If you want our latest literacy tools and recommendations
to come directly to your inbox, make sure to sign up for our updates.
Best Decodable Readers

Phonic Books:  Decodable books for all reading levels with beautiful illustrations and exciting stories. These are our students' new favorite books! 

Early Readers
Picture
Nora Gaydos decodable books are available 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. Each set of 10 books is now only 99 cents when downloaded on a Kindle app. It is hard to find new physical copies of these books, but the digital versions are a great deal!
Picture
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.
Fun learning adventures
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.
Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Jellycam”

Art for Kids Hub:  A very popular (family-run) youtube channel which offers fun arts projects for children of any age.  Visit their website or Youtube Channel. 

Harry Potter at Home and WizardingWorld (the home of Harry Potter).  You can also now take classes at Hogwarts.

Georgia Aquarium’s Ocean Voyager webcam:  Wait for the whale shark!
Smithsonian: Really Fun Stuff for Kids and Teens:  Art, History, Culture, Animals, Games & Hands-On Projects.     
NASA Kids Club: Want to build a rocket? Have at it!  The site also offers plenty of other space-related projects and activities. 

Nat Geo:  National Geographic for kids. This website has a wonderful mad lib game called 'Funny Fill ins', and personality quizzes in addition to games and incredible animal information.

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.

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. 

20 Awesome Winter Videos for Children:  Check out gigantic ice sculptures, educational winter songs, classic books and videos such as how animals thrive in the winter, how snow plows work and hot chocolate is made. 
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.
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
Global Free Library:  An amazing online collection of stories and materials that celebrate the world’s diversity.
Epic: A digital library for kids 12 and under, with 35,000 books and videos.  

Hoopla: A digital library connected to our local library. All you need is a library card. Teachers can use their own card and screen share books with students. Hoopla has a great selection of ebooks, audiobooks, graphic novels and comics too.

Scribd: Millions of ebooks and audiobooks.

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.

Flyleaf Publishing: Free decodable books for students who are not yet fluent in reading. 

Wide Open School: Free resources from leading education organizations to help students learn through the coronavirus crisis.

Free Yoga Resources for Schools

Looking for Math Resources & Games?   

Podcasts

Give your eyes a break and listen to these ​8 great podcasts for kids including science podcasts (Tumble, The Show about Science, Shabam! and Brains On), Book Club for Kids, Short and Curly (an ethics podcast), But Why (a podcast about questions on children's minds), and Classics for Kids (a friendly intro to classical music). 
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.  Khan Academy Kids is completely free, forever.
Online Reading Programs
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 for emerging readers.  BookNook supports one-on-one and small group teaching time centered around phonics, oral reading fluency, and dialogic reading. For those new to teaching reading, they provide scaffolding and coaching to ensure success.  Book Nook is also accessible for Spanish speakers. 

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. 

Typing.com: clear, step-by-step help with learning how to type with two hands.
​
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.
Picture


Online Handwriting Program
Learning Without Tears provides developmentally appropriate instruction for handwriting and keyboarding in grades K-5 and preschool.
Hand-writing letters more effectively teaches reading skills compared to typing.
Comics Creation
StoryBoard That: Create storyboards with free storyboard software. 
Learning the ASL alphabet
Slow version (left) and Faster version with a song (right)            
Online Storytime
Picture
Story Time with M'aiana 
M'aiana was inspired to read these books for kids whose parents "have to help people with Coronavirus or other viruses or sicknesses or broken bones and stuff so that they can have some light in their life again."
​Somewhere Over the Rainbow
My Name is Not Isabella
I'm a Unicorn


​

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." 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." 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

Looking for Creative Inspiration? 

Explore Models of Excellence: The Center for High Quality Student Work.  This is the largest collection of high quality student work in the world, curated by EL Education, in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It is an open resource featuring pre-K to 12th-grade student work. There are wonderful examples and exemplars of projects, videos, writing and more from students in all grades and all subjects, including projects that can be done at home. Let your students see examples from peers and be inspired!
Were these resources helpful to you?
Do you have feedback, questions or suggestions?