Art and Music, 6-8 (15)
ELL, 6-8 (3)
Health/Wellness, 6-8 (10)
Life Skills, 6-8 (7)
Math, 6-8 (8)
Phys Ed, 6-8 (1)
Reading, 6-8 (15)
Science, 6-8 (14)
Social Emotional Learning, 6-8 (12)
Social Studies, 6-8 (15)
Tech/Engineering, 6-8 (14)
World Languages, 6-8 (2)
Writing, 6-8 (7)
Article on AFIWD: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly evolved since 2021, becoming an integral part of our daily lives. However, with the integration of AI into various sectors and applications, the issue of bias in AI has rightfully come to the forefront of discussion. Recognizing and addressing bias in generative AI models is crucial to building inclusive technology which ensures diverse perspectives are factored, and that outcomes are both fair and equitable.
Without a doubt, many of us are feeling anxious as we navigate the uncertainty of the coronavirus (COVID-19). We're feeling it too, and we wanted to share some of the tools we're using to take care of our minds and stay grounded.
Enjoy this curation of meditations, sleep stories, music and more, all hand-picked to support your mental and emotional wellness through this time. And check back soon as we'll be updating these resources regularly.
Tech Bytes is a teen taught class on various aspects of Computer Science. Teen Mentors, Rayaan Siddiqi, Labdhi Jain and Andrew Choi, host live sessions each week accompanied by online activities posted in the associated Google Classroom. Teens (12-19) may register at the library's website to participate and receive the code to enter the Google Classroom for more lessons and activities. Tech Bytes is funded by the Project Next Generation grant from the Illinois State Library.
Kikori is an app that provides teachers and parents with experiential and social emotional learning activities to help their students connect to themselves, their communities, and the world. Experiential education is LEARNING by DOING. The Kikori App has many easy to find Virtual and Physical Distancing activities to use!
The app gives educators tools + training to deliver experiential education activities and helps students connect with themselves,others and the planet. All public activities on this app are free for anyone to use in keeping with Kikori's vision to provide all students with the opportunity to develop the social emotional skills needed to thrive.
There are premium features that can be turned on that allow users to create, share, and favorite playlists and activities.
Empowering teachers and students to start learning data science - with fun, free datasets
Hip-hop videos and creativity tools give teachers new ways to captivate students while engaging them in academically rigorous content.
Topics include Social Emotional Learning, Health & Wellness, Financial Literacy
Build vocabulary – Vocabulary is a building block of literacy and the foundation for every Flocabulary lesson
Develop 21st-century skills – Student creativity and collaboration are at the core of our platform
Media, from video games and commercials to movies and social media, has an enormous influence on students’ behavior, thoughts, and health and well being. Educators see its impact every day in the classroom. How do we teach our students to become knowledgeable and responsible consumers and creators of media in today’s digital world?
Watch this on-demand webinar with Dr. Monica Burns, EdTech Consultant and Founder of ClassTechTips.com and Heather Inyart, Executive Director for Media Power Youth
TIME for Kids is committed to supporting educators and families around the world during this time. We have opened up all of our 2020 content and will continue to provide materials on a weekly basis through the end of the school year.
Topics Include: COVID-19, Animals, Environment, Medicine, Kid Reporters
Have students participate in a content-based scavenger hunt and take photos to record their findings. An app like GooseChase can make this even more fun.
Educational Ideas can be found here: https://www.goosechase.com/edu/game-library/
The Walking Classroom is an award-winning nonprofit education program that gets kids walking while listening to fun, standards-aligned, educational podcasts. The 15-minute podcasts are custom-written and recorded and cover topics on English language arts, social studies, and science and are designed for kids in grades 3 through 8.
In additional to the podcast's core content, each podcast begins with a different brief health message to build health literacy. It also incorporates a character value woven throughout the narrative (and included in the discussion questions) to support social and emotional learning.
The new mobile app includes almost 200 podcasts and is completely free to use through July 31, 2020. Discussion questions for each podcast are included right in the app. A separate Teacher's Guide with full lesson plans including quizzes is available in our online store.
Roots & Shoots mission is to empower young people to affect positive change in their communities.
This site includes exclusive lesson plans, activities, 1-Click Actions, projects, an online course, reflections, and opportunities to stay connected. Whether it’s doing something immediately to support first responders, grow understanding through activities like Community Mapping, or finding ways to grow Compassionate Traits from home, we’ve got everything you need to grow hope at home and anywhere, every single day.
The Brown Bookshelf hosted the KidLit4BlackLives Rally that took place on June 4, 2020. Led by Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, and Jason Reynolds, the Rally featured inspiring words, music, and numerous calls to action in support of equity and justice.
CommonLit is a nonprofit education technology organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, especially students in Title I schools, graduate with the reading, writing, communication, and problem-solving skills they need to be successful in college and beyond.
We believe in providing teachers with all the resources they need to set their students up for success, while also encouraging best practices in the classroom. That’s why the CommonLit Literacy Model is built on a foundation of over 2,000 high-quality free reading passages for grades 3-12, complemented by aligned interim assessments, growth-oriented data, and expert-led teacher development.
Our resources are: Flexible, Research-Based, Effective, as proven by third-party review, Aligned to the Common Core State Standards, Created by teachers, for teachers.
Dad's Worksheets has a growing collection of over 9,000 printable worksheets, online Math games, puzzles, and tools such as calculators, converters, and timers. All of these are completely FREE!
Book Creator is a simple tool for creating awesome digital books. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins.
Combine text, images, audio and video to create: Interactive stories, Digital portfolios, Research journal, Poetry books, Science reports, Instruction manuals, ‘About me’ books, Comic adventures
A creation and communication tool for students, educators and administrators to create interactive content, allowing those of all ages to visualize concepts and communicate creatively. Buncee empowers educators, administrators, parents, and all types of learners to achieve their remote learning goals. Easily create and share engaging activities, resources, and assignments directly with students, give students the tools to creatively demonstrate their learning, and connect with your entire school community through your virtual classroom.
The Checkology virtual classroom is a browser-based platform where middle school and high school students learn how to navigate today’s challenging information landscape by developing news literacy skills. Through its lessons, educators equip their students with tools to evaluate and interpret information and to determine what they can trust, share and act on.
STEM Punks is Australia’s leading STEM Education provider and is now providing free online lessons in response to COVID-19. The lessons are all designed, filmed and developed by teachers to ensure learning outcomes.
Each week is themed differently and students are asked to complete mini projects, design prototypes and complete playbooks (all provided). Weekly projects are designed for the students to work autonomously with minimal to no parental supervision required.
The Lion King Experience is an immersive arts education program that introduces students to many aspects of theater-making through the lens of The Lion King. We’re thrilled to unlock all sessions of The Lion King Experience for you to explore at home! Each lesson plan contains videos, journal prompts, performances, and more. How it works: Self-directed activities broken into 45-minute lesson plans on a flexible schedule.
Although this program is traditionally facilitated in a classroom setting, these instructions give you everything you need to explore theater on your own at home. And teachers: feel free to facilitate these lessons remotely as well! Have fun!
Camp Kinda is a free virtual summer experience designed to keep kids in grades K-8 engaged, curious, and having fun—even if they're stuck at home. It's like summer camp... kinda.
your kids will get 3-4 hours’ worth of activities each day, all connected to a weekly theme. Nothing boring. We’re talking about exploring the art of graphic novels, unlocking the mysteries of history, or jumping into the world’s craziest sports. Start any time you want. End any time you want. Camp Kinda runs on your schedule. We’ll add new adventures every week, and save them all for you right here.
Free music education for those without access is having a profound impact on the positive development of our kids. Check out our new online courses that are created for our students but are accessible to everyone regardless of financial status. We believe that music is medicine for the soul and improves mental, physical and spiritual health. Free online courses in Guitar, Singing, Music Theory, Piano, Percussion, Songwriting, Musical Theater and more. Even a Singing at Home with Your Little Ones course with 12 lessons.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation operates the world’s largest living history museum in Williamsburg, Virginia—the restored 18th-century capital of Britain’s largest, wealthiest, and most populous outpost of empire in the New World. With schools closed, social distancing recommended around the world, Colonial Williamsburg closed, and those who can working from home, we’re gathering materials here so you can escape to the 18th-century, learn a little and find some entertainment. You'll find Videos, Live interactions, Virtual Field Trips, Music, Arts &Crafts, Cooking.
At the Colonial Williamsburg Education Resource Library for Teachers (https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/teachers/), you’ll find a variety of materials for teaching and learning American history and civics, including videos, interactive learning games, lesson plans, and more. Video programs are designed for grades 4-8, but have been used successfully in other grade levels as well.
The Science Behind Pixar exhibition has been designed to let visitors experience the art, science, computer science, and math that Pixar uses to create their groundbreaking films. This website features some of the activities, videos, and images from the exhibition that describe the math, computer science, and science that go into making computer animated films. This exhibition was developed by the Museum of Science, Boston in collaboration with Pixar Animation Studios. There are free materials for hands-on, unplugged activities to use with this virtual exhibit at http://sciencebehindpixar.org/educators.
One of the world’s largest science centers and New England’s most attended cultural institution, the Museum of Science introduces approximately 1.4M visitors a year to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), through the world-class hands-on exhibits, and programs. Now, through its new #MOSatHome platform, delivering the Museum experience to families and educators online with a host of live stream events, webinars, podcasts, family STEM activities and more.
British architecture studio Foster + Partners found a way to keep children entertained during the lockdown. They have released a series of paper building templates that kids can print out, color and use to build their own paper cities to keep themselves busy. The studio even encourages children to share their own creations on social media using the #architecturefromhome hashtag! More information can be found here: https://www.fosterandpartners.com/news/archive/2020/04/architecturefromhome/
Writing prompts, Lessons from the News, Mindfulness, TikTok, Crafts and Author Readings including posts/videos from well known YA and Middle Grade Authors like John Green, Matt de la Peña and Elizabeth Acevedo
The Smithsonian Institution’s 19 museums, galleries, gardens and National Zoo remain active in the digital sphere, making it easy for museum lovers, creatives and lifelong learners alike to experience its offerings from the comfort of their couch. To help readers narrow down their search, Smithsonian magazine has compiled a list of virtual experiences that cater to an array of interests. Whether you’re in the mood to peruse the National Portrait Gallery’s presidential portrait collection, explore the engineering marvels of the Inka Empire or remix one of the 2.8 million images available through Smithsonian Open Access, this roundup has you covered.
In addition to highlighting virtual views, many Smithsonian museums offer exhibitions optimized for digital audiences.
Watch the latest Neil Gaiman videos and see Neil (and some famous friends!) read The Graveyard Book and Coraline in their entirety.
Fun science experiments you can do at home
We know that parents, educators, and girls are looking for support and connection during these challenging times. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to school closures and significant disruption to daily life, Girls Who Code is making CS educational activities available for download free of charge, to anyone who wants to access them. We will release activities weekly — some online, some offline, of varying levels of difficulty—over the course of the next few months. Each activity will include a feature of a woman in tech who pioneered innovative technology.
Using Google Tour Builder, students can create customized tours that combine photos, text, and targeted locations on Google Earth. These could be used to create tours that explore current events, historical periods or phenomena, science or geography topics, global research topics, students’ personal histories or future plans, or completely fictionalized stories that take place in various locations around the world.
Get creative–and maybe messy–with ideas for things to do inside and outside. Make a stop motion film, guitar, plant a garden and more ...
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor founded iCivics with the goal of transforming civic education for every student in America with innovative, truly engaging games and resources. iCivics works because we make the subject come alive. Our innovative games and supporting classroom resources teach young people to understand how our political systems work by allowing them to experience it first-hand and empowering them to address real-world issues.
iCivics is popular with students because it’s fun. But teachers are fast adopting iCivics because our free digital resources are high quality, easily adaptable for their classroom needs, standards-aligned and effective.
Welcome to Wonderopolis®, a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery in learners of all ages. Each day, we pose an intriguing question—the Wonder of the Day®—and explore it in a variety of ways. Wonderopolis was created by the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL). The excitement of learning that comes from curiosity and wonder is undeniable, and Wonderopolis helps create learning moments in everyday life—ones that fit in with dinner preparations, carpool responsibilities, a stolen moment between breakfast and the bus, or within school curriculum and education programs.
List of videos promoting physical activity, fitness , dancing, fun, shoe tying as well as a list of health related videos for older children. Star wars, superheros and harry potter themed fitness videos as well as Cosmic Kids Yoga
4 weeks of daily lessons in multiple subjects
Topics include: Butterfly vision, Superheros, Personality, Women History, Celebrating Differences, Media Literacy, Pop Culture, Animals, World History, Government
Brains On presents Forever Ago, a history show for the whole family! Every episode explores the origin of just one thing — like sandwiches, video games, clocks and more — while teaching listeners to think critically about history.
Reading Comprehension Practice on Khan Academy
Learn by topic: Funny Business
Learn by focus area: reading literature
Learn by focus area: reading informational text
Learn by focus area: vocabulary
Reading Comprehension Practice on Khan Academy
Learn by topic: Trailblazing Women
Learn by focus area: reading literature
Learn by focus area: reading informational text
Learn by focus area: vocabulary
Reading Comprehension Practice on Kahn Academy
Learn by topic: Banning Behavior
Learn by focus area: reading literature
Learn by focus area: reading informational text
Learn by focus area: vocabulary
There's a new bad guy in town and his name is COVID-19, AKA, the novel Coronavirus. Although Coronavirus has already made many, many people around the world really sick, you don't have to feel helpless. Information is power. On this special PSA for The Story Seeds Podcast, Jason Reynolds, National Book Award finalist and the 2020 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, inspires us to be everyday superheroes in the fight to stop the spread of Coronavirus. He shares eight simple things kids (and their grownups) can do to fight germs everyday … plus a recipe for home-made hand sanitizer.
44 engineering and science challenges from the engineers at Dyson
Hip-hop videos and creativity tools give teachers new ways to captivate students while engaging them in academically rigorous content.
Topics include Life Science, Earth Science, Physical Science, Scientific Practice, Technology & Engineering, Robots, Coding, Space
Build vocabulary – Vocabulary is a building block of literacy and the foundation for every Flocabulary lesson
Develop 21st-century skills – Student creativity and collaboration are at the core of our platform
Hip-hop videos and creativity tools give teachers new ways to captivate students while engaging them in academically rigorous content.
Topics include: Geography, History, Economics, News
Build vocabulary – Vocabulary is a building block of literacy and the foundation for every Flocabulary lesson
Develop 21st-century skills – Student creativity and collaboration are at the core of our platform
Hip-hop videos and creativity tools give teachers new ways to captivate students while engaging them in academically rigorous content.
Build vocabulary - Vocabulary is a building block of literacy and the foundation for every Flocabulary lesson
Develop 21st-century skills - Student creativity and collaboration are at the core of our platform
Learning to speak Spanish? Check out our free Spanish lessons and our children's stories in Spanish (Good for adults too!) We've also got reviews of Spanish courses if you're ready to get serious. Enjoy!
This is a Youtube Channel created and run by middle grade author Susan Tan, and made possible by an amazing community of children's book writers and illustrators. We wanted to do something to offer relief for parents and kids during these long days at home. On this channel, you'll find workshops, readings, activities, art projects, writing games, writing advice, and more. We hope that we can offer you some fun, some distraction, and a creative outlet for any feelings that might come up during this time.
Resources for Virtual Field Trips to National Parks and Museums as well as outdoor projects
Laundry, Typing, Media Literacy, Health Eating lessons for 6th - 12th grade
Learning with Duolingo is fun and addictive. Earn points for correct answers, race against the clock, and level up. Our bite-sized lessons are effective, and we have proof that it works.