My Teaching Library: A Printable Resource Website Review

I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Finding a good resource for printable activity sheets can be challenging!  Anytime I look around online for a free printable of some kind, I usually have to search a while to still have to deal with ads and finicky websites.  Some websites you pay for still don't meet all of your needs. In today's review of the Download Club from My Teaching Library we're going to look at how a printable resource website should be!

What We Received:
We received one year access to the Download Club from My Teaching Library which provides unlimited downloads and access to the website resources.

How It Works:

Resources are listed in drop down menus on the website by grade, subject and miscellaneous.  There is also a search box making it very easy to find relevant resources for your needs.  Once you find what you are looking for, hit the download button and your selection is sent to your downloads page under account information.  From the downloads page you can then see all the files you have ever selected and download any of them directly, multiple times on any device.  Having a list of your previously selected files is helpful, especially in the younger grades when the need to revisit topics happens frequently. 
In the older grades there are several interesting elements that complement those ages well.  There are all sorts of science activities, like anatomy or plant cells.  From Shakespeare to Dickens, classic literature is well represented.  Maps, constellations, history, math and research are included as well.  A nice addition is various hobbies or crafts like quilting or embroidery.
The miscellaneous area is very helpful for times when you aren't looking for something specific, but needing an activity of some kind.  A few weeks ago we went on a road trip out of town and I typically print off coloring and activity sheets for my kids to have things to do on the trip.  This area was great for that need.  There are themes by month and holidays, but also puzzles, games and instructional videos.

How We Used It:
With a 3 year old, a 2nd grader and a 4th grader, our family clearly has various needs when it comes to printables.  Like I mentioned above, preparing for a road trip was easy because I could find stuff for everyone in one spot.  With most homeschool families, you at least have parts of a core curriculum.  From a resource website you often just need to fill in gaps.  With Fall just beginning, I needed some fall related activities especially for my big kids.  I discovered Pumpkin Poetry that introduces several types of poetry as well as blank pages decorated with fall pictures to practice poetry further.  It works great for multiple ages and multiple kids!

I used My Teaching Library for my 3 year old the most.  He's working on letter recognition right now so he needs coloring sheets and lots of different exposures to letters and numbers.  They offer several different letter activities that definitely hit the spot like Trace, Color and Count, Letter Learning Bundle, and an Alphabet Coloring Book!  He's always ready to do school like the big kids so he has certainly enjoyed getting to work on things printed just for him.
The interface is easy to use and the variety of activities is diverse.  I would definitely recommend this website for anyone in need of an easy resource option for their homeschool.

Follow My Teaching Library on Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyTeachingLibrary

Twitter: https://twitter.com/homeschool_mtl

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lyndaackert/my-teaching-library

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLCFlasgcKaLD5lHu2x6bNA

Are you looking for resources for different ages?  The Review Crew has families of all ages!  Click on the link below to see what their experience with My Teaching Library was.

Super Teacher Worksheets: A Printable Review

Worksheets sometimes get a bad rap as the makings of a miserable education, but most any teacher will tell you that they are very useful.  Maybe it's a homeschool thing, but my kids are always begging me to print them off some school!  There are a lot of free websites around, but I usually can't get more than a couple of pages off of a website before I hit a snag of some kind like asking to pay for the good quality pages or the printing is all weird.   Getting to review the Individual Membership from Super Teacher Worksheets  helped me see what I had been missing when I relied on Google to give me what I needed!

Super Teacher Worksheets provides a very diverse assortment of printable materials to use in your classroom.  Starting with Preschool up to around 5th or 6th grade levels, there are many subjects and lots of worksheets/activities to choose from in each category.  Math, grammar, social studies, science, spelling, phonics, puzzles, handwriting, coloring, seasons, holidays, and if that wasn't enough, a worksheet generator for quizzes, crosswords and word searches are all included in the Individual Membership which is $19.95 a year.  With worksheets in the name, you of course think mainly of that, but they offer flash cards, card games, scavenger hunts, word wheels, cut and glue activities, maps, bingo and more.   

Whether you have Spanish speaking learners or you need some reinforcement for your Spanish lessons, there are some really neat printables in Spanish!  There are also teacher tools like award certificates and lesson planners.

We tried a lot of different activities over the review period and I discovered how nice the file cabinet they offer is.  Teaching multiple students means that if I find a good worksheet or activity, I'm probably going to to use it again.  Being able to save it and access it quickly anytime is a great tool.   Like the Story Cube pictured above, I am definitely going to use it again and I don't expect it will last a couple of years in my house.  So having it saved will save me some time.  The cube itself was a big hit with the 4 year old and 6 year old as it can be used with any kind of book.

 I tried out the worksheet generator and made a fun word find using family members names including cousins and grandparents.  Just that little bit of personalization seemed to make it a lot more enjoyable to the kids.  Whatever the subject we are studying that week, the worksheet generator makes it easy to adapt to it.  Plus it is an easy way to reinforce vocabulary words.

Since I homeschool two and eventually three children, having this kind of a resource makes a lot of sense.  If I had a classroom of 20 or 30, I would see it as a necessity! If you're in the market for an easy way to fill in gaps in your curriculum, Super Teacher Worksheets is a good, reliable option!
Keep with Super Teacher Worksheets on Social Media: 

• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/superteacherworksheets 
• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/SuperTeacherWks   
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/superteacherwks/   
• Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/superteacherworksheets/ 

HelpTeaching.com: A Printables Website Review

I know all of you lesson planners out there NEVER need a supplement worksheet or activity at the last minute and have found yourself scrounging for something on the internet only to be frustrated and wasting a lot of time.  I'm sure I'm the only one. ;)  In the event that you've ever had the experience or could just use some reliable extra resources, our experience with the Help Teaching Pro Subscription from HelpTeaching.com might be helpful to you. HelpTeaching.com is a resource website full of custom and pre-made full-color worksheets, tests and  online lesson and activities for all subjects K-12.  As any teacher worth their stock knows, worksheets and tests don't automatically translate to a well-rounded education, but they are certainly needed and useful at times.   For all of those times, having a complete library of resources and a customizable testing platform at your fingertips is pretty handy.  The more grade levels you teach, the more useful it becomes as well.  For this review we focused on Pre-K to 1st grade resources but there are loads of options for every grade level.  
As you would expect from early education level subjects, there are lots of options in color matching, tracing, cutting/scissor training, alphabet, numbers, and early reading activities.  With Miss Z, my 3 year old, we have just started focusing on a letter a week and it has been very helpful to have different types of pages that reinforce the letter she's learning.  With J, my almost 6 year old, we tried out some of the online video lessons and questions for math, along with some some customized word searches.  In addition to what it automatically generated, I was able to add in my own words.  He enjoyed finding all of our names!

Of course, worksheets have their place, but they can get so boring if you aren't creative with them.  Some of the fun ways you can use many of the worksheets are scavenger hunts, adding manipulatives for matching and sorting, gluing/decorating (with glitter, beans, cotton, etc.), and of course coloring and drawing on the back.  One irritation I had was that when printed many of the worksheets were slightly off-center.  Not a huge deal, just irritating.  Overall, I found the website very useful and the price a good value for all that was made available.

If this website sounds like something you could use, note that there are 3 levels of membership.  With the free membership you have access to the test maker, but a limit on the number of questions on each test and limited access to worksheets.  The membership I was given is the Pro Membership which runs $24.95 a year and gives you unlimited access to everything they offer.  There is also a Group Membership for schools and businesses for $199.95 a year.  Something for everyone!

Keep up with HelpTeaching.com on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helpteaching

Twitter: https://twitter.com/helpteaching @helpteaching
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/helpteaching/

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