JUST IN TIME: 20 Terrific FREE Content Resources

These are definitely "interesting" times. As I post this, many of you are scrambling to find some high quality content resources to share with your students during this time of COVID-19 and the uncertainty that it has brought upon us. I just wanted to try and lighten your load a bit by sharing 20 of my current favorite content resources for students. I present them to you alphabetically. As always, you should review any material before using with your students. 

Please enjoy and share with anyone who you think could benefit from this list. 

THE ART ASSIGNMENT

Created by Sarah Urist Green, The Art Assignment is a video series that profiles innovative artists and presents you with an assignment to produce a work of art in their style or using their technique. You are encouraged to upload and share your creations online. Also, much of the content presented online for free is being repackaged into book form with the soon to be released YOU ARE AN ARTIST: Assignments to Spark Creation.

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ASAP Science

Created by Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown, ASAP Science is a YouTube video series on a mission of "Making science make sense." I first learned about them with the Periodic Table Song video. This resource definitely leans toward the middle level and secondary level. They also take on such challenges as Yanny or Laurel? and which is better Paper Towels or Hand Dryers and solve them with SCIENCE! 

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BIG HISTORY PROJECT

​In assembling this collection, I was looking for some new resources to me. This one fit that bill. Common Sense Education describes Big History Project as a "Fascinating look at life's bigger questions with a fresh perspective" and it offers a collection of free, open, and online lessons that are ready to use. This is one that I plan on spending a lot of extra time exploring to see what it is capable of. 

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BrainCraft

Vanessa Hill is your friendly neighbourhood science educator and psychology specialist. On BrainCraft she makes videos about your brain, body and behaviour to help you better understand yourself and the world. Her mission is to empower you with evidence-based information you can use to enrich your everyday life – to boost well-being, to strengthen relationships and to increase productivity.

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CDC: Solve The Outbreak

With all of the attention right now on the Coronavirus, this is a great time to play disease detective with the interactive online game from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This has long been available as an iPad app, but now it is available to play online. 

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COMMONLIT

CommonLit is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction for 3rd-12th grade classrooms. The collection can be searched and filtered by Lexile level, grade, theme, genre, literary device or Common Core Standard. Each reading is able to be downloaded or read online. There are guiding questions and activities. My favorite feature is the recommendations for book pairings. 

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CRASH COURSE

Created by John Green and Hank Green, Crash Course is a video series that proves that learning can be very, very entertaining! According to the site, "From courses like Astronomy to US History and Anatomy & Physiology it's got you covered with an awesome variety of AP high school curriculum topics. With various witty hosts at your service, you won't even notice you're getting smarter." 

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Google Arts & Culture

Created by the Google Cultural Institute, Google Arts & Culture allows you to explore museum collections from around the world. There is so much to love about this resource! Check out the Art Zoom projects where you are taken on a close up tour of several of the world's most famous paintings. Or try exploring the works of Vincent Van Gogh by color palate. If you can't go to a museum, this is the next best thing. 

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HippoCampus

HippoCampus.org is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content--videos, animations, and simulations--on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors, and their students, free of charge. The site collects a wide range of content resources from other sites and organizes them in a central location that can be browsed by subject area. 

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It's Okay To Be Smart 

Hosted by Joe Hanson and part of the PBS Digital Studios Network, this YouTube series is a show about science, but "it's probably not about science the way that you are used to it". It's Okay To Be Smart solves mysteries like How an Igloo Keeps You Warm and Why Salt & Pepper Ended Up On Every Table in a fun, informative, and entertaining manner. 

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Khan Academy

Ok, I know. You already know about this one, but seriously if you have not looked at Khan Academy in recent history, then you owe it to yourself and your students to visit it again. Head over to khanacademy.org and click on the COURSES link in the top left hand corner. Let's just say that there is a lot more than just math videos there including Test Prep and AP content. 

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Khan Academy Partner Content

But, wait! There is a whole lot more available from Khan Academy! Honestly, I feel like this is almost a hidden treasure since it is no longer listed in the Courses section. Be sure to check out the content provided by partners like NASA, Exploratorium, MIT+K12, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brookings Institution, and of course Code.org. 

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Imagineering In A Box and Pixar In A Box 

Ok, this is a TWO-FER! Technically this is also is Partner Content from Khan Academy, but this is something totally different from the folks at Pixar and Disney Imagineering. These are full online courses that take you behind the scenes to learn how these innovative minds create the magic. If you can't go to Disney, then this is the next best thing. This is hidden away in the storytelling section, and honestly, you probably would not find it unless you knew to look for it. 

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Physics Girl

Physics Girl is a YouTube channel created by Dianna Cowern that adventures into the physical sciences with experiments, demonstrations, and cool new discoveries. Physics Girl has videos for every atom and eve. While the show is called Physics Girl, I love that Dianna's YouTube user name is "physicswoman". 

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Project Gutenberg 

Almost as old as the internet itself, Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world's great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Not sure where to begin? My recommendation is to begin by checking out the Top 100 eBooks viewed yesterday. 

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Storyline Online

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s award-winning children’s literacy website, Storyline Online, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more. I love that you can choose Vimeo or SchoolTube instead of YouTube to view the videos for an ad free experience. 

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Story Time From Space

This one is literally out of this world! Astronauts aboard the International Space Station read a collection of illustrated children's books and conduct science experiments. To make Story Time From Space even more useful for educators, cross-content curriculum is being designed to support the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core. 

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TEDEd

If I had to pick only one resource on this list to recommend, then it would be TEDEd. There are so many amazing video lessons and interesting things to learn. The videos tend to be short and of a very high educational quality. Each video lesson is accompanied by a series of questions to make the viewer think as well as additional resources to explore in the Dig Deeper section. Perhaps best of all, you can customize any of the lessons and share them with your students. 

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Wonderopolis

Kids have a lot of questions and wonder so many things! As adults, we often do not have the answers and are often unsure as to how to foster that insatiable curiosity. Wonderopolis is a place "where the wonders of learning never cease". Built around a new Wonder of the Day, this site delivers interesting and educational content in the form of short videos and reading passages. With each Wonder, key vocabulary are identified and one can test their knowledge. Better yet, every Wonder includes extension activities to explore to learn more. 

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YOUR LOCAL PUBLIC LIBRARY! 

Do not underestimate the power of your local library. It offers so much more than books and physical media these days. You owe it to yourself to check out the digital and online resources. From eBooks, digital audiobooks, eMagazines, to films. There is a lot to love about your local public library. 

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So, which is your favorite resource? How do you plan to use the content presented here? Have a suggestion of what to add to the list? Please leave a comment below. Remember, we are all in this together. 

Stay safe.