Online Tools

As we were pouring through School Board webpages looking for their ‘At Home learning resources’ to link into this website, we made an exciting discovery. Several boards had links to online tools that usually need a school board email address and password but because of the COVID-19 pandemic are open for EVERYONE to have access for free. Parents. Students. Grandparents who want to read to their grandchildren over Zoom. Everyone.

This totally made me think. We need to share these tools in one place – hence the Online Tools in the Collected Resources tab on the website.

Just today, I received an email from MusicPlay, an online resource I have used for many years which is a rich comprehensive program for teaching, singing and learning Music from Pre-K to Grade 6. It just got added into the mix on our site!

We’ve found free resources in french for those teachers worried that their students won’t be able to stay current. There’s books and videos and magazines on Eureka, Connexions Nord, Curio.ca and the French Experiment! We found reading material for the younger folk that parents and kids can read in other languages while they learn English on the Unite for Literacy site. I’m loving the ease that the literacy sites have thought about to get students immediately reading!  And let’s not forget sites like Bookflix which if you have never used before, pairs a Non Fiction and Fiction book on hundreds of subjects. I can feel my inner Teacher Librarian just bubbling away with excitement for all of this!

We’ve also added in all the free Math, Science and Social Studies tools we’ve found so far that are made for Ontario educators and students. Pearson, Grolier, and Nelson all have resources for you to tap into to support your students’ learning.

Enough for now. Take a look at the Online Tools but, as always, baby steps. Pick one and explore. They’re not going anywhere while we’re teaching together at home… but have some fun with the ones you do check out! There’s some great learning to be had.

Mary Walker Hope