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Free Educational Resources For Parents, Guardians And Teachers
Free Educational Resources For Parents, Guardians And Teachers To Get Children Ready For Learning At Home
If you are a parent, guardian or teacher spending significant time at home because of the COVID-19 crisis, you probably have your hands full balancing work with your responsibilities at home.
Soon, you may find yourself taking on a larger role as the country adjusts to the ‘new normal’ in education where much of the child’s learning will not only happen in school but also at home. Such changes may seem overwhelming at first, but the good news is, there are things you can do to prepare for this transition.
To help you get started, we asked ABC+, USAID’s early grades education project implemented in partnership with the Department of Education, to compile a list of free educational resources that you can use right now to keep your children learning and engaged wherever they may be.
Schools may be closed for a while but that doesn’t mean that learning cannot continue. May these resources help you and your families create meaningful learning experiences together as you continue to safely quarantine in your homes and prepare for the new normal.
DISCLAIMER: The information, tools and materials provided on this list are not official U.S. Government information and do not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government. The inclusion of links to other websites does not constitute an endorsement of any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring these sites. If you require official USAID information, please visit www.usaid.gov, the Agency’s official website.
DIGITAL LIBRARIES AND READING APPS
1. DepEd Learning Resources Portal – An extensive web-based collection of digitized and contextualized teaching and learning materials and professional development resources developed by DepEd and other education partners, including a full suite of teachers’ guides, leveled readers and storybooks developed by USAID’s Basa Pilipinas project
2. Let’s Read at Home – A multilingual website full of book collections and reading activities with themes on STEM, health and resilience; part of The Asia Foundation’s Let’s Read initiative which builds meaningful reading opportunities in homes, a partner of USAID’s ABC+ project
3. Bloom – An open source bookmaking platform that makes it easy to create simple books and translate them into multiple languages, it is also a digital library with thousands of multilingual reading materials accessible for free, a partner of USAID’s ABC+ project
4. CANVAS – Beautifully illustrated children’s books by renowned Filipino writers and visual artists produced by the Center for Arts, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS), all accessible for free on their website
5. LearnSmart Mother Tongue-based Literacy Apps – A suite of literacy applications that features lessons on local alphabet and numbers, videos showcasing local stories, songs and interactive games to make teaching and learning basic literacy in the local language more interesting, all 10 apps can be downloaded for free via Google Play Store
6. Global Digital Library – An open-source platform of multilingual storybooks from around the world developed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) as part of All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge and the Global Book Alliance
7. Pratham Books’ StoryWeaver - An online platform that connects readers, authors, illustrators and translators to create free stories for children around the world; openly licensed stories available in over 60 languages and can be easily downloaded from multiple devices
8. Room to Read’s Literacy Cloud Digital Library– A free digital reading platform with 200 quality storybooks produced by local authors and illustrators that help children learn about life across the globe and reflect on their shared experiences; titles are customized by reading level, language and interests; supported by a grant from Google.org
9. Worldreader – An ebook reading application that gives millions of people in underserved communities access to thousands of titles through their mobile phone; available to download from the Google Play Store and at read.worldreader.org.
10. Bookshare – An online library that provides access to over 800,000 ebooks in easy-to-read formats including text, audio and braille, free for people with reading barriers
11. Book Dash – A collection of African storybooks produced by volunteer creatives that anyone can freely print, translate and distribute, accessible on their website and through their mobile app downloadable from Google Play Store
12. African Storybooks – An interactive website developed by Saide that hosts 4,600 openly licensed picture storybooks in 111 languages spoken in Africa, including English, French and Portuguese
13. Khan Academy Kids – A free, fun, educational app designed to inspire young children to become learners for life; children ages two to seven can access original content from its extensive library of digital stories with themes on nature, animals, math and socio-emotional development; includes engaging videos, fun games and activities; some contents are even accessible offline
14. Buribooks* – A digital library with hundreds of Filipino titles published by Adarna House; titles are searchable by reading level, theme and language complete with activities that teachers can create themselves; comes with a built-in Filipino dictionary for unlocking difficult vocabulary words; a paid subscription service with a free 30-day trial when you sign up
15. Oxford Owl* – An imprint of Oxford University Press offering free ebooks developed for children ages 3 to 11 including lots of phonics books to develop children’s reading skills
16. Epic!* – The leading digital library and app for kids 12 and under offering unlimited access to 40,000 of the best children's books, learning videos and quizzes, downloadable from the App Store and Google Play Store; a paid subscription service with a free 30-day trial when you sign up
17. Scribd* – The world's largest ebook and audiobook subscription service that includes one million titles for readers of all ages; offers a comprehensive collection of children’s books in diverse types and formats including picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels and young adult novels; a paid subscription service with a free 30-day trial when you sign up
18. Audible Stories* – An audio streaming service with an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages that will help kids reading, learning and imagining; currently offering free access to selected audiobooks that can be streamed in different devices
19. TIME for Kids*– Offers a free library of four grade-specific digital editions of TIME for Kids magazines complete with turnkey teaching tools, worksheets and quizzes for families and teachers
20. Bushel & Peck Books* – A little virtual care package containing storybooks, coloring books and activity books to help inspire children’s imagination and creativity completely free—no email or sign-up required
*Paid subscription service with free 30-day trial and special offers for the duration of COVID-19 crisis
VIRTUAL READ-ALOUD SESSIONS AND STORY TIME
1. DepEd National Reading Treasury – A collection of live storytelling videos featuring DepEd teachers reading original teacher-made stories in different languages, all accessible on YouTube
2. Eskuwelaro by Adarna House – A fun virtual classroom on YouTube featuring teachers from The Raya School that takes children on an engaging routine of kumustahan, kantahan and kuwentuhan; each episode includes a virtual story reading and an animated phonics video complete with suggested activity sheets that can be downloaded online
3. Kita-Kids by Museo Pambata – Video clips of different guest readers, including children reading and performing Filipino stories on Facebook
4. Merienda Tales by Pumplepie Books – A virtual mother-daughter story time livestreamed on Facebook and Instagram
5. Mga Kuwentong Chikiting by Vibal Group – Animated videos of Filipino children’s books with story narration hosted on Facebook and YouTube
6. LearnSmart: eStorytelling Sessions – A nightly storytelling session on Facebook from April 20 to 30 at 8:30 p.m. in partnership with Smart Communities and The Storytelling Project
7. #SaveWithStories – A crowdfunding literacy initiative by Save the Children and No Kid Hungry featuring celebrities reading stories on Instagram; donations are used to provide food packs and learning kits to disadvantaged communities
8. Storyline Online – An award-winning children’s literacy website and app by SAG-AFTRA Foundation that stream videos of famous personalities reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations; stories come with supplemental curriculum materials
9. Story Time from Space – A project of the Global Space Education Foundation that sends children’s books to the International Space Station which are read by astronauts in space
10. Stay at Home Storytime with Oliver Jeffers – Videos of award-winning and bestselling children’s book author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers reading his books on Instagram and uploaded in his website; in each episode he gives viewers a peek behind the creation of each book
11. Mac Barnett’s Book Club Show– A virtual book club show where children’s book author Mac Barnett reads his picture books and chapter books on Instagram together with his dog, Henry
12. #EmilyReads #Emily Draws – A live storytelling and drawing session with bestselling children’s book author and illustrator Emily Gravett
13. Read Aloud with Peter H. Reynolds on Facebook – A virtual read-aloud and drawing session with author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds featuring books that boost children’s socio-emotional development
14. Goodnight with Dolly Parton – A bedtime reading of storybooks from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library for streaming on YouTube
PLAY-BASED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. Sesame Street – An online hub filled with child-friendly content including videos and playful learning activities to help families stay physically and mentally healthy; download the “Sesame Street Family Play” app to access games and other resources that families can do together
2. LEGO Foundation – Offers a wide knowledge base and resources about building meaningful learning experiences through play, empowering children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners
3. PBS Kids for Parents – A virtual playground full of games and activities on literacy, math, science, arts, social skills, emotions and self-awareness for children ages 2 to 8
4. Feed the Monster – An award-winning app that uses proven ‘play to learn’ techniques to engage kids and help them learn to read, in the game children enjoy collecting and growing pet monsters while learning foundational reading skills through fun and engaging phonics puzzles, letter tracing games and vocabulary memory game; free to download from the Google Play Store
5. Antura and the Letters – A free, playful smartphone and computer game that seamlessly mixes the best entertainment technology with practical Arabic educational content to give kids ages 5 to 10 an engaging learning experience
6. Batibot Games – An educational app based on the popular ‘90s Filipino children’s show, “Batibot”
7. NASA Kids’ Club – A fun site to play games and learn about NASA for children pre-K through Grade 4; games support national education standards in STEM
8. Bedtime Math – An engaging way for families with kids ages 3 to 9 to learn math and explore numbers in real life, accessible on their website and via the App Store and Google Play Store
9. Harry Potter at Home – A virtual hub full of magical treats, craft videos, articles, quizzes and puzzles to introduce and reacquaint readers of all ages to the wizarding world of Harry Potter
SUPPLEMENTAL LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES
1. DepEd Commons – DepEd’s new online educational platform for teachers and learners that supports alternative learning modalities during the enhanced community quarantine, also accessible to ALS and private school students
2. ABS-CBN – Television reruns of kid-friendly content from ‘90s educational favorites such as “Sine ‘skwela,” “Bayani,” and “Hiraya Manawari” airing on ABS-CBN starting March 28 from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m.; with a focus on science, history and literature delivered in an engaging way to teach kids critical content and life lessons
3. Knowledge Channel – A television channel that offers educational content aligned with the DepEd curriculum, some videos are accessible on their website and YouTube channel
4. BBC Bitesize – BBC's free online study support resource for school-age pupils in the United Kingdom designed to aid pupils in both schoolwork, and for older pupils, exams
5. Netflix– The world’s leading streaming service offering free educational documentaries about nature, wildlife, art and other topics available on YouTube for the duration of school closures
6. Arizona State University’s ASU for You – A rich online source of free educational resources curated by the Arizona State University that include teacher toolkits with lesson ideas, podcasts and videos, access to virtual field trips and fun features such as "Ask an Anthropologist" and "Ask a Biologist"
7. Scholastic Learn at Home – A comprehensive site that combines Scholastic’s teaching and learning content with four weeks’ worth of developmentally appropriate lessons for pre-K to Kindergarten, Grades 1–2, Grades 3–5 and Grades 6–9; all lessons are literature-based, using thematically paired fiction and non-fiction texts as natural springboard to bridge learning-to-read and reading-to-learn, complete with reinforcement activities that engage kids to think deeper and have fun while learning
8. NatGeo@Home– Original content that inspires family exploration through quizzes, videos, science experiment and at-home classroom resources
9. PBS Learning Media – Curated content of free, (US) standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans and activities
10. IXL– A subscription-based learning site that comes with a free app for K–12 students to practice math, literacy and science skills; learning activities are more straightforward targeting specific skills
11. NASA STEM Engagement – A section in NASA’s website full of innovative and informative educational materials that engage student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics that are aligned with the STEM curriculum; content is searchable by subject, grade level, type and keyword
ARTS AND CULTURE RESOURCES
1. Live Stay at Home Drawing Classes with Robert Alejandro – Fun arts and crafts sessions with Filipino visual artist Robert Alejandro livestreamed on Facebook
2. Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems – 15 episodes of creative doodling and art projects with children’s book author and illustrator Mo Willems, can also be viewed on YouTube
3. Dav Pilkey at Home – Friday art sessions with children’s book author and illustrator Dav Pilkey based on characters from his graphic novels “Dog Man” and “Captain Underpants”
4. Google Arts and Culture – Virtual field trips to up to 2,000 museums and cultural sites
5. INKdoors by Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan – Fun printable coloring sheets depicting scenes from Pinoy quarantine life by Filipino children’s book illustrators
6. ImagineNation by An Post and Children’s Books Ireland – A free playbook full of poems, short stories, comics, puzzles and doodle starters designed by Irish children's book authors and illustrators
7. Every Child a Reader – A literacy nonprofit that provides free resources such as bookmarks and activity sheets by top children’s book illustrators and partners like Sesame Street
GENERAL RESOURCES: EARLY GRADES EDUCATION, LITERACY, REMOTE LEARNING
2. Global Reading Network – A compilation of evidence-based practices on early grade reading programs curated by donors, practitioners, government officials, national and international civil society organizations with support from USAID
3. All Children Reading – A resource library on inclusive education and education technology projects, including knowledge products developed with USAID support
4. RTI International – An extensive library of books, scholarly articles and teaching and learning materials authored by experts and developed by RTI projects around the world
5. Education Development Center – An online collection of educational resources for early childhood development and literacy and numeracy teaching and learning
6. Reading Rockets – A literacy-focused website with resources for parents and educators on teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle to read
7. Project Muse – A massive online collection of humanities and social sciences books and journals of 200 of the world's most distinguished university presses and scholarly societies managed by Johns Hopkins University Press, available to readers worldwide for free until May 31, 2020
8. OECD – A compilation of research and actionable insights to aid policy and programming for better lives, includes policy briefs, analyses and toolkits on distance learning
9. World Bank – A website with resources on remote learning, education technology and COVID-19
ONLINE COURSES AND WEBINARS
1. Department of Education – Free public webinars on education-related content
2. SEAMEO INNOTECH – Free webinars and online courses for teachers including the highly popular “Teach On”
4. Vibal Group – Free public webinars on topics related to online learning, literacy and key instructional skills
5. Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) – Free webinar series to support education in emergencies practitioners
6. Google– Free resources and tutorials on Google products and educational technology tools that may be used for distance learning
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