person) for educators, math professionals, teachers, and students.
26. TryEngineering
TryEngineering is one of the best teaching resources for teachers to encourage young minds in engineering. The platform focuses on increasing awareness about the role of engineering, computers, and technology in our daily lives. It takes the subjects to school students so that they would realize that engineering is for everyone. Teachers can use the existing lesson plans (over 130 to choose from) to create engaging sessions for their students. They can also connect with expert engineers and set up virtual meets where students can directly interact with the professionals and gain more knowledge. TryEngineering conducts a few events in the US (for school and college students). It also has global activities for teachers from other regions.
27. Defined Learning
Defined Learning is a transformative K12 EdTech company focusing on applied learning and project-based learning methodologies that can be seamlessly incorporated into the existing curriculums. Teachers can use the platform to access lesson plans that transform classroom experience by helping students build future-ready skills. It follows an equity-centered approach to encourage career-connected learning from a young age. The platform has a vast online library for teachers to choose K12-aligned projects and promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) career opportunities. Many US schools from over 1000 districts have partnered with the company to integrate Defined Learning with their educational systems. From white papers to success stories, teachers can find a wealth of material to create lesson plans.
28. iCivics
iCivics is a nonpartisan organization founded by the US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The platform aims to make civic studies relevant and meaningful for students in the country. From elementary to high school, teachers can find grade-appropriate topics and lesson plans to explain complex concepts in simpler and engaging terms. The platform provides lesson plans in various types like simulations, games, videos, PDF downloads, and much more. Moreover, the material can be filtered based on type, duration, technological requirements, pedagogy tags, etc. iCivics has over 300 partners from 40 states in the US, where 95% of teachers have noted that students were more engaged in the lessons.
29. TeachRock
TeachRock combines sounds, stories, and the science of music to provide lesson plan resources for teachers, students, etc. By limiting its focus to music, the platform ensures music and arts remain integral to school education. However, it also combines music with other subjects like math, civics, geography, social engineering, ethnic studies, etc. Over 60K teachers from across the US and Europe have registered with the platform. TeachRock has also signed collaborations with educational departments in different US cities to help them engage students in understanding and learning music. Teachers can access units and lessons to seamlessly integrate music with K12 education. The units have been created around specific themes to ensure in-depth knowledge.
30. Statistics in Schools
Statistics in Schools (SIS) is powered by the US Census Bureau to create study material for K12 students. Though the platform’s name highlights statistics, it provides resources and material for math, geography, sociology, English, and other subjects. The platform has been designed by teachers who also review every activity added to the content library. The resources are easy to use and can be customized as necessary. Teachers can make learning engaging and fun by downloading fun facts or warm-up activities. SIS promotes data-driven and statistical literacy in students. This helps develop critical thinking skills and in training young minds to be analytical.
31. Peekapak
Peekapak is a platform that provides technology resources for teachers with a focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) to model students into empathetic, caring, compassionate, and successful adults. It creates a curriculum that makes SEL a part of classroom learning. The resources are categorized into three levels – elementary, secondary, and administrators. The lesson plans are ELA and CASEL-aligned. The Peekapak interface can be seamlessly integrated with LMS. Be it blended learning or gamification, the platform allows it with ease. Teachers can also get in-depth analytics about students’ performances. Additionally, Peekapak is available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Conclusion
Most websites for educators have free and paid resources. You can choose to download only free content or buy paid material, depending on your requirements and budget. Make the most of resources to reduce your workload without compromising the quality of classroom learning.
Give your students something extra and better without getting stressed and tired. EdTech is changing the educational industry to become more inclusive by adopting a holistic approach.
