Websites and Technology Resources for Parents
Dear Parents,
We have collected some of our favorite websites to use with your children to help them extend their learning at home. As is often the case, websites come and go, so please excuse any links that do not work.
Let us know your favorite website to use with your child and we’ll add them to future editions of this resource.
Sincerely,
Victoria Mulkern, Director of Literacy and Title I vmulkern@maldenps.org
Patti Amirault and Lisa Hammersley, Title I Parent Coordinators pamirault@maldenps.org , lhammersley@maldenps.org
Arts
Creating Music
Creatingmusic.com is a children’s online creative music environment for children of all ages. It’s a place for kids to compose music, play with musical performance, music games and music puzzles. http://www.creatingmusic.com/
Music Room
Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and Science Songs http://www.suzyred.com/music.html
Queeky Paint
Draw and paint online. http://www.queeky.com/app
Tux Paint
Tux Paint is a free, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12. It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. http://www.tuxpaint.org/
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony has created a website to teach kids about the symphony and its orchestra. http://www.sfskids.org/templates/musicLabF.asp?pageid=23
English Language Arts Grades K-2
GameGoo
Designed to help students in grades K-2 develop early literacy and language skills. http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html
Leading to Reading
An early literacy website “where young children discover the world of reading and grownups enjoy the journey.” Young children can read, sing, play, and explore a variety of subjects and books.
http://www.rif.org/kids/leadingtoreading/en/leadingtoreading.htm
PBS Kids
Free, fun games and activities help develop reading skills. http://pbskids.org/
Starfall
Starfall.com teaches children to read with phonics. Our systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). www.starfall.com
Story Time for Me
Story Time For Me provides a unique and fun learning experience for toddlers all the way up through 2nd grade school aged children. http://www.storytimeforme.com/stories/1
English Language Arts All Grades
Big Universe
The Big Universe is a free website where you can create your book cover, write your story, and illustrate it using their large library of artwork. http://www.biguniverse.com/create
Book Adventure
Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can find a book, take quizzes on what they’ve read, and earn prizes for their reading success.http://www.bookadventure.com/Home.aspx
Dr. Goodword’s Word Wizard
Colorful vocabulary website designed for kids aged 7 – 13, featuring games, puzzles, and other fun learning activities. http://www.alphadictionary.com/ww/
Inkless Tales
Stories for pre-k through grade 8 stories with human voice recordings, developed by an author. Also includes tools to create your own stories! http://www.inklesstales.com/
International Digital Children’s Library
The online children’s library has a single purpose mission of providing free access to children’s literature from around the world. A free registration allows you to save favorite books, set your preferred language, and also bookmarks pages of books you plan to come back to. http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
Make Belief Comics
Allows the user to create their own comics online. http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
Spelling City
Spelling City has a subscription portion to its website. However, you can enter your child’s spelling words and have the computer to the test. They can also play free games online using the computer. http://www.spellingcity.com/
Story Cove
Story Cove brings you stories from around the world arranged under the names of the continents. You can open up the “story book” in your browser and let it playback the story for you. You can even play an animated version of the story. http://classroom.storycove.com/classroom/
Story Maker
Allows children to write their own books online. http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/storymaker.swf
Story Online
Listen to real books read by popular actors. http://www.storylineonline.net/
Story Place
Listen to interactive children’s stories, play with on-line activities, print out take-home activities. http://www.storyplace.org/
Tar Heel Reader
Free online books created by members. Free membership allows you to create books as well. http://tarheelreader.org/
Vocabulary Building Games
The vocabulary games include an online word search, an online crossword puzzle, and hangman online. Users choose the vocabulary list that the online word game will use in the word game.http://www.the-crossword-solver.com/anagram
Guidance
ACT
ACT is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides a broad array of assessment, research, information, and program management solutions in the areas of education and workforce development.www.act.org
The College Board
The College Board provides information on colleges, scholarship, financial aid, and exams. www.collegeboard.com
MEFA
Applying for financial aid doesn’t have to be overwhelming. MEFA provides straightforward guidance and expertise you need to navigate each step of the financial aid process.www.mefacounselor.org
Your Plan for College
A website for parents and student to begin thinking about what preparations they need to make to prepare to go to college.www.yourplanforcollege.org
Math
Cool Math 4 Kids
Cool Math 4 Kids is a math site specially designed for what kids like and how they learn! Math really CAN be fun and really can be easy to learn. http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
Figure This!
Which shape holds the most popcorn? Can you combine the stamps to make $1.77? These are just a couple of the problems you can ponder in this attractively designed collection of real-world math challenges. Updated regularly; includes resources for parents. http://www.figurethis.org/index.html
Free Online Math Games
Software company that has a huge selection of math games. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm
Johnnie’s Math Page
A collection of K-8 interactive math activities gathered by an elementary math teacher; great for individual practice. http://jmathpage.com/
Math Apprentice
Site is meant for middle school students. Choose a topic that you need help with, including: Math for Kids, Solving Math Problems, Math Tutoring, Help in Algebra, Geometry Tutoring, Trigonometry Tutoring, Learning Fractions, Math Games, and Linear Functions. http://www.mathapprentice.com/
Math Game Time
The developers of this website have collected free online math games. Games are arranged by grade level. Check out their apps too. http://www.mathgametime.com/
Math Playground
Math Playground is an educational site for elementary and middle school students where you can practice your math skills, play a logic game, and have some fun!http://www.mathplayground.com/
Multiplication
Lots of resources to help learn those multiplication tables. http://www.multiplication.com/
Solve My Math
These online games cover the basic skills needed for solving any math problem. Addition, multiplication, subtraction etc. and logic skills are the building blocks of further mathematical knowledge later on. http://www.solvemymath.com/math_games/
Think Math Games
Find here games that align to the Think Math program used in grades K-5. http://www.harcourtschool.com/thinkmath/
Science
Bring Science Home
With the help of our partners, Scientific American features a fun, new, science-related activity every Thursday that parents and their six- to 12-year-olds can do together.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/section.cfm?id=bring-science-home
Edheads.org
Edheads provides free, educational online games focused on science, math, and critical thinking. http://www.edheads.org/
How Stuff Works
This award-winning site clearly and concisely tells kids (and adults!) how different things work — from the everyday (how automobile engines run) to the unusual (how Jell-O sets).
www.howstuffworks.com
Kid’s Astronomy
Powerful and fun resource for kids, exploring astronomy and other space related topics. Play games, learn through interactive applications, and much more. http://www.kidsastronomy.com/
Lawrence Hall of Science
Play online science games, download activities to do at home, and more cool stuff. http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/kidsite/
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
A perfect place for budding astronomers to learn about the galaxy. Kids can receive up-to-the-minute bulletins about space programs or use the multimedia section to view current images in space. www.nasa.gov/home/index.html
Ology from the National Museum of Natural History
Fantastic, fun and educational site! Interactive games teach about astronomy, paleontology, and other “ologies.” http://www.amnh.org/ology/index.php
Science Buddies: Parents Science Initiative
The Parents Science Initiative provides free online resources here on the Science Buddies website to help parents find ways to start a science dialogue, encourage a child’s interest in science, and explore science activities at home.
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/parents_science_initiative.shtml
Science Monster
Covers all areas of science include lessons, games, and apps. http://www.sciencemonster.com/
Science News for Kids
Kid friendly articles to share with your kids about science and technology. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/
The Exploratorium
The Exploratorium isn’t just a museum, it’s an ongoing exploration of science, art, and human perception—a vast collection of online interactives, web features, activities, programs and events that feed your curiosity. http://www.exploratorium.edu/
Try Science
Try Science is a collection of simple, hands-on, and perfect-for-home activities grouped by topic area. They also offer a parent guide which includes a discussion focused on the importance of science, tools to help you find a science center anywhere in the world, and resources for teachers. http://www.tryscience.org/
Social Studies
United Nations Cyber School Bus
Translated into six languages, the rich content and resources on this United Nations–sponsored site let children participate in a global community over the Web.http://www.un.org/pubs/cyberschoolbus/
Geography World
A rich resource of links and activities for countries around the world. http://geographyworldonline.com/
National Geographic Kids
The best part of this all-round great site is the current affairs section, written in easy-to-understand language, so kids can keep on top of new archaeological digs and historical discoveries.www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/index.html
America’s Story
Take a fun and educational look at the stories of America’s past, brought to you by the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/
Kids Geo
An in depth online geology and geography textbook written for kids. Learn about the world beneath you. http://www.kidsgeo.com/
Peace Corps for Kids
Explore the globe and learn about making a difference as a Peace Corp volunteer in this interactive game challenge. http://www.peacecorps.gov/kids/
Voices of Youth
Children across the world have their say on current events on this site sponsored by UNICEF with a fine section on “Children and Work.” http://www.voicesofyouth.org/
All Subjects
Cookie
Provides free online learning games, educational lessons plans, kids learning games, free games for kids, worksheets etc. The website is geared toward grades K-2. http://www.cookie.com/
Fact Monster
This is a one-stop reference source of kid-friendly facts and articles. The award-winning site also has loads of interactive tools that encourage kids to improve their math, spelling and vocabulary.www.factmonster.com
FunBrain
Parents can trust Funbrain to deliver a fun and safe experience for even the youngest children. http://www.funbrain.com/
Good Sites for Kids
A massive amount of websites on all subjects. http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/
Learning Games for Kids
These online learning games and songs for kids are fun, teach important skills for preschool and elementary school kids and they’re free. http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/
Learning Reviews
A huge listing of websites for every subject area across the grades. http://www.learningreviews.com/
Mr. Nussbaum
This website offers dozens of interactive games specifically designed to pinpoint one or several essential concepts taught in elementary years, http://www.mrnussbaum.com/
Prongo.com
A huge collection of games across all subject areas. http://www.prongo.com/games/index.html
Yahoo Kids
Like Yahoo for adults, it includes news clips, games, and a kid friendly search engine. http://kids.yahoo.com/
Typing
Dance Mat Typing
Online typing lessons designed for children ages 7-11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
Subscription Websites
These websites require a fee. However they do allow for a free trail period. Use the trail period to determine if they meet your child’s learning needs before enrolling.
English Language Arts
Reading Eggs
Includes games, songs, golden eggs and other rewards which, along with feeling proud of their reading, really motivate children to keep exploring and learning.
Math
Dreambox
DreamBox Learning Math is an online program with educational games that are individualized for student, adapting the curriculum just for them. It’s a fun, effective math learning environment. Unlike other math games that often sacrifice learning for entertainment, DreamBox delivers a rich, tailored learning experience. www.dreambox.com
