Since school closed, we have heard from many parents who are looking for some advice as to educational resources to keep encouraging their children’s joy in learning. While we are not educators, as parents there are some places we are able to recommend. We will try to keep this list updated with any additional links sent to us by parents. We should also note that we haven’t visited all of these links ourselves, so we can’t always personally speak about them in great detail.
One personal note: please don’t feel like you need to rush your kids back to a rigid academic schedule right away if it seems like the wrong fit for your family. What we are going through as a community is not normal, and both kids and adults need time to process it in a comforting environment. Structure is important in everyone’s life right now, but we also need to take it a little easier on ourselves right now.
To start with, the best resource we can recommend is actually on the Driscoll School webpage, with some great links broken down by grade: https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/Page/1263
Literacy:
https://sites.google.com/a/psbma.org/library/page-3/online-resources - Ms. Reid has already updated the Driscoll Library website to include information about databases, ebooks, and audiobooks.
https://www.brooklinelibrary.org/elibrary/online-resources/ - The Public Library of Brookline also has a lot of great options. Ms. Reid personally recommends Hoopla Digital, which is kind of like Netflix, only with ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and music for all ages. They even have a kids setting. Warning: there is a limit on how many items you can borrow a month through Hoopla (maybe 8 or 10), so plan accordingly.
https://www.katemessner.com/read-wonder-and-learn-favorite-authors-illustrators-share-resources-for-learning-anywhere-spring-2020/ - Children's author Kate Messner has created a page on her website filled with videos of authors reading and talking about their books.
https://storytimefromspace.com/ - This is similar to the Kate Messner website, except in this case the stories are not being read by their authors – they are being read by astronauts. In space!
http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html - Grammar Gorillas is a fun game to identify the various parts of speech.
Art:
https://www.katemessner.com/read-wonder-and-learn-favorite-authors-illustrators-share-resources-for-learning-anywhere-spring-2020/ - In addition to authors, Kate Messner’s website has some amazing illustrators giving drawing tutorials here.
https://www.youtube.com/studiojjk - Jarrett J. Krosoczka (creator of the Lunch Lady series, as well as Hey, Kiddo) will be hosting a live webcast drawing tutorial every day at 2 PM, in addition to the videos already posted.
www.easydrawingtutorials.com – This webpage has step by step instructions for drawing some of your children’s favorite characters. It's so easy, even parents might be able to draw them!
Ms. Reyelt also wanted to pass along a great spreadsheet from her colleague at Lincoln School with many more art links: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o2eDygfPbCxsl-KFOCWOQGt59NJBy6WteG_pVLYBA60/edit?usp=sharing
Math:
https://www.dreambox.com/ - This online service offers free subscriptions for 90 days, and can be accessed on a computer or a tablet.
https://www.cambridgemathcircle.org/ - Cambridge Math Circle is offering an online course for the spring semester, starting March 21.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19cbiAGrKY3Fam6jmi6y1esnYrXVa8etRTIga39HhIL8/edit) - "Explore Math" menu, from curriculum author Tina Cardone.
www.gamesforyoungminds.com – This is a great website to show how popular games can teach math (including one of our personal favorites, Sushi Go!).
https://mathforlove.com/who-we-help-parents-kids/ - Math for Love is good not just for kids, but also can help teach adults how to support their children in learning math at home.
http://bedtimemath.org/fun-math-at-home/ - Bedtime Math aims to make math as common of a family activity at bedtime as reading stories.
https://mathpickle.com/ - There are some great puzzles and games here, organized by grade.
https://playwithyourmath.com/ - This has some fun problems that encourage you and your child to “Play With Your Math.”
https://illustrativemathematics.blog/2020/03/14/links-to-math-resources-for-caregivers/ - This blog post is from the same math program we have been piloting at Driscoll, and is specifically aimed at providing caregivers with additional resources.
http://driscollmathathome.weebly.com/ - Finally, this is the Driscoll Family Math Resource page, with some great information for our own math specialists.
Science:
https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams - Although the Monterey Bay Aquarium is closed, their webcams are still streaming. Check in on the sea otters, sway with the kelp forest, find tranquility with the jellies, and look for wildlife out on Monterey Bay.
https://invention.si.edu/tinker-ball - Create a path to help your ball reach its goal, and learn how problems can have more than one solution.
https://pbskids.org/designsquad/games/ - Design a farm, city, and more for Fidgits.
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/ - The Great Plant Escape helps teach about the amazing mystery of plant life.
https://www.uen.org/3-6interactives/science.shtml - Science activities for grades 3-6.
Social Studies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/landscapes/highlands_islands/mapskills/index.shtml#focus – For learning map skills.
https://www.education.com/resources/geography/?referral_url=kidsgeo.com – Lots of geography activities for all grades, including quizzes and games.
Music:
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/ - Amazing intuitive activities to explore almost every element of music: (Grades K-5, really easy to use on iPad!)
https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=eh - Extensive resource for folk songs and rhymes from around the world. Many examples include audio or video listening as well as lyrics which may need help from a grown-up: (Grades K-4)
http://www.sfskids.org/ - For lots of fun music literacy activities and games: (Grades 1-4)
http://www.themusicinteractive.com/ - Staff Wars! Speed game for learning your staff letters in treble and bass clefs (also alto if you're ambitious...): (Grades 3-8, free download)
https://www.noteflight.com/ - Music notation software for composing and arranging, very good for exploring music notation: (Grades 4-8, free with email, current Ms. Cecchini 5th graders already have an account with their PSBMA email)
https://www.classicsforkids.com/ - For classical music exploration and info on Western composers: (Grade 5)
Mandarin:
(Thanks to Rebecca Blouwolff for mobilizing her Twitter community to put together this extensive list!)Very sweet YouTube video series where Chinese teacher Diane Neubauer in Iowa introduces her hens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MamAFRPHWGU&list=PLCaX8Z4AkGZrbO0PFku40RAVqnUaBivyT&index=3 (there are at least two more in the hen series, and my kids understood at least some of what she said)
Another Chinese teacher on Twitter suggested this site with animated videos & songs: https://chinese.littlefox.com/en
Chinese Corner YouTube channel, including BBC series Real Chinese (a 10-part series broadcast on BBC learning zone, covers some of the basics of Mandarin Chinese while looking into various aspects of Chinese culture): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Hah5R7xxdrbqDqAm8eWTQ
Here are some more advanced, illustrated stories where you can download accompanying narration: https://wp.nyu.edu/steinhardt-startalk/
This post from a Chinese school in TX has many links and suggestions: https://lotuschineselearning.com/2017/12/06/mandarin-language-learning-resources/ The same teacher sent me all of this:
For preschooler, kindergarten and lower elementary:
宝宝巴士 (baby bus) has many Chinese songs on YouTube. They also have cartoons.
"Pulling a radish" is a very famous children's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IjWps2FOGw&t=52s
This video starts with "Two Tigers" another very well-known song and continues with about an hour of music (with the English alphabet in the middle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXZN6CW2r7c
This video teaches the days of the week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw-W9uALPY8 It starts with Monday, but the calendar they show is set up like an American calendar with Sunday as the first day of the week, which may be useful for students.
Here is a resource page that has printables. There are many Montessori-style three part cards. These are good to use if your child already knows the words on the three part cards.
Upper elementary and middle/high school:
I highly recommend graded readers for older students who have already been learning Chinese. These books are great: https://squidforbrains.com/collections/compelling-chinese-readers-beginners-can-read
Imagin8 Press has lots of title of traditional Chinese stories: https://www.imagin8press.com/ They have audio versions of their books so students can listen and read along on YouTube.
Mandarin Corner has lots of videos like this one on YouTube, she labels them intermediate, but I think that they are more upper intermediate to lower advanced level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OETp7GhqeA
Learning Chinese through stories also has lots of good content. This story is about a very common Chinese saying: https://learningchinesethroughstories.com/category/level/novice/novice-high/ It is labeled as novice-high, but it is probably more like intermediate. The website also has novice-low and novice-mid content as well as more advanced.