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 public librarians, and Vermont educators. If our students need to be at home, let’s keep them learning! We’ve put together this resource pretty quickly-- if you have additional favorite online learning resources, changes, or corrections to add, please email them to LMcSweeney802@gmail.com.
- Updated March 19, 2020 * Sections updated are indicated in the Table of Contents *
- In addition to curated resources added by Vermont educators credit and thanks to Jill Staake for her content.
Table of Contents
1. Multi-disciplinary
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.
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.
Escape Room-style learning challenges
CK-12 Free online learning resources with activities, videos and more. Free online textbooks written by teachers.
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
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.
Provides open-resource lesson plans and materials on multiple subjects. Free
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.
Crop, customize, and remix online video content with interactive tool.
Provides customizable online learning experiences. Free for all users. Sign up here.
Edutopia (Lesson Plan search) Free
From Microsoft, a free video discussion platform where teachers post discussion poropmts and students around the world respond with short videos.
Create online quizzes and learning experiences. Use their question bank, plus upload your own. Free.
Over 7,000 videos in 13 subject areas to share with your students. Teachers can set up playlists. Free.
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.
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.
OER Commons (Open Education Resources)
Included repared 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
PBS Learning Media. “PBS and your local station have curated FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers like you.”
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
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
Resources for at-home learning (From Common Sense Media)
Tools to help parents and caregivers keep kids focused and learning at home.
- 17 Apps to Help Kids Stay Focused
- Apps That Act Like Math and Science Tutors for Homework Help
- Free Educational Apps, Games, and Websites
- Top Time-Management Apps
2. Off-Line Learning *UPDATED 3/19/2020
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
- slides,
- docs,
- sheets,
- videos,
- images and
- PDFs
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.
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.
3. Art
4. Career Learning
Classroom activities for career learning.
Provides K-12 courses on real-world topics like mental health, financial planning, career readiness, and more. Free.
5. Computer Literacy, Coding, etc. *UPDATE 3/19/2020
CodeSpark -- recent notice they are making home access free
An online coding and computer science curriculum for teens. It teaches JavaScript, web programming, design, and more. Schools have free acess to VidCode’s course until at least May 2020. Contact them here.
6. Copyright
This Public Statement of Library Copyright Specialists: Fair Use & Emergency Remote Teaching & Research explains what is ‘fair use’ during emergency remote teaching. Publishers are, however, beginning to temporarily life bans on teachers recording read-alouds. Here is the list so far:
And! Several childrens’ authors are relaxing rules on read-alouds. Karen Lavallee Fitzgerald, librarian at the Chelsea School is compiling a list of authors and their permissions here.
7. Elementary (PreK-5) Resources
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.
- 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Authentic news content turned into learning materials that are classroom-ready. Newsela has content for teachers to prepare for distance learning.
Provides safe online research resources on topics for students K-3. Free access during school closures. Learn more here.
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.
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.
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.
A digital library with books, magazines, comics, and more for kids ages 2-12. Teachers can monitor what and how much their students are reading. ReadingIQ is free to schools closed due to the outbreak. Contact them here for more information.
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 Learn at Home website provides students with approximately 20 days worth of learning journeys for multiple subjects. Students get approx. three hours of learning opportunities per day, including projects based on articles and stories, virtual field trips, reading and geography challenges, and more. Free. Learn more here.
Starfall Education This colorful website is designed for pre-K through third grade. The activities are arranged by subject, season, or curricular topic, and include some free options.
Teach Your Monster to Read -- Teacher Resources
Offers an online computer coding curriculum for students, K-8. Teachers can get free lessons, projects, and more on the site. Schools impacted by coronavirus can get free access to Tynker’s complete curriculum Learn more here.
A kid-safe online streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks. Offering a free one-year membership to all teachers. Find out more here.
8. Google and Google Classroom Resources *UPDATED 3/20/2020
Google Remote Work resources page
The NEW Google Classroom Tutorial (YouTube video)
9. Government
10. Health Education
11. Integration Platforms
A virtual classroom platform integrates PowerPoint, Zoom video webinars, and Slido quizzes into one streamlined package. Free access to its Advanced Education package for students and teachers until July 1, 2020. Contact them to find out more.
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.
12. Internet Access * UPDATED 3/19/2020
There is a Keep Americans Connected Pledge that communications companies are signing on to suspend data caps, prevent overages, etc. Here’s a link to more information: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21178451/fcc-coronavirus-keep-americans-connected-pledge-att-comcast-charter-att
As of 3/19/2020--updates from the Vermont Department of Libraries and service provider websites:
- Comcast Opens Xfinity Wi-Fi Network Nationally for Free - https://corporate.comcast.com/covid-19
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 Spectrum - Charter will offer free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription and at any service level up to 100 Mbps. To enroll call 1-844-488-8395. Installation fees will be waived for new student households.
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.
- Sprint - Providing Unlimited data for 60 days to customers with metered data plans (effective 3/18)
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)
13. Literacy UPDATED 3/20/2020
Authors Everywhere --YouTube Channel created by children’s book authors and illustrators.
K-5 math lessons and resources and literacy
Use for writing assignments to add illustrations, animations, and sound effects available. Students can create choose-your-own-adventure stories.
K-7 online books.
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Vooks
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
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems (Kennedy Center Artist in Residence) on YouTube
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 Manga readers will be thrilled!
Offers literary and non-fiction 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.
FollettShelf
May be slow to activate, but offering schools closed free subscriptions to classroom-ready collections (for School Librarians)
Provides interactive online textbooks with videos, animations, and automatically-corrected assessments. Offering free access for all schools closed due to coronavirus. Contact them here.
Free ebooks and audio books to Vermonters with public library cards (note: likely to strain under load of so many users)
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.
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.
Read alouds with Ryan and Craig are wonderful and fun and engaging for K-2 students
created by Christina Nording with many YouTube videos organized by topic
Writing Prompts -- daily from the New York Times
14. Mathematics
“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.
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.
Site requires students to show their work on math problems, step-by-step. When it’s time to grade, you can look at their work to see where things went wrong and correct problems quickly.
Free. Check it out here.
K-5 math lessons and resources, and literacy
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.
Offers access to free apps, lessons and publications. They have also provided this document with further resources.
Math and science simulations--works on Chromebooks (doesn’t require flash).
15. Media recommendations for entertainment (From Common Sense Media)
Hand-picked, age-appropriate media suggestions to keep the whole family engaged.
- Best Music Apps and Games for Kids
- New Kids' TV Shows
- 50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12
- Best Family Movies
- Common Sense Selections highlighting the best movies and TV shows
- Sibling Watch-Together TV
- Best Documentaries for Kids and Families
16. Middle and High School Resources
Aan 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 programs. Best as a companion to other online teaching methods like web conferencing since it’s meant to review information students have already been learning. Get a free extended pilot for as long as the closure lasts. Contact them here.
Middle and high school resource for 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 provides downloadable articles of chemistry-related topics, and Teacher’s Guides help you direct your students as they learn from their reading. Free.Learn more here.
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.
Over 7,000 videos in 13 subject areas to share with your students. Teachers can set up playlists. Free.
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.
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.
17. Music * UPDATED 3/19/2020
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.
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra from Carnegie Hall
18. Online Teaching Support (Vermont Virtual Cooperative) *UPDATED 3/19/2020
Page link for all resources: https://www.vtvlc.org/covid-19/
Individual Resource links:
- VTVLC Emergency Continuity Services
- Recommended Daily Contact Procedures for Emergency Continuity Plans
- VTVLC Course Lease List
- Short List of Free Online Tools for Teachers
- Remote Teaching Resources for Business Continuity
- Quality Matters Emergency Remote Instruction Checklist
- Providing Services to Children with Disabilities During the Coronavirus Outbreak
Get Up and Running With School Online --a FREE 3 hour online workshop from Vermont Virtual Cooperative. Registration Link here.
19. Personal Finance
Offers courses for K-12 on real-world topics like mental health, financial planning, career readiness, and more. Free. Learn more here.
Personal finance lessons and curricula.
20. Physical Education *UPDATED 3/19/2020
Shape America Covid-19 Teacher Resources
21. Podcasts
Other podcasts that aren't on the Common Sense Media list:
- Best for: Elementary
- 5 minute daily news podcast for kids, with a quiz available
- Best for: High school
- History podcast from NPR
- Best for: Elementary
- (3+ hour mystery/scifi story about an 8-year-old space explorer
- Best for: PreK-3rd
- interactive, music-themed podcast
- What It Is: Listenwise teaches students to be better listeners, using podcasts and comprehension questions and quizzes.
- What They’re Offering: Any school closed due to the outbreak can get access to Listenwise Premium for free. Learn more here.
22. Read Alouds * UPDATED 3/20/2020
School Library Journal is updating their list ofpublishers 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
And! Several childrens’ authors are relaxing rules on read-alouds. Karen Lavallee Fitzgerald, librarian at the Chelsea School is compiling a list of authors and their permissions here.
23. Remote Learning Platforms
An easy-to-use tool to create fun and engaging online books. Includes lots of suggestions for how you can create and use books with students at any level. Teachers always 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.
- Platform for teachers to create online lessons, boards for students to share their thoughts and work, and collaborative learning spaces. It provides the ability to easily communicate with students and parents, too. Free online access to any school closed due to the outbreak. Click here to learn more.
A school communication tool to make it easy to stay in touch and track student progress too. ClassDojo is always free for teachers. Sign up here.
A platform to help teachers create and share online lessons using their easy tools. Offers differentiated paths within the same lesson. The site is always free, but requires teachers and students to have Google or Microsoft accounts. Learn more.
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.
Create interactive online lessons using video clips of your choice. It provides accountability and tracking for student progress, too. Basic plans are free, and offering additional resources to schools closed due to COVID-19/coronavirus. Contact them here.
Allows teachers to create technology-enhanced online math assessments from a huge question bank. Edulastic always offers Free-Forever Teacher accounts. They’re also offering free access to Premium features through July 1, 2020. Learn more here.
Create interactive lessons and collaborative spaces for your virtual classroom with these real-time tools. Schools closed due to the outbreak can get free extended access. Contact them here.
Students and teachers record short videos to document and share their learning on a subject. It’s kind of like social media for learning, and it’s a great way to stay in touch. FlipGrid is always free for educators with a Google or Microsoft account. Sign up here.
Google’s remote learning platform used by many schools. Google Classroom is always free, and here’s the overview guide.
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.
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.
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.
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.
24. Science *UPDATED 3/19/2020
Animal Cams (Live) -- a list from the Center of Biological Diversity
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.
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
National Science Digital Library (Lesson Plan Search)
Science and math simulations--works on Chromebooks
25. Social, Global Studies and Geography *UPDATED 3/19/2020
Your school can receive free access to Britannica LaunchPacks Social Studies and LaunchPacks Science by signing up here.
“The online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives”
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
ProjectExplorer -- lessons and videos for global citizens
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.
Primary and secondary sources of information
World 101 -- Teaching resources from the Council on Foreign Relations
26. Test Prep
27. World Languages -- UPDATED 3/20/2020
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.
Spanish Language videos and games
eBooks in a HUGE variety of languages (including English)
another eBook collection in many languages
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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