Here are some links to free online educational resources that you might find helpful for entertaining children during this extended break.
Scholastic Books
Scholastic is offering free access to all its online content until June 30, 2020 for all age groups. This is an American site so some of the content, such as the history and social studies material, is specifically for American readers, but there’s lots of material that is of more general interest as well. Mouse over the image below to click on the link. It will open in a new tab:
Curio at the CBC
The CBC site Curio is also being offered free of charge. From the Curio website:
Curio.ca is a subscription-based educational streaming platform targeting educational institutions from primary through to post-secondary levels across Canada. You can now access thousands of programs, documentaries, audio content and archival material from CBC/Radio-Canada on a provisional basis.
Mouse over the image and click on the link:
Audible Books
Stream Audible Books for Kids on any device–laptop, desktop, phone, or tablet. Mouse over the image below to follow the link:
Minecraft
Microsoft announced that it has added a new Education category to the Minecraft Marketplace offering free educational content.
The educational content we’ve curated lets players explore the International Space Station though a partnership with NASA, learn to code with a robot, visit famous Washington D.C. landmarks, find and build 3D fractals, learn what it’s like to be a marine biologist, and so much more. This is launching for free download today and will be available through June 30, 2020.
If you already own a home copy of Minecraft, you can access these resources here. Mouse over the image to go to the page:
And if none of these fits the bill, you can google ‘educational sites offering free subscriptions,’ and see what it brings. New services are being added every day.
Thank you to Burnaby Teacher-Librarians for these ideas.