Educational Websites and Resources

Special Quarantine Resources for Kids & Grown-ups

  • Coronavirus: A Book for Children
    Axel Scheffler has illustrated a digital book for primary school age children, free for anyone to read on screen or print out, about the coronavirus and the measures taken to control it. Published by Nosy Crow, and written by staff within the company, the book has had expert input: Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine acted as a consultant, and the company also had advice from two head teachers and a child psychologist.
  • South Bay Community Services Virtual Groups
    Join an Early Intervention Specialist for a fun virtual experience over video chat while we are in this period of physical distancing. Support your child’s growth in multiple areas of development: turn taking, learning new skills, focused attention, using language, practicing motor skills, and more! Connect with other parents to get support with creating/maintaining routines, stress management, and self care. (And click here for more information about their Virtual New Mothers’ Support Group!)
  • TeachingBooks Home Edition
    Available through September 15, delve into the world of children’s and young adult books. Experience read-along performances of favorite titles that are translatable into 100+ languages and enjoy virtual storytime with 1,000+ complete book readings.
  • The Big list of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read-Alouds and other Activities
    Read along with authors like Mac Barnett and Dan Gutman, draw along with Mo Willems and Jarrett Krosoczka, sing along with James Dean, and more!
  • Scholastic
    Free online courses for kids. The educational company has launched a “Learn at Home” website that has daily courses for students from pre-kindergarten to grades 6 and higher.
  • ActiveEd Walkabouts
    Lessons for students in grades pre-K-2 students that integrate movement with language arts, math and reading content and correlate to state learning standards. Access courses for free while schools are closed.
  • Mystery Science
    Fun, free science mini-lesson plans for kids in pre-K-5th grade. Mini-lesson plans are accessible without an account, and accounts are free during the time that schools are closed.
  • Breakout EDU Fun @ Home
    Access a collection of free educational digital games for kids in grades K-12.
  • The Stuck Indoors Guide to Red Ted Art
    The author of librarian favorite blog Red Ted Art has collected a list of videos and written tutorials of project ideas using materials you might already have in the house!
  • Virtual Field Trips
    Check out this list of virtual “field trips” you can take from the comfort of your home! Visit places like the Boston Children’s Museum, the farm, the zoo, and even Mars!

Library Resources

  • StorytimeTV on Chelmsford Telemedia
    Watch staff from the public library and public schools read picture books on The Chelmsford Library’s TV show. Tune into Chelmsford Telemedia every evening at 7:00 pm for stories on the Educational Channels: Comcast 22 or Verizon 36. There are times that live programming may be shown rather than the stories. Tune in again the next evening, or check CTM’s online schedule.

AtoZ Maps Online

Digital Information Products for Libraries | World Trade PressAtoZ Maps Online provides a wide variety of city, state, and country maps – both current and historical. You can find climate, ecology, and topographic maps. There are historical maps and maps about empires and exploration. It even includes a section about world flags!


Early World of Learning

Look and Read learning tool for kids. Fun visual interface engages the learner with stories, nursery rhymes, songs, games, and videos.


Encyclopedia Britannica

Explore the updated online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of articles, biographies, videos, images, and Web sites.


InfoTrac Student Edition

Periodicals database is designed for high-school students with access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers and reference books.
 


Kids InfoBits

Covering 75 full-text curriculum-related magazines and 7 reference books, InfoBits targets the research needs of K- 5 students.
 


Lingo LITE

Lingo Lite LogoLingo LITE offers basic vocabulary training in 30 different languages, perfect for travelers and beginning language learners. Users can choose both the interface language and the language of study, and the instructional video and audio is presented by native speakers. You can also access Lingo LITE through their app, available in your smart device’s app store for free.


TumbleBooks Library

TumbleBooks are animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading in a format they’ll love. TumbleBooks are created by taking existing picture books, adding animation, sound, music and narration to produce an electronic picture book, which can also be read to you.


Great Websites for Kids

  • Vocabulary Games for Children
    Fun vocabulary games for new learners and ESL.
  • American Sign Language
    For sign language learners of all ages.
  • Dance Mat Typing
    Learn to type with the BBC.
  • TypingClub
    Learn touch typing online using TypingClub’s free typing courses. It includes 650 typing games, typing tests and videos.
  • International Children’s Digital Library
    Free digitized children’s books in many languages from various countries, for children ages 3 to 13.
  • Scratch
    Learn to program your own interactive stories, games, and animations—and share your creations with others in the online community.
  • Red Ted Art
    Fun craft and art projects for kids.
  • Genealogy for the Next Generation
    Includes information on how to interview relatives, scavenger-hunt and word-search games, craft activities like making a journal or a family keepsake, and information to help kids learn family-history terms and create a family chart or tree.

Great Websites for Young Children

  • Starfall
    A fun online phonics approach to learning to read.
  • Bedtime Math
    Math enrichment site that provides a fun math fact daily with questions at different levels.
  • PBSkids.org
    A companion website for PBS shows with games and more!

Great Websites for Grownups

Find a Tutor

Find Licensed Daycare