RESOURCES FOR FREE LEARNING ACTIVITIES / GAMES (ONLINE OR FOR DOWNLOAD/PRINTING)
https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/kindergarten-and-first-grade
Target Age: Kindergarten and 1st Grades
Description: The K-1 materials include a teacher’s manual and materials for lessons on phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
https://www.fcrr.org/student-center-activities/second-and-third-grade
Target Age: 2nd and 3rd Grades (ages 7-9 years)
Description: The materials include a teacher’s manual and materials for lessons on phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
http://www.pbsparents.org
Target Age: 1-8 years
Description: The website contains information for parents about child development and early learning. Parents can also sign up for a free monthly newsletter. Parents can learn more about PBS Kids and the free educational games and activities available there.
http://www.pbskids.org
Target Age: 3-7 years
Description: Kids can view videos, play games or print out activity pages based on favorite shows or stories (as seen on PBS such as Arthur, Sesame Street, Curious George, Between the Lions, etc.). Free activities focus on literacy, language, math, reasoning and logic skills, and science. Also available are lists of free e-books, computer apps, games and videos.
http://www.starfall.com
Target Age: 3-8 years
Description: The Startfall non-profit organization provides free on-line access to animated songs, math and reading activities for preschool through the second grade levels. Parents can expand access to materials and activities by paying the annual $35.00 fee.
http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM
Target Age: 2-6 years
Description: First-School features free fun preschool lesson plans, educational early childhood activities, printable crafts, worksheets, calendar of events and other resources for children of preschool age. The preschool crafts, lesson plans and activities are appropriate and adaptable for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten level (ages 2 to 6).
http://www.xpmath.com/forums/commonCoreStateStandardsByGrade.php#grade234
Target Age: 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grades (7-10 years)
Description: This is a good place to find math games, math videos, math worksheets, and math e-books. The game section of XP Math offers games for basic arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and probability. You can create an account on XP Math and you can keep track of your scores.
https://www.khanacademy.org/
Target Age: Kindergarten through High School (Ages 5-18 years)
Description: Khan Academy offers free practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. They tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Their math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. They have also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.
http://www.neok12.com/
Target Age: Kindergarten through High School (Ages 5-18 years)
Description: Designated a “Great Site for Kids” by the American Library Association, this site provides educational videos, lessons, quizzes and educational games for K-12 students in various subject areas, such as science, math, health, social studies and English.
http://www.funbrain.com
Target Age: Preschool through 8th Grades (ages 3-14 years)
Description: Funbrain, created for kids ages preschool through grade 8, offers more than 100 fun, interactive games that develop skills in math, reading, and literacy. Plus, kids can read a variety of Brewster Rocket. Parents can trust Funbrain to deliver a fun and safe experience for even the youngest children. The Playground helps parents introduce their preschoolers to the Internet and teaches them how to manipulate the mouse and keyboard. Funbrain is committed to providing a safe gaming environment that bridges learning and entertainment. Funbrain never collects personally identifiable information from kids.
http://www.aaamath.com/
Target Age: Kindergarten through Eighth Grades (Ages 5-14 years)
Description: AAA Math features a comprehensive set of interactive arithmetic lessons. There is no cost or registration required to practice your math on the AAAMath.com site. Unlimited practice is available on each topic that allows thorough mastery of the concepts. A wide range of lessons (Kindergarten through Eighth grade level) enables learning or review to occur at each individual’s current level. Immediate feedback prevents practicing and learning incorrect methods, which is a common result of traditional homework and worksheets. Practice can continue as long as desired in a non-threatening format that helps build self-esteem and confidence. Note: Due to heavy traffic a page may not load properly. The same content is available at: AAAKnow.com, AAAStudy.com, 321Know.com and AAAMath.com.
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/
Target Age: Elementary School (ages 6-12 years)
Description: This site offers hundreds of free, online, educational games for kids. There are many topics and recommendations are given for which games are appropriate for which age levels. For elementary aged students, the following are recommended:
- Animal Kid’s Corner (upper row for older kids, lower row for younger kids)
- Math Games (many levels and topics, many kinds of games)
- Nutrition for Kids (food groups, information and other food games)
- Seasons for Kids (painting, activities, matching games, winter, fall, spring, summer)
- Grammar Games (games, tutorial, verbs, adjectives, nouns, punctuation)
- Dinosaurs (games, activities, movies)
- Geography (8 levels of difficulty to choose from upon skill level)
- Brain (brain teasers, puzzles and more)
- USA 4 Kids (government, state facts, history, games and more)
- Science (Life Cycle, Plant and animal cell, movies and games)
- Animals (hundreds of articles and quizzes)
- Health (games about the systems, digestion, skeleton)
- Easy Spanish (colors, objects, animals)
http://mrnussbaum.com/grade-1/
http://mrnussbaum.com/grade-2/
http://mrnussbaum.com/grade-3/
Target Age: 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades (ages 6-9 years)
Description: Students have free access to interactive learning games over a variety of topics including literacy and math. History, science, and geography are also included as topics. There are some links to free printables such as flash cards and worksheets.
http://www.arcademics.com/games?grade=1
http://www.arcademics.com/games?grade=2
http://www.arcademics.com/games?grade=3
Target Age: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Grades (ages 6-9 years)
Description: Arcademic Skill Builders are online educational video games on basic math, language arts, vocabulary, and thinking skills. These educational games provide fun and focused repetition practice that enables automaticity and fluency to be achieved more quickly. Student Safety Note: Students are completely safe while playing the games. It is not possible for anyone outside to contact a student while playing the games. Arcademic Skill Builders do not store the player ID’s that students create, and monitor player names and block inappropriate names created by students.
http://www.education.com/games/
Target Age: Preschool through 2nd grades (ages 3-8 years)
Description: Parents or students can register for free (email and a password) to access online reading and math games. Parents have the option to upgrade for “premium” services for a fee.
https://www.ixl.com
Target Age: Pre-K through 12th Grades (Ages 3-18 years)
Description: IXL provides hundreds of high quality on-line practice questions (organized by grade level) in four different subjects: math, language arts, science and social studies. Users have free access to one set of questions in one subject per day. For those wanting greater access, a subscription is required. Many schools currently maintain an organizational subscription, and students can access the program at home at no additional charge. Otherwise, parents can subscribe for $9.99 per month or $79.00 for a full year.
RESOURCES FOR FREE BOOKS (E-BOOKS ONLINE): 1ST, 2ND 3RD GRADES
http://www.childrenslibrary.org
Target Age: 3-13 years
Description: The International Children’s Digital Library Foundation’s (ICDL Foundation) mission is to support the world’s children in becoming effective members of the global community – who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas — by making the best in children’s literature available online free of charge. The ICDL Foundation is a non-profit corporation. (Books are available in multiple languages.) Books are grouped by fiction and non-fiction and also by age (3-5, 6-9, and 10-13 years.)
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-early.htm
Target Age: Early Readers
Description: Children’s Books Online–the Rosetta Project–include thousands of illustrated books and is a volunteer-driven project. It has grown slowly since 1996 from the work of a single man and a handful of books, to a vibrant volunteer–driven organization publishing new books and translations every week. The group claims to have one of the largest online library of antique books. This library is made possible by a grant from the John and Frances Beck Foundation. Many books are available in multiple languages.
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-intermediate.htm
Target Age: Intermediate Readers
Description: Children’s Books Online–the Rosetta Project–include thousands of illustrated books and is a volunteer-driven project. It has grown slowly since 1996 from the work of a single man and a handful of books, to a vibrant volunteer-driven organization publishing new books and translations every week. The group claims to have one of the largest online library of antique books. This library is made possible by a grant from the John and Frances Beck Foundation. Many books are available in multiple languages.
http://www.storylineonline.net/a-to-z-book-directory/?sort=titleb
Target Age: Not specified
Description: The SAG-AFTRA Foundation records well-known actors reading children’s books and makes graphically dynamic videos so that children around the world can be read to with just the click of a Storyline Online video book image.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
Target Age: Not Specified
Description: Play games, watch videos, learn about animals, and places, and get fun facts on the National Geographic Kids website.
http://www.kidsworldfun.com/ebooks.php
Target Age: Not Specified
Description: This is a collection of free animated eBooks. These online eBooks touch various subjects and promise to make your child’s learning experience richer.
http://www.tarheelreader.org
Target Age: Pre-K through 12th graders (Beginning Readers, Struggling Readers, English Language Readers, Students who use switches, alternative keyboards, touch screens and AAC devices)
Description: Tar Heel Reader is the result of the collaborative efforts of Karen Erickson, director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, and Gary Bishop, a professor of computer science, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Karen wanted to create an online community of books that teachers could share with children (and adults!) with disabilities who might not be physically able to handle books and/or who needed more reading opportunities at the appropriate level that were age respectful. The books may be downloaded as slideshows in PowerPoint or onto an iPad to be opened in iBooks. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches. It has been around since 2008. As of 2015, 10,001 different authors have written 41,125 books in 24 languages.
https://www.bookshare.org
Target Age: All
Description: Bookshare can help if you cannot read traditional print books because of a visual impairment, physical disability or severe learning disability, The books are “accessible,” which means you can read books many different ways. Bookshare offers the world’s largest collection of accessible titles. As a result, people of all ages, as well as schools and many organizations around the globe can access the books they need for school.
http://abcya.com
Target Age: Grades K-5 (Ages 5-11 Years)
Description: Children can listen to short stories read aloud to them as they follow along with highlighted text. ABCya! has a variety of educational games in addition to the featured stories. Free resources and materials are available for grades K-5
http://growingbookbybook.com
Target Age: Ages 0-7 Years
Description: Access to books, reading and writing ideas and projects as well as sign up for free newsletter and to have resources sent to your email in-box. Resources are organized by age groups: infants, toddlers, preschoolers and beginning readers.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOOKS: 1ST, 2ND 3RD GRADES
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/ages-6-7
Target Age: Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade (ages 6-7)
Description: Book lists and recommended reading for ages 6-7. This list is provided by Scholastic and Parent and Child magazine.
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/ages-8-10
Target Age: 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades (ages 8-10)
Description: Book lists and recommended reading for ages 8-10. This list is provided by Scholastic and Parent and Child magazine.
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb
Target Age: Birth through the 8th grade
Description: According to the ALSC Notable Children’s Books Committee manual, these categories loosely represent the following:
Younger Readers – Preschool-grade 2 (age 7), including easy-to-read books
Middle Readers – Grades 3-5, ages 8-10
Older Readers – Grades 6-8, ages 11-14
All Ages – Has appeal and interest for children in all of the above age ranges. Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children’s books. According to the Notables Criteria, “notable” is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children’s books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children’s interests in exemplary ways. (According to ALSC policy, the current year’s Newbery, Caldecott, Belpré, Sibert, Geisel, and Batchelder Award and Honor books automatically are added to the Notable Children’s Books list.)