Parent & Teacher Resources

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General

Khan Academy

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. They offer suport for math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.

PBS LearningMedia New York

PBS LearningMedia New York is a free video on-demand service provided to all New York State learners. It is the go-to destination for instant access to over 100,000 classroom-ready, digital resources including videos, games, audio clips, photos, lesson plans, and more! There are video resources from PBS, National Archives, Library of Congress, NOVA, American Experience, and many more.

PBS NewsHour's Daily News Story

PBS NewsHour Extra helps teachers and students identify the who, what, when, where and why-it-matters of major national and international news stories around topics such as: arts and culture, economics, education, geography, media literacy, science and technology, social justice, world affairs, civics and government policy, and more.

PBS Frontline

FRONTLINE delivers thought-provoking journalism that tackles the tough, controversial, and complex stories that shape our times. Explore a variety of issues from around the globe, such as: health, science, technology, education, environment, foreign affairs, defense, government and politics, social issues, and more.

Digital Public Library of America

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Drawing online materials from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States, the sets use letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more.

History

CIA World Factbook

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. The site includes maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, a World Oceans map, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

CIA Kids’ Zone

The CIA is an independent US government agency that provides national security “intelligence” to key US leaders so they can make important, informed decisions. CIA employees gather intelligence (or information) in a variety of ways, not just by “spying” like you see in the movies or on TV (though we do some of that, too). On the following pages, you can read more about us, play some games, and help us solve some puzzles. Throughout this section, you’ll also see some top secret things you won’t find anywhere else.

US Census Bureau’s State Facts for Students

Find statistics on businesses, geography, population and transporation, history, and fun facts for each state in the United States.

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow

Jim Crow was not a person, yet affected the lives of millions of people. Named after a popular 19th-century minstrel song that stereotyped African Americans, "Jim Crow" came to personify the system of government-sanctioned racial oppression and segregation in the United States.

The Abolitionists

The videos in this PBS LearningMedia NY collection feature historical reenactments and expert interviews that tell the story of some of the people and events that shaped the abolitionist movement, which sought the immediate emancipation of all enslaved people.

Civil Rights

Using archival news footage, primary sources, and interview segments filmed for Eyes on the Prize, this PBS LearningMedia NY collection captures the voices, images, and events of the Civil Rights movement and the ongoing struggle for racial equality in America.

March on Washington

The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was commemorated by teachers and students across the country and around the world. Help your students appreciate the significance of this event – and its role in the larger Civil Rights Movement using this collection of digital content from PBS LearningMedia.

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross

This PBS LearningMedia NY series explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed — forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds. Using video clips, this collection of lesson plans address a wide range of themes of the African-American experience from 1500 to the present.

Freedom Riders

Learn about the Freedom Riders, a courageous band of African American and white civil rights activists who in 1961 rode together on buses throughout the American South to challenge segregation. These video segments document the events and accomplishments of the Freedom Rides, and introduce you to the real human stories of those who helped change our history.

The Women's Movement

The first wave of the women's feminist movement started in the 19th and early 20th century with leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fighting for legal rights for women such as the ability to vote and own property. The second wave of the women's movement, led by women such as Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinham, occurred in the 1960s and 70s and attempted to combat further social and political inequalities.  

First Ladies of the United States

Discover the different roles that First Ladies have played throughout history as policy advocates, diplomats, and public figures. Get to know First Ladies throughout the history of the United States including the work of First Lady Michelle Obama and her initiatives through featured images, background essays, videos, and lesson plans.

Women's Suffrage Media Gallery

This PBS LearningMedia NY collection includes images, song sheets, articles, statistical documents, political cartoons and sound files from the Library of Congress' primary source set.

Women's Right to Vote (1920)

This resource group contains one facsimile, one photograph, one transcript of, and one background essay on the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was passed on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920.

Science

The Why Files – The Science Behind the News

The Why Files is created at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the guidance of National Institute for Science Education with support from the National Science Foundation. Each week, there is a new story on the science behind the news.

Science News for Students

Science News for Students (formerly Science News for Kids) aims to bring new scientific information and research developments to a younger audience. Published daily, SNS posts both shorter news stories and longer features, all written with a vocabulary and sentence structure aimed at readers 9 to 14 years old. 

NASA For Students

Students can explore and experience unique space and aeronautics content through NASA's education resources. Explore NASA Kids' Club, NASA news, and learn about all the cool projects NASA is working on.

Gross Science

Why do we smell different when we’re sick? Why does cheese smell like feet? Why don’t vultures get sick from eating rotting meat? Science is filled with stories: some of them are beautiful and some of them are gross. Really gross. Gross Science tells bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.

The Secret LIfe of Scientists & Engineers

This PBS NOVA series profiles today’s leading scientists—and shows what they’re like when the lab coats come off—showing  a human side of science that many students can relate to. The series explores scientists and engineers in the following fields: earth science, life science, medicine, physics and math, social science, space science, and more.

Nature

This collection of science videos and media-enhanced lesson plans draws upon the powerful documentaries of public television’s award-winning natural history series, Nature. The video pieces focus on domesticated animals, ecosystems, human impact, life cycles, wild animals, natural science, and more.

MIT's Science Out Loud

Science Out Loud is an original webseries hosted and co-written by MIT students on everything from the physics of skydiving to the biochemistry of farts. These videos take the traditional concepts taught in middle and high school science, engineering, and math classes and put them in a context completely outside the classroom.

Physics Girl

Discover the immersive, perplexing, and hands-on side of physical science with the Physics Girl. In this series from PBS Digital Studios, the Physics Girl shows us how the physical world works by using everyday experiments and questions to demonstrate basic (and sometimes, dangerously complex) scientific ideas.

ELA

The Great Word Quest

An online reading experience for kids ages 6-8 years old created by PBS KIDS. Uses literacy-building activities from PBS KIDS programs such as WordGirl, Wild Kratts and more to help kids get excited to read!

Smithsonian's Symbols in a Story

Using an ancient myth and an interactive painting, learn about why symbols are used in a stories and how they can provide important details.

ReadWriteThink's Parent & Afterschool Resources

Find ways to introduce kids to reading and to encourage teens to write as well as age-appropriate book suggestions and rainy day activities. All materials and resources are created by experts to be fun, educational, and easy to use outside of school. ReadWriteThink's mission is to provide educators, parents, and afterschool professionals with access to high quality, free materials in reading and language arts.

Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets is a national multimedia literacy initiative offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help. The website features reading news headlines, research-based articles, tips for parents and educators, video interviews with literacy experts and top children's book authors, a monthly e-newsletter, national and local resources, an online store, and much more.

Colorin Colorado

A bilingual web service provides information, activities, and advice for Spanish-speaking parents and educators of English language learners (ELLs).

Shakespeare Uncovered

Shakespeare Uncovered combines history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis, and the personal passions of its celebrated hosts to tell the stories behind the stories of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

Math

Figure This!

Helping families enjoy mathematics outside school through a series of fun and engaging, high-quality challenges. Figure This! is made for middle school students.

Get The Math

Find out how musicians use math in hip-hop music production. See how designers use math to create fashion that's stylish and affordable. Get an inside look at the math used to design video games.Get the Math is about algebra in the real world. See how professionals use math in music, fashion, videogames, restaurants, basketball, and special effects. Then take on interactive challenges related to those careers.

Engineer Girl

Learn fun facts about women, engineers, and cool engineering achievements. Connect with real women who are working in the field of engineering - civil engineers, software engineers, mechanical engineers, industrial engineers, electrical engineers, and so many more.

CoolMath

Coolmath.com offers "math for ages 13-100" -- explanations that are easy to grasp on topics like Algebra, Pre-calculus and more. It has a math dictionary, as well as tips for Trig, math puzzles, and lots more.

Cool Math 4 Kids

For our 12 and under users, Coolmath4Kids is an amusement park of math, games, and more, designed to teach math and make it FUN.

Animals

National Georgraphic Kids – Animal Profiles

Learn about all kinds of animals (amphibians, birds, bugs, dinosaurs, fish, invertebrates, mammals, and reptiles) and the habitats they live in (Antarctic, Arctic, Forest, Freshwater, Grassland, Mountain, Ocean and Desert).

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Bird Cams

Watch live videos of Great Blue Herons, Red-tailed Hawks, Dunrovin Ospreys, Hellgate Ospreys and American Kestrels from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Cams.

San Diego Zoo Kids

Explore lots of different animals and jobs at the San Diego Zoo, play games, watch animal cams and videos and LOTS more!

Project Noah

Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife from around the world. It is also a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere. Project Noah is a project of National Geographic.