During this challenging time for educators and their students, AdoptAClassroom.org will share distance education tips and resources that we hear about that may be helpful for you. This is not advertising. We are not making money off of this, and we are not endorsing products, services, or companies. We are sharing things that might be helpful for the educators we support.
In response to school closures across the country, many companies are offering their services for free to educators who are teaching remotely this spring.
Check out these free distance education resources for educators working remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak:
From AdoptAClassroom.org Vendors and Partners:
Beckers
Beckers is offering free Weebinars presented by Bari Koral, a children’s yoga teacher, adult instructor, and award-winning recording artist. They also have a Home Teaching Tools resource page here.
Lakeshore Learning
Lakeshore Learning has more than 1,000 free downloadable resources including worksheets, writing prompts, crafts, and more.
If you’re a parent wanting to help your child get the most out of at-home learning or a teacher looking for activities to send home with students, Lakeshore Learning is also providing free videos lessons and activities to help keep students engaged and learning from home. Check out their selection of videos here.
Lakikid
Lakikid has a resource page for parents about talking to children about Coronavirus/COVID-19, including a downloadable eBook.
Learning Without Tears
Learning Without Tears is now offering educators and families access Pre-K Interactive Teaching Tool and/or Handwriting Interactive Teaching Tool for 90 days at no cost.
LEGO® Education
LEGO Education® has free resources to help teachers support their students’ STEAM learning whether they’re in the classroom, distance learning, or a hybrid of both.
OOLY
OOLY has free coloring pages and craft projects to download so students can create their happy at home.
Really Good Stuff
Really Good Stuff has a Free Resource Library including activity printables for math, reading, writing, science, and more.
Scholastic
Scholastic Learn At Home offers materials for kids ages Pre-K through 9th grade and resources for teachers.
VTech & LeapFrog
VTech and LeapFrog, supplier and producer of children’s electronic learning products, are providing free resources for children to continue learning. They’re also offering an extended free trial of LeapFrog Academy educational app, as well as reducing the cost of 6 month and 12 month plans.
Vocabulary Spelling City
VocabularySpellingCity.com, the K-12 game-based learning program for vocabulary, spelling, phonics, and writing practice, will be free for the remainder of the school year. When educators use code VSCFree90 when registering, they’ll get free access to their online platform.
Wonder Workshop
Wonder Workshop has a free printable Coloring Book that features Dash, Dot, and Cue robots! For children ages 4-8, get a behind-the-scenes peek at how their product team designs the robots.
Wonder Workshop is also offering a FREE series of award-winning webinars, speakers, and workshops all available in a virtual setting that will bring together educators and parents from all around the country to learn how to engage kids in the exciting topic of coding and robotics.
Other Educator Resources:
Artful
Artful provides teachers and K-12 schools around the world with free access to classes and lesson plan ideas from industry-leading performers, professionals, and instructors.
BrainPOP
Teachers whose schools have closed due to COVID-19 can request free access to the distance education platform BrainPOP. The website offers educational movies, quizzes, and worksheets for K-12 students.
Craft In America
Craft In America, the nonprofit that’s dedicated to the exploration, preservation and celebration of craft, has free guides, videos, and lesson plans for K-12 teachers.
#DiversifyOurNarrative
#DiversifyOurNarrative offers sample curriculums to aid teachers in their efforts to teach texts by and about people of color! The list of materials is still in progress, but they are continuing to update it.
Flipgrid
Flipgrid is social learning tool. Grids are the meeting place for your classroom, your school, your department or any learning community to discuss your Topics.
Hāpara
Hāpara, the distance education website that connects teachers and their students, is helping educators work remotely with free access to their website until the end of June 2020. Teachers can use their website to host remote class meetings, individual tutoring sessions, and share their screens with students.
LabXchange
To help high school students navigate the U.S. college application and financial aid process, Harvard University’s Labxchange offers practical information, advice, and tools in the form of free videos.
LifeChanger
LifeChanger gathered tips, tricks, and tools for remote learning and made them available to educators. These resources will help keep instruction informative, timely, and fun for students.
Minecraft: Education Edition
To help teachers and students stay connected to the classroom, Minecraft: Education Edition is now available through June 2020 for all educators and learners who have a valid Office 365 Education account (get a free Office 365 account here). You can also check out their educator toolkit.
Newsela
For the remainder of the 2019/2020 school year, the instructional content platform Newsela is offering free access to their product suite for teachers and administrators. The instructional content includes ELA, Social Studies, Science, and SEL.
The New York Times
The Times is giving high school students unlimited free access to their articles and videos until July 6, 2020. Educators can invite their students to receive free access here.
Operation CORE
Operation CORE is a volunteer-run, Harvard-based student organization dedicated to supporting students from under-resourced communities through the college application process. This Fall, high school students can receive free one-on-one mentorship, college insight curriculum, and webinars.
PebbleGo
PebbleGo, a hub for K-3 curriculum, is accepting teacher requests for free access to their website during school closures. Teachers will also receive access to their library of Capstone Interactive eBooks.
Planet Bee Foundation
Planet Bee Foundation is working to expose children and adults to global environmental issues, and provide them with the tools to combat them. They offer free virtual distance learning bee lessons for schools here.
Professional Learning Board
Professional Learning Board is offering “How to Teach Online for the Classroom Teacher,” a free PD course designed for distance learning during school closings. Teachers gain new skills and learn about cutting-edge tools and resources.
Remote Quiz
Remote Quiz, an app that a provides students with remote, social and interactive quizzes, is offering their product free to K-12 teachers. Teachers can sign up here and enter “Adopt a Classroom” in the “Source” section to receive a premium account for free.
RingCentral Office
RingCentral, the cloud-based business communications system, is offering three months of RingCentral Office for free to educators who need to teach remotely. School staff and teachers can use RingCentral Office to keep in contact with each other and their students with video conferencing capabilities, team messaging, and screen sharing.
Summer Math Challenge
The Summer Math Challenge is a free, six-week program that helps students practice math skills taught during the school year. The 2020 Summer Math Challenge has opened early to support students who are learning at home.
Tynker
Tynker is offering free resources to educators including teacher training, free apps kids can use to learn how to code, and free access to school curriculum.
Virtual Field Trips
Virtual Field Trips provides K-12 teachers with educational destination-based videos for social studies, geography, life science, and ancient civilization curriculums. Teachers can contact them for a free 60-day trial.
School Resources:
Avaya
Avaya is providing the business version of Avaya Spaces at no charge to eligible educational and nonprofit organizations worldwide through August 31. Avaya Spaces provides users with voice and video conferencing for up to 200 participants, persistent chat spaces, and file sharing, accessible from a browser or mobile app.
Microsoft – Office 365
Microsoft is currently offering Office 365 with technical documentation for free to schools. Teachers and students can also sign up.
AdoptAClassroom.org will continue to share advice, insights, and tips for educators regarding distance learning, as well as information on the resources available to support educators during this time, through our newsletter, social media channels, and blog. If you have tips that you think we should share, please email Devon at [email protected]
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For even more updates, check out this article from We Are Teachers with hundreds of free distance learning tools for classrooms.