Vermont School Library Association
Teaching Vermont Students to Think, Create, Share, and Grow
Learning At Home: Resources for Teachers
This resource is curated by Vermont School Library Association (VSLA) librarians along with some Vermont public librarians and educators. If our students need to be at home, let’s keep them learning! If you have additional favorite online learning resources, changes, or corrections to add, please email LMcSweeney802@gmail.com.
Table of Contents
Click on a Table of Contents link to go directly to a category.
1. Multi-disciplinary *Updated 04/08/2020
2. Off-Line Learning *UPDATED 3/19/2020
5. Computer Literacy, Coding, etc. *UPDATED 3/30/2020
6. Copyright *UPDATED 04/01/2020
7. Covid-19 for Students *UPDATED 03/24/2020
8. Elementary (PreK-5) Resources *UPDATED 04/01/2020
9. Google and Google Classroom Resources *UPDATED 3/25/2020
13. Internet Access *UPDATED 3/19/2020
14. Literacy/eBooks *UPDATED 04/07/2020
17. Middle and High School Resources
19. Newspapers *Updated 04/09/2020
20. Online Courses Available Free *Updated 04/02/2020
21. Online Teaching Support (Vermont Virtual Cooperative) *UPDATED 3/19/2020
23. Poetry (April is National Poetry Month!) *UPDATED 04/08/2020
24. Physical Education *UPDATED 3/24/2020
26. Read Alouds * UPDATED 3/20/2020
28. Science *UPDATED 04/30/2020
29. Screencasting and Document Annotation Tools *UPDATED 04/01/2020
30. Social, Global Studies and Geography *UPDATED 04/07/2020
32. Video Resources -- *UPDATED 4/07/2020
33. World Languages -- *UPDATED 3/25/2020
12 World-Class Museums You Can Visit Online
The Louvre, The National Gallery of Art, The Met, NASA and many more! – link here
ABCmouse Early Learning Academy--Covers multiple subjects (including ESL) for students aged 2-8 (Pre-K through second grade). Offers more than 850 self-guided lessons across 10 levels. Link if school is closed due to coronoavirus.
Best Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning -- resources from the American Association of School Librarians.
BrainPOP--Provides in-depth learning on multiple subjects for upper elementary and middle school students. Includes videos, quizzes, readings, and coding activities. Teachers have access to planning and tracking resources too. BrainPop Jr., for younger students. Schools closed due to the outbreak can receive free use of BrainPOP during their closure. Link for closed schools.
BreakoutEdu--Escape Room-style learning challenges
CK-12--Free online learning resources with activities, videos and more. Free online textbooks written by teachers.
Century--Intervention tool to identify and remedy gaps in a student’s education. Uses artificial intelligence to customize learning. : Schools closed due to the outbreak can get free access to Century’s online learning resources. Click here to learn more
ClassHook--Offers media clips on multiple subjects.. Curated playlists by subject. Basic access is free. Schools closed due to coronavirus can also get free access to ClassHook Premium. Learn how here.
Crash Course – https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse Crash Course videos cover a wide range of topics, from world history to engineering, and use fun animations to keep students entertained while they learn! Created by New York Times bestselling author John Green and his brother Hank.
Curriki--Provides open-resource lesson plans and materials on multiple subjects. Free
Discovery Education--Provides online textbooks, multimedia content, and professional development support for online classrooms. Schools can receive free access to Discovery Education Experience through the end of the school year. Learn more here.
EdPuzzle --Crop, customize, and remix online video content with interactive tool.
Education Perfect--Provides customizable online learning experiences. Free for all users. Sign up here.
Edutopia (Lesson Plan search) Free.
FactCite Offering free extended trials and tips for creating lessons plans using the site
Flipgrid --From Microsoft, a free video discussion platform where teachers post discussion poropmts and students around the world respond with short videos.
Gamilab--Create online quizzes and learning experiences. Use their question bank, plus upload your own. Free.
HippoCampus--Over 7,000 videos in 13 subject areas to share with your students. Teachers can set up playlists. Free.
Izzit--Videos with teacher guides on a subject. Take a quiz, or use the other online learning resources provided. Teachers and students can sign up for a free.
Kahoot!--Fun online quiz game platform. Kahoot! Basic is free but they’re also currently offering their Premium distance learning tools for free. Learn more here.
Learning Keeps Going Curated list of resources from ISTE, International Society for Technology in Education.
Little Passports is providing free science experiments, online resources, craft activities and home schooling resources.
OER Commons (Open Education Resources)
Openstax.org -- Here’s a link to Openstax Allies who are providing access to their content during the virus outbreak.
Nearpod--Includes prepared interactive lessons for all grade levels, or create your own if you Us for assessment or real-time feedback. Schools closed due to the outbreak can request free access here
New York Times -- free access to high school students through July 6, 2020. School administrations follow the instruction at this link to sign up your school:: https://www.nytimes.com/initiative/highschoolaccess NOTE: The New York Times is also available to ready in full text format through the Vermont Online Library. Here are instructions.
New York Times. Coronavirus Resources: Teaching, Learning and Thinking Critically.
PBS Learning Media. “PBS and your local station have curated FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers like you.”
PBSKids Daily Sign up for Daily Activity email from PBSKids (for parents)
Pebble go -Non fiction K-5. In an effort to support remote learning throughout the country, Capstone is offering free access to PebbleGo for all schools!
PearDeck - similar product to NearPod.
Quizziz- Quizizz- free self-paced quizzes to review, assess, and engage
Quizlet -- offering Quizlet Teacher free during the coronavirus outbreak. Use this link to register for free.
Scholastic Learn At Home Pre-K- 6+ online learning lessons.
SchoolTube: accounts are free, there are lots of lessons uploaded, and teachers can upload videos for students safely.
Smithsonian’s Fun Stuff for Kids -- animal cams, habitat’s games, weather lab, and more
#SmithsonianEdu -- the Smithsonian has just published EIGHT DIGITAL EDUCATIONRESOURCES FROM THE SMITHSONIAN and launched #SmithsonianEdu campaign highlighting 1.7 million online tools geared specifically toward students and teachers Note: If you use the following link, it will open a #SmithsonianEdu Twitter search https://twitter.com/hashtag/SmithsonianEdu
TED-Ed “Support kids' sense of wonder with outstanding short video lessons” Resources for at-home learning (From Common Sense Media).
Tools to help parents and caregivers keep kids focused and learning at home.
Wide Open Schools -- a free collection of the best online learning experiences for kids curated by the editors at Common Sense.
100 Unplugged Activity Ideas for Young Kids and Tweens
Some Ideas from Bethel Middle School for off-line learning at home: a baking project, building a Rube Goldberg machine, interview someone, create a comic strip, do an energy audit of your house, label objects in your home in Spanish, do something active like work out or take a hike, do a bird count, draw a constellation you can see, plan your garden, etc. etc. They also created a sheet where students record what they did that day, and connect it to their classes.
Google Drive can be used to sync/download
for offline use. Help document here: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375012
Animated gifs are a good low bandwidth alternative to videos. There are a variety of mobile apps that are easy to use to create them. R/educationalgifs on Reddit is an excellent source for high quality premade gifs if you have the time to hunt.
Kami--A PDF and document annotation app for schools. Think of it like a digital pen and paper for interacting with your students. Offering free access to schools closed due to the outbreak. Here.
Films may be downloaded from the Library of Congress and added to Google Drive where they can be used in rich docs and downloaded for offline viewing.
Newsela articles (or any webpage) may be downloaded or printed to PDF and then shared through drive to facilitate downloading by students. Remember Print Friendly to strip junk off web pages so that you can share that content with offline students.
12 famous museums that you can tour virtually from home
27 Art Activities and Lessons to Try at Home
Draw Every Day with Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Google Cultural Institute: Art Project Lesson Plans
Museums you can visit virtually
Museums you can visit virtually 2
Bureau of Labor Statistics K12
Classroom activities for career learning.
Provides K-12 courses on real-world topics like mental health, financial planning, career readiness, and more. Free.
Amazon Future Engineers -- free CS courses
Applied Digital Skills with Google
CodeSpark -- recent notice they are making home access free
Dance Mat Keyboarding (animated for younger students)
VidCode--An online coding and computer science curriculum for teens. It teaches JavaScript, web programming, design, and more. Schools have free access to VidCode’s course until at least May 2020. Contact them here.
This Public Statement of Library Copyright Specialists: Fair Use & Emergency Remote Teaching & Research explains what is ‘fair use’ during emergency remote teaching.
Publishers Adapt Policies to Help Educators
Coronavirus -- cartoon video from Brain Pop
Coronavirus: What Kids Can Do - Kid’s Health from Nemours
Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus - from NPR’s Goats and Soda
Adventure Academy--A MMO game gives kids a sense of community. Students up to age 13 play games to learn across many subjects (math, reading, social studies, science, and more) Free to schools closed due to the outbreak. Contact them here for more information.Here.
Audible Stories From their website -- "For as long as schools are closed, we're open. Starting today, kids everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet."
Breakout EDU—Breakout EDU uses online games to bring the fun of escape rooms to learning across the elementary curriculum. Includes a list of free online games kids can play at home. Click here to see them. Schools affected by COVID-19 can get free access until May 2020 or the school reopens. Contact them here.
Freckle--Online learning resources for younger students Adaptive math and ELA courses are available for free for teachers and students. Sign up here.
iCompute--use to teach elementary students computer skills. Free access for schools closed due to coronavirus.
Kids Discover Online--A library of science and social studies articles differentiated by reading level.: Schools closed due to the outbreak can request free unlimited access to Kids Discover Online here
MobyMax--Differentiated learning site provides instruction across a variety of elementary subjects.
All K-8 schools closed due to coronavirus can receive free access to a comprehensive curriculum through MobyMax. Learn more here.
Mystery Science--Provides digital video mini-lessons for science subjects, K-5. Always free, but they’ve put together a special list of lessons grade-by-grade for remote learning. Find it here.
Newsela--Authentic news content turned into learning materials that are classroom-ready. Newsela has content for teachers to prepare for distance learning.
PebbleGo--Provides safe online research resources on topics for students K-3. Free access during school closures. Learn more here.
PenPal Schools--PenPal Schools allows students to engage other students from around the world, on a wide variety of subjects. PenPal Schools is free. Learn how to sign up here.
Prodigy--Game-based learning in math, grades 1 - 8. Includes how-to articles to make your distance learning effective and fun. The basic Prodigy site is always free. Sign up here.
Purple Mash --A British website with games for elementary math, spelling, and writing. Teachers can set daily tasks for students, create a blog, and find other ways to communicate. Offering free access to schools closed due to the coronavirus.
ReadingIQ--A digital library with books, magazines, comics, and more for kids ages 2-12. Teachers can monitor student reading. ReadingIQ is free to schools closed due to the outbreak. Contact them here for more information.
Rozzy--Lesson plans and other resources for science, social studies, math,and STEM for grades K-8.: Free lessons for teachers during school closures. A specific list of lessons have been designated for virtual learning. Learn more.
Scholastic--Scholastic Learn at Home website provides students withlearning journeys for multiple subjects. Projects include articles and stories, virtual field trips, reading and geography challenges, and more. Free. Learn more here.
Starfall Education--Designed for pre-K through third grade. Activities are arranged by subject, season, or curricular topic, and include some free options.
Teach Your Monster to Read -- Teacher Resources
Tynker--Offers an online computer coding curriculum for students, K-8. Schools impacted by coronavirus can get free access to Tynker’s complete curriculum Learn more here.
Vooks--A kid-safe online streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks. Offering a free one-year membership to all teachers. Find out more here.
Young Writers Blueprint-- A writing course curriculum for ages 6 - 10. Teachers may download videos and worksheets by by author Alice Kuipers. Course is free during the virus outbreak. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Google Covid-19 Information and Resources website
Google Classroom Official Support
Google Teach From Home -- Google’s newly created resource for educators who are providing remote learning. It includes many tips, tricks, and short videos, on home to use your school’s Google Suite for Education to maximize remote learning.
The NEW Google Classroom Tutorial (YouTube video)
Prepping for Extended Remote #HealthEd
Slido for Education--A virtual classroom platform integrates PowerPoint, Zoom video webinars, and Slido quizzes into one streamlined package. Free access to Advanced Education package for students and teachers until July 1, 2020. Contact them to find out more.
SMART Learning Suite A virtual classroom platform that integrates everything you already have on Google Drive or in Microsoft documents. You can add videos and other online resources as needed. Teachers and students can access SMART Learning Suite for free for the rest of the school year. Learn how.
Public Wifi Hot Spots in Vermont Compiled and updated by the VT Department of Public Services.
The Keep Americans Connected Pledge is an FCC initiative for communications companies to suspend data caps, prevent overages, etc.
As of 3/19/2020--updates from the Vermont Department of Libraries and service provider websites:
Xfinity Wi-Fi Free For Everyone: Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then launch a browser.
Consistent with FCC Chairman Pai’s “Keep Americans Connected Pledge” announced today and concerns raised by members of Congress, which we share, AT&T is proud to support our customers by pledging that, for the next 60 days (as of March 13, 2020), we will Keep our public Wi-Fi hotspots open for any American who needs them.
T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers on our current plans with limited data with data will automatically have unlimited smartphone data for the next 60 days (excluding roaming). No action required.
Charter will partner with school districts to ensure local communities are aware of these tools to help students learn remotely. Charter will continue to offer Spectrum Internet Assist, high speed broadband program to eligible low-income households delivering speeds of 30 Mbps.
Charter will open its Wi-Fi hotspots across our footprint for public use.
Giving 20 GB of free mobile hotspot to customers with hotspot-capable devices (effective 3/18)Waiving per-minute toll charges for international long-distance calls from the U.S. to CDC- defined Level 3 countries (effective 3/17)
Audible Stories From their website -- "For as long as schools are closed, we're open. Starting today, kids everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet."
Authors Everywhere --YouTube Channel created by children’s book authors and illustrators.
CommonLit--Offers literary and nonfiction reading passages for grades 3-12. Teachers can assign reading and follow-up questions, and track student progress. Free accounts for teachers to use with their students. Sign up here.
Curriculum Associates: -- K-5 math lessons and resources and literacy
Elementari--Use for writing assignments to add illustrations, animations, and sound effects available. Students can create choose-your-own-adventure stories.
Epic --K-7 online books.
FollettShelf --May be slow to activate, but offering schools closed free subscriptions to classroom-ready collections (for School Librarians)
Fulltext Archive - free classic ebooks.
ICDL (International Children’s Digital Library)
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Junior Library Guild Digital is providing teachers and students “unlimited access* to read books online from any device. There is no limit to the number of users who can access the books, so tell your home-bound students to click to their hearts' content! Titles enter and exit the digital stream regularly, so there are always new picks available.” Select Elementary, Middle, or High School using the username and email provided here.
KidLit TV --award winning, parent’s choice site with activities, crafts, book trailers and more
Kognity--Provides interactive online textbooks with videos, animations, and automatically-corrected assessments. Offering free access for all schools closed due to coronavirus. Contact them here.
Lerner Publishing Group’s Help at Home--A selection of Lerner Publishing Group’s digital books K - 12 are now available for free through June 30, 2020.
ListenUp Vermont-- Free ebooks and audio books to Vermonters with public library cards (note: likely to strain under load of so many users)
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems (Kennedy Center Artist in Residence) on YouTube.
MackinVIA: Providing free trials through the end of 2020. Mackin Classics eBooks and other eBook sources.
Manga Publishers Make over 450 Manga volumes free to read online.
National Emergency Library--The Internet Archive has suspended wait lists for books until June 30, 2020. Click here for more information. Click here to create a free account.
Newsela Offering free access to their entire product suite of fiction and nonfiction articles for the rest of the 2019/2020 school year
Project Gutenberg Includes thousands of public domain ebooks for free use on any device. Most copyright free titles were published before 1924.
Project Muse -- Project Muse is offering many free high school and college-level resources during the pandemic. Many university press ebooks and scholarly journals are available. Here’s the list: https://about.muse.jhu.edu/resources/freeresourcescovid19/ To search go to this link: https://muse.jhu.edu/ and limit your search to “only content I have access to.”
Read, Wonder, and Learn: Favorite authors and illustrators sharing parts of their books. Amazing resource from Kate Messner’s website.
Stories.Audible.com -- Audible has opened a new FREE site for free streaming book titles for students and families during the coronavirus outbreak.
Storycorps for Educators and now StoryCorps Connect which allows people to interview others via remote conferencing.
Storytime with Ryan and Craig--Read alouds with Ryan and Craig are wonderful and fun and engaging for K-2 students
Let’s Keep Reading LivBits (Keep thinking with interactive read aloud)
Sora Reading App extends no cost ebooks and audiobooks to remote learners for existing school partners.
Vooks
Writing Prompts -- daily from the New York Times
Young Writers Blueprint-- an ages 6 - 10 writing course curriculum with downloadable videos and worksheets by award-winning author Alice Kuipers. This is free during the virus outbreak. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Abcya--“ABCya provides over 400 fun and educational games for grades PreK through 6”
Art of Problem Solving Grades 5 - 12 Math resources.
Beast Academy-- Math curriculum Ages 8 - 13 Free Printable resources.
Curriculum Associates--K-5 math lessons and resources, and literacy
DeltaMath--A website that allows teachers to assign math practice content to their students--middle school through AP calculus. Students get immediate feedback as they complete the problems.
Free. Check it out here.
Free Math App--Site requires students to show their step-by-step work on math problems, Teachers can look at student work and correct problems. Free. Check it out here.
Gizmos is offering an extended 60 day free trial.
Mangahigh--A game-based site for math online learning resources. Includes algebra, geometry, statistics, and more. Free full access to any school shut down during the outbreak. Learn more here.
The Math Learning Center--Offers access to free apps, lessons and publications. They have also provided this document with further resources.
PHet simulations --Math and science simulations--works on Chromebooks (doesn’t require flash).
16. Media recommendations for entertainment (From Common Sense Media)
Hand-picked, age-appropriate media suggestions to keep the whole family engaged.
Albert--An online practice and assessment resource for core subjects grades 6-12. Teachers can assign modules and track student progress. Also includes practice questions for AP courses.Get a free extended pilot for as long as the closure lasts. Contact them here.
ChemMatters Online--Middle and high school resource for science teachers. Teacher’s Guides help direct students as they learn from their reading. Free.Learn more here.
DeltaMath--A website that allows teachers to assign math practice content to their students--middle school through AP calculus. Students get immediate feedback as they complete the problems.
Free. Check it out here.
HippoCampus--Over 7,000 videos in 13 subject areas to share with students. Teachers can create playlists. Free.
Mangahigh--A game-based site for math online learning resources. Includes algebra, geometry, statistics, and more. Free full access to any school shut down during the outbreak. Learn more here.
VidCode--An online coding and computer science curriculum for teens. It teaches JavaScript, web programming, design, and more. Schools can get access to VidCode’s course for free until at least May 2020. Contact them here.
Carnegie Hall’s Music Educator Toolbox
How Italy is fighting it’s Coronavirus isolation with music
Metropolitan Opera Will Stream Operas
MusicFirst--Online learning management system for teaching music at all age levels. Students can work on theory, notation, sight-reading and more. School is closed due to coronavirus can receive free access to MusicFirst for the duration. Find out more.
SmartMusic For schools who don’t already have a subscription, they are offering free access through June 30, 2020.
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra from Carnegie Hall
Current Newspapers
Vermont residents can read articles from The New York Times and some popular magazines also.
1. Go to the Vermont Online Library site. https://www.vtonlinelib.org/
2. Choose All Resources and then scroll down to: Popular Magazines
3. On the right, Click “Go To Publication Search” , and enter “New York Times.” Then select an issue by date. You’ll see all of the articles in that issue. USA Today is also available in full text.
Historical Newspapers
Vermont Digital Newspapers Project--A primary resource which is part of Chronicling America, here’s a link to Vermont lesson plans for K-12 educators. Search Vermont newspapers. Search national newspapers.
ClassCentral -- Ivy League colleges provide free courses, both self-paced and by registration.
Coursera College level courses in multidisciplinary areas offered for free. During the coronavirus outbreak they are offering free certifications, also.
Page link for all resources: https://www.vtvlc.org/covid-19/
Individual Resource links:
Get Up and Running With School Online --a FREE 3 hour online workshop from Vermont Virtual Cooperative. Registration Link here.
EVERFI--Offers courses for K-12 on real-world topics like mental health, financial planning, career readiness, and more. Free. Learn more here.
NextGen Personal Finance --Personal finance lessons and curricula.
Bartleby Verse--Free full text poetry from pre-1920 books.
Kenn Nesbitt’s Poetry for Kids
PBS Learning Media. Poetry in America.
What types of poems might you write this month?
Poem in your Pocket Day is on Thursday, April 30th.
https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/poem-your-pocket-day
How many poems could you tuck into your pockets to exchange with folks in your home? How many pockets could you wear?
Shape America Covid-19 Teacher Resources
YMCA is offering free exercise videos online during the coronavirus outbreak.
Common Sense Media 16 Great Learning Podcasts for the Classroom
Other podcasts that aren't on the Common Sense Media list:
Listenwise--Teaches students to be better listeners, using podcasts and comprehension questions and quizzes. Schools closed due to the outbreak can get access to premium version for free. Learn more here.
School Library Journal is updating their list of publishers who are adapting their policies to help educators during the coronavirus outbreak. Here’s a link to the growing list: https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=publishers-adapt-policies-to-help-educators-coronavirus-covid1
Karen Lavallee Fitzgerald, librarian at the Chelsea School is compiling a list of authors and their permissions here.
Book Creator--Create online books. Includes lots of suggestions for how you can create and use books with students at any level. Teachers receive one free library with 40 shareable books when they sign up. Schools impacted by COVID-19/coronavirus can also receive free access to the collaborative tools. Learn more here.
Bunce—Platform for teachers to create online lessons for students to share their thoughts and work.. Provides the ability to communicate with students and parents, too. Free online access to any school closed due to the outbreak. Click here to learn more.
ClassDojo—A school communication tool to make it easy to stay in touch and track student progress ClassDojo is always free for teachers. Sign up here.
Deck Toys--A platform to help teachers create and share online lessons. Offers differentiated paths within the same lesson. The site is free, but requires teachers and students to have Google or Microsoft accounts. Learn more.
EdModo--Communicate with students, share documents and assignments, and provide collaborative space with this platform. EdModo also offers resources and advice for distance learning. EdModo is always free for teachers, parents, and students. Sign up here.
EdPuzzle--Create interactive online lessons using video clips of your choice. It provides tracking for student progress. Basic plans are free, and offering additional resources to schools closed due to COVID-19/coronavirus. Contact them here.
Edulastic--Allows teachers to create technology-enhanced online math assessments from a huge question bank. Edulastic always offers Free-Forever Teacher accounts. Free access to premium features through July 1, 2020. Learn more here.
Explain Everything Whiteboard—Create interactive lessons and collaborative spaces for virtual classrooms with these real-time tools. Schools closed due to the outbreak can get free extended access. Contact them here.
FlipGrid--Students and teachers record short videos to document and share their learning on a subject. FlipGrid is always free for educators with a Google or Microsoft account. Sign up here.
Google Classroom--Google’s remote learning platform used by many schools. Google Classroom is always free, and here’s the overview guide.
Loom Pro--Free for students and teachers who sign up with their official school email accounts.
Parlay—Online platform for conversations among students. Parlay is free for all schools through at least April 30. Existing paid users can get a code to make their accounts free until then too. Learn more here.
Pronto--A communications hub that connects people via chat and video. It’s an option for hosting a virtual classroom. Pronto is free for educators at this time. Request your free access here.
Webex--Video conferencing platform. Offering free access to all schools right now, along with resources and tips on using it as a virtual classroom. Learn more here.
Zoom---Popular video and audio conferencing tool has a chat functionality where students can ask questions as you teach and you can record classes for playback. For countries impacted by the coronavirus, Zoom is lifting their 40-minute time limit for the free Basic accounts. Learn more here.
Animal Cams (Live) -- a list from the Center of Biological Diversity
Bill Nye the Science Guy Home Demos --provides experiments for students to do at home. The 'Episode Guide' also outlines what each episode of the show was about, and provides suggestions on books for further reading.
Britannica Online --Your school can receive free access to Britannica LaunchPacks Science by signing up here.
ChemMatters Online--Resource for middle and high school science teachers. Each issue provides a new collection of articles on chemistry topics that students will find engaging and relatable. The back-issue online library offers downloadable articles on chemistry-related topics, including Teacher’s Guides. Free. Learn more here.
Best Science Games, Websites, and Apps for Kids from Commonsense Media
Exploratorium Tools for Teaching and Learning
Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium (St. Johnsbury, VT) K - 8 STEM online lessons.
FourScience Vermont The Montshire Museum of Science, the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, the ECHO Leahy Center, and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science have created this resource together to provide at-home learning for Vermont students.
Gizmos is offering an extended 60 day free trial.
Learning from Home -- K - College lessons, documents, multimedia from the U.S. Geological Survey.
National Geographic Science Lab -- science experiments, videos, articles...
National Science Digital Library (Lesson Plan Search)
NASA’s STEM Resources for K-12 Teachers
PHet simulations --Science and math simulations--works on Chromebooks and doesn’t require flash.
Vermont Energy Education Program has been updating their free learning materials for learning at home use.
Awesome Screenshot (a free Chrome Extension)
Kami --a free extension available in the Chrome Web Store which allows teachers to annotate PDF documents.
Loom Pro--Free for students and teachers who sign up with their official school email accounts.
Screencast-o-matic -- free screencasting with uploads to YouTube
WeVideo (check with your School Librarian to see if you have free student accounts)
Britannica Online --Your school can receive free access to Britannica LaunchPacks Social Studies and LaunchPacks Science by signing up here.
Brown University Choices Program
DocsTeach --“The online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives”
Geography Treasure Hunts from ESRI
Google Earth Education Resources
Ken Burns in the Classroom (PBS Learning Media) Online lesson plans and support materials using short clips from Ken Burns’ documentaries. Most appropriate from grades 7 - 12.
Lesson of the Day -- from the New York Times featuring lesson plans on current events
Pulitzer Center-- “The Pulitzer Center is committed to building global awareness through education. We work with elementary schools, high schools, and universities to bring pressing international issues, and the journalists who cover them, into the classroom.”
ProjectExplorer -- lessons and videos for global citizens
Seterra--Online geography quizzes. You can also create your own custom quizzes. Free to use. Schools affected by coronavirus can get 6 months of Seterra bonus features for free. Find out how.
Smithsonian Learning Lab--Primary and secondary sources of information
Stanford History Education Group -- For middle/high school. Quality teaching tools, lessons, and assessments are free. Registration required.
Teaching Tolerance has created a post with helpful resources - Teaching Through Coronavirus: What Educators Need Right Now
Vermont Historical Society--Link to their digital resources.
World 101 -- Teaching resources from the Council on Foreign Relations
Amazon Prime video has announced some free family friendly programing during the outbreak (this limited selection does not require a Prime account)
American Archive of Public Broadcasting From the website --“Discover historic programs of publicly funded radio and television across America. Watch and listen.”
Crackle (Sony's streaming service) - no login needed to view with ads
IMDb TV has some free selections available. Requires a login but can use your Google account.
Internet Archive has a fair selection of titles that are in the public domain (TV and movies)
TED Talks Link to Talks arranged by topic
Tubi TV (Walmart's streaming service) - no login to view with ads
Vermont PBS Partnership with the Agency of Education--Beginning April 6, two Vermont PBS channels will be available for students with at home learning guides for teachers. One channel is for grades PreK - 8, the other is high school. The weekly program streaming guides for both channels is available here: https://www.vermontpbs.org/at-home-learning/
Vudu has a selection of free (with ads) movies. Requires a free account.
TeacherTube – https://www.teachertube.com/ An online aggregator of educational videos.
And check your local public libraries to see if video services Hoopla or Kanopy are available with your library card.
Babbel -- Babbel makes its language learning app free to students for three months during the virus outbreak.
Duolingo -- learn a language.
Mango Classroom -- Mango is now offering schools impacted by the coronavirus free access for students. School administrators need to complete this form for student access.
Rockalingua--Spanish Language videos and games
Storyweaver--eBooks in a HUGE variety of languages (including English)
International Children’s Digital Library--another eBook collection in many languages
Voces Digital--Online learning resources specifically for those who teach French, Spanish, and ESL. Students have access to audio and video, interactive writing and speaking exercises, and more. Schools closed due to the outbreak can get free access to Voces Digital for teachers and students until June 30, 2020. Contact them here.
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