We hope these links will provide parents and kids with what they need to make learning at home possible and enjoyable. If you are seeking even more resources for kids and adults, click here!
Resources marked with a star (*) require a Spokane Public Library Card. Click here for more information on how to get one if you don’t have one. Please note that all Spokane Public School students and all Community Colleges of Spokane students already have library cards through partnerships with Spokane Public Library.
For students in District 81, Spokane Public Schools has put together a Learning at Home site. See here for even more information about this program. Laptops are available for students, as well as sack meals, for children up to age 18 at many local schools.
Curriculum:
- *Learning Express | Continue to work on critical thinking, math, science, and writing skills outside of the classroom with Learning Express. Appropriate course level work is available for elementary, middle, and high school students.
- KSPS | Spokane’s local PBS station, has created a great site for learn-at-home resources, both local and national. Check out their Keep Learning project.
- Wide Open School | Sponsored by Common Sense, offers links to curriculum resources online.
- Lakeshore Learning Free Resources | Lakeshore is a leading developer and retailer of top-quality educational materials nationwide. For those facing school closures who are in need of quick and easy activities to supplement children’s learning, they offer more than 1,000 free resources for home and school!
Research Help:
- *Explora | Find magazine articles for elementary students to practice mathematics, geography, science, history, and much more.
- *CultureGrams | Explore geography from the comfort of your living room. Find various facts about countries, states, and provinces.
- For a complete list of our homework help databases including literature, history, science, and social studies focused databases, click here*.
- DK Find Out | This completely-free, child-safe encyclopedic platform helps answer children’s tricky questions about their favorite subjects.
Reading:
- Spokane Public Library’s Spring Online Reading Program | Log reading minutes and browse reading challenges to earn badges! Parents, create an account for yourself, then, under My Profile, click Family. You can then add all your kids there.
- Tumblebooks* | eBooks for pre-readers and elementary ages (streaming).
- *OverDrive (Libby)| Choose from our selection of kids eBooks to keep minds active. Browse by subject to find books about coding, reptiles, space, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, rocket science, the civil rights movement, and more.
- *eBooks for teens and tweens at TeenBookCloud (streaming).
- Junior Library Guild at Home | A huge collection of eBooks with no login or account required. Audiobooks and eBooks available for streaming. There are elementary, middle school and high school level eBooks available. A new Quaran-Teen story is written each week and read aloud by Rex Ogle, author of Free Lunch.
- Scholastic Learn at Home | Offers free eBooks and audiobooks along with activities to do at home for ages PreK through 9.
- TTJunior from the Smithsonian | This site provides news and articles for K-4 year olds. There are also links at the top of the page to their sites for 5-6th grades, 7-8th grades, and 9-12 grades.
- Abdo Digital Bookshelf for Elementary Students | Free eBooks for kids through June 2020.
- Abdo Digital Bookshelf for Middle School Students | Free eBooks through June 2020.
- Online Research Database for Beginning Readers | Free database to use for kids through June 2020.
Audiobooks:
- *hoopla | Find kid appropriate movies, TV shows, eBooks, and audiobooks. Literary adventures await through kid favorites like Percy Jackson, Pete the Cat, Winnie the Pooh, Dork Diaries, and more. Stream up to 10 titles per month with hoopla.
- *RBDigital | Keep teens reading while they’re not in school with some literary classics like The Hobbit or 1984. If they want to keep their science skills sharp, magazines subscriptions to National Geographic, EARTH Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, and more are available.
- AudioBookCloud | Access a small collection of audiobooks for free through August 31, 2020.
- A selection of free streaming audiobooks for kids from preschool through high school are available from Amazon’s Audible.
Educational Games and videos
- Educational Online Games for Kids | Find a variety of great games from PBS kids, NASA kids, National Geographic kids, and many more.
- *Kids Kanopy/Kanopy| Find popular movies and thought-provoking documentary films from Kanopy. Watch up to 8 films a month.
- CodeWizards HQ | A list of free coding classes, websites and apps.
- Amazon | Free streaming of family titles if you have an Amazon account (Prime or not)
Math:
- TumbleMath | Ties together picture books and math concepts for elementary school learners. It includes animation and narration in the books in addition to lesson plans and quizzes. For more about how to use it, read How to use TumbleMath at Home.
- Cool Math covers some math up into the middle school and high school grades. Games are available too.
- Math Blaster has printables and games.
Science and Social Studies:
- Mystery Doug | A list of K-5 science lessons that are easy to do at home. No sign up or login required.
- Mobius | Mobius Science Center’s Science “At Home Videos” are available on their Facebook page. The videos are posted both in the feed, and under “videos” on the left.
- NASA’s STEM Engagement site is a great portal to learning activities.
- NASA at Home provides more STEAM opportunities for your family.
- Amazing Space offers more astronomy at home.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s most popular collection of home-based educational options are available from virtual expeditions to preschool TV shows to career info.
- National Geographic Kids | Kids can learn about the world around them while learning about all areas of science. It has some cool “Weird but True” shorts, games, videos, and more.
- Science Buddies | STEM Activities for Kids.
- Wonderopolis | Primarily used for social studies and science for 4-8th grades. There is also a database of questions asked by students and teachers with well-developed answers through videos and articles.
- At Home Engineering | Find tips for at home learning as well as lesson plans. For even more, click on Activities for ways to sort the activities by grade level, subject, and more.
- STEAM Ahead @ Home with StarNet Libraries | Find cool STEAM resources for you and your family.
Online Classes:
- *Pronunciator includes children’s foreign language lessons.
- *Gale offers classes, some of which would be appropriate for teens. Visit our research databases for more information.
- Typing Club | Learn touch typing for free.
Parent Resources:
- Gale Teacher Resources | Gale is offering free access to their teacher resources for parents who need educational support while teaching their children at home. This includes resources for preschool through high school.
- Britannica | The well-known encyclopedia publisher, has a websites for parents managing during this crisis.
- World Book is offering grade-level curriculum or “Typical Course of Study” which could be helpful in making sure your children are staying on track.
Other Lists of Resources:
- Common Sense Media’s list of Free Online Events and Activities for Kids at Home
- Villa Park Public Library in Illinois has a great list of resources.
- City of Artesia Public Library in New Mexico’s list of resources.
- Tipton County Public Library in Indiana’s list of resources.
- Blairstown Public Library in Iowa offers a good list of stay at home digital resources.