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Literacy Apps
Letter School: A handwriting app that helps children write their ABCs, with exciting animations.  Free. 

Reading Raven 1 and Reading Raven 2: primary reading with phonemic awareness, writing and games. Note: Reading Raven 1 costs $2.99 and Reading Raven 2 costs $1.99. 

Duolingo ABC app helps kids have fun while they practice reading and writing!  Free. 

Duolingo app is a wonderful way to learn or practice languages. Free.

Lively Letters.  A Phonemic Awareness and Phonics App for iPads and iPhones which features three engaging activities that use and enhance the unique, multi-sensory features of the research-based Lively Letters™ program. It helps learners of all ages, including those learning English as a second language.   Note: this app costs $14.99.
Best Readers
1.  For early readers
Nora Gaydos decodable books come in sets of 10. They are engaging and fun and include comprehension and rhyming questions. All our students love these books! There are several different levels of readers available depending on what phonics skill each child is working on. 
Bob Books are decodable readers for very young children.  They also come in a wide range of levels. Note that Bob books are often cheapest on Amazon or Ebay.
2. For next level readers
LEGO DC Super Heroes: Phonics Box Set Level 1
LEGO DC Super Heroes: Phonics Boxed Set Level 2
Star Wars Phonics Boxed Set
Care Bears Phonics Boxed set
Reading Quest Literacy Tools and Videos 
We are building our online library of literacy tools, including video tutorials. We also offer online workshops for teachers, tutors and parents.  Make sure to join our email list if you want new materials, tutorials, workshops invitations and links to resources like this page delivered straight to your inbox. 
Ebooks and Audiobooks
Epic: A digital library for kids 12 and under, with 35,000 books and videos.  Epic is free for elementary school teachers and school librarians in the United States and Canada. Families get a 30-day free trial and pay $7.99 per month thereafter.  

Rivet: A free reading app with over 3500 free books for children. 

Overdrive: Ebooks and audiobooks which you can enjoy for free through your local public library or school.

Bookshare: An online digital library which is free for U.S. students with print disabilities.

Learning Ally: Over 80,000 audiobooks which you can browse here by grade, lexile level, subject. Note that this resource is not free.  Membership is $125 / year. 
General At-Home Learning Resources for Kids
Some of the resources below may be particularly useful during this time of school closure.
Khan Academy.  Online courses for students on a variety of subjects, including free fun educational programs for children.  They are also offering customized recommendations (on this Google Doc. ) for schedules and content for pre-school to 12th grade chidren currently out of school.  Completely Free.

Khan Academy Kids.  Free fun educational programs for children 2 to 7.  "Children can learn reading, language, writing, math, social-emotional development, problem-solving skills, and motor development. Open-ended activities and games like drawing, storytelling, and coloring encourage creativity and self-expression. A cast of adorable animal characters will guide children through lessons, and our adaptive learning path will customize their experience to help them master different skills.  Khan Academy Kids is completely free, forever — no ads and no subscriptions necessary. And we’re always adding new content to keep kids engaged, including books and songs from Super Simple Songs®, Bellwether Media, and National Geographic Young Explorer Magazine."


 Time for Kids:

Time for Kids publishes a weekly magazine for elementary school students.  With four different editions (for different grades), the magazine provides: (1) age-appropriate stories kids are excited about (2) information just for kids that explains the world around them, high-quality, trusted TIME journalism that teaches news literacy etc.  Note that TIME for Kids digital library is free for the rest of this school year. 

Time to Come In, Bear: A Children's Story About Social Distancings

Scholastic At-Home Learning: "Scholastic Learn at Home provides 20 days’ worth of active learning journeys designed to reinforce and sustain educational opportunities for those students who are unable to attend school."  From Pre-K to 9th grade.  Lots of resources for families and for teachers.
Online Reading Programs
March 2020 note: the programs below are free while the schools are closed. 

Red Apple Reading. This Reading program is designed for children ages 3-9 who are reading below a 3rd grade reading level,  There are over 750 videos and activities available! Park Planet focuses on Kindergarten and 1st grade reading skills for ages 5-7. Island Adventures includes 1st through 3rd grade skills and is recommended for ages 6-9. Lessons are based on the Common Core State Standards and can be accessed from any computer with Internet access.

Book Nook: an adaptive digital reading program.

Heggerty: pre-K, Kindergarten and primary reading phonemic awareness curriculum lessons and videos
The Morgan Dynamic Phonics Program (Free)
The resources below were generously shared by Ken Morgan, the creator and founder of this wonderful program! These structured literacy worksheets are Orton-Gillingham based with phonetically controlled reading text. The Yes/No sentences and Mad Libs are really engaging, playful and fun!  Thank you, Ken!
Online Typing Programs
Typetastic: A keyboarding curriculum in the form of an interactive, game-based program designed to help K–5 students build typing proficiency, one fun game at a time.  There is a free version as well as paid plans. 

Keyboarding Without Tears: a web-based curriculum for grades K–5 that teaches typing, general computer readiness, digital citizenship, and online test prep.  Different costs for different programs.
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Online Handwriting Program
Learning Without Tears provides developmentally appropriate instruction for handwriting and keyboarding in grades K-5 and preschool.
Creative Writing
Kate DiCamillo's Online Writing Camp
Learning the ASL alphabet
Slow version (left) and Faster version with a song (right)            
Online Storytime
Story time from Space.  Story Time From Space is a project that aims to inspire students, educators and families to actively engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs through the excitement of space exploration and literacy. 
Storyline Online: "Storyline Online streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations." Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Oprah Winfrey, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner and many more.  "Storyline Online receives over 100 million views annually from children all over the world...  It is available 24 hours a day for children, parents, caregivers and educators worldwide. Each book includes supplemental curriculum developed by a credentialed elementary educator, aiming to strengthen comprehension and verbal and written skills for English-language learners."  There are countless stories to choose from.  And listening is free. 
The Spanish Experiment.  Well-known children's stories translated into Spanish and spoken by a native Spanish speaker. Great for kids... and adults too! Read along in Spanish or English.
10 Little Rubber Ducks in ASL and English
Fun learning adventures
Virtual Whale and Dolphin Camp by the Ocean Initiative - This virtual marine biology camp which was sparked by the shutdown of schools is being live streamed every Monday and Thursday at 1 pm Pacific on Facebook and Instagram.  Here is an article that explains the initiative. 

Imagineering in a Box is a series of videos and curriculum for kids who might want to invent or create stuff, in collaboration between Disney and Khan Academy.

San Diego Zoo Live Cams - Although the Zoo is currently closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can still visit virtually, and meet the polar bears, pandas, elephants, tigers and other amazing creatures via the live cams.  Located on 100 acres in the Balboa Park of San Diego, this famous Zoo is home to 3,500 animals and hundreds of species. It is famous for pioneering open-air, cageless exhibits that re-recreate natural animal habitats, and for supporting endangered wildlife through research, animal care, and reintroducing species into the wild.

The Who Was? Show on Netflix and Youtube is "a live-action sketch comedy show based on the series of best-selling books."  It showcases famous changemakers throughout history, and brings them to life. Watch the trailer below! 

PBS Kids ~ Check out activities, games, and downloadable offline projects from PBS Kids' series Zoom, a show made "by kids, for kids" that encourages curiosity and ingenuity across a range of subjects.

NASA Kids Club.  Want to build a rocket? Have at it!  The site also offers plenty of other space-related projects and activities. 

Virtual Tours of Famous Museums.  Explore 12 museums around the world that offer free virtual tours your family or students can take from home, including the British Museum, the Guggenheim, and the Musée d' Orsay. 
Were these resources helpful to you?
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