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Don Johnston Used by SBCUSD Demo Teacher for Primary

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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https://www.letsgolearn.com/Designed to address skill deficits by administering assessments and designing a scaffolded personalized learning plan for each student. Limited district licenses through the sped department

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Let's Go Learn's tools have helped us by driving instruction for our students who need support, providing tutorial support, and providing a progress-monitoring tool.
Jennifer Butterworth, Director of Student Services, Westmont Hilltop School District, Johnstown, PA

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Best-in-class Online Assessment & Instruction Data-driven Diagnostic & formative assessments Personalized, adaptive instruction Real-time progress monitoring Comprehensive reporting Set IEP goals easily Identify learning gaps Learn more for your needs... School Programs Families & homeschoolers Tutors & ESY Programs Special Education Tools Tools for writing truly personalized

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Variety of Accessbility and assessment tools free to all district students

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For over 40 years, Don Johnston's tools have helped millions of students read, write, and learn-going wherever they want in life.

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How to access the wonders curriculum through Google Classroom

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How To Video

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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SOME FREE MATERIAL

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Should I curb screen time altogether?

As parents, that word is loaded with negativity. We know that it is your last resort - your kid is crying at a restaurant, tired of sitting still on a plane, or you just need a break.
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We get it!
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Beanstalk is a place for you to feel good about what you share with your little ones, from videos to products. Our community finds new stuff to watch, play and learn from every day.

Join our Community

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Beanstalk - Expertly Curated Kids Shows and Products

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As parents, that word is loaded with negativity. We know that it is your last resort - your kid is crying at a restaurant, tired of sitting still on a plane, or you just need a break. ‍We get it!‍Beanstalk is a place for you to feel good about what you share with your little ones, from videos to products.

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By converting our sims to HTML5, we make them seamlessly available across platforms and devices. Whether you have laptops, iPads, chromebooks, or BYOD, your favorite PhET sims are always right at your fingertips.Become part of our mission today, and transform the learning experiences of students everywhere!

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RESOURCES FOR TEACHING STEM FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS is an evolving collection of online teaching tools and lessons on subjects like computer science, engineering, life science, physics and other STEM subjects. Please contribute by adding your favorite links, and share it with your colleagues. It will grow, so check back often to see new resources.

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Cleveland Inner City Ballet

Providing education, experiences and exposure through ballet.

ABOUT US

Cleveland Inner City Ballet is a professional dance education and performance organization which provides a supportive and collaborative environment to address the unique needs of those cut off from the arts by socioeconomic, race, and class issues. CICB's mission is carried out through it's school and new performing company. Both components work together to teach and showcase ballet in Greater Cleveland while providing students and audiences with:

Education

Professional ballet instruction for dancers ages 18 months to 18 years.

Programming that is modeled after Ohio Department of Education K-12 Dance Standards.

A teaching staff that has both a dance education background and technical training.

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Experience

Outreach performance opportunities for the school and company throughout the community.

Unique partnerships with other arts organizations and professionals.

The benefits of productive and creative outlets for local youth.

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Exposure

Unique opportunities for students and audiences to learn about ballet in particular and the arts in general.

Opportunities to attend FREE performances for nationally touring companies like Alvin Ailey and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

CICB offers a full spectrum of career opportunities in the arts.

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CONTACT US

Contact us for a CICB ballet experience near you

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Cleveland Inner City Ballet Providing education, experiences and exposure through ballet. ABOUT US Cleveland Inner City Ballet is a professional dance education and performance organization which provides a supportive and collaborative environment to address the unique needs of those cut off from the arts by socioeconomic, race, and class issues.

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Political] prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. --George Orwell, Politics and the English Language ( Cliches from Associated Press Guide to News Writing, Rene J. Cappon.)

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K-12, multiple content areas, texts in multiple lexile levels, lesson plans and teacher resources

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis.

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How To Teach Online Lessons With Zoom (For Beginners)

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our lives, OLC has heard from K-12 educators that resources are needed to support the transition to remote learning. This is especially true given that in many communities the tools and technology may not be available to support a move to a fully online environment. As a means of assisting our community with the task of preparing for an effective remote learning environment, we've been compiling a list of helpful tools and resources. This is not an all-encompassing collection but is meant to support K-12 educators in this critical time.

The following list focuses on resources for teachers planning to deliver remote or online instruction.
We also invite you to review our other resource collections for faculty and general resources.
Foundational Workshops from OLC

OLC offers a number of professional development courses, both instructor-facilitated and self-paced, that can help instructors and schools get up to speed on essentials and key considerations for online teaching.
Note: The OLC Institute can provide these workshops and others as an on-demand, online offering if you have a minimum of 10 registrants for the workshop. Request an on-demand offering
Shared Resources from Our Community

Topical Resources

Planning Instruction

Creating a Digital Classroom Space Certificate - Earn a continuing education certificate free while learning how to create digital classroom space that works for both you and your students. Learn how to organize your time, use technology tools, and communication tools to manage the online classroom effectively.

5 Tips for Remote Learning - This resource provided by ReadWorks provides step by step instructions for creating a remote learning environment (with specific examples using ReadWorks), from setting up a digital class to assigning readings and creating a student library. ReadWorks is free for teachers and schools.

Learning Schedules

Universal Design for Learning & Accessibility

Accessible Remote Teaching - This guide is intended to help faculty teach in accessible ways during remote teaching situations.

- This site provides a number of free learning tools.

S TEM

- A website that provides research based teaching methods, math tasks, videos, and online courses for teachers and students with the goal of reducing math failure and inequality in the United States and beyond.

- A collection of unique and engaging digital activities to help students learn math and love learning math. DESMOS also has a page dedicated to announcements related to COVID-19 .

Illustrative Mathematics - A blog post from the Illustrative Mathematics team that outlines multiple resources as well as links to other free digital assets for teaching math.

Museum Resources

Sites for Hosting Learning Content

Digital Resources

Teachers Pay Teachers (mix of free and paid): An extensive digital resources site where teachers can go to get resources, knowledge, and inspiration created by other teachers from grades PreK through 12.

Digital Learning Sites

Educational Tools Search Sites

Student Engagement

Discussion Board Presentation: - A mini-presentation that focuses on some general tips and ends with 4-5 example tools teachers can use to facilitate remote dialogue.

Addressing the Social-Emotional Needs of Remote Learners - With the rapid switch to providing education in a fully remote format, teachers need to be proactive in making sure that students are getting the social-emotional support they need. This can be challenging. In this recorded webinar, a panel of experts will provide best practices on how you can best meet the needs of your students.

Continuous Improvement

Rural Tech Project - A $600,000 challenge to advance rural technology education and prepare students for the careers of today and tomorrow. The U.S. Department of Education invites high schools and local educational agencies to propose technology education programs that use competency-based distance learning.

Quick facts:

A challenge for rural educators . The challenge is open to any publicly-funded school or local educational agency serving students in grades 9-12 in rural communities. "Rural" is broadly defined as a non-urban, non-suburban area. An area may be considered rural based on its population density and/or distance from suburban or urban hubs. See the eligibility criteria for further guidance.

$600,000 in cash prizes. Up to five finalists will be selected to receive an equal share of the $500,000 Phase 1 cash prize pool. At the conclusion of program implementation, one grand-prize winner will receive an additional $100,000.

Two years of ongoing support . From January 2021 through August 2023, finalists will have on-the-ground assistance, expert mentorship, and access to virtual resources as they plan, run, refine, and report on their programs.

K-12 Podcasts

Teacher Wellness

Upcoming Events

None at this time.

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Resources for K-12 Educators Teaching Remotely

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our lives, OLC has heard from K-12 educators that resources are needed to support the transition to remote learning. As a means of assisting our community with the task of preparing for an effective remote learning environment, we've been compiling a list of helpful tools and resources to support K- 12 educators in this critical time.

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For some instructors, teaching online remains a foreign concept. For others, it's one of many skills in their tool belt.

As online courses mature, faculty members are developing valuable expertise in the modality. "Inside Digital Learning" hopes you'll benefit from some of it. We asked some veteran online instructors to share their impressions of online's evolution since they started teaching in the virtual space.

Here's what our sources said. If you agree, disagree or want to share insights of your own, leave a comment below the article.
In what ways have you changed your approach to teaching online? Brad Bays, associate professor of geography, Oklahoma State University, has taught online courses since 2003
A good online course should allow students enough leeway to work ahead and finish early or catch up after falling a little behind. But it must also keep students engaged enough to discourage procrastination. I've tried to strike a balance between keeping students engaged and providing enough schedule elasticity to allow for occasional life disruptions. My course design seeks to reward consistency but is able to bend for students who must take a time-out for life issues. Admittedly, I haven't always had this attitude.

Early in my online career, I marched students, expeditiously, from one weekly deadline to the next. That approach, of course, sapped the advantages of being online. It also kept me busy making exceptions for students willing to march me through the details of their lives.

I've also tried the opposite approach in which I present one ultimate deadline and tell students they can work at their own pace; most undergraduates, however, have too little self-discipline for that model.
Leigh A. Hall, professor, Wyoming Excellence Endowed Chair in Literacy Education, University of Wyoming, has taught online since 2012
When I first began teaching online, I noticed a disconnect between students and the course content. While I worked to make it relevant to their lives, I often saw students doing the work simply for the grade.

Clearly something was not translating.

In the last year, I've become more focused on helping students connect their passions to the course content. My courses still have objectives. However, I ask students when the semester starts to identify one to three goals and create a short video about what they want to achieve in the course. They reflect on these goals and can modify them at the midpoint and the end.

During the semester, I ask students to consider what they are doing during the week to help them meet their goals. They don't always need to share this information, but having this as a thread in the course helps them stay connected to the content and each other. Students are aware of what their colleagues' goals are and often reach out and share ideas and resources in support.
Bobby Hobgood, director of the Language Resource Center, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has taught online since 1998
When I began teaching online in the mid-'90s, the ability to design and deliver online instruction was informed by our knowledge of teaching in face-to-face environments. Sadly, I had never taken an online course, nor engaged in professional development focused on course design and delivery. My original instructional design reflected a direct instruction approach whereby students simply completed a checklist of activities with little interaction among the course community.

Today, the instructional design and instruction of my courses reflect a Community of Inquiry approach whereby engagement is fostered through thoughtful attention given to how I manifest myself throughout the course (teaching presence), how students engage in the content of the course (cognitive presence) and how, together, we interact to form a dynamic learning community (social presence). For me, it has become more about the "humanization" of the learning experience, with a nod toward the affordances of the learning management system.
Alyson Indrunas, director of teaching and learning, Lumen Learning, has taught online since 2003
The most significant shift in my online pedagogical practice was dealing with my students not being able to afford their textbooks. The use of open educational resources single-handedly changed my teaching and my interaction with students. As a result of my own adoption of OER, I removed the burden of purchasing a textbook for my students and I felt ownership of my course in a way that I never did with a traditional textbook.

The next phase of OER will involve students more in the creation of course materials, and I find this shift very promising not just for online courses but for all modalities.
Michelle Pacansky-Brock, faculty mentor of digital innovation for the California Community College Online Education initiative (OEI) and Online Network of Educators (@ONE), has taught online since 2003
I began teaching online with healthy skepticism around 2003 when I was teaching at a large community college. I eventually began experimenting with emerging technologies and, along the way, participated in asynchronous voice and video interactions with my students and collected their feedback. Students reported having fewer "hurt feelings" when the warm nuance of voice supplemented our text-based interactions. Learning out loud helped them sense that I was there for them and they felt more connected to their peers, like in a "real class." Formal research studies were reflecting these findings, but it wasn't until I experienced them that my mind-set changed.

I also began to see that teaching online could support learner variability better than teaching in a classroom. I observed one student with dyslexia express herself eloquently in video, while her written expressions were fragmented. These experiences illuminated the value of Universal Design for Learning, opening a new world of opportunities for teaching online.
Peggy Semingson, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, University of Texas at Arlington, has taught online since 2008
I've been teaching online since 2008 and entirely online since 2013. When I first started teaching online, I was afraid to create new content or change the course in any way once the course launched. I thought the course curriculum and online environment had to stay "frozen" and intact or I would risk confusing students. Now, I create additional tutorials as needed, using screen-casting tools, videos and podcasts to add additional content to assist students. I have also since learned that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to online teaching and learning. Some students prefer basic content and straightforward assignments. Other students like to interact with the instructor through instant messaging, email and discussion boards. I started doing optional webinars for students who wanted more interaction and personalized learning, but I don't require them. I find that the same group of online students in each course (who enjoy interaction) usually attend the webinars. The webinars are recorded for students who couldn't attend or prefer the recording format.

Over all, I've learned to be more laid-back, multimodal (e.g., webinars, podcasts, etc.), proactive and flexible for my students.
What challenges have you overcome in adapting to the ever-changing landscape of online education?
Bays: One challenge has been protecting course integrity in a telecommunications arms race. Those just getting into online instruction should realize that course design requires regular review and revision to respond to security issues posed by new technologies. One should be willing to stay mindful of new technologies and to imagine how they could be used to exploit one's course and perhaps even relish the challenge of responding to them.

For every security feature rolled out, there will be 10 YouTube videos explaining how to circumvent it in a matter of weeks. My best line of defense has been to implement traditional, weighty, proctored exams. More than three-quarters of my students sit, in person, for my exams, which I proctor "for free" in small groups of no more than 15 at a time. The other 15 to 20 percent of students spend $15 to $20 per exam at remote testing facilities or for online proctoring services. For me, the in-person exam routine is a highlight of the course, since I get to visit with students in person.
Steve Greenlaw, professor of economics, University of Mary Washington, has taught online since 2013
The traditional class session provides a structure to student learning. If a student comes to class on a regular basis, and listens to and takes notes on what the teacher says and does, then they will learn a fair amount, perhaps enough to pass. What is the analogue in an online course? Putting videos of lectures online is not the equivalent. There are pluses and minuses to videos, but it's not the same. (Videos lack the immediacy, the intimacy of an in-class experience, but they also allow students to watch more than once.) The most important thing I've learned is how to build a structure that supports students in an equivalent way.

There need to be more active learning activities in an online course. If I have a student in my office, I can tutor them to learn anything I teach. I can do almost as well in the small classes I teach (15 to 30 students). I can't do the same thing by video, though one-on-one synchronous video comes pretty close. Students don't seem to be able to learn as much from reading a text by themselves. As Herb Simon said, students learn by doing and only by doing. Thus, I need to ask students to do something with what they learn from the text.

Hall: A significant challenge for me has been how to create and support online communities for our students within programs and courses. Creating such communities requires us to abandon more traditional views about how classes are structured.

We need to move past traditional notions about classes and teaching load. Instead, we must create a more open framework where students continuously engage with their work in a more visible manner.

In a typical class, students talk only to the instructor and each other. Resources, questions and information that are created and shared rarely transition to the next course. In true community, all students and instructors within a program could regularly access information and ideas in a shared space regardless of the content they are currently learning.

Our current model for teaching online has lots of similarities to traditional face-to-face classes. Online students position me as the only expert in the room and are more likely to value what I say over their colleagues, who often have valuable information and ideas. Part of breaking this cycle is built into how we structure experiences for online students. If we can create online programs that are more community focused, we can increase students' communication and information sharing.

Hobgood: Early on, there was little support for teaching online, so learning how to design and teach online courses came from a leap of faith on the part of administrators, considerable patience on the part of students and tremendous risk taking on the part of instructors. While there was support for the technology, there was little support for how to make it happen. Consequently, those of us who have been teaching for a while embraced several roles, including tech support, instructional designer, administrator, registrar and instructor. The challenges were situated in our roles as instructors and how best to address them all. More recently, the challenges have come from outside of the instructor's locus of control, and include the negotiation of learning management system updates, an increasingly diverse population of online learners, and learner expectations of what it means to take an online course.

Pacansky-Brock: To prepare, my institution required me to take an online professional development course and, in return, gave me a blank shell in our learning management system. As I stared at that blank course, I knew I was not prepared to teach online. But, nonetheless, I proceeded and began a transformative journey.

I struggled that year. My colleagues were vocally scrutinizing the effectiveness of online classes -- as if they were inherently bad because they are online. I listened but remained open-minded. I knew my class could be better, but I had no access to support. About a year later, I attended a graduation ceremony and heard the name of one of my online students called to receive his diploma. As I watched him walk across the stage, I realized we didn't know each other. That experience made me realize that I was more than a subject matter expert in my on-ground classes; I was also a mentor. And I needed to be a mentor online, too.

Semingson: The biggest challenge is keeping up with changes and expectations with online learning. Students expect to be able to access the course on their mobile device, get quick and timely responses from the instructor, and want a highly flexible course curriculum. Keeping materials updated and responding to students quickly was a challenge in the beginning. I think it helps to have the mind-set that an online course has to be constantly tweaked and updated to stay current with trends in how students learn online. When I first started teaching online, I assumed all students would appreciate and want to attend webinars. I learned that some distance education students want a more "no frills" approach to the online course, while others seek out the online connections and additional learning opportunities.
How has your relationship with students in online classes changed? Do current online students have different expectations/facility for the format than in the past?
Bays: I've come to expect certain work patterns among my online students. One percent will always sprint through the material with high grades, but the majority starts off well, then after a few weeks diverges into a consistent cohort and another cohort that tends to, despite my best efforts, cram for exams. There are phantom students who won't respond to my direct emails.

The range of technical sophistication among students seems larger than ever and growing, from the "traditional" residential undergraduates to middle-aged men and women working full-time out in the Oklahoma boondocks. The digital natives, so-called, tend to be more direct and demanding of my time but not as willing to commit to my expectations. The latter often have children or grandchildren to care for, hardly any time of their own, few computer skills, old hardware and slow internet service, but they usually work harder, need more encouragement and are more appreciative.

Hall: My thinking about online communities has shifted my relationships with online students. In the past I've emphasized checking in with them about the course and seeing how they might need help with the content. Now my relationship has evolved into crafting course experiences that will serve them professionally. I invite feedback and discussion on what can be done with the course content to help them meet their goals.

Rather than being primarily concerned about grades, conversations with students are centered on applying the material to help them achieve their goals.

I have found that students welcome and appreciate this kind of relationship. It's a necessary component of creating a true online community.

Hobgood: Initially, students knew very little about online classes. In the mid '90s, there was little interactivity, and the term "engagement" was absent from the narrative that defined online learning. Students were punctual in their work, and most were enthralled with the glitz and glamour of the online environment, such as it was. For most, the course I taught was their first online experience. Today, I no longer ask my students if they have ever taken an online course, but rather, "How many online courses have you taken?"

There are numerous tools and strategies for interacting with students, like web-conferencing platforms, course audio and video tools, and collaborative tools that allow for synchronous or asynchronous interaction. There are simply more ways to communicate, to collaborate and to create. And so while student expectations were very little in the '90s, today's student may or may not expect a certain level of interactivity, course structure and workload based on their prior experience in online courses. This has also become a challenge for instructors who can no longer assume that students will know what to do, how to do it, when and where in their course, given the diversity of course design and instructor knowledge and leverage of course tools.

Pacansky-Brock: Many educators still hold steadfast mind-sets about what online education is and who it should serve. We need to pause and look at online learning through the lens of students to understand its value. For example, as we strategize to improve graduation rates, we would see that students who mix online and face-to-face classes progress at higher rates than students who take all classes face-to-face or online.

Efforts to improve student access to online courses are key, but we also know that equity gaps get worse when minority students learn online. We must not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Relationships are at the core of meaningful college experiences and they're particularly important to underserved students who are more likely to doubt their academic abilities. Underserved online students need the presence of an engaged instructor.

If you teach online, your human presence matters. This has been my greatest takeaway from 15 years of teaching online and, perhaps, more striking is that this point still seems revolutionary to so many.

Semingson: I have learned to be more proactive with reaching out to students -- a virtual mother hen in terms of digital outreach. The online learning environment is friendlier and more nurturing. I round up students who have strayed too far by not participating in the course as much as they should and reach out to them to check in on them. I also provide additional resources for students who need extra help in the class.

Current online students expect communication to be responded to quickly. I make efforts to do this by checking email on my phone. They also want a more flexible online learning environment. Students are busy people and often work at least one job. I try to make my courses mobile friendly by providing materials they can "offload," such as podcasts, recordings and web-based reading that can be accessed via a mobile device.

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Veteran online instructors share tips on improving their practices

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For some instructors, teaching online remains a foreign concept. For others, it's one of many skills in their tool belt. As online courses mature, faculty members are developing valuable expertise in the modality. "Inside Digital Learning" hopes you'll benefit from some of it.

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ELA and Math lessons and resources for SWD 

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ELA and Math lessons and resources for SWD 

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What's New on POWERUP?

AIR Informs Episode #6: Meeting the Needs of Students with Disabilities During COVID-19
Remote learning requires adjustment for all students, but students with disabilities face additional challenges during the COVID-19 quarantine. In the latest episode of AIR Informs, Allison Gandhi, managing researcher and director of AIR's special education practice area, describes some of these obstacles and shares strategies to help students make the most of this time.

Educating All Learners During the COVID-19 Disaster
The Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA) is a coalition of organizations committed to resource sharing and community-building that supports the efforts of the education community to meet the needs of students with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Power Up What Works | Powerup Your Teaching & Learning

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AIR Informs Episode #6: Meeting the Needs of Students with Disabilities During COVID-19 Remote learning requires adjustment for all students, but students with disabilities face additional challenges during the COVID-19 quarantine. In the latest episode of AIR Informs, Allison Gandhi, managing researcher and director of AIR's special education practice area, describes some of these obstacles and shares strategies to help students make the most of this time.

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The Mechanisms app allows students to learn and practice reaction mechanisms by moving and manipulating individual bonds and electrons. Instructors can assign specific puzzle problems through the Epiphany Dashboard

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The Mechanisms app allows students to learn and practice reaction mechanisms by moving and manipulating individual bonds and electrons. Instructors can assign specific puzzle problems through the Epiphany Dashboard

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Innovative digital experiences

Our web-based tools deliver immediate feedback to students as they explore content, gaining the deeper connections needed for long-lasting learning.

‍

Seamless assessment

LTI-Enabled

Readily Integrated into your platform

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Explore the tabs to the right to view or listen to alt text about 3 of our interactive learning tools: Hybridization, Lewis Structures, and 3D Mechanisms.

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Enhance your learning platform with dynamic experiences of STEM content. Guided Instruction and embedded assessment through game-inspired interactives.

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PBS Learning daily recorded webinars to help teachers, lessons for multiple content areas and grade levels 

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PBS Learning daily recorded webinars to help teachers, lessons for multiple content areas and grade levels 

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Use these tools and resources to navigate remote teaching and keep students engaged while they learn at home during school closures.

Professional Learning

Teachers everywhere are using this summer to adapt to new classroom environments and student needs. Whether you'll be teaching on campus or online, these free resources can help you prepare for next year.

KQED Media Academy for Educators
The new KQED Media Academy for Educators offers a set of four free, instructor-led online professional development courses that prepare educators to make media with students to support curriculum goals effectively and meaningfully. These PD courses are open to all educators and will give you the skills and experience you need to connect the dots between digital citizenship, media literacy, 21st Century skills and national curriculum standards.

Online Learning Resources for Remote, In-Person or Blended Classrooms

Start lesson planning for fall 2020 with these trusted resources that will help you continue to provide meaningful learning experiences for students on or off campus.

KQED Learn is a free platform for middle and high school students to tackle big issues and build their media literacy and critical thinking skills in a supportive environment. Create an account and assign students current events discussions to participate in with other students from around the country.

Youth Media Challenge
The Let's Talk About Election 2020 media challenge is a free, standards-aligned program for students to share their voice with an authentic, national audience on KQED Learn. Students address real topics from immigration to climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic and more through audio and video commentaries.

Above the Noise
The Above the Noise video series cuts through the hype and dives deep into the research behind the issues affecting middle and high school students' daily lives.

PBS LearningMedia
PBS LearningMedia is a Pre K-12 FREE online library of trusted, quality, curated resources from PBS and public media stations including KQED. These digital resources include short videos, lessons and interactive games. Start with these collections created to align with PBS educational broadcasting that may be carried by your local station:

Get started with these digital resources with our free weekly webinars.

Curating High-Quality Media for Online Instruction with PBS LearningMedia
30 minutes, Wednesdays at 7:30am PDT. Register

Critical Thinking and Online Discussions with KQED Learn
1-hour, Tuesdays at 3pm PDT and Thursdays at 9am. Register

Summer Learning Resources to Share With Families in Your Community

Many communities are still partially or fully sheltering-in-place, which makes this summer extra challenging for parents, caregivers and their children.

At-Home Learning resources page: List of recommended resources for families, including a special educational television schedule as well as free, online learning media and activities.

Blog series with videos and activity ideas for older children.

Where to Get Free School Lunch in the Bay Area Help families find free meals to go.

Summer Educational Programming on KQED Public Television

KQED is broadcasting additional educational television programming, developed with PBS SoCal/KCET. This TV schedule is intended to help provide equitable access to learning throughout the summer. This special summer educational programming runs from June 15 to August 28 on KQED 9, KQED Plus and KQED World. See daily schedules for all KQED TV channels and get information on how to tune in. Summer programming is time blocked for different ages and grade levels.

TK-3rd grade: weekdays from 6am - 2:30pm on KQED 9 and our PBS KIDS channel every day, all day

4th-8th grade: weekdays from noon - 3pm on KQED Plus

6-12th grade: weekdays 9am - 2pm on KQED World

9th-12th grade: weekdays from 3pm - 6pm on KQED Plus

These resources are shared as part of the At-Home Learning California Public Education Partnership.

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How Teachers Can Navigate School Closures Due to the Coronavirus

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Use these tools and resources to navigate remote teaching and keep students engaged while they learn at home during school closures. Professional Learning Teachers everywhere are using this summer to adapt to new classroom environments and student needs. Whether you'll be teaching on campus or online, these free resources can help you prepare for next year.

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Eleanor Amplified Adventure Series Podcast 

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Eleanor Amplified Adventure Series Podcast 

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Eleanor Amplified is an adventure series for the whole family. Listen together as our hero, the world-famous radio reporter Eleanor Amplified, foils devious plots and outwits crafty villains, all in pursuit of the big story... Like all the public media shows you love, Eleanor Amplified is entertaining and informative. Eleanor will spark laughter and conversation the whole family will enjoy, while preparing kids to appreciate journalism and make smart media choices in the future.

Eleanor Amplified is a production of WHYY in Philadelphia. It was created by John Sheehan, Manager of On-Demand Audio & Podcasts at WHYY, and formerly a producer of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. It is appropriate for kids of all ages and recommended for kids ages 8-12.

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An adventure podcast for your little do-gooder!

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This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure for more information.

In the last few years, Netflix has completely transformed the way many Americans watch movies. Long gone are the days of driving to the video store, browsing through the aisles of endless new releases. Now, you can do it all, right from the comfort of your home. From romance to dramas, there's something for everyone. Lucky for us, the streaming site is jam-packed with educational shows on Netflix.

Netflix has also been a game-changer in the way we homeschool. Sick days can still be educational . Parents can clean the house while kids learn, right from the couch. The number of educational shows on Netflix is growing everyday! Not to mention the benefits Netflix has added to homeschoolers who learn best visually.

But how do you know what to watch on Netflix? Once you start browsing, it's easy to get sidetracked by the latest Disney shows or your favorite sitcoms.
Let me tell you a little secret to keeping the kids on task:
Create a separate profile on Netflix. Name it "School" and add ONLY educational materials to this profile.

A great starting point is to add our "100 best Educational Shows to Stream on Netflix" list. Then when you need to keep the kids busy, allow them to watch only shows you have added to this account. It works great and keeps the kids from getting sidetracked by the show they're currently binge-watching.

This list was updated on March 20th, 2020. For an updated printable list, visit the exclusive subscriber library.

150+ Educational Shows on Netflix

From the jungle to your backyard, there's a huge collection of animal-inpired educational shows on Netflix.

Grab a free printable copy of this list when you join our weekly mailing list!

Earth & Nature :

From unbelievable natural disasters to the depths of the ocean, there's plenty for nature-lovers on Netflix.

There's still tons to learn about space, but Netflix has plenty to jumpstart your out-of-this-world interests.

Presidents:

From hundreds of years ago to the current president, pick any of these educational shows on Netflix and be inspired.

America's Book of Secrets
How to Win the U.S. Presidency
Trump: An American Dream
JFK: The Making of a President
Meet the Trumps: From Immigrant to
President

History often repeats itself, so be prepared with these interesting shows.

Documentaries:

There's something for everyone with these educational shows on Netflix. Picking which one to watch is the hard part!

Learn all about a topic, while actually enjoying it!

Travel the world from your home using these educational shows on Netflix.

Carmen Sandiego
Mountain
Saudi Arabia Uncovered

Food/Nutrition/Health:

From diet to the amazing human body, you'll be amazed at these eye-opening shows.

These shows will leave you scratching your head, deep in thought.

The Confession Killer
Serial Killer With Piers Morgan
The Code

There you have it!

A complete list of 150+ of the best educational shows on Netflix!

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for access to our Free Printable Netflix Cheat Sheet!

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Is LIFE overwhelming you?

Don't miss our latest ebook with tips and tricks for whipping your life into shape. From meal planning to paying bills, housework to family time, we've got ideas to help you simplify the not-so-fun things so you can spend more time doing what you love!

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150+ Educational Shows on Netflix - Homeschool Hideout

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This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure for more information. In the last few years, Netflix has completely transformed the way many Americans watch movies. Long gone are the days of driving to the video store, browsing through the aisles of endless new releases.

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LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems! Episode 01

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Cincinnati Zoo is hosting live facebook interactions every day with a selected animal 

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Cincinnati Zoo is hosting live facebook interactions every day with a selected animal 

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Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari - Featuring A New Animal Each Day

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How to Create Google Hangouts Meet Events

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How to teach your classes remotely in the event of a school shutdown

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EdSurge List of free ed tech, updated on regular basis 

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EdSurge List of free ed tech, updated on regular basis 

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Create a balanced at home learning schedule 

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Create a balanced at home learning schedule 

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By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach

COVID-19 was recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and it is quickly becoming a pervasive force that we are all attuned to. As our healthcare providers, scientists and officials focus their energy on social distancing recommendations and public health measures, it seems as if time spent at home with our families - whether self-imposed or mandated - is inevitable. With our hardworking community members and officials focused on large-scale responses and issues, let's take some time to discuss how we can create positive and productive environments in our own homes with our children while so many schools are closed.

Create Routines - Our children thrive on routine. Consider keeping their regular bedtime and morning routines, sitting down for lunch at the same time as they do at school, and writing out a daily schedule so that they know the plan for the day. Keeping these small things consistent can help our kids to feel regulated, calm and make a potentially scary situation feel much more predictable.

Request Work from Classroom Teachers - Most teachers will be sending home classwork to keep children engaged while they are out of the classroom. Make sure to request passwords to online learning sites used at school (raz-kids.com, IXL.com, etc.), have access to books at an appropriate reading level, ask about sites that provide printable worksheets, and, if still in school, bring home worksheets that could be completed during time off.

Schedule Recess/Playtime - While home is often seen as a place to relax and have fun, scheduling recess or play/downtime may help kids to feel like there is more of a routine. An average day at elementary schools fluctuates between time spent on learning, time to process and reflect, and time to have some fun. With an extended stay at home, it may help to touch on all of these activities. Scheduled recess allows for a child to predict when they will have a break to move their bodies and decompress.

Use Screens Wisely - Many parents will no doubt be working from home and have significant to-do lists of their own. While watching movies and favorite TV shows is likely an inevitable - and in many ways beneficial - tool to pass the time, consider exploring some more educational screen-based options as part of your child's day. Resources such as National Geographic Kids, PBS KIDS.org, ScienceDaily.com, educationworld.com, TIME For Kids, Smithsonian Tween Tribune, among others can help to provide more academic content, including Social Studies, Science, Current Events and more. Commonsensemedia.org is also a great resource for finding age appropriate options.

Move Your Body - While getting outside for some fresh air is the ideal way for our children to move their bodies, this may not be an option. Thankfully, there are some creative ways to make sure our kids get in time for gross motor movement. Consider options such as GoNoodle.com, Cosmickids.com and Gaia.com for whole body movement and yoga videos. If you are looking for options other than video-based activities, consider building a pillow fort, keeping balloons off of the ground, having a dance party or setting up a home-made obstacle course.

Bolster Life Skills Education - As Kelley Challen, NESCA's Director of Transition, so aptly explained in her blog post, the process of teaching our kids to become functional adults starts at birth. Consider spending this time teaching some skills in the home: have kids help with the process of doing a whole load of laundry from start to finish, work through a recipe for dinner together or clean surfaces around the house while explaining how to safely use different cleaning products. All of these experiences help a child to understand their future role as independent adults.

Work on the Broader Executive Functioning (EF) Skills - EF includes skills such as problem solving, time management, goal setting and organization. Provide sorting activities, have a child create their own schedule, set a daily goal, practice telling time or play some problem-solving games such as Heads-up, Charades or Guess Who.

About the Author

Dr. Sophie Bellenis is a Licensed Occupational Therapist in Massachusetts, specializing in pediatrics and occupational therapy in the

developing world. Dr. Bellenis joined NESCA in the fall of 2017 to offer community-based skills coaching services as well as social skills coaching as part of NESCA's transition team. Dr. Bellenis graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions with a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, with a focus on pediatrics and international program evaluation. She is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, as well as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. In addition to her work at NESCA, Dr. Bellenis works as a school-based occupational therapist for the city of Salem Public Schools and believes that individual sensory needs, and visual skills must be taken into account to create comprehensive educational programming.

To book an appointment or to learn more about NESCA's Occupational Therapy Services, please fill out our online Intake Form, email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

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Making the Most of COVID-19 School Closures - NESCA

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By: Sophie Bellenis, OTD, OTR/L Occupational Therapist; Real-life Skills Program Manager and Coach COVID-19 was recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and it is quickly becoming a pervasive force that we are all attuned to.

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now provides 274,400 story starters for kids. Write your story starter sentence on a piece of paper or copy and paste it into your favorite word processor and start writing your story! Please bookmark and link to this page and come back again to use The Story Starter.

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As an English teacher, I have always loved teaching poetry. I used to confine it to one unit every winter as a way to engage students after winter break, but recently shifted to starting my year with poetry. Why wait to get into the good stuff?

My thinking was confirmed by Edutopia's recent article, 4 Reasons to Start Class With a Poem Each Day, by ninth grade English teacher Brett Vogelsinger. His four reasons are:
1. Poetry is short so you can have a rich discussion after spending very little time reading.
2. Poetry is intense, allowing students to connect with emotions immediately.
3. Poems connect to other readings, both fiction and nonfiction, and can serve as an entry point to themes or ideas in a longer text.
4. Poems inspire writing; their form or ideas can easily be imitated by students.
Vogelsinger's article incorporates a multitude of poem suggestions and ends with a challenge for teachers to try starting their own classes with a poem a day, at least for National Poetry Month.

To help you accept this challenge, either now or at any other point in the school year, I've put together a list of 30 poem recommendations, some from myself and some from other middle and high school English teachers. These are poems that our students love and we hope yours will too.

1. Introduction To Poetry by Billy Collins
I love to start my poetry units with this particular poem because it usually kicks off a great discussion about how students have interacted with poetry in the past. Sometimes, as teachers, we spend so much time teaching students how to analyze, break down, and decode poetry that we forget to teach them how to appreciate the beauty of the words and the message.
*Recommended by Presto Plans

2. How to Eat a Poem by Eve Merriam
This poem is short, uses highly accessible language, and is full of imagery. I love to ask students what they think the poet is comparing a poem to and to draw what they imagine (many think of a fruit, but I've also gotten response like a cheese steak). After reading, have students write their own how to poems, either for concrete actions, i.e. how to ride a bike, or for abstract ideas, i.e. how to catch a star.

3. I Am Offering this Poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca
Before reading anything by Jimmy Santiago Baca, I like to share some brief biographical information about him with students. He was abandoned by his parents at a young age and at 13 ran away from the orphanage where his grandmother had placed him. He was convicted on drug charges in his early 20s and spent five years in prison. There he learned to read and began writing poetry. I share this information with my students to show them that beauty (like this poem) can come from great hardship and that one doesn't necessarily need a traditional education to become a great writer. This poem is packed with amazing figurative language for students to analyze but also a powerful message about the most meaningful kind of gifts we can give to each other.

4. Mr. Nobody by Anonymous
Not all poetry has to be serious. Have some fun with students as they read about all the trouble that Mr. Nobody causes. I'm sure they can easily create a list of all the mischief he is responsible for in their own homes. Students could write poems about "Somebody," "Anybody," or "Everybody."

5. The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Talk about playing with language! This is a great poem to use to teach students about the flexibility of language. The interesting thing about this poem is that students can understand what is happening, even though there are nonsense words like "vorpal" and "uffish." A monster called a "bandersnatch" will capture your students' imagination. Lewis Carroll uses portmanteaus to create new words -- a fun challenge for your own students to try.
*Recommended by Marypat at Just Add Students

6. First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay
This is a poem that I love to let students "chew on." I just give it to them and wait. My students sit with this one a while and I'll assign a freewrite about it. After some minutes to ponder, students have an "ah-ha" reaction to it. Candles are pretty rampant symbols in literature, but I've always loved how Edna St. Vincent Millay subverts our expectations in this poem. Students describe feeling proud, sad, hopeful, and a little disoriented. I love that these four lines pack such a punch!
*Recommended by Danielle Hall @ Nouvelle

7. There is no frigate like a book by Emily Dickinson
I love this poem because it is excellent advice: reading can let you travel where your wallet can't. Dickinson's sparse style a weird punctuation are fun to play with, and let's face it, the word "frigate" is entertaining!
*Recommended by TMC Saunders, Gas Station Cappuccino

Walker's voice is commanding and fierce in this poem though the lines are short and the vocabulary simple. Poems like this one show students that poetry doesn't have to be fancy or complex to carry meaning. After reading, students can analyze the symbols in the poem (the "doors" they battered down and the "mined fields" they crossed). The poem could also easily be incorporated into a unit on Civil Rights.

9. Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

If your students read The Outsiders, you know how powerful this little poem is. If they haven't read it, this poem is still a gem. As short as it is, this is a powerhouse of meaning about life and death. Use this poem to teach symbolism and word choice. A plus for teaching this in the spring when you can look out your classroom window and see nature's first green!

*Recommended by Marypat at Just Add Students

10. Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas
This poem, which also deals with the themes of life and death, is perfect for teaching rhyme scheme and is filled with personification. It's one I can still remember reading in high school. Ask students to imagine that they are at the end of their days and write advice to the young about how to live their lives.

11. A Day by Emily Dickinson
I love this poem for so many reasons! Anyone who has seen the sun rise or set can relate what is happening in this poem. Even though we may see the sunrise as an ordinary event, in this poem, the speaker describes it as something extraordinary. Wonderful metaphors and vivid imagery help readers visualize the speaker's experiences. I have my students write a "companion" poem that describes something that is ordinary as extraordinary.
*Recommended by Marypat from Just Add Students

12. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
This book is a free verse piece that gives a voice to students' general aversions to poetry (it's "just" for girls, there's "nothing" to write about, poems are confusing and hard to understand, etc.) but then goes on to show that writing and reading poetry is not only enjoyable but can also be a good way to deal with painful emotions and memories. It's a very powerful read and includes other famous poems along the way but makes them relevant to today's middle schoolers.
*Recommended by Mrs. Spangler in the Middle

13. Love That Boy by Walter Dean Myers
One of the novels I LOVE to read with my 6th graders is Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. Upon first look this appears to be a very simple novel, but with a journaling assignment from the teacher's perspective and poetry analysis, this is the perfect novel to share with 6th graders. One of the poems that we analyze during this read is "Love That Boy" by Walter Dean Myers. I adore sharing this poem because I have two boys of my own that I treasure, but also because it incorporates simile, metaphor, repetition, and rhyme in a way that is relatable to my students. In the poem Walter Dean Myers is writing about his boy and the traits and ideals he loves about him. My challenge is for my students to reflect on the poet's words to identify: one simile, explain why so much repetition was utilized, identify rhyming words and their purpose, and the meaning of the two metaphors, "He got long roads to walk down before the setting sun." and "He'll be a long stride walker." Once we have analyzed the poem, I find that my students are inspired to write their own "Love That..." poem that incorporates a topic they LOVE and feel moved to write about. This student poem includes: simile, metaphor, repetition, and rhyme. The students can't wait to share their own work, but hear the poems created by their peers that connect to Walter Dean Myers' incredible writing.
*Recommended by Erin Beers from Mrs. Beers: A Language Arts Classroom

When tackling challenging poems like this one, I like to use the pre-reading strategy modeled in this video where students focus first on individual words from the poems, looking for patterns, before examining the poem as a whole. You'll be amazed at the meaning students are able to draw out of the poem before they see it in it's entirety. The other reason I love this poem is because of its connections to art, much of it focusing on Pieter Brueghel's painting of The Fall of Icarus. Have students match lines of the poem to aspects in the painting.

15. Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by William Carlos Williams
As a comparison to Musee des Beaux Arts, or for an easier read on the same topic, use this William Carlos Williams poem. It also focuses on Pieter Brueghel's painting of The Fall of Icarus. I like to show students how other artists have painted or drawn the same scene and then have students write a poem based on their favorite painting or drawing.

16. The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service
This poem is set in the Alaskan/Canadian snowy wilderness. First off, it's a super interesting poem that includes a dying person, supernatural encounters, the hazardous terrain, and survival...Students love this stuff. It also allows an easy study of rhyme scheme and meter because it so skillfully follows its own pattern. It allows easy integration of non-fiction resources about the Northwest Territories and the Yukon and gold mining hazards. It's a short poem that lends itself to a 2-4 day engaging study.
*Recommended by Jonathan Stephens, Created for Learning

17. Hope is the thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson
This is such a beautiful poem. I never get tired of it! It is poem for teaching extended metaphor and imagery. The poem is easy for students to understand and relate to, yet the theme is complex enough to challenge their thinking about abstract terms. How do you describe hope?
*Recommended by Marypat at Just Add Students

18. Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
When I teach transcendentalism we delve into the glorious essays. Emerson's "Self Reliance" and Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience." These are fantastic texts to really analyze, and compare to modern songs or news articles. However, my favorite is to show students a different side of Emerson. Rather than start with the essay, we start by the poem of the same name, "Self Reliance." We get into the ideas of transcendentalism and introduce students to the style of Emerson. We can annotate the heck out of it in less than a class since it is so short. We can also bring in non-fiction to analyze why he would have included the date and to use quotes of him discussing compasses as a source to support their opinions of the symbols. Once they really understand the poem, students use their own figurative language to write their own poems about the voice inside them. Once I started teaching this poem BEFORE the essay I found students enjoyed the essay more and really understood the skills I wanted them to use when annotating AND the ideas of the transcendental movement. With so many influences in their life I enjoy having students focus on listening to their inner voices and doing what they know to be right instead of what others tell them is correct.
*Recommended by Carissa, The mELTing Teacher

19. To Look at Any Thing by John Moffitt
"To Look at Any Thing," by John Moffitt, is a short poem that works its magic with students! It opens their eyes to the idea that just giving something a quick glance is never enough to make a judgement or call yourself experienced. The speaker's voice is commanding: "You must look at it long," "You must enter in," "You must take your time." I love the poet's use of repetition here, by which he insists that we actually become what we see and step into the nuances within. Besides repetition, we find imagery, metaphor, and alliteration. I use this poem as the opener in a packet of poems I have titled Perspectives. I ask students to discuss how this poem might relate to other topics beyond the examples of nature the poem contains. As a reflection, students write their thoughts on how they interpret the message of the poem. Is it purely about nature, or is the poet addressing our perspective on other things as well?
*Recommended by Joy Sexton

20. Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The twist at the end of this poem should lead to interesting conversation about how we perceive others. How could a man like Richard Cory, who "we thought that he was everything / To make us wish that we were in his place," go home "one calm summer night...and put a bullet through his head?" The poem could be used as an entry point to a unit on depression and other mental health issues.

21. How to Write the Great American Indian Novel by Sherman Alexie
Alexie's poem also deal with how we judge other people, specifically stereotyping American Indians, but could serve as the beginning of an examination of how the "other" (anyone not white) is portrayed in literature, film, music, etc. Have students compare the poem to Disney's "Pocahontas" or the recent remake of "The Lone Ranger" featuring Johnny Depp, and then move on to other cultures' current depictions in the media, i.e. Black and Asian stereotypes in the TV series "Rush Hour."

22. Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde
While all teenagers can relate to many of the speaker's woes, this poem resonates most deeply with my African American female students. The repeated line, "and momma's in the bedroom with the door closed," reflects the impasse many teenage girls feel in their relationships with their mothers. Reading this poem can lead to rich discussion of students' fears, large and small, as well as their relationships with parents.

23. Daddy by Sylvia Plath
Like "Hanging Fire," Plath's poem deals with a strained relationship with a parent. This one is a bit darker and uses allusions to Hitler, World War II, and the Holocaust to convey the speaker's perceptions of her father and feelings about how he treated her. The poem could lead to discussions about abusive relationships, both physical and mental, and the long lasting effects they can have on children.

24. The Secret Heart by Robert Coffin
This tender poem addresses a child's perceptions of his father. It's a wonderful poem to teach imagery and symbolism. It can be difficult for students to initially grasp what is happening in the poem, but they can almost act out the events of the poem to help them "see" what the speaker sees. This poem shows how poetry can be used as a tool for the speaker to reflect on life.
*Recommended by Marypat at Just Add Students

25. Abuelito Who by Sandra Cisneros
This poem, an ode to the speaker's grandfather, is full of both love and sadness. Allow students to identify the shift in the poem and discuss the images created by the figurative language. Students may have different interpretations about what has happened to the grandfather by the end of the poem (he is very sick versus he has died), but as we all have loved ones who are old or failing, it is sure to tug on some heartstrings. The poem is the perfect lead in to writing about loved ones or getting creative with figurative language.

26. Where I'm From by George Ella Lyons
For the past three years, I've used this poem during the first few weeks of school to teach the process of close reading, introduce how word choice creates mood and tone and to help build a cohesive culture in my classroom. This is always the first text we read, and I enjoy the poem because the theme is accessible, but the images are such that students really have to read closely to truly get it. I have students spend a day analyzing the poem, and writing about the picture of childhood it paints for the reader. We then spend a day or two creating our own versions of "Where I'm From" poems, workshopping them with three sets of partners and then presenting them to the class. My students are always pleasantly surprised that they have more in common with their classmates than they initially realized, and I've found this poem to be a great way to get students excited about analyzing, writing, and sharing poetry.
*Recommended by Sara Nelson, GritGrindTeach

27. Ego-Tripping (there may be a reason) by Nikki Giovanni
This poem is all about how "bad" the poet thinks she is and is full of allusions to the reasons why being black and female is so great. You may want to have students listen to a reading of the poem by the poet to truly give it justice. After reading, have students identify, and if needed research, some of the references in the poem. They can also write their own poems using allusions to show how "bad" they are.

28. Naming Myself by Barbara Kingsolver
Although the lifestyles of teens may change over generations, their search for a better understanding of themselves remains the same no matter the year. Their constant search for identity makes Barbara Kingsolver's poem, "Naming Myself," a compelling read in the secondary English classroom. The poem's themes about family, heritage, and individuality engage students and help them pose questions that are relevant to their lives: What is the meaning of a name? Why do women take their husband's names? Is it acceptable to marry someone from a different ethnicity? No doubt, this sophisticated poem will captivate your students and provide a meaningful learning experience.

*Recommended by Kim Patrick, OCBeachTeacher

29. Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare
If you want to recognize Shakespeare's 400th birthday, this sonnet is a great way to do so. I love this sonnet because it sounds like a teen wrote it! By teaching the sonnet form, you will address rhythm, rhyme, iambic pentameter, couplets, quatrains, and the turn. While these are all very technical aspects of poetry, the approachable nature of this poem makes it fairly easy to understand, so teaching the form is easy to do...and, of course, who doesn't need a little more Shakespeare??!!
*Recommended by Marypat at Just Add Students

30. [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] by e. e. cummings
Perfect for comparison with the uplifting power of love described in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 29," this poem also shows students that the "rules" of poetry are meant to be broken. cummings plays with punctuation, ignores capitalization, and breaks lines where ever he darn well pleases, and yet his poem is still a thing of beauty. Use this poem to encourage your students to abandon any ideas they might have about what poetry should look or sound like.

Get daily reminders of these poems during National Poetry month this April by following @theliterarymaven on Instagram. You can also view all of the poem images in this slideshow.

For more poetry lesson ideas and resources:

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The Literary Maven: A Poem A Day: 30 Poems for Secondary Students During National Poetry Month (or Any Other Time of Year)

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Looking for new poetry for your middle school and high school students? These 30 poems, recommended and tested by secondary ELA teachers in their own classrooms, are sure to engage and inspire your students during National Poetry Month or any time of year.

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ChemMatters Articles by Topic - American Chemical Society

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American Chemical Society: Chemistry for Life.

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Free, printable activities for students in K-12. Whether you are an educator, speech language pathologist, behavior specialist, or parent, start teaching today.

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Tells you everything you need to begin teaching today's relevant science, social studies and life skills topics.

Lays out the research that informs the design of this program.

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Boardmaker Activities to Go Download, print, and go! Activities-to-Go Edit, print, and go! Activities-to-Go Overview Download a free unit Overview Resources The First Ever Editable Curriculum! Activities-to-Go is a customizable ELA curriculum brought to you by Boardmaker 7. Thematic instruction designed for students wi

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Students Can Respond to Daily Writing Prompts, Inspired by The New York Times, at Home for Free (Published 2020)

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Looking for ideas for remote learning? Each week The Learning Network offers a dozen new ways for students to practice reading, writing and thinking using Times journalism — all free.

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Reading and writing support for students with reading text related disabilities

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Reading and writing support for students with reading text related disabilities

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Dyslexia Writing & Reading Assistive Technology | Ghotit Dyslexia

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Dyslexia Help for Children and Adults with | Ghotit Dyslexia

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Ghotit Real Writer & Reader software includes advanced writing and reading assistive technologies tailor-made for people with dyslexia and dysgraphia

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Project Gutenberg is a library of free eBooks.

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Weekly online newspaper designed specifically for students with learning needs 

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Weekly online newspaper designed specifically for students with learning needs 

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Expand horizons and
inclusivity through current events

When students can engage in meaningful conversation with their peers and families about world events, the immediate result is a positive sense of belonging. But the issue-based learning in each weekly edition of News2you also comes with many long-term benefits: the standards‑aligned articles and activities help students build life skills, become more motivated learners and even discover career options.

Access to a world beyond the classroom

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Research confirms that students who have access to newspapers in the classroom perform better on standardized reading tests. And for students with unique learning needs, the benefits of interacting with the informational text in each weekly edition are especially far reaching- expanding skills in reading, vocabulary, writing, digital literacy and more!

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Many classrooms across the country begin each day with "morning meeting," and there's no better way to spark conversation than with the day's news and weather. Our solution helps you build engaging class routines with easy access to Today's Weather and Breaking News-plus a full range of engaging newspaper features and activities to supplement and enrich instruction all day long.

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Unlimited access for one service provider to the weekly online newspaper throughout the school year (monthly during the summer)

New current events articles in each issue plus dozens of standards-aligned activities and recurring features

Differentiation to four levels, with text supported by symbols from SymbolStix PRIME, plus one text-only version and the option for text to speech

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I love News2you! I've been using it for nearly 20 years and have seen tremendous growth in my students. One of my favorite stories is about a little guy we had a while back, who had some significant disabilities, and after reading News2you, he returned to school and said, "˜Miss, I saw this on the news with my dad, and we talked about it.' I thought, how wonderful, what a great communication opportunity for their family.

Mickie Korab

Teacher

Lubbock Independent School District, TX

Building Routines Around Today's Weather

Practical strategies for creating classroom morning routines.
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Accessible, relevant support for students with communication challenges
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Maintain high but achievable expectations with your students with disabilities.
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I love News2you! I've been using it for nearly 20 years and have seen tremendous growth in my students. One of my favorite stories is about a little guy we had a while back, who had some significant disabilities, and after reading News2you, he returned to school and said, "˜Miss, I saw this on the news with my dad, and we talked about it.' I thought, how wonderful, what a great communication opportunity for their family.

Mickie Korab

Teacher

Lubbock Independent School District, TX

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Introducing students to News2you helps them meet ELA standards and creates connections to the world.

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Brains On!® is a science podcast for curious kids and adults from American Public Media. Each week, a different kid co-host joins Molly Bloom to find answers to fascinating questions about the world sent in by listeners. Like, do dogs know they're dogs? Or, why do feet stink? Plus, we have mystery sounds for you to guess, songs for you to dance to, and lots of facts -- all checked by experts.

Brains On!® is a science podcast for curious kids and adults from American Public Media. Each week, a different kid co-host joins Molly Bloom to find answers to fascinating questions about the world sent in by listeners. Like, do dogs know they're dogs? Or, why do feet stink? Plus, we have mystery sounds for you to guess, songs for you to dance to, and lots of facts -- all checked by experts.

Proud parent

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Level 2

🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♂️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️

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Answer key...
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If u got all of them good eye!

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I love this!
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‎Brains On! Science podcast for kids on Apple Podcasts

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‎Brains On!® is a science podcast for curious kids and adults from American Public Media. Each week, a different kid co-host joins Molly Bloom to find answers to fascinating questions about the world sent in by listeners. Like, do dogs know they're dogs? Or, why do feet stink?

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Dynomath--math resources for students with math disabilities, including dyscalculia 

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Dynomath--math resources for students with math disabilities, including dyscalculia 

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Dynamo Math identifies and supports pupils at risk of developmental dyscalculia and pupils who are performing significantly below their peers in math.

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Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

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Fun, informative and captivating talks to inspire young minds.

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Co:Writer kickstarts the writer inside and offers the most complete writing toolkit to help unstick ideas and get them to flow in writing.

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The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Admission is always free.

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Create visual storyboards to support writing and communicating 

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Create visual storyboards to support writing and communicating 

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Free Storyboarding Software — Online Storyboard Creator

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Storyboard That: Easy online storyboard creation! Perfect for filmmakers, teachers, and students. Create storyboards and comics with Storyboard That today!

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Illustrated recipes and cooking lessons for kids of all ages 

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Illustrated recipes and cooking lessons for kids of all ages 

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Nomster Chef | Recipes for Kids | Fun food recipes for kids to make for healthy eating

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Recipes for kids, picture recipes for kids, recipe picture books, recipes for preschoolers, food recipes for kids, recipes for kids to make, fun recipes for kids, baking recipes for kids, recipes for children, easy meals for kids, kids cook, healthy kid friendly recipes, dinner recipes for kids, goo

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Featured Resource: Primaries, Parties, Caucuses & Conventions

A candidate has to pass a LOT of tests before anyone can actually vote for them for president. Introduce your students to the big events and mile markers of the electoral process and learn what a candidate must do before reaching the final test: the general election.

Win the White House Run your own presidential campaign!

Cast Your Vote Election Day is coming, are you prepared to vote?

Executive Command Being the president is no easy task. Are you up to the challenge?

NewsFeed Defenders Fight hidden ads, viral deception, and false reporting as a NewsFeed Defender!

Party Systems

Does every country have Republicans and Democrats? (Spoiler alert: No.) Use this mini-lesson to show your students that there...

VIEW LESSON PLAN >>

One Big Party?

In One Big Party, students learn about the role of political parties in the United States and the influence parties have in our political system, including the role of th...

VIEW LESSON PLAN >>

Help students connect civics concepts to the real world with these WebQuests that will guide them through pre-selected online resources to learn more.

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Want full access to all of the iCivics resources? Simply register for a free account today!

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Featured Resource: Primaries, Parties, Caucuses & Conventions A candidate has to pass a LOT of tests before anyone can actually vote for them for president. Introduce your students to the big events and mile markers of the electoral process and learn what a candidate must do before reaching the final test: the general election.

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Specialized Instruction and Support for SWD 

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Specialized Instruction and Support for SWD 

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downloadable materials to support OT, SLT, and PT at home

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The strategies and resources on this page are designed to help you create a productive, safe and healthy learning environment at home during remote learning.

Set Up for Remote Learning

Communicate

Encourage your child to communicate feelings and use strategies to manage them.

Use a 5-point scale, an emotion thermometer, or an emotions sign to help your child identify and communicate feelings.

Create a space in your house for your child to calm down when feeling angry, sad, frustrated or overwhelmed.

Create a Schedule

Just as adults use calendars, grocery lists, and "to-do" lists to enhance memory, children benefit from visual reminders. Create a schedule to use at home, so your child knows what to expect each day. The schedule can showcase the flow of the day and include remote learning, chores, physical activity, indoor and outdoor play, rest and mealtimes.

Learn how to create a schedule with this video, create a schedule online, view sample daily schedules created for different age levels, or make your own by hand or on the computer. Children can help make the schedule by drawing pictures, determining which activities should be included, and the sequence of events. Older children can make their own schedule with or without your assistance depending on their level of independence.

Prepare your child for transitions or changes in schedule ahead of time so s/he isn't surprised.

Use timers to help your child understand the schedule and transition to new activities.

Set Up a Space

Create a quiet, comfortable space for your child to do schoolwork

Offer Choices

Offering your child choices can help give them a sense of control and reduce power struggles.

For example, if you want your child to clean their room you can give them a choice of what to put away first and provide them with praise or a reward for completing the task.

Family Training Videos

Using Schedules - Visual Schedules help both parents and children. Picture, word, or object schedules keep children focused and help reduce problem behavior. This video will show you how!

Transitioning from Play to Work -Transitioning from playing to eating to using the iPad can trigger outbursts. This video will give you practical, and proven, strategies to manage transitions and keep your child on schedule.

Printable Resources

Promote Positive Behavior

This guide is designed is to help parents and caregivers promote positive behavior during remote learning.

Family Training Videos

Learning Activities and IEP Goals

Below are learning activities that support progress toward common IEP goals that you can do at home with your child. Some require adult support and all are hands-on. You can discuss which of these are best for your child with teachers, paraprofessionals, and related service providers.

Following directions

Assisting with household tasks

Preparing a snack or meal

Laundry

Cleaning

Getting the mail

Putting away toys and materials

Feeding a pet

Watering plants

Putting away groceries

Daily care routines

Taking a shower

Brushing teeth

Getting dressed

Helping a younger sibling with a bath, getting dressed, etc.

Playing board games or card games

Play a round of "I Spy." Describe what the object is using feature, function, and class. Examples:

Refrigerator: "It is big." "It keeps food cold."

Window: "It is made of glass." "You can see through it."

Chair: "It is (color). You can sit on it."

Do a scavenger hunt, using prepositions. E.g. "I am looking for something that is under the bed. I am looking for something that is in a drawer."

Conversation Goals

Ask your child to describe what they are doing as they complete an activity

FaceTime with a favorite family member and prompt your child to maintain the conversation on topic by making related comments and asking questions.

Use your child's special interests to engage them in conversation. Ask "how?" and "why?" questions during play to expand interactions.

Reinforce your child for starting interactions

Answering Questions

Ask your student "wh" questions about ongoing activities. Examples: "What are you doing?" "What is mom/dad/grandma/aunt/brother doing?"

Have your child make choices by asking questions. For example, "Would you rather wear the red shirt or blue shirt today?" or "Do you want to draw a picture first or write words first?"

Ask your child yes or no questions.

Ask your child "wh" questions and "how" questions when reading books and looking at pictures.

Recall/Retell

Show your child pictures from family outings and events and ask them to recall details.

After reading a book, watching a show or movie, or completing an activity, ask your child to tell you about it. Prompt them to tell you about the beginning, middle, and end.

Draw pictures or write sentences to sequence common activities.

Counting

Count items as you complete household tasks - e.g. How many spoons are we putting away? How many pairs of socks are we folding? How many books are on that shelf?

Create a bar graph showing the colors of Legos, colors of gummy candies, amount of different types of coins, etc.

Make a paper chain to count down to a milestone. Or add a link every day to count the number of days that have passed.

Write numbers on index cards. Your child can attach the appropriate number of paperclips either around the edge of the card or by making a paperclip chain.

Use small objects (cheerios, toothpicks) to make sets of 10.

Emotional Regulation

Create a 5-point scale for feelings of frustration. Include your child's own drawings and own words.

Build a "break station" in your house. Have a quiet space where you student can remove himself from frustrating situations and engage in calming activities.

Post visual supports in the most frequented rooms to remind your child to use self-regulation strategies.Label emotions and associate them with body states. Examples:

"I can tell that you feel angry because your voice is loud, and your heart is beating fast."

"She looks excited! I think she is excited because she has a big a smile and is jumping."

Paste delayed gratification - do activities that require waiting, such as baking.

Use timers to help your child stay on a task with a non-preferred activity. For example, use a first/then visual reminder and timers to let your child know that first he will do math for 15 minutes, then he can play for 15 minutes.

Engage your child in problem-solving activities. Think aloud about solutions. For example, direct your child to complete a task but do not give him all the needed materials. You can say something like "I really want to draw a picture, but I can't find a pencil! Maybe I should get one from the drawer or ask Mommy where the pencils are."

Math Word Problems

"Think aloud" as you do daily math activities in the house. Examples:

"I am making two sandwiches. Each sandwich needs 2 slices of bread. How much bread should I take out?"

"Bedtime is at 8:30. It takes 45 minutes to get ready for bed. What time should we start getting ready?"

Adding Detail to Writing

Draw pictures with details. Provide a topic for the drawing and encourage your child to add as many details as possible.

Write stories that your child dictates to you. Ask him/her to add details.

Narrate details as you complete activities or watch TV.

Executive Functions

Write out a grocery list

Have your child give you directions for completing a task. Follow the directions as given and help them revise the directions as needed.

Include your child in creating daily schedules.

Color code materials in the home. Color coding can be used to help children complete chores (summer clothes in the green drawer, winter clothes in the blue drawer) or to understand rules (you can eat snacks from the green basket)

Card games (like Uno) and board games

If you have a multilingual household, speak with your child in multiple languages.

Play games like Follow the Leader, Simon Says, and Freeze Dance

Fine Motor Skills

Remind your child to use an appropriate grasp when writing, coloring, and cutting.

Create activities where your child is picking an item out of another item. E.g. - beads in dough; small toys in rice; letter shapes in water

String beads

Let your child style her hair or play with your hair

Practice dressing independently, including buttons and zippers, and tying shoes

More learning resources and ideas can be found on the DOE's grade-level learn at home pages.

Related Services

Find social stories, visual aids, and at home tips for speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and more.

Get Moving

Make time for movement throughout the day with The Get Ready to Learn Home Series for children with a wide range of developmental and educational challenges. This program has been proven to have a positive impact on focus, attention, routines, and transitions.

Everyday there will be a new video that will build on the previous day's session. The get ready project also has a library of Ready Break free to families throughout remote learning.

More physical education resources can be found on the DOE's website.

Family Support

You play a crucial role in the education of your child, especially during remote learning. Here are some resources and contacts to support you.

Helpful Websites

Children's stories in American Sign Language.

Do2Learn Free pages with social skills and behavioral regulation activities and guidance, learning songs and games, communication cards, academic material, and transition guides for employment and life skills.

Community forum on Facebook to share ideas, projects and strategies to adapt materials to better serve students with disabilities.

Lincoln Center Theater Performance designed especially for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

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The strategies and resources on this page are designed to help you create a productive, safe and healthy learning environment at home during remote learning. Encourage your child to communicate feelings and use strategies to manage them. Use a 5-point scale, an emotion thermometer, or an emotions sign to help your child identify and communicate feelings.

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Janet's Planet--Science lessons for young students 

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Janet's Planet--Science lessons for young students 

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"janets planet" "youtube kids" "kid science" nasa education space pluto #dearpluto

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Traveling at the speed of thought, Janet delivers information about health, science and history on this planet and many others! 12 Regional Emmy Awards and 5...

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People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.

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Bookshare | An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities

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Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.

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Collections of stories and novels, includes teacher guides 

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Collections of stories and novels, includes teacher guides 

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Fantastic stories about future technologies and dystopian societies, great quotes & teaching ideas.

Pairing two things we love: great food and great literature!

A collection of great stories, featuring ghosts, ghouls, vampires and other supernatural phenomenon.

Literature has a profound impact on culture, what better way to learn about America's history than through its authors. Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin may have hastened the arrival of the American Civl War. Henry David Thoreau's essay On Civil Disobedience inspired Ghandi, Mandela, and Martin Luther King. Literature is also a captive of history and sometimes proper appreciation is difficult to achieve without an understanding of the work's historical setting; The Scarlet Letter-- indeed much of Hawthorne's work-- is difficult to appreciate without historical education. We feature great American Biographies.

A fanciful collection of Fairy Tales collected and translated by Grace James. These imaginative and original fables are interesting reading for grown-ups rather than children. Visit our Fairy Tales Guide for more.

An exhaustive compendium of Latin Phrases with a handy search function. Ipso Facto.

The Holy Bible is primary to the culture of Western civilization and that primacy runs through its literature. This is your handy reference guide to The Bible.

A collection of female authors whose writing let us in to their internal conflicts vs. external expectations. Visit our Feminist Lit Study Guide

A collection of Plato's Dialogues

We also feature Aristotle's treatises

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Fantastic stories about future technologies and dystopian societies, great quotes & teaching ideas. Pairing two things we love: great food and great literature! A collection of great stories, featuring ghosts, ghouls, vampires and other supernatural phenomenon. Literature has a profound impact on culture, what better way to learn about America's history than through its authors.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Brandy Barbee (Special Education Elementary Programs)

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Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

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Create assignments, videos in multiple languages, close captions, activities, quizzes, and more 

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Create assignments, videos in multiple languages, close captions, activities, quizzes, and more 

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TeachVid - Home: Teach languages with videos

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Create and view language learning content with interactive text reconstruction activities and quizzes based on short videos.

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With the rapid growth of preventative responses towards the COVID-19 outbreak, it seems distance learning is trend here to stay at least for the next 6-12 months. Being prepared to take your classrooms fully online can be stressful, and finding the right curriculum resources challenging when it may be your first foray into the EdTech space.

In this article, you'll get a comprehensive list of helpful learning tools, learn common benefits and drawbacks of remote learning, and learn a few strategies for keeping students engaged while remote to help you through this challenging time.

If we missed any helpful resources along the way, please and we'd be happy to add it to our list.

100+ Tools for Distance Learning

We've scoured the web for helpful apps, tools, and platforms to help you as you set up your distance learning environments during your school closures.

If we've found the organization has announced something confirming COVID-19 supports, we include the link within the description of the tool.

Full Curriculum Coverage Distance Learning Tools

Full Curriculum Coverage Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. Curriculum coverage of ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, AP, SAT®, ACT®, Regents, STAAR, and Common Core needs. Albert is providing extended free pilot licenses for schools impacted by COVID-19. The form to get access can be

2. CK-12: Free and customizable K-12 open educational resources that are aligned to state curriculum standards.

3. : 100% free covering a wide range of subjects. Particularly strong in STEM subjects.

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Reading or English Language Arts Distance Learning Tools

Reading or English Language Arts Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. ELA content is high-interest, evidence-driven, with built-in differentiation. Learn more here.

2. ActivelyLearn: Standards-aligned ELA, Science, and Social Studies for promoting students to stop and ask questions. COVID-19 offer here.

3. Learning Ally: Equitable access to a large library of "human-read" audiobooks, including, curriculum-aligned literature, fiction and nonfiction, and STEM textbooks.

4. ReadWorks: Free content, curriculum, and tools for grades K-12 targeted at building reading comprehension. You can read about their recommendations regarding using the site remotely .

5. ReadTheory: This is an online reading comprehension platform that is completely free for teachers.

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Writing Distance Learning Tools

Writing Distance Learning Tools

Albert: 100% free grammar course with over 3,300 original practice questions and explanations. Includes contemporary, informative and engaging texts and aligns to Common Core, Regents, and TEKS standards.
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Math Distance Learning Tools

Math Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Hundreds of free questions and explanations in Foundations of Algebra and . Aligned to Common Core, Regents, and TEKS standards. Albert is providing supports for impacted schools you can learn more about here.

2. Dad's Worksheets: This site provides printable worksheets, online calculators, games and puzzles for free. Targeted for K-6.

3. FunexpectedApps: Targeted for kids 3-7 to develop mathematical thinking. They are offering a pack of free activities and a free desktop version of their app.

4. LegendsofLearning: 2,000 3rd through 8th-grade math and science games and simulations correlated to state standards. They are offering free access to all premium features for schools closed due to the outbreak for the duration of their closure.

5. SplashLearn: Game-based math learning program for grades K-5 available on iOS, Android, or Web. They're COVID-19 support announcement can be found here.

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Language Learning Distance Learning Tools

Language Learning Distance Learning Tools

Fabulingua: Teaches Spanish through magical interactive stories on phones and tablets specifically for kids ages 2-10. FabuLingua is suspending their subscription services and providing their entire platform for free to those impacted.

Science Distance Learning Tools

Science Distance Learning Tools

Computer Science Distance Learning Tools

Computer Science Distance Learning Tools

1. Minecraft Education Edition: Perfect for students to learn problem-solving - free lessons through June 30 with more details here.

2. Penjee: Free site that provides a supportive way to learn your first text-based programming language.

3. Tynker: Coding site targeted for ages 5+. Includes a complete coding curriculum, automatic assessments, and classroom management tools. Google form for COVID-19 supports can be submitted here.

Social Studies Distance Learning Tools

Social Studies Distance Learning Tools

1. National Constitution Center: Free online civics learning including the Interactive Constitution and Scholar Exchanges, live virtual interactive conversations about the Constitution.

2. Smithsonian Education: Features a Learning Lab that allows you to build collections and educational experiences for students. Also has a Game Center for younger STEM learners and an extensive library on AMerican history.

3. Stanford's Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum: Provides free lessons and assessments for students to evaluate online information. The Stanford History Education Group provides other history lessons for free as well.

4. Teaching Tolerance: Site dedicated to providing free resources K-12 for creating civil and inclusive school communities. You can build a learning plan following their guide .

5. Zinn Education Project: Targeted towards grades 6-12 built off Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Free downloadable lessons and articles you can use based on theme, time period and reading level.

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Music Learning Distance Learning Tools

Music Learning Distance Learning Tools

1. Cyber Fret: Video based guitar lessons.

2. Metronome: Online metronome.

3. Moosiko: Online practice tool for guitar teachers to help their students learn chords, play songs, and track skills.

4. Ultimate Guitar: World's largest source of guitar tabs.

5. Online Guitar Tuner: Tune your guitar online.

Art and Physical Education Distance Learning Tools

Art and Physical Education Distance Learning Tools

1. Tate Museum 360: This provides a virtual tour of the Tate Museum.

2. Smithsonian Virtual Tours: Here you'll find virtual tours of permanent exhibits, current exhibits, past exhibits and more.

3. MoMa: Some virtual tours were offered from April through July. More may be added in the future depending on how things look.

4. The Art of Education Lesson Plans: A collection of different lesson plans for grades K-6.

5. PE Blog's Virtual Resources: Tons of at-home lesson plans and more for physical education.

6. Shape America: This teacher toolbox includes PE plans for K-8.

LMS and Communication Tools for Distance Learning

LMS and Communication Tools for Distance Learning

1. ClassDojo: 100% free. Used heavily in K-5 for keeping in touch with parents, managing classrooms and building community. Here's a beginner's guide to getting set up.

2. Classtag: Free communication platform for schools designed to boost parental engagement. Teachers can message parents directly and translate their messages if English is the parent's second language.

3. InScribe: LMS integrated community that helps colleges build an on-demand support system to connect students to the answers, resources, and individuals they need to succeed.

Distance Learning Tools for Class Presentations

Distance Learning Tools for Class Presentations

Quizzing and Formative Assessment Distance Learning Tools

Quizzing and Formative Assessment Distance Learning Tools

1. : Create quizzes from resources made by other users.

2. Poll Everywhere: Run live interactive presentations; similar features to Mentimeter. There is a free account that supports up to 25 participants.

3. ReviewGameZone: Free site that allows you to turn multiple choice questions into addicting review games using their free game generator.

4. Wooclap: Interactive platform where teachers can create quiz types of questions and ask them to students during their live presentation or in asynchronous.

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Tools that Promote Collaboration and Student Engagement

Tools that Promote Collaboration and Student Engagement

1. : Gives a student response system and grades your quizzes. Ideal for BYOD classrooms. The free plan supports up to 200 students.

2. FeedbackFruits: Free pedagogical tools to drive, track and assess student engagement for university teachers. Learn more and request your free key & secret here.

3. Headspace: Promotes mindfulness and meditation for students to help relieve stress. They're offering supports for educators here.

4. Kapwing: Collaborative online image and video editor with a cloud storage workspace. Great for teachers making video materials or lessons to send to students or students to work on group projects. Free pro licenses are being offered here.

5. Kialo Edu: Free platform designed to encourage thoughtful classroom discussion and help teachers build critical thinking skills.

6. RethinkEd: Provides opportunities for students K-12 to develop social emotional skills. Specific COVID-19 supports can be found here.

7. Video Ask: Fun tool for asynchronous video interactions and Q&As. Free account here.

8. Start.me: With this you can build a simple start hub and give instant access to web tools and key information. Learn more here.

Screencapture and Instructional Video Tools

Screencapture and Instructional Video Tools

1. Nimbus: Screen capture for your browser. Allows for annotation. Free plan is a bit more restrictive than Screencastify and Loom.

2. WeVideo: Online video editor that allows students to collaborate with one another on video projects. They're offering support for impacted schools here.

3. YouTube: Tons of helpful educational content - just be sure to vet what you're sharing for quality.

Video Conferencing Tools

1. Google's webinar tools. They've extended supports that you can read about Hangouts Meet: here.

2. YouTube Live: Allows you to run a livestream with students with an interactive chat box. Commonly used by popular AP® teachers like Tom Richey .

General Education News and Trackers

General Education News and Trackers
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What are Some Benefits of Remote Learning?

What are Some Benefits of Remote Learning?

Students are able to study any time, and anywhere as long as they have reliable Internet.

Students are able to independently learn, with teacher guidance as-needed.

Students can learn at their own pace.

The plethora of tools allows for many opportunities for students and staff to build virtual communities.

EdTech tools are generally intuitive to use and require little set up time to begin using.

What are Some Drawbacks of Remote Learning?

What are Some Drawbacks of Remote Learning?

Most online tools require high-speed internet - not all students have this, requiring school districts to adapt rapidly and support accordingly.

Unless you use video conferencing, it's hard to actively monitor students aside from their progress in their online learning.

Not being able to be physically present with students can mean it's more difficult to interpret their body language and feelings to meet their needs.

Relationships require more intentional planning to nurture and maintain, both amongst students and staff.

7 Remote Learning Strategies for Classrooms and Schools

7 Remote Learning Strategies for Classrooms and Schools

If you haven't already, get free help from Albert for your distance learning needs. Albert offers hundreds of thousands of curriculum aligned questions you can use to help measure student learning and growth.
1. Ensure students have safe ways to access the Internet; if not possible, consider ways to provide alternatives for students who may not have readily-available access at home.
Not every family has a computer or reliable Internet at home. Checking with your school or district about its plans for how to purchase or rent Wi-Fi hotspots and devices students can bring home is important to the success of any distance learning plan.

If this has not been done, it's advised you plan for a set pick up time and location to arrange devices and hotspots to be distributed.
2. Use Loom, 3. Draft and announce expectations with parents during this time. Screencastify, or a comparable screen recording software for anything that may be confusing.
These free Google Chrome extensions allow educators and administrators to record full-video or video-with-computer-screen screen captures. This can be particularly helpful when explaining key concepts as you would in the classroom, going over a new learning platform, or providing some semblance of normalcy with daily announcements for a school.

Many of these platforms provide basic user interaction opportunities, which allow for opportunities for educators to ask questions from students and have them type a response, or to react to a video, similar to how they might on a social media site.
4. Replicate bell-ringers and regular routines digitally.
Providing parents with clarity around digital classroom expectations is vital for having a system for accountability when you are not able to see your students every day.

This can be done in a multitude of ways, such as publishing distance learning guidelines in the Principal's Letter, sharing key announcements using systems like .

There are opportunities for administrators to continue building community as well with virtual school-wide competitions (for example, see how many questions 9th and 10th graders can answer by the end of the week vs. 11th and 12th graders on a digital learning platform). Or, if you prefer not creating a competition, you can make schoolwide goals such as the entire school spending on average 3 hours a week studying on an online platform.
5. Provide opportunities for all to be heard and to have someone to talk to.

As mentioned earlier with announcements, creating an environment that closely replicates the habits of a normal classroom can be crucial to the success of distance learning.

Running regular virtual staff meetings

Keeping general conference lines open for teachers (similar to the teacher's lounge)

Scheduling small group interdisciplinary meetings for teachers to share distance learning strategies with each other

Using virtual scheduling for students who may need to talk to a guidance counselor (i.e. or YouCanBookMe are free options).

Some ways to replicate bell-ringers are by creating interactive polls for students to start a class (tools like Mentimeter can do this) or asking questions and having students type in responses for participation points.
6. Keep classroom calendars up-to-date with expectations for self-pacing, to-dos, and upcoming classroom conference calls.
Aside from bell-ringers, if you regularly hold after-hours for students that would like extra help, you can do so with a Google Hangout, Zoom, or other virtual conferencing software at set times like your school's normal lunch time or immediately after normal school hours once or twice a week.
7. Encourage student collaboration with group projects and activities they can work on from home.
Not going to school for extended periods of time can be lonely for everyone involved and the uncertainty can contribute negatively to the mental health of students. Ensuring your classroom and or school has a process in place for providing support for students and employees to talk about how they're feeling through these times is crucial to consider.

Example ways to do this include:

Assign group projects based around Google Docs or Google Slides

Allow students to team up and compete with programs like

Have students work together to create their own blog or website

Ensuring your teacher webpage is kept up-to-date can help provide students the structure they need to succeed. Here is an example of how that may look for you:

Sometimes students can be each other's best teachers. It's important to continue to give your students opportunities to collaborate in small groups or teams.

Of course, this will look a little different than it does in the classroom. Examples of ways to allow students to collaborate from a distance include:

Phew! That's a wrap. We hope you've found this resource helpful as you begin navigating distance learning. If you found this helpful, please share this on your social media to help other educators.

If you have any feedback or want to share another tool, feel free to contact us here . Stay safe!

If you enjoyed this post, you'll also like our post on different strategies for teaching online.

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131 Tools for Distance Learning & Strategies for Student Engagement | Albert Resources

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With the rapid growth of preventative responses towards the COVID-19 outbreak, it seems distance learning is trend here to stay at least for the next 6-12 months. Being prepared to take your classrooms fully online can be stressful, and finding the right curriculum resources challenging when it may be your first foray into the EdTech space.

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One of the best things America ever did was establish the national parks system, conserving the nation's ecological heritage and pristine wilderness for everyone to enjoy.

But, while visiting the parks is a family road trip classic, it's not exactly an inexpensive experience for many of us, not to mention how time consuming it can be.

Good news! You don't actually have to leave your couch to see some of America's most glorious landscapes. Powered by Google Earth, a whole bunch of parks offer free virtual tours.

Check out some of the highlights!

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You Can Virtually Tour A Whole Bunch Of National Parks From Your Couch

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One of the best things America ever did was establish the national parks system, conserving the nation's ecological heritage and pristine wilderness for everyone to enjoy. But, while visiting the parks is a family road trip classic, it's not exactly an inexpensive experience for many of us, not to mention how time consuming it can be.

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ASL Summer Residency Program at Gallaudet

Come to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. to immerse yourself in learning ASL on the campus of the world's only university for Deaf and hard of hearing students. You'll find yourself living and learning on this historical campus, a Deaf cultural mecca situated within one of the world's most visited cities with unrivaled free cultural activities.

ASL Summer Residency Program

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Come to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. to immerse yourself in learning ASL on the campus of the world's only university for Deaf and hard of hearing students. You'll find yourself living and learning on this historical campus, a Deaf cultural mecca situated within one of the world's most visited cities with unrivaled free cultural activities.

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Collection of Virtual Field Trip Resources 

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Collection of Virtual Field Trip Resources 

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Virtual Field Trip Apps and Websites | Common Sense Education

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Virtual Field Trip Apps and Websites is a list of 29 apps, games, and websites curated by Common Sense Education editors.

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How to turn PPT/slides into video for google classroom

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How to turn PPT/slides into video for google classroom

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How to Quickly Turn PowerPoint and Google Slides into Videos

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Dyslexia Writing & Reading Assistive Technology | Ghotit Dyslexia

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Dyslexia Help for Children and Adults with | Ghotit Dyslexia

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Ghotit Real Writer & Reader software includes advanced writing and reading assistive technologies tailor-made for people with dyslexia and dysgraphia

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What is design? How does it affect our daily lives? Join KidsThinkDesign as we travel the world to observe how good design is alive in communities across the world. Our first stop is New York City, international arts center and home of National Design Week.

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How to split a PDF for signature on IEP document

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How to split a PDF for signature on IEP document

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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How to Split a PDF to upload sig. page to SEIS

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Reading Strategies for Students who are Visually Impaired 

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Reading Strategies for Students who are Visually Impaired 

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Our Difference

At Great Minds, it's all about building knowledge - not just skills. Building deep, lasting understanding rather than just memorizing. That's why we embed layers upon layers of knowledge into our curricula. Knowledge in the context of the real world, rather than hypothetical scenarios. Knowledge through consistent core skill development, rather than reinventing the wheel with each lesson. And the knowledge that builds upon itself for stronger connections throughout the learning process.
Every child is capable of greatness.

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Great Minds®: Math, English, and Science Curriculum Developers

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Learn about Great Minds®, math, English, and science curriculum developers founded by teachers for teachers. We believe every child is capable of greatness.

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Grades 4-6

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Development of MathByExample was led by Julie Booth (Temple University) through a SERP collaboration with several school districts. Major contributors to program development include: Kelly McGinn and Laura Young (Temple University), Allie Huyghe, Matthew Ellinger, Emily Schwartz, Avery Jones, and David Dudley (SERP). Special thanks! to the teachers, administrators, and students in our partner districts-Baltimore City Schools, Public Schools of Beloit, Public Schools of Brookline, Fort Madison Community School District, Oak Park Elementary District 97, and Penns Valley Area School District-who were essential to the project's success, providing feedback at critical points and inviting us into their classrooms along the way!

The collaboration has been supported to conduct this work by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A150456 to Strategic Education Research Partnership Institute. The information provided does not represent views of the funders.

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MathByExample assignments give students practice solving problems, as well as practice modeling, analyzing, critiquing, and articulating mathematical arguments.

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How to make video lessons without making your own recordings 

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How to make video lessons without making your own recordings 

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A Complete Overview of How to Create and Share Video Lessons via EDpuzzle

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Epic Books--Digital Library for children  12 and under  

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Epic Books--Digital Library for children  12 and under  

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Scaffolding Learning in the Online Classroom

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Scaffolding Learning in the Online Classroom

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Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services

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The online student population is becoming increasingly complex. Although people typically think of online students as older working professionals, Clinefelter, Aslanian, and Magda (2019) note that this population is beginning to trend younger. However, this trend doesn't mean that younger students are simply replacing older ones. Rather, online education has grown in such a way that its students represent an increasingly diverse population in terms of age, work experience, and educational background.

Because online instructors can't physically see their students, helping all these students succeed can seem overwhelming. You might have a more difficult time identifying when students are struggling, making it challenging to support each student. However, if you design your course to meet a diverse set of needs, you can ensure that students receive the support they need to grow and succeed in your course. In this article, we'll explore the concept of scaffolding, which can help you do just that. We'll address what scaffolding is, why it's valuable, and how you can begin scaffolding your online course.

Simply put, scaffolding is an instructional method that progressively moves students toward greater independence and understanding during the learning process. Similar to how builders require scaffolding during construction to access new heights, instructional scaffolding helps students navigate coursework and accomplish tasks they otherwise might not have been able to. This idea is influenced by Vygotsky's (1978) concept of the zone of proximal development, which is based on three points of the learning process:

What the learner cannot do

What the learner can do with assistance

What the learner can do unaided

Caruana (2012) notes that, to provide students with consistent support, "it's important to determine the area (zone) between what a student can accomplish unaided and what that same student can accomplish with assistance." In most cases, scaffolding will take the form of providing support such as instructional material, practice activities, and other course elements to help students independently demonstrate mastery of learning objectives. In terms of the zone of proximal development, scaffolding is essentially what takes students from what they can do with assistance to what they can do unaided.

In their review of literature on the topic, Jumaat and Tasir (2014) identify four types of scaffolding that can occur in online courses:

Procedural scaffolding, which helps students use the tools available to them

Conceptual scaffolding, which helps students determine what to consider in learning (that is, it guides them to prioritize fundamental concepts)

Strategic scaffolding, which suggests alternative ways for students to tackle the learning problems they encounter

Metacognitive scaffolding, which guides students in the thinking process and helps them self-assess during learning

Each type of scaffolding can be essential to your students' success. Procedural scaffolding, for instance, can play a critical role in ensuring that students can use the tools in your learning management system, and conceptual scaffolding can help guide students' consumption of more complex materials. Similarly, strategic scaffolding helps students find a new way around a roadblock, and metacognitive scaffolding encourages them to take a moment to evaluate their progress in the course.

Regardless of the type of scaffolding, the core benefit remains consistent: It helps students move toward being able to complete a task unaided. Whether the goal is to use a course tool or master a learning objective, scaffolding simply ensures that students receive the support they need.

As you might imagine, scaffolding requires additional effort on an instructor's part, particularly in an online context, but the benefits make the work worthwhile. Cho and Cho (2016) note that some students aren't comfortable reaching out to the instructor, meaning that these students actually could be avoiding the very support they need to succeed. Building scaffolding into your course's design, however, addresses this problem by incorporating support directly into the course content.

Northern Illinois University's Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center (n.d.) notes some additional ways students benefit from instructional scaffolding:

Scaffolding challenges students through deep learning and discovery.

Scaffolding helps learners become better students.

Scaffolding increases the likelihood of student success.

Scaffolding individualizes instruction.

Scaffolding creates opportunities for peer instruction.

Scaffolding can also benefit the instructor by streamlining student support. By designing a course that offers students guidance or assistance as they need it, you increase the likelihood that students will independently explore solutions to questions and issues they have. This frees you to tackle other tasks such as grading, responding to discussion forum posts, and addressing additional questions that might arise.

Caruana (2012) suggests that when determining how to scaffold or what to scaffold, "a good rule of thumb is the higher the stakes, the more scaffolding you need to include. In other words, the heavier the weight, the stronger the support." Following are just a few of the strategies you can use to begin scaffolding your course.

Breaking Down Assessments

One of the more widely known approaches to scaffolding involves breaking assessments into more manageable subtasks. More often than not, the assessments you'd want to break down are summative assessments (the higher-stakes assessments that instructors typically use as a benchmark to measure student learning). By dividing up these assessments into smaller components, you save students from having to pool a tremendous amount of time and energy at the benchmark point in your course.

When using this strategy, you can create steps that guide students to complete the assessment as the course goes on. That way, they're doing the same amount of work, but not all at once. Take a final essay, for example. Instead of asking students to write a long piece of work during the last module of the course, you could scaffold it by creating steps such as submitting a literature review, completing an outline, writing a rough draft, and so on.

Another benefit to this approach is that it allows you to provide students with feedback on their progress. Let's return to our final essay example. If students were to write the essay during the last module of the course, they wouldn't have much opportunity for revision, correction, or improvement. If that assessment were scaffolded, however, the instructor could look at each of those steps and take corrective measures such as pointing out dated research in a literature review, addressing poor structure in the outline, and catching misused sources in a rough draft. Essentially, the instructor would be able to help students correct these issues as they arise, making it more likely that students will meet their learning objectives when they submit that final essay.

Aligning Assessments

Another scaffolding strategy you can use is to make sure that your assessments are related to other elements of your course. Even if you're using several different assessments (rather than one broken-up summative assessment), consider the relationship between your assessments and whether they prepare students for other course elements. Ideally, assessments should work together to gradually prepare students for what they'll be doing at a later date, which can help build confidence and familiarity and establish relevance.

For instance, if the last module of an education course requires students to write a classroom management plan, some of the course's discussion forums could ask students to consider different classroom management styles and critique case studies involving classroom management plans. Although these activities don't build directly toward the summative assessment like the example in the previous section, they scaffold the instruction by helping students consider important factors that will impact their final submission.

Providing Examples

Sometimes, no matter how clear your learning objectives are or how much you've communicated expectations through messages and announcements, students need to see what you expect of them. By providing examples of the work students need to do to earn a desirable grade, you establish a model they can refer to as they create or complete their assessments.

Providing examples is a scaffold in the sense that students can compare the work they're completing to the work they know you're expecting. This increases the likelihood that students will be able to identify their deficiencies, make corrections, and ultimately master your course's learning objectives.

However, simply providing examples may not be sufficient. Whether you provide examples of exemplary work or lackluster work, Sardo and Sindelar (2019) suggest that you also explain the criteria that make each example good or bad. When you do so, students won't just blindly model what they see; rather, they'll engage in a more thorough process of determining what makes their work good or bad.

Encouraging Metacognition

Metacognition refers to a student's ability to evaluate his or her own learning. The ultimate goal of scaffolding is for students to be able to master your course's learning objectives without aid, and a student's ability to independently identify his or her strengths and weaknesses is a critical step toward that type of mastery. With this in mind, one scaffolding method you can employ is reflection: requiring students to look back at their work and identify what they're doing well and where they're struggling. Huang (2017) gives three tips for developing this type of activity for your online course:

Begin reflection where the learners are. It's important to be intentional about the goal of a reflective exercise. Set expectations and clarify assumptions with students so that everyone is on the same page about the activity's goals.

Provide scaffolding to suit your learners' reflective continuum. That's right - we're talking about scaffolding the scaffolding. Essentially, some students might struggle with reflection and need some guidance. For these students, Huang (2017) suggests using a few guiding questions drawing on the five Rs:
Recapturing (capturing emotions, accomplishments, challenges)

Relating (identifying connections with previous materials or experiences)

Rationalizing (identifying patterns, creating meaning)

Redirecting (thinking about the future)

Give learners the freedom to experiment with different modalities of reflection. Reflection is a deeply personal exercise, so it's appropriate to give students the chance to reflect in a form that's most effective for them. With this in mind, consider allowing for different types of submissions, such as videos, podcasts, or mind maps.

By encouraging students to identify their strengths and weaknesses, you help them become aware of their regular accomplishments and struggles, which can help them focus their efforts accordingly as they progress through other parts of your course.

Chunking Materials

Chunking refers to breaking down larger pieces of instruction into smaller, more manageable "chunks" for students to consume. Chunking is commonly considered a best practice of course design, and Schutt (2003) argues that it can be an effective scaffolding tool as well. By separating a large piece of text or a long video into smaller components, you provide students with breaks that they can use to reflect, question, or even reach out for help if they need it. An added benefit of chunking is that it can help prevent cognitive overload.

Whatever your subject matter, your online course will likely contain students with diverse needs. Although this can be daunting when you can't actually see the students, by using scaffolds to address the gaps between what students can do with assistance and what they can do unaided, you increase the likelihood that students will succeed in your course and master your learning objectives. With this in mind, here are a few key takeaways from this article:

Scaffolding is largely influenced by the concept of zone of proximal development. Ideally, it helps support students as they move toward being able to complete a task without aid.

Scaffolding provides support to help students who struggle in your course. Whereas in the traditional classroom you can typically see when students are struggling, scaffolding helps address similar concerns that might be less visible online.

Scaffolding can take several different forms. From breaking down larger assessments into subtasks to providing examples and encouraging reflection, the goal of scaffolding is to create opportunities for students to receive structured support and grow as learners.

Caruana, V. (2012). Scaffolding student learning: Tips for getting started. Retrieved from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/scaffolding-student-learning-tips-for-getting-started/

Cho, M.-H., & Cho, Y. (2016). Online instructors' use of scaffolding strategies to promote interactions: A scale development study. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(6). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v17i6.2816

Clinefelter, D. L., Aslanian, C. B., & Magda, A. J. (2019). Online college students 2019: Comprehensive data on demands and preferences. Louisville, KY: Wiley edu, LLC

Huang, L. (2017, November 6). Three ideas for implementing learner reflection. Retrieved from  https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/three-ideas-implementing-learner-reflection/

Jumaat, N. F., & Tasir, Z. (2014). Instructional scaffolding in online learning environment: A meta-analysis. Proceedings of the IEEE, 74-77. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269033099_Instructional_Scaffolding_in_Online_Learning_Environment_A_Meta-analysis

Northern Illinois University. (n.d.). Instructional scaffolding to support learning. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/facdev/_pdf/guide/strategies/instructional_scaffolding_to_improve_learning.pdf

Sardo, C., & Sindelar, A. (2019). Scaffolding online student success. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/scaffolding-online-student-success/

Schutt, M. (2003). Scaffolding for online learning environments: Instructional design strategies that provide online learner support. Educational Technology, 43(6), 28-35. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44428859

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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Scaffolding Learning in the Online Classroom - Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services

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The online student population is becoming increasingly complex. Although people typically think of online students as older working professionals, Clinefelter, Aslanian, and Magda (2019) note that this population is beginning to trend younger. However, this trend doesn't mean that younger students are simply replacing older ones.

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Videos for content, mindfulness practice, indoor PE, and more 

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Videos for content, mindfulness practice, indoor PE, and more 

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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adaptive reading from the 3rd-12th grade reading levels to students in Science and Social Studies, to help both struggling readers and challenge advanced students.

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RocketLit ~ School Pilots and District Pilots

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RocketLit serves differentiated, standards-based science and history readings to students to save time lesson planning for teachers. Our leveled science and history articles allow all learners in a classroom to improve literacy by reading at their independent reading level, and learn core concepts at the same time.

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Specialized Instruction and Support for SWD 

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Specialized Instruction and Support for SWD 

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downloadable materials to support OT, SLT, and PT at home

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The strategies and resources on this page are designed to help you create a productive, safe and healthy learning environment at home during remote learning.

Set Up for Remote Learning

Communicate

Encourage your child to communicate feelings and use strategies to manage them.

Use a 5-point scale, an emotion thermometer, or an emotions sign to help your child identify and communicate feelings.

Create a space in your house for your child to calm down when feeling angry, sad, frustrated or overwhelmed.

Create a Schedule

Just as adults use calendars, grocery lists, and "to-do" lists to enhance memory, children benefit from visual reminders. Create a schedule to use at home, so your child knows what to expect each day. The schedule can showcase the flow of the day and include remote learning, chores, physical activity, indoor and outdoor play, rest and mealtimes.

Learn how to create a schedule with this video, create a schedule online, view sample daily schedules created for different age levels, or make your own by hand or on the computer. Children can help make the schedule by drawing pictures, determining which activities should be included, and the sequence of events. Older children can make their own schedule with or without your assistance depending on their level of independence.

Prepare your child for transitions or changes in schedule ahead of time so s/he isn't surprised.

Use timers to help your child understand the schedule and transition to new activities.

Set Up a Space

Create a quiet, comfortable space for your child to do schoolwork

Offer Choices

Offering your child choices can help give them a sense of control and reduce power struggles.

For example, if you want your child to clean their room you can give them a choice of what to put away first and provide them with praise or a reward for completing the task.

Family Training Videos

Using Schedules - Visual Schedules help both parents and children. Picture, word, or object schedules keep children focused and help reduce problem behavior. This video will show you how!

Transitioning from Play to Work -Transitioning from playing to eating to using the iPad can trigger outbursts. This video will give you practical, and proven, strategies to manage transitions and keep your child on schedule.

Printable Resources

Promote Positive Behavior

This guide is designed is to help parents and caregivers promote positive behavior during remote learning.

Family Training Videos

Learning Activities and IEP Goals

Below are learning activities that support progress toward common IEP goals that you can do at home with your child. Some require adult support and all are hands-on. You can discuss which of these are best for your child with teachers, paraprofessionals, and related service providers.

Following directions

Assisting with household tasks

Preparing a snack or meal

Laundry

Cleaning

Getting the mail

Putting away toys and materials

Feeding a pet

Watering plants

Putting away groceries

Daily care routines

Taking a shower

Brushing teeth

Getting dressed

Helping a younger sibling with a bath, getting dressed, etc.

Playing board games or card games

Play a round of "I Spy." Describe what the object is using feature, function, and class. Examples:

Refrigerator: "It is big." "It keeps food cold."

Window: "It is made of glass." "You can see through it."

Chair: "It is (color). You can sit on it."

Do a scavenger hunt, using prepositions. E.g. "I am looking for something that is under the bed. I am looking for something that is in a drawer."

Conversation Goals

Ask your child to describe what they are doing as they complete an activity

FaceTime with a favorite family member and prompt your child to maintain the conversation on topic by making related comments and asking questions.

Use your child's special interests to engage them in conversation. Ask "how?" and "why?" questions during play to expand interactions.

Reinforce your child for starting interactions

Answering Questions

Ask your student "wh" questions about ongoing activities. Examples: "What are you doing?" "What is mom/dad/grandma/aunt/brother doing?"

Have your child make choices by asking questions. For example, "Would you rather wear the red shirt or blue shirt today?" or "Do you want to draw a picture first or write words first?"

Ask your child yes or no questions.

Ask your child "wh" questions and "how" questions when reading books and looking at pictures.

Recall/Retell

Show your child pictures from family outings and events and ask them to recall details.

After reading a book, watching a show or movie, or completing an activity, ask your child to tell you about it. Prompt them to tell you about the beginning, middle, and end.

Draw pictures or write sentences to sequence common activities.

Counting

Count items as you complete household tasks - e.g. How many spoons are we putting away? How many pairs of socks are we folding? How many books are on that shelf?

Create a bar graph showing the colors of Legos, colors of gummy candies, amount of different types of coins, etc.

Make a paper chain to count down to a milestone. Or add a link every day to count the number of days that have passed.

Write numbers on index cards. Your child can attach the appropriate number of paperclips either around the edge of the card or by making a paperclip chain.

Use small objects (cheerios, toothpicks) to make sets of 10.

Emotional Regulation

Create a 5-point scale for feelings of frustration. Include your child's own drawings and own words.

Build a "break station" in your house. Have a quiet space where you student can remove himself from frustrating situations and engage in calming activities.

Post visual supports in the most frequented rooms to remind your child to use self-regulation strategies.Label emotions and associate them with body states. Examples:

"I can tell that you feel angry because your voice is loud, and your heart is beating fast."

"She looks excited! I think she is excited because she has a big a smile and is jumping."

Paste delayed gratification - do activities that require waiting, such as baking.

Use timers to help your child stay on a task with a non-preferred activity. For example, use a first/then visual reminder and timers to let your child know that first he will do math for 15 minutes, then he can play for 15 minutes.

Engage your child in problem-solving activities. Think aloud about solutions. For example, direct your child to complete a task but do not give him all the needed materials. You can say something like "I really want to draw a picture, but I can't find a pencil! Maybe I should get one from the drawer or ask Mommy where the pencils are."

Math Word Problems

"Think aloud" as you do daily math activities in the house. Examples:

"I am making two sandwiches. Each sandwich needs 2 slices of bread. How much bread should I take out?"

"Bedtime is at 8:30. It takes 45 minutes to get ready for bed. What time should we start getting ready?"

Adding Detail to Writing

Draw pictures with details. Provide a topic for the drawing and encourage your child to add as many details as possible.

Write stories that your child dictates to you. Ask him/her to add details.

Narrate details as you complete activities or watch TV.

Executive Functions

Write out a grocery list

Have your child give you directions for completing a task. Follow the directions as given and help them revise the directions as needed.

Include your child in creating daily schedules.

Color code materials in the home. Color coding can be used to help children complete chores (summer clothes in the green drawer, winter clothes in the blue drawer) or to understand rules (you can eat snacks from the green basket)

Card games (like Uno) and board games

If you have a multilingual household, speak with your child in multiple languages.

Play games like Follow the Leader, Simon Says, and Freeze Dance

Fine Motor Skills

Remind your child to use an appropriate grasp when writing, coloring, and cutting.

Create activities where your child is picking an item out of another item. E.g. - beads in dough; small toys in rice; letter shapes in water

String beads

Let your child style her hair or play with your hair

Practice dressing independently, including buttons and zippers, and tying shoes

More learning resources and ideas can be found on the DOE's grade-level learn at home pages.

Related Services

Find social stories, visual aids, and at home tips for speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and more.

Get Moving

Make time for movement throughout the day with The Get Ready to Learn Home Series for children with a wide range of developmental and educational challenges. This program has been proven to have a positive impact on focus, attention, routines, and transitions.

Everyday there will be a new video that will build on the previous day's session. The get ready project also has a library of Ready Break free to families throughout remote learning.

More physical education resources can be found on the DOE's website.

Family Support

You play a crucial role in the education of your child, especially during remote learning. Here are some resources and contacts to support you.

Helpful Websites

Children's stories in American Sign Language.

Do2Learn Free pages with social skills and behavioral regulation activities and guidance, learning songs and games, communication cards, academic material, and transition guides for employment and life skills.

Community forum on Facebook to share ideas, projects and strategies to adapt materials to better serve students with disabilities.

Lincoln Center Theater Performance designed especially for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

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The strategies and resources on this page are designed to help you create a productive, safe and healthy learning environment at home during remote learning. Encourage your child to communicate feelings and use strategies to manage them. Use a 5-point scale, an emotion thermometer, or an emotions sign to help your child identify and communicate feelings.

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Music is for everyone. Play with simple experiments that let anyone, of any age, explore how music works.

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How to start with Online Learning! Remote teaching made easy.

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Welcome to CAST Science Writer, the tool that supports students in writing lab and class reports. This tool is geared toward middle school and high school students. Check out the supports and help available in Science Writer described below. Or click the "Take a Tour" button above to see how Science Writer works.

A Report Structure

All parts of a science or lab report are broken into small steps so the author can concentrate on one part of the report at a time.

A Process for Writing

Science Writer helps you through the process of draft, revise, and edit when writing a science report.

Sentence Starters

The "Help Me Get Started" button has two functions (1) it divides the writing into smaller sections and (2) provides sentence starters when on the draft screens in the writing process. Think of it as a way to help get the writing started.

Checklists

Checklists are available when you revise and edit your science report. These checklists will help you check for content and grammar errors.

Journal

This is a place in Science Writer where you may write notes, reflect, make comments or questions, or keep track of data. Click on the "Journal" button at the top of the screen to access your journal.

Text to Speech

A SpeechStream toolbar by Texthelp™ is at the top of every page. This tool has text-to-speech so you may hear any text read out loud. SpeechStream can be used to check your writing by hearing it read back to you. SpeechStream also has a dictionary and translator you may use at any time in Science Writer.

Animated Helpers

Examples and help are provided by Eko, Max, and Sam.

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Welcome to CAST Science Writer, the tool that supports students in writing lab and class reports. This tool is geared toward middle school and high school students. Check out the supports and help available in Science Writer described below. Or click the "Take a Tour" button above to see how Science Writer works.

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This app is available by account assignment to all RSP and M/M SDC teachers at SBCUSD

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Goalbook Toolkit increases teacher capacity throughout the special education process from developing higher quality and standards aligned IEPs through implementing them with more effective specially designed instruction.

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Exit IEP & Alternatives to Conservatorship Clinic

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Exit IEP & Alternatives to Conservatorship Clinic

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Exit IEP & Alternatives to Conservatorship Clinic

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It's never been easier-or more important!-to add interactive eBooks to your library collection. Capstone Interactive eBooks provide text highlighting, audio support, the ability to customize book lists, and educator support.

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2020 Copyright. All Rights Reserved. The Sponsored Listings displayed above are served automatically by a third party. Neither the service provider nor the domain owner maintain any relationship with the advertisers. In case of trademark issues please contact the domain owner directly (contact information can be found in whois).

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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This is a great free way to superimpose a video or voiceover of yourself over a screenshot recording of whatever you want to show on your computer screen. So you can be navigating a slideshow or a document for your students with a recorded video of yourself reading or explaining it. Then they can watch in their own time.

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Our screen capture tools help you easily create, edit and communicate with videos and images. Simple and intuitive tools to share your ideas.

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ScreenPal's user-friendly interface and seamless integration into our existing teaching methods made it an obvious choice. From day one, it was clear that ScreenPal was not just another tech tool; it was a catalyst for active learning and collaboration.

Technology Integration and Innovation Coordinator, Arlington ISD

We use ScreenPal internally to create and manage all of the videos we share with educators. ScreenPal makes it easy to create videos with a consistent, branded look and feel, and then to share all of those videos from a central repository.

Chief Program Officer, The Modern Classrooms Project

Join millions of people communicating through video.

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At ScreenPal, we don't believe that video recording and editing should be difficult, or cost a fortune. Our simple and intuitive tools help you get the job done easily.

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Unique learning systems, multiple content areas 

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Unique learning systems, multiple content areas 

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Some Free materials

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Create a consistent, engaging learning environment

Unique Learning System is a one‑of‑kind solution designed specifically to help students with special learning needs master their state's extended standards. From one convenient, cloud‑based platform, educators deliver differentiated, standards‑aligned content enhanced by powerful assessments, data tools, and evidence‑based instructional support. Students from pre-K through transition have the advantage of consistent, high-quality instruction, a motivating interactive learning environment, engaging symbol support, and a path to independence.

See how ULS incorporates the Science of Reading

Easily maintain and demonstrate compliance

Administrators, teachers, therapists, paraprofessionals, and parents all benefit from the powerful supports within Unique Learning System that help them meet the ultimate goal: helping every student gain meaningful access to learning and develop greater self-sufficiency. Built‑in assessment tools and resources provide insight into each learner's knowledge, abilities, and needs as they progress. And extensive data related to that growth informs instruction and documents mastery toward IEP goals and standards.

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Simplify complex daily roles to increase educator satisfaction

Teachers, imagine starting the school day without the rush to create materials for multiple levels of learners, prepared to provide every student with access to their state's extended standards, knowing what standards that day's lessons will address-and how, and having clear insight into every student's needs and learning level to ensure they continue to progress. From one convenient and powerful solution, you can create opportunities for your students to succeed in school and life.

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Drive positive student outcomes across all content areas

With research guiding our work every step of the way, we help educators address the needs of the whole student from one easy‑to‑navigate solution that provides instruction across the content areas for pre‑K-transition. Students can chart their own course to academic success with access to extended learning standards and the same concepts as their peers in general education. And they gain pride and confidence through differentiated lessons that enable each to participate in rigorous daily instruction at the appropriate level with evidence‑based supports.

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Teach and learn anytime, anywhere

Like n2y's Total Solution, Unique Learning System is both simple and powerful-easily working with existing technology and seamlessly adaptable to future systems. Its cloud-based content and features reach students no matter where they learn throughout the day: in school or at home.

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What's Included?

A one-year Unique Learning System license provides:

Unlimited access for one service provider and 15 students to one grade band of differentiated lessons, and standards-aligned content for ELA, math, social studies & science, and transition. Designated to ensure standards mastery, grade bands include Pre-K, Elementary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12) and Transition.

Student View access from any location

Use of the powerful Goals, Preferences and Skills (GPS) assessment hub and resulting student data and reporting

Access to regular updates and additions

Time-saving, easy-to-use platform that integrates with other n2y solutions

24/7 access to our comprehensive Knowledge Base that shows how to use Unique Learning System, including Getting Started, FAQs, and support articles.

There are different levels in Unique [Learning System], and each student is on the level that [enables them to] achieve the maximum. We do monthly Checkpoints to see where they're going, and it shows me that when students need specific help, we get right on it.

Louella Broussard

Teacher

Acadiana High School, LA

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Unique Learning System is the #1 U.S. special education curriculum! Standards-aligned, individualized instruction for measurable student growth and independence.

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Google Classroom Take Aways: Apr 14, 2020 9:49 PM

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This Channel is dedicated to quality mathematics education. It is absolutely FREE so Enjoy! Videos are organized in playlists and are course specific. If the...

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Weekly online newspaper designed specifically for students with learning needs 

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Weekly online newspaper designed specifically for students with learning needs 

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Expand horizons and
inclusivity through current events

When students can engage in meaningful conversation with their peers and families about world events, the immediate result is a positive sense of belonging. But the issue-based learning in each weekly edition of News2you also comes with many long-term benefits: the standards‑aligned articles and activities help students build life skills, become more motivated learners and even discover career options.

Access to a world beyond the classroom

As they experience new ideas through the content in News2you, students not only build comprehension and context relative to their community and world, they also develop new critical‑thinking and communication skills‑forming and expressing opinions about what they're learning. They're preparing to become productive citizens in life beyond the classroom.

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Improved language and literacy skills

Research confirms that students who have access to newspapers in the classroom perform better on standardized reading tests. And for students with unique learning needs, the benefits of interacting with the informational text in each weekly edition are especially far reaching- expanding skills in reading, vocabulary, writing, digital literacy and more!

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Enriching, relevant instruction and activities

Many classrooms across the country begin each day with "morning meeting," and there's no better way to spark conversation than with the day's news and weather. Our solution helps you build engaging class routines with easy access to Today's Weather and Breaking News-plus a full range of engaging newspaper features and activities to supplement and enrich instruction all day long.

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A flexible platform that grows with your technology

The platform is both simple and powerful-easily working with the technology and n2y solutions you have now and seamlessly adaptable to the systems you'll have in the future.

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Unlimited access for one service provider to the weekly online newspaper throughout the school year (monthly during the summer)

New current events articles in each issue plus dozens of standards-aligned activities and recurring features

Differentiation to four levels, with text supported by symbols from SymbolStix PRIME, plus one text-only version and the option for text to speech

Access to regular updates and additions

Easy delivery online or in print, and integration with other n2y solutions

I love News2you! I've been using it for nearly 20 years and have seen tremendous growth in my students. One of my favorite stories is about a little guy we had a while back, who had some significant disabilities, and after reading News2you, he returned to school and said, "˜Miss, I saw this on the news with my dad, and we talked about it.' I thought, how wonderful, what a great communication opportunity for their family.

Mickie Korab

Teacher

Lubbock Independent School District, TX

Building Routines Around Today's Weather

Practical strategies for creating classroom morning routines.
Read Article

4 Reasons Why I Recommend News‑2‑You

Accessible, relevant support for students with communication challenges
Read Article

Help Students With Disabilities Meet High Expectations

Maintain high but achievable expectations with your students with disabilities.
Download White Paper

I love News2you! I've been using it for nearly 20 years and have seen tremendous growth in my students. One of my favorite stories is about a little guy we had a while back, who had some significant disabilities, and after reading News2you, he returned to school and said, "˜Miss, I saw this on the news with my dad, and we talked about it.' I thought, how wonderful, what a great communication opportunity for their family.

Mickie Korab

Teacher

Lubbock Independent School District, TX

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Introducing students to News2you helps them meet ELA standards and creates connections to the world.

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Chrome Extensions for Instruction Tutorial

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Chrome Extensions for Instruction Tutorial

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Lauren Martin (Special Ed - Secondary Ed)

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Instruction Chrome Extensions: Apr 13, 2020 8:51 PM

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The app highlights lengthy, complex sentences and common errors; if you see a yellow sentence, shorten or split it. If you see a red highlight, your sentence is so dense and complicated that your readers will get lost trying to follow its meandering, splitting logic

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The app highlights lengthy, complex sentences and common errors; if you see a yellow sentence, shorten or split it. If you see a red highlight, your sentence is so dense and complicated that your readers will get lost trying to follow its meandering, splitting logic

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Hemingway Editor makes your writing bold and clear.