Online Learning Resources
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SPPS has a comprehensive list of online activities for K-12 students in subjects including art, music, science, social studies, language arts and more. Many are free to use.
Arts
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Arts in Education Online (K-2)
PACE Online features daily art-integrated lessons for grades K-2. ACA's experienced teaching artists lead these fun and informative classes for children at home. The arts-integrated method is to teach core subject areas in science, social studies, mathematics, and language arts through creative and expressive lessons that integrate movement, art-making, and performance.
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ArtsEdge at The Kennedy Center (K-12)
ArtsEdge at The Kennedy Center
This website has free art lesson plans. The lesson plans include multimedia formats that can be interacted with online, projected on a data projector or downloaded as worksheets.
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Boca Raton Museum of Art (K-8)
Categories of Art to explore:
- Abstract Apply Abstract filter
- African Apply African filter
- Glass Apply Glass filter
- Landscape Apply Landscape filter
- Mixed Media Apply Mixed Media filter
- Narrative Apply Narrative filter
- Photography Apply Photography filter
- Portraits Apply Portraits filter
- Pre Columbian Apply Pre Columbian filter
- Sculpture Apply Sculpture filter
- Still-Life
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Chrome Music Lab (K-12)
Chrome Music Lab is a website that makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments. Many teachers have been using Chrome Music Lab as a tool in their classrooms to explore music and its connections to science, math, art, and more. They’ve been combining it with dance and live instruments. Here’s a collection of some uses we’ve found on Twitter.
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Classical MPR (K-12)
Classical MPR has many educational resources that can enrich student understanding of music such Class Notes, Classical 15, Classical Kids Corner, Classical Kids Storytime.
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COMPAS Home Studio (K-12)
COMPAS Home Studio lessons are created by COMPAS Teaching Artists with the specific goal of being accessible for virtual and remote learning opportunities. Lessons span multiple art forms and mediums and are designed to be quick, fun, educational programs that use whatever students might have in their own homes. New lesson plans will be added periodically.
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Google Arts & Culture (PreK-12)
Google Arts & Culture
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. One example: try exploring the works of Vincent Van Gogh by color palate. -
Incredible Art Department (PreK-12)
Incredible Art Department (IAD) began as a showcase for elementary art students in Indiana and now includes a diverse range of subjects and topics of interest to art educators, general area teachers, students, parents, artists, and homeschoolers the world over.
On this site, you can find free art lessons, news, art resources, art careers, schools, and help for new art teachers. This is an amazing site with loads of lesson plans to rifle through and plenty of ways to limit your selection. The lessons often include a rubric and artist models that can easily be extended and expanded to allow for giftedness in art.
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Local Learning – The National Network for Folk Arts in Education (PreK-12)
Local Learning – The National Network for Folk Arts in Education
Learning at home? This page is designed to highlight activities and ideas for learning very locally–in our own homes and neighborhoods. New activities are being added often.
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MacPhail Center for Music (K-12)
Free Live Streamed Music Classes for Students K-12
MacPhail Center for Music School Partnerships is pleased to provide custom-designed online music instruction for students studying at home. Offered in collaboration with the Minnesota Music Educators Association and Perpich Center for Arts Education.
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MN Original (K-12)
MN Original celebrates Minnesota’s creative community, across all disciplines and cultures. Produced by Twin Cities PBS, and made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota, this award-winning weekly series captures authentic expressions of the creative process, to promote a deeper understanding of, and cultivate new audiences for, the arts. Since premiering in 2010, MN Original has featured thousands of artists and arts organizations, curating contemporary arts in Minnesota for generations to come. The music featured throughout the series is created by Minnesota musicians.
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Music Theory Examples by Women (6-12)
Music Theory Examples by Women
This is a database of excerpts and complete musical compositions by women composers. The music is categorized by a theoretical concept for use in music education.
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MusicTheory.net (5-12)
MusicTheory.net provides lessons, exercises and tools for students to learn more about music theory.
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National Art Educators Association (K-12)
National Art Educators Association
Representatives from every NAEA division have collected, curated, and shared strategies, approaches, lessons, units, and tools to support you over the coming weeks as we are faced with the challenges of and opportunities for distance learning.
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Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Cultural Education Resources (K-12)
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Cultural Education Resources
Expand Your Cultural Education
Download lesson plans and learning guides, watch videos, order books and recordings, browse online exhibitions, and link to a world of cultural heritage educational materials.Within this site, Folkways offers authentic music from around the world with complete lesson plans and a search database.
English Language Arts
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COMMONLIT (3-12)
COMMONLIT
CommonLit is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction for grades 3-12. 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, including guiding questions and activities. There is even a section on book pairings. -
Project Gutenberg (6-12)
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. -
Saint Paul Public Library (PreK-12)
Stay in, stay healthy, and stay connected with the help of Saint Paul Public Library. Whatever you’re in the mood for, we’ve curated popular library resources as well as our favorite experiences from across the web that we think you’ll enjoy. There is a lot to love about your local public library.
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SPPS Virtual Library (K-12)
Your destination for research, reading, skill-building, and review resources
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Storyline Online (PreK-5)
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.
Language Learning
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Duolingo
The best new way to learn a language. Learning with Duolingo is fun and addictive. Earn points for correct answers, race against the clock, and level up.
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LingQ
You choose what to study. In addition to our huge course library you can import anything into LingQ and instantly turn it into an interactive lesson.
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Rosetta Stone
To keep their minds sharp and give you a much needed break, Rosetta Stone is offering free access to Rosetta Stone for Students for the next three months.*
Multi-Discipline
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Crash Course (9-12)
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." -
Destination ImagiNation
Complete one of these Instant Challenges from Destination Imagination, or Google some more
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HippoCampus (6-12)
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. -
It's Okay To Be Smart (K-12)
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. -
Khan Academy (PreK-12)
Khan Academy
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. Here you can find a lot more than just math videos there including Test Prep and AP content.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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Mensa Foundation (K-12)
During these unprecedented times, the Mensa Foundation is proud to provide you with resources that can offer enrichment and educational opportunities for your child.
Mensa for Kids, powered by the Mensa Foundation, is full of lesson plans, activities, TED Connections, and other learning opportunities. Check back with us as we continue to update and add to these resources.
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Minnesota Children's Museum (PreK-8)
Our playful spirits remain wide open!
We’re sharing ideas and inspiration to help parents and other caregivers maintain joy and reduce stress in their homes as our community bands together in a time of crisis. -
Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented
Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented
Discussions, resources, “CHAT” events about specific topics for parents and families.
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Teaching Tolerance
Supporting Students Through Coronavirus
We’re grateful to the educators continuing to support students and families through the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve developed these resources to support student well-being and learning during school closures, and we will keep this page updated as we publish new pieces.
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TEDEd (K-12)
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. -
Wonderopolis (K-12)
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. -
Xfinity Education Destination for Kids K-12
Xfinity Education Destination for Kids K-12
Comcast today announced that it has made nearly 2,000 hours of programming and thousands of free titles available to Xfinity video customers to give children and parents quick and easy access to educational programming by grade level.
Science
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ASAP Science (6-12)
ASAP Science
Created by Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown, ASAP Science is a YouTube video series on a mission of "Making science make sense."They have a Periodic Table Song video. This resource definitely leans toward the middle and high school levels. They take on challenges and solve them with SCIENCE! -
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” (6-12)
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” has designed a number of experiments that can be tried at home using everyday household items like rubber bands, toilet paper tubes, paper clips, etc.
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BrainCraft (6-12)
BrainCraft
Vanessa Hill is a science educator and psychology specialist. On BrainCraft she makes videos about your brain, body and behavior 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. -
Carolina Biological Supply Company (K-5)
Carolina Biological Supply Company is committed to support parents, teachers, and school districts with learn-from-home resources during this challenging time. Explore the resources below for elementary and middle school students from Carolina’s Building Blocks of Science™ 3D, Innovators in Science, and Smithsonian Programs.
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CDC: Solve The Outbreak (6-12)
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. -
Physics Girl (6-12)
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. -
Science Buddies (6-12)
Science Buddies Fun Science at Home
We're here to help you navigate STEM learning at home while schools are closed due to COVID-19.
- Try a fun STEM Activity
- Explore resources to learn about Coronavirus-COVID-19
- Watch our STEM Videos to ignite curiosity!
- Get tips on Doing Science at Home with your kids
- Learn about using Science Buddies Resources for Learning at Home
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SciGirls on YouTube (3-8)
SciGirls is a PBS series for kids ages 8-12 that showcases bright, curious real tween girls putting science and engineering to work in their everyday lives. Each half-hour episode follows a different group of middle school girls, whose eagerness to find answers to their questions will inspire your children to explore the world around them and discover that science and technology are everywhere!
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Story Time From Space (K-12)
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.
Social Studies
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Abdo resources for learning (PreK-12)
ABDO wants to ensure that readers everywhere continue to have the opportunity to learn and grow during this unprecedented event. Our digital products are available for free now through June 2020.
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Big History Project (K-12)
BIG HISTORY PROJECT
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.Join as a Lifelong Learner for enrichment learning.
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Geography Games (5-12)
By playing Sheppard Software's geography games, you will gain a mental map of the world's continents, countries, capitals and landscapes.
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iCivics (6-12)
iCivics works to ensure every student in America receives a quality and engaging civic education and graduates from high school well prepared and enthusiastic for citizenship
Play games around all kinds of civics issues, including campaigning, governing, the court system, voting, and more!
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Minnesota Historical Society (K-12)
Younger children can take an animated journey with the superhero History Hound’s downloadable activity book. Or get creative with a coloring book focusing on state history, from an 1891 stained glass window design at the James H. Hill House to the spunky pup depicted in artist Jonathan Thunder’s “Bowwow Powwow.”
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The ReDistricting Game (6-12)
The Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting. Currently, the political system in most states allows the state legislators themselves to draw the lines. This system is subject to a wide range of abuses and manipulations that encourage incumbents to draw districts that protect their seats rather than risk an open contest.
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Thirteen: A History of Us (3-12)
These games offer an enjoyable opportunity for students to quiz themselves on what they've learned throughout the course of the sixteen Webisodes. Integrating photos, animation, and important historical facts, these games will instigate a better understanding and appreciation of the material while assessing the students' progress.