Great Educational Resources (Online, Apps, and More) 

Compiled by Sandra Rief

I compiled this list to share for my ADDitude webinar on “Fun Ways to Boost Your ADHD Child’s Academic Skills This Summer (Ages 6-12)”   This list contains numerous, recommended resources (many of them FREE) to engage your kids in learning during the summer and beyond.    There are lots and lots of ready to use materials/activities/games for children of all ages – in all subject areas…that will motivate kids and make learning fun.   Even among the websites that are geared for teachers, parents should find information and ideas on those sites of interest.  Enjoy exploring!

FUN ONLINE INTERACTIVE WEBSITES

 

 

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com.   Sheppard Software For lots of free, interactive, educational games designed for kids in grades K-5 and covers Math, Grammar, Geography, Science, Health, Art, and more.

http://www.funbrain.com  Fun Brain, published by Family Education Network, is a great site of free educational games, online books, and comics.  For kids preschool-8th grade, Fun Brain offers more than 100 fun, interactive games that develop skills in math, reading, and literacy.

http://powermylearning.com/   Power My Learning links to hundreds of high-quality educational games and activities that are organized by subject area and by grade level. Accounts are Free!

http://www.fuelthebrain.com/ –  Fuel the Brain provides numerous (free and inexpensive) games, interactives and printables to help enhance and practice elementary skills in Math, Science and Language Arts.

http://pepnonprofit.org  The Positive Engagement Project (PEP) site provides lots of K-6 free learning games and strategies.

http://www.turtlediary.com/   Turtle Diary has an extensive range of online kids educational games and activities geared for kids pre-Kindergarten – 2nd grade.  Lots of the games and resources are for free, but paid membership gives full access.

http://www.starfall.com       Starfall is a wonderful site to teach children reading using a systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice. This is a wonderful website for children as young as toddlers until about 2nd grade or so.

http://www.readwritethink.org/bright-ideas/ –  ReadWriteThink is one of the best sites.  Go to the Parent and Afterschool Resources section and click on grade level you need.  Find lots of activities, projects, games, etc. to engage your child.

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/index.asp  Scholastic’s free interactive games and activities.

http://www.sikids.com/  Sports Illustrated for Kids – interactive website with articles on sports-related topics and lots of games, etc.  Great way to get your sports-loving, reluctant readers to read.

http://www.mrnussbaum.com  – Mr. Nussbaum provides lots of free interactive games, research themes, activities for K-8, and teacher tools.

 http://www.storyplace.org/  Story Place is a  children’s digital bilingual (Spanish & English) library site, which includes a collection of online texts and fun interactive activities for elementary kids

http://www.discoveryeducation.com  Discover Education has great, free resources for students (and parents).  Check the student page and see their games & interactives

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/  Internet4Classrooms is packed full of free K-12 games, activities, and other free resources. The huge lists of linked resources can be accessed by grade level or subject.

 

MATH

http://www.ixl.com/  IXL  for students K-8 is a math-practice website with unlimited practice questions on hundreds of topics for each grade level. The questions also adapt to your child’s ability, increasing in difficulty as they improve. The system measures how much time your child spends on any particular skill once they complete a skill

http://www.aaamath.com/ AAA Math is a free site for thousands of interactive arithmetic lessons for kids K-8th grades. Unlimited practice is available on each topic. Immediate feedback prevents practicing and learning incorrect methods.

http://www.mathcats.com/   Math Cats has lots of  math games, quizzes, interactive projects, and more for elementary school students

http://www.mathletics.com/  Mathletics  A motivating online math program for homes and schools.

http://www.dreambox.com   Dreambox Learning Math combines a rigorous math curriculum with fun online lessons that adjust to the way your child learns.

https://www.tenmarks.com/summer/signup  Ten Marks online math program

http://pbskids.org/games/math.html  PBS Kids for pre-K through 1st grades math

http://www.funbrain.com/math/index.html  and   http://www.funbrain.com/kidscenter.html Fun Brain (for lots of free math games)

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/    Cool Math 4 Kids  for lots of games, puzzles, brain benders, fun ways to practice math skills

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm  Sheppard Software for free online interactive math games

http://letsplaymath.net/2006/12/29/the-game-that-is-worth-1000-worksheets/   How to play Math Card Wars

http://www.math-play.com/  Math-Play is a site of free online math games (by grade level, content, and game type)

http://webmath.com/    Webmath  is a math-help web site that generates answers to specific math questions and problems, as entered by a user, at any particular moment. The math answers are generated and displayed real-time, at the moment a web user types in their math problem and clicks “solve.” In addition to the answers, Webmath also shows the student how to arrive at the answer.

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/math-strategies-activities/  Pinterest – for lots of math strategies and activities

 

READING

 

PHONICS/SIGHT WORDS/WORD RECOGNITION/SPELLING

http://pepnonprofit.org – PEP – See their downloads for Five Finger Phonics, See, Say & Play, Flash Fluency 10-10-10, and Say, Build, Write, Read It

http://www.funfonix.com  FunFonix  – site of free phonics games, activities, and worksheets

http://www.starfall.com/   Starfall – for alphabet, letter/sound association, beginning reading)

Many of the sites above (e.g., Fun Brain, Fuel the Brain, Turtle Diary, Power My Learning) have games & activities for phonics, word recognition, sight words, and spelling

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/sight-words/  For Sight Word strategies, activities, games

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/phonics-decoding-fluency  For Phonics, Decoding, Fluency strategies & activities

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/spelling-word-work/  For Spelling games and activities

http://www.readingrockets.org – A national multimedia literacy initiative offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help

 

 

READING FLUENCY

 

 http://www.gigglepoetry.com  Giggle Poetry has hundreds of funny poems for children to read and rate.

 http://www.poetry4kids.com  Poetry 4 Kids: Ken Nesbitt’s Children’s Poetry Playground  – Funny poems, books, games, contests, lessons, discussion forums, great rhyming dictionary, streaming audio, and more.

 http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm  Teaching Heart has Readers Theater scripts ( little plays) for grades K-3.  It’s a fun way to get kids to practice reading with expression and fluency.

 

READING COMPREHENSION

http://www.readworks.org/    ReadWorks is a free website with over 1,000 nonfiction passages and comprehension questions to go with them.  Excellent resource for building and practicing reading comprehension skills.

http://pepnonprofit.org – PEP – See their downloads for Comprehension Shuffle and Primary Comprehension Shuffle

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/reading-comprehension/ Pinterest – reading comprehension board

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/inferences-summarizing/  Pinterest – inference-summarizing board

 

AUDIO BOOKS – LISTENING TO BOOKS/TEXT 

http://www.tales2go.com/  Tales2Go is an award-winning kids’ mobile audiobook service that streams thousands of name-brand titles from leading publishers and storytellers to mobile devices and desktops in the classroom and beyond.

http://www.storylineonline.net/      Storyline Online (an online videostreaming program featuring famous people (e.g., James Earl Jones, Betty White) reading books aloud to children.

http://www.audible.com/ Audible has thousands of audible downloadable books for kids (division of Amazon)

Learning Ally and Bookshare   – if your child has dyslexia or other “print disability”, be sure to check out Learning Ally and Bookshare, which are online free libraries of audio books for students who qualify for membership.

 

FOR LISTS OF RECOMMENDED BOOKS FOR KIDS

http://inkrethink.blogspot.com   (Ink: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids)

http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/2010/09/middle-school-book-list.html middle school list

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/summer/

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/books-for-kids/

http://www.reading.org/Resources/Booklists/ChildrensChoices.aspx Children’s Choices Reading Lists (International Reading Association’s winners of children’s choice books)

 

SUMMER READING INCENTIVE PROGRAMS

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/summer-reading/379003570/  Barnes and Noble’s program:

http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2013  Scholastic’s program

http://www.bookitprogram.com/   Pizza Hut’s program  

http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/2013/05/summer-reading-resources-for-kids-2013.html  Great list of summer reading incentive programs for kids

 

Also, check out your public library for program.

WRITING

Writing Fix  http://www.writingfix.com/  Writing Fix is a fabulous site…one of my favorites.  Features interactive writing activities, tools, games, etc. for building stronger writing skills in writers of any age. Wonderful strategies, writing prompts, etc.

*Many of the websites  above (e.g., ReadWriteThink,  FunBrain, Internet4Classrooms)  have wonderful writing activities – or games for components of writing (spelling, grammar, vocabulary).  For sure, check out the ReadWriteThink activities at  http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/ 

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/writing-strategies-activities/  For lots of writing strategies & activities

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/handwriting-fine-motor-skills/  For fun, motivating ways to learn and practice handwriting and fine motor skills

http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html   Extensive list of writing prompts and journal ideas

 

You may want to check out software for your reluctant or struggling writers:

http://www.inspiration.com/   Inspiration or Kidspiration programs

http://www.texthelp.com/  For Assistive technology programs Read & Write Gold and others

http://www.donjohnston.com/products/writing/index.html     These assistive technology software programs:  Write Outloud, Draft-Builder, and Co:Writer programs

http://www.talkingfingers.com/readwritetype/RWT-learning-system.html   Read Write & Type program

http://ttl4.sunburst.com/   Type to Learn program for keyboarding

 

 

VOCABULARY

 http://www.vocabulary.com/  Vocabulary.com  – A free vocabulary education site, with interactive games, puzzles and activities at different levels of difficult.  Great source for learning new words and how they’re used

http://dictionary.reference.com/– Online dictionary

 http://thesaurus.com/– Online thesaurus

http://www.pdictionary.com/  –  Online picture dictionary

http://www.funbrain.com/words.html – Fun Brain – Games and activities for children at different levels

 http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/vocabularylanguage/  Pinterest – Vocabulary & Language board

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids   National Geographic for Kids (free) –  lots of videos, and short 1-page articles on lots of interesting topics.  Great resource to get kids to read nonfiction and build comprehension. 

http://www.discoveryeducation.com  At Discovery Education parents, students, and teachers can access educational videos, free printables, free worksheets, free lesson plans, and more.

http://animaldiscovery.com  Animal Discovery links to animal facts, games, etc.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/04/07/ten-of-the-best-virtual-field-trips/3/   This article on 10 of the Best Virtual Field Trips is fantastic…with links to lots of cool places to explore online.  For example,  http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/interactive-tour (the White House), or to see a 360 degree view of the  7 wonders of the world  http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders

 http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/globaltrek/ Global Trek-  is created for kids to explore the world from their computer.  They are asked to choose from a list of countries and will be asked to keep a travel journal to write about different topics during their online trip.

http://www.innerbody.com/image/digeov.html Inner Body is a site to learn about human anatomy, with interactive pictures and descriptions of thousands of objects in the body

http://www.arkive.org/   Explore 15,000 of the world’s endangered species. With over 100,000 photos and videos, discover what these animals, plants and fungi look like, what makes them special and why we should protect them.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/index.html    and http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html  and http://quest.nasa.gov/  NASA’s sites of interactive learning activities, challenges, games, information for kids, and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/participate/funzone/  NASA’s Mars for Kids (great interactive website for kids to explore Mars)

 

 OTHER RESOURCES FOR LOTS OF STRATEGIES

http://learningworksforkids.com      LearningWorks for Kids shares online, video games, and apps that are particularly beneficial for kids with ADHD.  See this page: http://learningworksforkids.com/playbooks/?skill=alternative-learners_adhd

http://www.interventioncentral.org/  Intervention Central – Go to “Academic Interventions”

http://www.brainpop.com/ Brain Pop provides wonderful animated videos about a wide range of topics children will encounter in school.  There’s also BrainPop Jr. and for free stuff:

http://www.brainpop.com/free_stuff/ – BrainPop Free Stuff – provides free educational movies and lots of games and activities for kids.

http://www.abcteach.com/   ABC Teach – for PreK-8th grade materials and creative activities.  Over 5,000 free documents available, including printable worksheets, interactive activities, and much more.

http://teacherresourcesforparents.com/Teacher Resources for Parents – provides parents with fun and practical ways to enrich their children and better prepare them for school. This is my daughter-in-law’s site.  Sharon is a special education teacher and mom of 2 young kids – with lots of great ideas.

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief     Sandra’s Pinterest boards with tons of content in lots of areas of interest to teachers and parents of kids with ADHD

http://www.sandrarief.com     Sandra’s blogs, free tools, resources and information – all geared particularly for parents and teachers of kids with ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities

 

 

FOR FREE WORKSHEETS 

http://www.education.com/worksheets/

http://www.greatschools.org/worksheets/

http://www.turtlediary.com/kidds-worksheets.html

 

 

 

 

EDUCATIONAL APPS FOR KIDS

 http://igamemom.com/best-educational-apps-for-kids/  This site IGameMm.com is great for reviews of educational apps for kids.  See her specific lists, such as these: http://igamemom.com/2012/05/22/cool-summer-apps/  Cool summer app ideas, http://igamemom.com/2012/08/15/straight-a-back-to-school-apps/

http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101/literacyapps/   Reading Rockets list of top educational literacy apps

http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/technology/   for other lists of apps

 http://learningworksforkids.com/apps/?skill=alternative-learners_adhd     Learning Works for Kids review of recommended Apps for kids with ADHD.  Definitely worth looking at these.

 

These are some apps which sound interesting to me to engage kids in learning:

Pupper Pals – Create your own unique shows with animation and audio in real time.  Kids pick out their actors and backdrops, drag them to the stage, and tap to record.

Bluster – a fun and simple vocabulary building game

Geography Drive USA – won many awards as great educational app, including 2013 Parents’ Choice Gold Award

Toontastic – free app that empowers kids to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons

Stack the States – kids learn about capitals, state shapes, and map locations with animated states that stack, drop, tumble, and slide around like puzzle pieces

Wordball – for early readers learning phonemic awareness and letter/sound association

StoryKit – kids are able to take pictures, type text, record their voices, and draw pictures/write words…making their own books with this app

iReadWrite –  is the latest assistive technology app available from Texthelp. The company is best known for Read and Write Gold, a software package used for a variety learning disabilities to include aids to help with reading, writing, and research. iReadWrite is an application that aids in reading and writing skills for the iPad.

Book Creator – kids can create their own books with this app

Scribble Press – an easy, fun and free way for kids to create and publish their own stories

Sports Illustrated for Kids – app

Write 2 – note taking app for older kids

30/30 – for time management and staying on-task

Touch & Write and Cursive Touch & Write – fun app for learning and practicing correct letter formation/handwriting

Geoboard – for learning geometric shapes/design

Evernote – for notetaking and more

Rocket Speller – fun app for children K-2nd

 

ARTICLES WITH MORE IDEAS TO HELP WITH SUMMER LEARNING

http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=SLDforParents  Summer learning resources for parents

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/40180/   Top 10 Resources on Summer Reading, by Reading Rockets

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/391/  10 weeks of Summer Reading Adventures for You and Your Kids

http://imaginationsoup.net/2010/06/live-a-writers-life-with-your-kids/  I love this mom’s ideas about fun ways to write with your kids.