RESOURCES FOR FREE LEARNING ACTIVITIES / GAMES (ONLINE OR FOR DOWNLOAD/PRINTING)
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.sheppardsoftware.com/
Target Age: Middle School through High School (ages 12-18 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 middle school through high school aged students, the following are recommended:
*Chemistry Games (periodic table games)
*Geography (8 levels of difficulty to choose from upon skill level)
*Math Games (many levels and topics, many kinds of games)
*Science (Life Cycle, Plant and animal cell, deep sea creatures, movies, games)
*Brain (brain teasers, puzzles, and more)
*Vocabulary (SAT prep)
*Animals (hundreds of articles and quizzes)
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): HIGH SCHOOL
http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video
Target Age: High School (ages 14-19)
Description: The LearnOutLoud.com Free Audio & Video Directory offers a selection of over 10,000 free educational audio and video titles. The directory features free audio books, courses, documentaries, talks, interviews, speeches, and many other great free audio and video resources.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Target Age: Not Specified
Description: Project Gutenberg offers over 50,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. They carry high quality ebooks: The ebooks were previously published by bona fide publishers. Project Gutenberg digitized and diligently proofread them with the help of thousands of volunteers. No fee or registration is required, but donations are accepted. Over 100,000 free ebooks are available through their Partners, Affiliates and Resources. This webpage was updated in 2020, but you can still access books through the link above.
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-advanced.htm
Target Age: Advanced 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-adult.htm
Target Age: Adult 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://read.gov/teens/
Target Age: Teens
Description: This site is sponsored by The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
Categories of books include the Classics and Books That Shaped America. There is also a service for providing free access to books for disabled individuals through the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS).
http://www.openculture.com/2011/09/popular_high_school_books_available_as_free_ebooks_audiobooks.html
Target Age: High School (Ages 14-18)
Description: Twenty popular High School books are available as free e-books and audio books. The site gives you access to classic texts frequently taught in the classroom. Includes works by Mark Twain, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald and more.
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, work, career advancement, skill development and the simple love of reading in formats that work for them.
*RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOOKS: HIGH SCHOOL
http://www.lexpublib.org/50BooksInHighschool
Target Age: High School
Description: Lexington, Kentucky Public Library—List of 50 books recommended for high school students.
http://www.phschool.com/curriculum_spport/reading_list/high_school.html
Target Age: High School
Description: Pearson Prentice Hall Publishing Company: Recommended reading list for high school students.