Online Enrichment Resources
We have all had to adjust to a new "normal", including online and school at home. If you are looking for at home enrichment resources for your child, we have assembled many here. Most of the sites are currently free, but this may change in time.
The Center for Gifted Education provides these as resources and is not affiliated with any of the organizations or businesses.
NuMinds Enrichment
NuMinds Enrichment, an innovative provider of engaging, mixed-age STEAM programs, has launched numinds.tv, and is now streaming free, interactive content for school-aged kids and their caregivers every week day.
EVERFI
EVERFI's digital curricula empower teachers and parent to bring critical skills education into their classrooms/homes. The website's interactive, game-based lessons help prepare students for success in the real world. Resources available include STEM, Financial Literacy, Career Exploration, Character Education EVERFI resources are donated by corporate and community partners.
Teachers or Parents: create an account at www.everfi.net, click "create class" and select the resourceces you'd like students to have access to. You will receive a registration code that you will give to students so you can track their progress.
Renzulli Learning
Renzulli Learning is an interactive online system that provides a personalized learning environment for students, which allows teachers to easily differentiate instruction to increase engagement and higher academic performance. Renzulli Learning supports strength based personalized learning in all subjects for students in grades Pre-K through 12.
The Renzulli Profiler quickly identifies student strengths, interests, learning and expression styles and then matches each student with thousands of personalized engaging Enrichment Activities. Renzulli Learning features robust student grouping which supports our revolutionary strength-based Project Based Learning (PBL) system.
Educators should complete the Free Access Form and they will be logged into Renzulli Learning when completed. https://renzullilearning.com/
The Davidson Institute
The Davidson Institute serves profoundly gifted youth through a variety of programs and services.
The Davidson Institute recently added a page full of free arts and education resources for those self-isolating. Students can take virtual tours of renown museums, such as the Louvre, or learn about coding through Codeacademy's free tutorials.
To access the resources, please go to http://www.davidsongifted.org/search-database/entry/a10960
The National Inventors Hall of Fame
In partnership with over 2,800 schools and districts nationwide, The National Inventors Hall of Fame connects inventors to creative minds of all ages to provide these future leaders with the experiences and tools they need to help them realize their innovative potential.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame invite parents and educators to check out its blog filled with many easy, fun, and engaging STEM activities. The National Inventors Hall of Fame is proud to support educational partners across Texas and beyond during this difficult time. These STEM activities will provide children the opportunity to explore, experience and collaborate to continue building lifelong thinking and problem solving skills. As an example, the blog guides you through creating your own at home compost with materials in and around your home! Enjoy! Stay safe. There is no expiration! You can also subscribe to the newsletter for continuous updates and learning opportunities! For up to date trends, information and STEM activities for all, please click on the links below:
https://www.invent.org/blog/stem-activities
NASA Learning Space
Looking for space and science activities you can do with NASA at home? Here, you can find instructions for making things like rockets, Mars rovers and Moon landers out of materials you have at home – or with templates you can print out. The website displays an all-new video series, Learning Space, available in the Videos section below. Scroll down to Activities to find DIY projects, slideshows about space, games and links to other things you can do and see with NASA. The site continues to add new projects and video tutorials frequently. To access the site, please go to https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learning-space/
EarthX Education
Developed by EarthX in collaboration with Big Thought, the site offer a free K-12 Downloadable STEM curriculum aligned with National Standards. Designed to offer projects to support existing lessons.
To register, please go to
https://earthx.org/education/#lesson-plans
Houston Museum of Natural Science
HMNS at Home - bringing the Museum to you! In flattening the curve of COVID-19, the museum is offering a digital museum experience. From the comfort of your home, dive into our online collection with video archives, virtual tours, Beyond Bones Blog, and more!
To access the site, please go to http://www.hmns.org/hmns-at-home
Shmoop University, Inc
Shmoop is a digital publisher with a one of a kind approach to college readiness. Understanding the challenges that come from engaging students with dated, dry, curriculum; Shmoop instead delivers a fun approach to learning. Through humor, pop culture references, and a conversational style, Shmoop's online courses and test prep programs connect with teens and deliver results. Shmoop is offering full access to schools and districts that are closed because of COVID-19. Free access is available through the duration of school/district closures. 400+ online courses, full suite of test prep, (SAT, ACT, AP, EOC, PSAT, and more) RTI ELA/Math, and much more. To access, please go to https://www.shmoop.com/
You CAN Do the Rubik's Cube
The program's mission is to provide resources and support to schools and youth organizations to teach STEM/STEAM standards and 21st Century skills by using the Rubik’s Cube.
Learn to solve the Rubik's Cube with our online resources! Students can use the online solution guides to learn to solve, and educators/parents can guide lessons with our Learn to Solve curriculum (all available at no charge). To access the site, please go to http://www.YouCanDoTheCube.com
Texas Wildlife Association
The Texas Wildlife Association is offering free on-demands webinars for students covering all things wildlife, such as the food chain, spring ecosystems, and prairie dogs. These webinars are accessible 24/7. Students just choose a program, fill out the form and the program will begin. Interactive questions with follow-along worksheets. FREE anytime! To access the webinars, please go to https://www.texas-wildlife.org/pro…/youth-on-demand-webinars
The NASA STEM EPDC Digital Badging System allows you to select from a wide variety of STEM topics, engage in exciting learning opportunities, demonstrate your mastery of the topic and receive a badge of accomplishment for your work that you can share with others of your choosing.
Teachers can replicate lessons and instruction that integrate FREE NASA content and resources for students while earning CEU credits and/or create a FREE community of students to complete their own online learning while earning cool NASA digital badges. For educators or parents who want students to work independently on exciting NASA digital badges, you will need to complete the "Using Badges with Students" 1-hr educator badge before creating your own student accounts.
https://www.txstate-epdc.net/digital-badging/
Prufrock Press
Prufrock Press’s free webinars bring experts in the field of gifted education to you. Explore new products and concepts, take part in engaging Q&As, and learn valuable skills. You can also learn on-demand by watching videos of past webinars.
https://www.prufrock.com/webinars.aspx
Khan Academy
Khan Academy is offering helpful daily learning schedules for kids ages 4-18. These schedules are meant to be templates that you could adopt as is or copy and modify to better suit the needs of your children, classroom or district. As you will see in the schedules, Khan Academy does have self-paced, interactive content--exercises, videos and articles--for students in every grade and in most major subject areas. It is all free and non-commercial. Teachers and parents can also use the teacher tools to monitor progress and assign specific work. Khan Academy is also having daily (weekdays) 12PM PST/3PM EST live streams on Facebook and YouTube for students, parents and teachers navigating school closures.
Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization that offers free practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. To access the schedules, please go to https://docs.google.com/…/2PACX-1vSZhOdEPAWjUQpqDkVAlJr…/pub
Ology
Ology, a science website for kids from the American Natural History Museum, features free hands-on activities, stories, games, and videos across multiple science subjects. Ology also provides resources for educators to engage their students. To access the website, please go to https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/for-educators
Scholastic Learn at Home
Scholastic Learn at Home is a free resource chock full of exciting articles, stories, videos, and fun learning challenges that children can complete at any time, in any order. These active learning journeys are available on any device and will provide your child with up to three hours’ worth of exciting learning experiences per day. Every Monday, the Learn At Home page is updated with five more days of learning journeys. You can filter activities based on grade level (PreK-9) to find resources appropriate for grade level. Resources are also available for parents and teachers on how to utilize the program. To access the website, please go to https://classroommagazines.scholastc.com/…/learnathome.html
TIME for Kids
TIME for Kids is committed to supporting educators and families around the world during this time. The site has opened up all of the 2020 content and will continue to provide materials on a weekly basis through the end of the school year. For 23 years, TIME for Kids has published a weekly magazine for elementary school students. With exclusive access to TIME’s award-winning content, TIME for Kids is uniquely positioned to teach kids to recognize and value authentic and trustworthy journalism.
To access the site and for more information, please go to https://www.timeforkids.com/teaching-materials-1/
The Art of Problem Solving
The Art of Problem Solving’s Alcumus is a free online learning experience featuring more than 13,000 math problems. The program’s problems and lessons are specifically designed to provide high-performing students with a challenging curriculum appropriate for their abilities.
Since 1993, AoPS has helped hundreds of thousands of passionate students succeed in the classroom and beyond. Learning math means more than memorizing formulas or doing lots of simple calculations quickly. Students deserve teachers and peers who share their enthusiasm and a curriculum that helps them think critically and understand concepts on a deeper level. AoPS provides the opportunity to learn to solve problems by trying, failing, and ultimately succeeding.
To access Alcumus, please go to https://artofproblemsolving.com/alcumus
Highlights
Highlights at Home offers free weekly content bundles designed to help build happy memories, including puzzles, stories, videos, games, and physical activities which can be done alone or with families.
The Highlights brand has grown to a diverse and inclusive family of products for kids from birth to 12. Beyond Highlights Hello™, High Five™, High Five Bilingue™, and Highlights magazines, our brand of wholesome fun extends to games, websites, mobile apps, and the book clubs Let’s Grow™, LET'S PLAY Hidden Pictures, EAGLE-EYE Hidden Pictures, Mathmania™, Puzzlemania®, Puzzle Buzz™ , Top Secret Adventures™ and Which Way USA™. Highlights not only reaches across multiple platforms, it also spans the globe: Highlights International's products are now available in 40 countries and in 16 languages.
To access the resource, please go to https://www.highlights.com/parents
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
The American Chemical Society (ACS) Education Division is making educational resources available by topic to aid parents and teachers in student enrichment during this time of distance learning. The ACS has bundled materials from the Reactions Video series, C&EN, magazines within the Education Division and a portfolio of hands-on activities for students in grades K–12 and beyond. These resources focus on five topics — The Earth, Water, Food, Health & Your Body, and The Periodic Table — and put a spotlight on the connection between chemistry and everyday life.
To access the site, please go to https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources.html
The National Gallery of Art’s Kids Art Zone
The National Gallery of Art’s Kids Art Zone hosts activities that focus on introduction to art and art history. The NGAkids Art Zone app contains eight interactive activities inspired by works in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, plus a sketchbook for freehand drawing and a personal exhibition space where users can save and display art created with the program. The child-friendly interface, easy-to-use tools, and the overarching emphasis on discovery, careful looking, and artistic self-expression make the NGAkids app educational and fun for the whole family.
Each activity offers various levels of complexity. The app is suitable for all age groups. It is optimized for ages 9 through 11, but younger children, as well as teens and adults, will find the program enjoyable and artistically motivating.
For more information, please go to https://www.nga.gov/education/kids.html
Classroom Cereal
Classroom Cereal is a series of free, printable short stories that double as grammar exercises. The original short stories are published monthly and in five parts. Each part of the story contains five grammatical errors. Enjoy the story and find the errors. It's simple and nourishing, much like a certain grain-based breakfast food.
To access the website, please go to https://www.classroomcereal.com/
The Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has free pre-K through 12th grade curriculum and resources related to aquariums and animals, such as learning about crabs, bird feeding strategies, and ocean survival.
To access the website, please go to https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/…/curriculu…/curriculum…
Go Noodle
Go Noodle features videos and games, such as dance parties and yoga, created by a team of child development experts designed to get your little ones moving.
With GoNoodle Games, kids have to get up off the couch to play – they use their actions to control a suite of fun movement mini-games designed to wake up their bodies, engage their minds, and let them have tons of fun – with no controller, data connection, or extra hardware required! All you need is a smart device and the free GoNoodle Games app!
To access the website, please go to https://www.gonoodle.com/for-families/
With Understanding Comes Calm
To the teachers who are trying to engage students, normalize the not-so-normal, and support the social/emotional needs of their students via a screen - all while handling their own personal situations and fears...
To the parents who are suddenly finding themselves in the role of teacher, who without warning have taken on several full-time jobs and need to please many people with no end in sight...
This webinar is for you. In this 24-minute webinar on Communication/Social Engagement , you'll learn:
- how to create an internal and external environment optimal for communication
- 10 barriers to communication and 10 strategies for effective communication
- how to mutually align your intent and meaning in conversation
- how to ask for what you need
For more information and to register for the webinar, please go to https://mailchi.mp/withunderstandingcomescalm/webinarsignup
