We know that many people are currently staying home to help "flatten the curve" on COVID-19, and that includes many of our school-aged children in San Antonio. If you're a parent looking for resources to help educate and entertain your kiddos, look no farther. We've put together some BiblioTech resources, as well as some additional resources from around the web. And, we will be updating this article regularly as we come across more!
Here are some resources from around the web. Know of others that you want to share? Let us know! We're available via chat (box at the bottom left of your screen) for many hours each day. You can also email us at [email protected] or give us a call at 210-289-0963.
- Generally Useful
- This is a map of where to pick up free breakfast and lunches while San Antonio schools are closed. It includes nine local school districts.
- This is a very thorough list of virtual teaching ideas organized by grade level.
- Check out Google's Learn@Home resources
- National Geographic also has NatGeo@Home for home schooling parents
- Khan Academy is offering special home school support at the moment.
- On Hippo Campus, you can find thousands of videos on many different subjects for middle school through college-level students.
- Login for 20 hours a week of live, free, interactive school on Varsity Tutors' Virtual School Day.
- Creative and education projects you can do without a screen, for the younger crowd, can be found at Days with Grey.
- Reading and Literature
- Scholastic Learn At Home offers amazing resources for Pre-K through Grade 6. At the moment it is five days worth of books, videos and activities, but they are working on 15 more days right now!
- Check out Lunch Doodles with famed children's author Mo Willems on YouTube.
- Circletime offers on-demand and live classes from expert instructors, including interactive storytimes and yoga adventures.
- Author Grace Lin makes read-alouds from her own books available on her YouTube channel.
- Reading Rockets offers booklists, a book finder tool and much more.
- Many diverse books are featured on Kid Lit TVs videos and podcasts.
- Lil' Libros bilingual book publisher offers printables and a handful of worksheets and activity sheets that you can print out at home to keep your children active and help supplement your school's lesson plans. It is extremely important our children do not fall behind.
- Penguin Random House publisher is offering free resources to young readers.
- Weird Enough Productions (comics) is allowing everybody to read their comics FOR FREE!
- Author Oliver Jeffers will be reading a book a day on Instagram Live and then posting the videos to his website.
- Author Mac Barnett will be reading a book a day on Instagram Live.
- Teach kids in pre-k through grade 3 how to read with Starfall.
- Science, Math and Coding
- Local organization Youth Code Jam is offering Virtual Learning for all the budding coders out there!
- Bits ‘N Bytes Upcoming Virtual Club Meetings:
- March 25: Costume Change (Scratch). Grades K-6
- March 30: Kano Make Art: Basic Package. Grades 3-6
- April 1: Pizza for Lunch (Kano Make Art). Grades 3-8
- April 6: Time-Lapse (Scratch). Grades 4-8
- April 8: Hello_World (Java). Grades. 6-12
- April 13: You are A Nuff (Scratch). Grades K-5
- April 15: Rock Paper Scissors (Scratch). Grades 6-12
- April 20: Instrument Parts of Speech (MakeCode). Grades K-5
- April 22: Crack the Code (Python). Grades 6-12
- April 27: Food Web (Scratch). Grades 2-6
- April 29: Guess the Number (Python). Grades 6-12.
- Bits ‘N Bytes Upcoming Virtual Club Meetings:
- On Club SciKidz you'll find different, simple science experiments you can do at home.
- Make math lessons fun with Math Games.
- Mystery Science provides easy do-at-home science lessons that range from quick 5-minute experiments to full 45-minute classes.
- NASA's Climate Kids page provides information and activities on environmentalism.
- On weekdays from 10am to noon, “Science Mom” and “Math Dad” live stream a show featuring a science lesson, math activities, interactive games and stories.
- Prodigy is a free and fun math game
- Local organization Youth Code Jam is offering Virtual Learning for all the budding coders out there!
- Events and Special Programing
- Mark your calendars! On May 1-2 Everywhere Book Fest, an all digital book festival aimed at kids, will go live at everywherebookfest.com.
- Check out this growing list from the Deschutes Public Library for many more live events.
- This Google Doc offers links to over 30 virtual field trips.
- Study up for those AP exams with this Advance Placement YouTube Channel
- Resources that Explain COVID-19 to Kids
- NPR Comic
- Coronavirus PSA from author Jason Reynolds.
- Coronavirus resource list for older kids from the New York Times.
- This article from the National Association of School Psychologists is all about how to talk to your kids about the pandemic.
Next, here are some BiblioTech resources you can use, just as soon as you register for a BiblioTech Public Library card. We have an even more comprehensive list over on our BiblioTech EDU page!
On cloudLibrary (available as an app and a webpage), we collections such as have:
On Hoopla (available as an app and a webpage), we have several different collections, including Read-Along Titles. There are also collections such as:
On BiblioBoard (available as an app or a webpage), we have several different collections including:
You can also learn skills with LinkedIn Learning or learn languages with Mango Languages, which also offers foreign language films!
One last note, despite the fact that our branch locations are currently closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19, we are still working to make sure you have access to the resources you need. If you have questions or suggestions, please let us know. We're available via chat (box at the bottom left of your screen) for many hours a day. You can also email us at [email protected] or give us a call at 210-289-0963.