Online Resources for Lesson Planning

As many parents face the prospect of finishing the school year with their kids at home, many businesses are offering ideas for lesson plans to help educate and entertain your kids.  But as we are inundated with emails and news, many of these opportunities may pass us by.

Science
NASA has a variety of free lesson plans designed to cover math and science skills.  Some may require more materials than others.  The site includes a search feature, so that you are able to sort the activities by age, topics, and subject.

Cincinnati Zoo has a home safari series.  For each video available on YouTube, there is an activity on their website.  Some  activities are science based like slime, others engineering like making cat toys or using tools to negotiate a home made obstacle course like primates use tools.

Arizona State University has coloring pages available for a number of topics including biology, earth science, and anthropology.

Math
Khan Academy has a number of resources, learning videos, and worksheet type pages to test retention.  All this is available with a free account.  They have also created some sample schedules for your learners.  For younger learners, most of their activities focus on math and language arts but there is a large variety of topics for older learners.

Math Blaster has free worksheets to print.  They are designed for some fun activities for teachers to add to their math class, but most are usable at home.

Language Arts
Read alongs are available through PBS Kids and Storytime from Space.

Several authors and artists have created online videos available during quarantine.  Mo Williams has a series of doodle videos and Kate DiCamillo has a series of writing workshops for example.

Social Studies
There are printables online from PBS Kids, and videos on Khan Academy.  Virtual Tours also exist for Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello.

Physical Health
The National Academy of Athletics has created a series of virtual camps for athletes.  These videos are available at a cost.

Art
Michaels has gathered a number of activities.  Some include video instruction and many include the list of supplies available to order through Michaels.


Miscellany
PBS Kids has tied in a number of activities with shows, with an 8 week schedule of a few daily ideas.  The activities tie in with a spectrum of learning goals and subjects.

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