2020 Remote Learning Resources for Students and Families
Scroll down to see listings under these topics.
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Writing (includes Pen Pals, Poetry, & Podcasts)
Authors Literacy Books and Reading Early Literacy Audiobooks & Read Alouds |
Science, Outdoors & Movement Ideas (separate page)
Enrichment Ideas (separate page) Geography, History and Culture (separate page) |
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Writing
NOTE: Poetry, Podcasts and Pen Pals are listed below, but separately. Alzola, Briana. “Fifth-grade History Project Explores Life During Pandemic.” GoAnacortes blog, 1 July 2020. “What will a fifth-grader in the year 2050 think of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world? As teacher Gabrielle Glim tried to teach her fifth-grade students about the importance of primary sources when studying the past, she noticed they seemed to have other things on their minds. They were at home due to the pandemic, trying to learn remotely about the American Revolution. … She … came across a history project that urged students to document their lives right now and become the primary sources that could be used in the future to document this time in history.” Bensfield, Anne. “8 Podcasts To Inspire Summertime Writing | Kidcasts.” SLJ, 3 July 2020. “…how does one teach kids to write for enjoyment? Some dynamite podcasts out there can help them become inspired, skilled writers. De Leon, Concepcion. "Home with Your Kids? Writers Want to Help." New York Times, 20 Mar. 2020. Fischer-Baum, Reuben et al. “When Coronavirus Strikes, Kids Make the News.” Washington Post, 27 APR 2020. “Kids around the country are … making their own newspapers. They’ve become reporters, photographers, editors, art directors and even cartoonists. And they are doing what good journalists do: keeping their communities (or maybe just their families) informed and entertained.” Examples included. Miss Sara. “Free Distance Learning Writing Lessons from Miss Sara – Part 1”(6 lessons) and “Free Distance Learning Writing Lessons from Miss Sara – Part 2” (4 lessons). CharacterTree.com. “While distance learning cannot fully replicate the rich experiences of writing workshop in the classroom, I’ve been determined to find a way to bring writing workshop into each of my student’s homes….As a result, I have been creating and recording writing lesson videos for my students. I have been assigning 2-3 videos a week for my students…” Museum of Childhood Ireland Project 2020. “Exploring Themes of Childhood through Objects and Experiences.” “Project 2020/TOGETHER” by The Museum of Childhood Ireland Project, provides a platform in the form of a Writing/ Art Project (and Exhibition) for children of all ages to express their hopes and fears, thoughts and observations, whilst providing a sense of community and togetherness as work and art received is highlighted through a virtual exhibition. … We hope to provide children here in Ireland and all over the world with tools to help them make some sort of sense of this pandemic from their perspective. … Each week, during lockdown, we will release a “common theme” and ask children to develop their thoughts using art, drawing, poems, and short stories. Each work will be published on our virtual exhibition to give inspiration and a sense of “togetherness” and “closeness” to other children who would like to participate, or who simply, would like to observe the work done by others. Smith, Larry. The Pandemic in Six-Word Memoirs. NYT Opinion, 11 Sep 2020. “Since 2006, I’ve been challenging people to describe their lives in six words, a form I call the six-word memoir — a personal twist on the legendary six-word story attributed to Ernest Hemingway: ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ I’ve found that some of the most memorable six-word stories arise in the extremes — during our toughest and most joyous moments. So over the past several months, I’ve asked adults and children around the country to use the form to make sense of this moment in history: one person, one story, and six words at a time.” Pen Pals
Lsimon. “Library Pen Pal Programs Unite Communities During Quarantine.” ILoveLibraries.com, 8 May 2020. Network for Good. “Letters Visit These Seniors When People Can’t.” Write to Appreciate Project. One month ago, Sahil Swali—who is a high school junior in Clifton Park, New York—launched an effort to get letters and art to senior living communities that are not able to accept visitors during the pandemic. He has now partnered with more than 30 facilities in the upstate New York area, in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and has a key partnership with St. Peter’s Health Partners to get messages to their facilities. These facilities and communities are now receiving hundreds of messages—and he’s looking to enroll more facilities, writers and drawers. These facilities and communities are now receiving hundreds of messages—and he’s looking to enroll more facilities, writers and drawers. If you want to learn how you can join Sahil’s labor of love, you check out his Write to Appreciate project website. This could be adapted to any area. Zaveri, Mihir. "To Battle Isolation, Elders and Children Connect as Pen Pals." New York Times, 6 Apr. 2020, . "Pen pal programs have sprouted up around the world as schools and senior centers try to keep older adults connected and children occupied." Podcasts
Yorio, Kara. "Story Seeds Podcast Brings Author, Reader Collaborations to Listeners." School Library Journal, 15 Apr. 2020. Poetry
Davis, Sarah S. "Where to Find Free Poetry Resources for Kids Online." BookRiot, 6 Apr. 2020. Schlosser, Maureen. “Online Poetry Activities for National Poetry Month.” KQ, AASL, 16 Apr. 2020. Authors
Alexander, Jason. "GRAB THE MIC Newsletter." Library of Congress, 14 Apr. 2020. "Let's try as hard as we can to let our imaginations out of their cages so they can storm the gates of anxiety. Let's make words that make worlds. Poems that feed us something sweet—or at least something honest. Or maybe something sweet and honest and sour and honest and funny and honest and scary and honest, like ice cream that changes flavors right in the middle of eating it." "Dav Pilkey, Author and Illustrator of Dog Man and Captain Underpants, Collaborating with the Library of Congress to Serve Families at Home." News from the Library of Congress, US Library of Congress, 30 Mar. 2020. De Leon, Concepcion. "Home with Your Kids? Writers Want to Help." New York Times, 20 Mar. 2020. "Everywhere Book Fest." Everywhere Book Fest, edited by Gail Villanueva, Mar. 2020, . A virtual gathering of kidlit authors, books, and readers that will bring the book festival experience to everyone. Opening its virtual doors on May 1-2, 2020! Ishizuka, Kathy. "Schools—and School Libraries—May Read Harry Potter Online, with J.K. Rowling's Blessing." School Library Journal, 27 Mar. 2020. Yorio, Kara. "Dav Pilkey, Dolly Parton, and LeVar Burton Offer Stay-at-Home Activities, Read-Alouds." School Library Journal, 1 Apr. 2020. Yorio, Kara. "Story Seeds Podcast Brings Author, Reader Collaborations to Listeners." School Library Journal, 15 Apr. 2020. |
Literacy
Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Educational Toolkit for At-Home Learning. 13 March 2020. Resources include: Story Mentors: Created by the Barbara Bush Foundation, Story Mentors is a digital classroom focused on early elementary school aged children who are struggling readers. This online early literacy curriculum offers 25 weekly lessons that utilize early reading strategies to improve learning outcomes for struggling readers with the goal of helping students achieve grade level reading. Unite for Literacy: The Unite online library provides free access to more than 400 original picture books—1/4 of which are written in Spanish. The digital books provide audio narrations in more than 40 languages, spoken by native speakers in warm, expressive voices. The languages of narration include indigenous and endangered languages along with languages most widely spoken in the U.S. These are high interest, all level books for children and adults. ESL Video. “Welcome to ESL Video.” First example I've seen of resources for ESL kids. Free quizzes, lessons and online conversation classes for English language learners. Books and Reading
See Audiobooks & Read Alouds below ALSC Book and Media Awards Shelf. 2021- . This collection of nearly 2,000 books, recordings, apps, and websites for children spans 100 years, reflecting the evolution of ALSC’s awards history AND delivering the latest, greatest materials for contemporary readers, listeners, learners, and gamers, as well. The titles included on this site vary widely as to their intended audience—children anywhere from birth up to 14 years of age. We encourage parents and caregivers to actively engage in the selection of media with their children, as reading skills, cognitive and maturity levels, and interests vary from child to child. When looking at older winners especially, please remember that they were selected as the best of THEIR time, not necessarily the best of ALL time, and may be quite dated for today's young readers. www.TheAuthorVillage.com . In Conversation Series. “On Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout June, July, and August, listen in as our presenters engage in hour-long conversations and take your questions about their books, craft, and topics close to their hearts. Registration is now open.” Authors include Laurie Halse Anderson, Linda Sue Park, and many (!!) more. Bird, Elizabeth. "Ghosts of Newbery Past, Present and Future? Welcome to This Year's 90-Second Newbery Film Festival." School Library Journal, Mar. 2020. After you watch these examples, maybe make your own? Fakih, Kimberly Olson. “Virtual Events Calendar | SLJ’s Eclectic Round-up of Weekly Book-ish Things.” SLJ, 28 May 2020. Ishizuka, Kathy. “With Remote Learning Still the Norm, Publishers Extend Permissions for Read Alouds UPDATED.” SLJ, 6 Sep 2020. “Penguin Random House Open License Online Story Time and Classroom Read-Aloud Videos and Live Events.” Penguin.com. Extended to June 2021. Isimon. "Experience Hogwarts with This Virtual Library Escape Room." I Love Libraries, American Library Association, 1 Apr. 2020, . "Peters Township Public Library's digital escape room includes a variety of magic-themed puzzles, set during your first year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You can complete it alone or in a group—or even compete with friends to see who gets the fastest time." If you want to let a group work together, check out this blog post for details: Jones, Amanda. "Leading Digital Escape Rooms Online During COVID19." KQ, AASL, 21 Apr. 2020. KidLit TV. Explore the World of Children’s Literature. Short videos from a variety of publishers. "Library Offering BINGO for Teens." The Alpena [MI] News, 9 Apr. 2020. Paterson, Katherine. “William And The Mysterious Brame, An Original Short Story and Activity Kit for Families and Educators.” National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, 2020. SLJ Staff. "2020 Mathical Book Prize Winners Announced." School Library Journal, 12 Mar. 2020. The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) announced this year's Mathical Book Prize winners. The award is given to books for kids ages 2-18 that "inspire children of all ages to see math in the world around them." Early Literacy
Harvard School of Education. Animal Antics: A Free Early Literacy App. Reach Every Reader Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “Introducing Animal Antics — a fun and creative way to get families talking! Just by talking with your little one — and helping them talk with you — you can get them ready to read and ready to learn about the world. This app is specially designed for you and your child to talk and laugh about as you play together.” Harvard School of Education. Small Wonders: A free early-literacy app. Reach Every Reader Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “Introducing Small Wonders! Big ideas to get families talking. Just by talking with your little one — and helping them talk with you — you can get them ready to read and ready to learn about the world. This app is specially designed for you and your child to talk and laugh about as you play together. Its games, songs, and activity ideas can be the start of many back-and-forth conversations, which are ideal for preparing them to read.” Audiobooks & ReadAlouds
Audible.com. Stories help. “For as long as schools are closed, we're open. Right now, kids everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across eight different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.” Bensfield, Anne. “Eight Podcasts for Kids Craving Scary Stories | Kidcasts.” SLJ, 27 Aug 2020. “This playlist of scary stories, from very friendly to spectacularly spooky, will appeal to a range of tween and teen patrons.” "The Big List of Children's Authors Doing Online Read-Alouds & Activities." WeAreTeachers, Mar. 2020. Flood, Rebecca. "Read All About It: Audible Giving Away Hundreds of Free Children's Books during School Closure." The Sun UK [London], 21 Mar. 2020. Audible Stories, aimed at younger audiences, said the books would be available at no cost for as long as necessary, and they're available to listen to on a laptop, desktop, smartphone or tablet. Hershberger, Katy. “If You're Listening: YA Read-Alouds Online.” SLJ, 19 Aug 2020. “Read-alouds are usually the domain of picture books, but teens also enjoy being read to, and audiobooks are popular among all ages. While summer reading looks different this year and many young people gear up for virtual school, here are some read-aloud videos of YA titles—classic, new, and upcoming books—from publishers, authors, and librarians.” Rowling, J.K. “Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived.” Wizarding World. Read by Daniel Ratcliffe. “Daniel Radcliffe reads the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone/Sorcerer’s Stone, as part of Harry Potter At Home. Daniel will be the first of many exciting contributors to help us read through the first Harry Potter book, as he introduces the Dursleys, who don’t like anything mysterious. Enter a cat reading a map, owl-filled skies and whispers about the Potters. So, get comfy and enjoy! You can register with the Harry Potter Fan Club to get all the latest updates on further video readings too.” Rowling, J.K. “The Ikabog.” Serial book posted may 26-July 10 2020, with details about the Illustration Competition for children ages 7-12 "Storyline Online." Storyline Online, SAG-AFTRA Foundation. The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's award-winning children's literacy website, Storyline Online, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children's books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Storytime from Space." Storytime from Space, Global Space Education Foundation. From their "About Us" page: We send children's books to the International Space Station. While in space, astronauts are videotaping themselves reading these books to the children of Earth. These videos are being edited and placed on this Story Time From Space website- look under the heading " Story Time Videos". Astronauts on the ISS will also conduct and videotape educational demonstrations designed by Veteran Canadian Astronaut, Bjarni Tryggvason, to complement the science concepts found in the Story Time From Space books – look under the heading "Science Time Videos". To make Story Time From Space even more useful for educators, cross-content curriculum is being designed to support the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core. All of these materials, along with the videos from orbit, will be posted here on the Story Time from Space website, providing easy access for educators, families, libraries, science centers, scouts and others – look under the heading "Curriculum". Tank, Wes. “CAT IN THE HAT: Dr. Seuss Raps over Dr. Dre (and Dr. Octagon) Beats.” YouTube, 10 APR 2020. “Wes Tank raps Dr. Seuss' classic children's book "The Cat in the Hat" over the legendary hip hop instrumentals for "Blue Flowers" by Dan the Automator of Dr. Octagon and "Nothing But a G Thang" by Dr. Dre, with much due respect to the flows and styles of Kool Keith, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. All words and illustrations belong to Dr. Seuss. All instrumentals belong to Dr. Dre and Dr. Octagon. Mixing by Matthew Griffo. This cultural mashup was created for edutainment purposes with much respect given to the teacher KRS One.” He does many of the Dr. Seuss titles in this style. |
