Education City

Not to be confused with the very real Education Citybeing created in Qatar, Education City is a Website operated by EdMentum with more than 2,000 activities and interactive lessonsaimed at grades preK through 6.

Designed as supplemental curriculum, the site canbe used with whole class (on an interactive white board) or individually,including printable worksheets for practice or site access from home includedwith certain licenses. Teachers (or parents) can search for resources oractivities by state or Common Core standard in language arts, math, science orEnglish language learning. For enrichment, students can also use the PlayLive optionto compete with similar students across the country on solving math problems(and can’t communicate with those students surreptitiously, so it’s a safeoption for online gaming).

Like any site worth its salt, Education City also allowsteachers to see student and class progress (through its Success Tracker). Whilethe animation isn’t exactly Pixar-quality, it seems to appeal to the youngerchildren it targets – and reviews by homeschoolers and teachers online sayEducation City “seemsto have found the right balance between entertainment and learning experience”– which is what matters in the end.

Originally created in 1999 in the UnitedKingdom, Education City launched in 2002 with 100 activities; by 2010, when thecompany was acquired by competitor Archipelago Learning, Education City hadexpanded to a global team of 100 people with 13,000 school customers. Today,EdMentum says the site is in use in more than 15,000 schools, primarily in theUnited States and the United Kingdom. The product is targeted at schools orother learning organizations (such as virtual schools or after-school programs)rather than at individual teachers or parents, with prices ranging from $150for 6th grade subjects to $469 for earlier grades.