Free Educational Websites For Elementary Students

We know how much kids today love to have their "screen time." Whether you give them 20 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, or more. Why not make it educational AND fun for them? There are many websites out there that want this very combo for your children. They understand the importance of keeping them engaged while learning.

Here are some of our favorites:

www.coolmath-games.com

Coolmath games is a brain training site for everyone where logic, thinking, and math meets fun and games. This site advertises that they are violence-free, so play without worry.


www.funbrain.com

Funbrain is an educational online site for kids of all ages. The site calls itself "an amusement park of math and more." Funbrain is geared towards children up to 13 years of age and is chock full of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more.


www.makemeagenius.com

Makemeagenius.com is full of videos on science subjects such as physics, the solar system, and the human body. All videos are kid-friendly.


www.timeforkids.com

Time for kids is a site from the creators of TIME magazine. Your children will find several articles related to current news written just for them.


www.kids.nationalgeographic.com

Learn interesting facts about animals, nature, and more.  Your young learners will get a chance to watch animal cams and if they're lucky, maybe even a birth or two :)


www.scholastic.com/teachers/student-activities

Here you will find activities broken down by grades geared towards children all of the way to seniors in High School.


www.bbc.co.uk

BBC History for kids is full of games, quizzes and fact sheets taking children on a journey through ancient history, world history, and lands far far away.


www.highlightskids.com

From the creators of the Highlights magazine comes a website full of fun art activities, science experiments, and stories.


www.discoverykids.com

Here children can enjoy games, puzzles, and quizzes on studies of current events and science.


www.pbs.org

Not only can your children enjoy the educational shows on PBS, but they can also play games featuring their favorites.  Those games include math and language.

Educational Websites for Preschoolers

We know how much kids today love to have their "screen time." Whether you give them 20 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, or more. Why not make it educational AND fun for them? There are many websites out there that want this very combo for your children. They understand the importance of keeping them engaged while learning.

Here are some of our favorites:

1. www.abcya.com/

Here you will find free games and apps for kids. Games such as connect the dots, Bingo, letter and number tracing, and more.

2. www.abcmouse.com

This site offers Reading, Math, Music, Art, and other easy to use content for preschoolers. They offer a paid subscription, but you will find plenty of great games for free.

3 - www.funbrainjr.com

The fun and vibrant games you will find here will help children ages 2 - 6 years will help them build early learning skills in math AND reading!

4 - www.pbskids.org

Learn about letters and the alphabet and play games with some of your favorite PBS Kids characters.

Raising Leaders and Thought Provokers: The Montessori Way

The distinctive approach behind the Montessori Method is to encourage individuality and creative thinking.  This design was constructed by an Italian doctor by the name of Maria Montessori, who set out to observe children of all ages and discover their particular learning styles.

Here are just a few things a Montessori classroom has to offer its students:

The classroom is devised for children of different ages.  For example, in a Primary class, you will find children ages 3 years – 6 years.  The younger children learn from the older children, while the older children aid the younger with the concepts that they have already grasped.  According to the American Montessori Society (AMS) “This arrangement also mirrors the real world, where individuals work and socialize with people of all ages and dispositions.”

The child’s mind during the first six years of life is like a sponge.  They absorb everything around them much easier than us adults.  Languages are especially encouraged during this time frame.  It is their greatest window of opportunity.  Just think how hard it is for you to learn another language at your current age.  A young child can learn several!

Every Montessori classroom you visit has its own unique construction.  Teachers love to add their special touch, but you will see it is done in such a way that the end result is the same.  That being said you have four core areas of the class.  Those include Language, Math, Sensorial, and Practical Life.  Art, Science, and Geography have their places as well.

Every activity has a built in control of error which encourages critical thinking at every level.  Students will recognize, correct, and learn from their mistakes.  This will also instill that self confidence that we all want for our future generations.

Another unique feature in the Montessori community is the emphasis on conflict resolution.  The children are encouraged to resolve their issues in a more diplomatic and peaceful manner.  This will plant the roots needed to carry them throughout life and develop into the great leaders we are sure they will become.

Make and Take One Hundred Chain

That is what we call it in our classroom.  This is a number sequencing work that the children love mainly for the fact that they get to take it home and share with their families.

There are a few layers to this activity which include different areas of curriculum in a Primary Montessori classroom.  We're talking Practical Life, Art, and Math, all wrapped into one beautiful package. Let us not forget hand/eye coordination and an activity that encourages focus.

I mix the numbers for them so that when cutting them out they have to think about number placement as opposed  to simply cutting and gluing.  Here is a link to the pattern I use, http://www.math.kent.edu/~white/graphpaper/one-bold.pdf

Next, we bring out the glue!  Aren't you glad I didn't say glitter?  :) To reduce the mess level from Def Con 20 to more of a 5 we put glue in these cute little plastic jars (tiny bubble bottles that you find as Birthday party gifts in goodie bags) and supply them with Q-tips. I have experienced a less sticky classroom.

I make strips for the children to glue their squares in numerical order.  Eventually, each child will have ten strips with ten numbers up to one hundred. What?  Yes, counting by tens! I don't know about you, but growing up, counting by tens was the BEST.
Each set of ten numbers is in a different color.

This is an on-going project that I discovered online years ago, and it has been a hit ever since. Before I send the children home with their new One Hundred chain, I decorate our windows with them for a couple of weeks.  This allows for them to admire their hard work when entering the classroom.

Ideas for using this chain at home are a wonderful added extension.

You can give your child a marker.  This is where I encourage parents to keep it fun and interesting. Make your markers creative such as M&M's, Goldfish, Cheerios, or other snacks that they love to eat. Have them place the marker on the number you say between 1 - 100.

How about some addition and subtraction?  For example, ask them to cover numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 with markers. Add three more markers, which will put them at 7. Now, eat two. How many do you have left?  Show them that their marker rests on the answer after they count the remains.

How cool is that?  Have fun with your children and be supportive during their educational journey.  It is one of the most important things you can do for them as they grow.

Enjoy!

Mathematics

A child can learn basic concepts of mathematics in either of two ways.  He can learn by using concrete materials during the years when he enjoys manipulating equipment; or he can learn by abstract methods when he is in the elementary grades.  Dr. Montessori demonstrated that if a child has access to mathematical equipment in his early years, he can easily and joyfully assimilate may facts and skills of arithmetic.  On the other hand, these same facts and skills may require long hours of drudgery and drill if they are introduced to him later in abstract form.

After she observed that the child who becomes interested in counting likes to touch or move the items as he enumerates them, Dr. Montessori designed concrete materials to represent all types of quantities.  In a Montessori environment, a child not only sees the symbol for 1, 100, or 1/2, he can also hold each of the corresponding quantities in his hand.

Later, by combining this equipment, separating it, sharing it, counting it, and comparing it, he can demonstrate to himself the basic operations of arithmetic.  The activity gives him the satisfaction of learning by discovery rather than by being told.  Eventually he develops an early enthusiasm for the world of numbers.

The Red and Blue Rods:

In the Montessori Classroom the child's first introduction to the numbers is made with a set of red and blue rods representing the quantities one through ten.  The teacher helps the child to count the alternating red and blue sections of each rod as he arranges them in stair-like formation.

The Spindle Boxes:

The Spindle Boxes represent a parallel exercise in associating the numerals with the proper quantities.

The Numerals and Counters:

In this exercise both the symbols and the quantities are loose and both numerals in ascending order.  When placing the appropriate number of red discs under each figure, the child puts the discs in rows of two.  Each odd number has only one disc in the bottom row.  This arrangement automatically illustrates the odd and even numbers.

The Sequin Boards:

To learn the "teen" numbers, the child uses equipment known as Sequin Boards.  The boards have the numeral 10 printed nine times in a row.  The child forms the number eleven by sliding the figure 1 over the zero of the first 10.  This shows her concretely that the number eleven is made up of 10 plus 1.  Another set of Sequin Boards is available for learning the numerals 21 through 99.

The Golden Beads and Fraction Materials:

The famous Golden Bead Material designed by Dr. Montessori to illustrate the decimal system.  There are bars to represent a Unit, a Ten, a Hundred and a Thousand.  The children already know the terms "square" and "cube" from their work with the geometric material.

The children are introduced to the decimal system with 3 basic experiences.  First they build quantities with the bead material.  The teacher starts with simple numbers.  She say, for e.g., "Bring me 5 Tens and 7 Units."  Eventually the children enjoy accumulating large quantities on a tray, such as 8 Thousands, 4 Hundreds, 3 Tens and 7 Units.

In the second exercise, the children find cards to represent the numbers the teacher gives them orally, such as 8 Tens and 3 Units.  Finally, the learn to combine the numerals on the cards with the corresponding quantity of the bead materials.  The children learn to translate the numbers, such as 7 Tens and 1 Unit into 71.