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How can I support my young student?

 

Often parents ask me how they can help support their young learner at home and I must admit that the answer is normally quite complex because every child has different learning needs. I would like to encourage all parents to spend as much time as possible interacting with their children outdoors or indoors inspiring learning through play and the senses while accomplishing tasks of daily life together. Go for a walk, bake some cookies, build a fort out of blankets, wash the dishes or play with the dog. Once you have exhausted the more interactive options I would like to recommend some educational websites that can be used to supplement student learning, at home, on a rainy day. Please take a look at the sites and guide your child on how to use them. I included mostly free sites for literacy, math and technology learning. Best of luck and enjoy the time with your young one!

ABCya.com

ABCya.com is a free website that is game based without videos. It is categorized first by grade level K-5 and then by subject. There are literacy, mathematics, skills, holiday and strategy tasks available for all grade levels.

E-learning for Kids

E-learningforkids.org has a mission to provide access to learning through the internet to all parts of the world and to children who may not otherwise have access to it. The site is categorized by subject and grade level.

Wonderopolis

Wonderopolis.org is a site where curiosity is coupled with learning. The site has a page to explore "wonders" which are questions people pose such as "Why do people get headaches?" or "How does a watch work?" Children can explore the "wonders," learn new facts, "try it out" with family and then test their knowledge. This is a great site to use when your child keeps asking "why?"

IXL

IXL.com provides mathematics and Language Arts learning tasks for grades K-12. Click on your child's grade level and you will find a plethora of learning activities categorized by learning objective.

Mathletics

Mathletics.com requires a subscription but can be tested during a 10 day free trial. It tracks your student's daily progress and focuses on the Common Core State Standards for each grade level.

National Library of Virtural Manipulatives

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives provides mathematics activities sorted by grade level based on learning objectives. This is a free website.

Science Monster

Sciencemonster.com is a topic based learning site which provides lessons, games and apps for students to learn about the earth, life and physcial sciences as well as astronomy and technology.

Scratch

Scratch is a game based, free program that was designed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. Young ones can learn the skills they need for the 21st century as they program and create their own games and stories.

Brain Pop Jr

Brainpopjr.com is an amazing website that offers short videos, games, and activities for all subjects from grades K-3. This website requires a subscription but it is worth it. Children become very engaged and enjoy learning from the site's beloved character, robot Moby.

Fun Brain

Funbrain.com is a free site and offers arcades, games, books and comics for learning fun. 

Starfall

Starfall.com is a free phonics based reading program that supports children in their reading development. It offers four levels from pre-reading to already reading. If you subscribe to the site it also offers additional reading as well as mathematics tasks and songs.

International Children's Library

The International Children's Library is an online resource of electronic books. The site is categorized by age group and genre. One can search for books in a variety of languages.

Little Bird Tales

Little Bird Tales is a website that allows young ones to illustrate and narrate their own stories. They can draw illustrations on different slides and record their own voice narrating their very own story. There is also an available app for download on your portable device.

Cool Math 4 Kids

Coolmathforkids.org has a wide variety of mathematics activities for children of all ages. The site also has a link for parents and inludes activities for preschools to prepare for kindergarten.

Dreambox

Dreambox.com is another site that requires a subscription but is great for children who have not yet experienced success in math. The gaming element of the program keeps children engaged.

abcmouse.com

Abcmouse.com is another site that requires a subscription but is worth every penny. The site is for children aged 2-7 and is meant to help young ones have a smooth transition from preschool through first grade. It costs about $8 a month but you can get the first month free.

Fact Monster

Factmonster.com provides information on a variety of subjects. It is a free site that provides facts and games for your young one.

Light Up
Your Brain

Lightupyourbrain.com is a free site that offers audio stories as well as brain stimulating games and activities.

Prongo

Prongo is a simple site which provides games, jokes and brain teasers. It is free and categorized by age group.

DIY.org

DIY.org is a free site that helps children develop skills online. They provide online skills camps for developing all sorts of skills.

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