We love Ed Tech! Here at The Yellin Center we take pride in keeping up with the latest developments in educational technology. We strive to know what is happening and what innovations are being made in the field. By staying up to date we are able to suggest the most relevant tools to the students, families, and educators we serve. We do this, however, through a lens of mindfulness. We believe that no app or website is a silver bullet, and that every digital resource is merely a tool to amplify learning, just like paper and pencils tasks.

Here in New York City our neighbors include some pretty influential and innovative ed Tech companies. Some of these companies create tools that we have vetted and have found to be of incredible merit. Frequently, we find ourselves recommending these tools to our learners. We want to showcase some of the great tools and companies that come from our very own backyard, right here in New York City.

Newsela

Flocabulary

Flocabulary is an online producer of educational songs and videos to help students learn key concepts across curricular areas. Whether a child is learning how to find the perimeter of a rectangle or how to use a comma, Flocabulary has a highly entertaining rap song to help them master the concept. Often the rhythm and rhyme in a song or rap can help students better integrate the concepts and recall the information later. We love what Flocabulary is doing.

BrainPop

Brainpop, like Flocabulary, also produces educational videos, except this time without the rap. They have a robust library of informative animated videos across curricular areas, and include materials for English language learners through BrainPop ESL. For French or Spanish speakers there is also a BrainPOP Français and BrainPOP Español. So, regardless of your abilities, or language background, BrainPop is likely to have a resource to help you learn a new concept.

GameUp is the newest addition to the BrainPop learning resources. GameUp is described as “a vetted and always-expanding collection of cross-curricular digital learning games from leading game designers, paired with implementation materials.” 

Code Academy

Learn with Homer

Learn with Homer is a research backed digital reading program to help build children’s early reading skills. We have talked about them before and there is a reason they’re one of our favorite tools. The app is comprehensive, and will build upon previously mastered skills in order to teach new reading skills. They have conducted extensive research and lent their app to researchers around the country to vet – and the results are impressive, to say the least.