RESOURCES FOR FREE LEARNING ACTIVITIES / GAMES (ONLINE OR FOR DOWNLOAD/PRINTING)
https://sites.google.com/site/gameonlearning/la-middle-school-games
Target Age: Middle School (ages 11-14 years)
Description: These games will help middle school students explore writing and word meanings as well as encourage critical thinking in reading.
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: 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): 7TH-8TH 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-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://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.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.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOOKS: 7TH-8TH GRADES
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/ages-11-13
Target Age: 5th, 6th 7th and 8th grades (ages 11-13 years)
Description: Book lists and recommended reading for ages 11-13 years. 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.)