Great Teaching Resources Hunt

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Languages


BBC video and audio courses in several foreign languages including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese and more http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

Textkit is the Internet's largest provider of free and fully downloadable Greek and Latin grammars and readers. With currently 146 free books to choose from, Greek and Latin learners have downloaded 687,131 grammars, readers and classical e-books. http://www.textkit.com/

Learn10 whilst being primarily a paid site does offer free materials (with some poking around) for learning foreign language at 10 words a day. http://www.learn10.com/

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By General Education I mean sites that cover a wide variety of topics that one would expect in a general education such as maths, science, history, english etc though most sites cover far more than just the basics

General Education Sites


Resources for adults, kids, teachers and parents http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/

TopMarks (also listed in the resources section) has what they call their “Interactive Whiteboard’ section for Maths, English, Science and ‘Other Subjects’ These are online lessons which are fun and save money and resources on printing http://www.topmarks.co.uk/

What2Learn - Welcome to What2Learn. See our printables for little learners, make your own revision games, play one of the 10,000 games on this site or sign up for FREE access to the main system. http://www.what2learn.com/

GCF Learn Free consists of online games and tutorials for everyday life (like shopping, how to use a cash machine, write a cheque etc) to how to use Firefox and Facebook. Also available are course on how to use Excel, Word, Powerpoint etc so definitely worth a look. Suitable for children from age 4+ or for adults that don’t have English as a first language. My daughter loves this sites Everday Life section and if you listen close to some of the voices for the games you may recognise a few! Whilst this is an American based site it’s still a very valuable resource the I cannot recommend highly enough http://www.gcflearnfree.org/

Improve Math and English skills with BBC’s Skillwise suitable for a wide range or to help adults brush up on skills where they may have become a bit rusty http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/

Small easy to learn lessons in a plethora of subjects at BBC Bitesize http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/

Naace – Advancing Education through ICT – great site that provides lots of online games/activities on a wide range of topics well worth a look http://www.mape.org.uk/activities/index.htm

Highlights for Kids – originally a kids magazine from America (it’s been around for at least 30 years, I remember it as a child!) this website is jam packed full of games, printables, educational activities on loads of subjects etc etc it’s well worth a good look. Though intended for children under 10 some activities could be adapted for older kids too http://www.highlightskids.com/

SEN Teacher Special Needs resources and downloads whilst designed specifically for special needs this site has a lot of very worthy material for everyone http://www.senteacher.org/Print/

Ichild offers a wide range of subjects with lessons, games and information aimed at children ages 0-11 http://www.ichild.co.uk/7-11-years/using-and-applying-mathematics/the-weather-today-new-10.php

ABCTeach covers a wide range of subjects. Whilst there is a paid membership you’ll still find hundreds of free resources available, not to be missed http://abcteach.com/


School Links provides resources for a very large quantity of subjects including PE!
http://www.schoolslinks.co.uk/index.htm


Primary Resources provides lesson plans, activities and resources for primary teachers
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/


L’il Fingers for kids aged 5 and under (some things may appeal to slightly older children so it’s worth a look) They have colouring sheets, spelling, time and memory type games and activities http://www.lil-fingers.com/games/

Apples4theTeacher offers a wide range of topics with activities, lessons and online games for primary age children http://www.apples4theteacher.com/

School Express whilst being a paid members site still offers LOADS of free printables so it’s definitely worth a good look http://www.schoolexpress.com/

Sparklebox great site for younger childrens printable activities/games etc http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

The Mouse Club offers a good selection of activities for early education http://www.themouseclub.co.uk/Join_welcome.aspx

Educational Ipod ideas – this site gives links to educational podcasts, audiobooks etc that your child can listen to on their ipod (great for teens that feel the need to distance themselves from the family unit, at least they’d be learning whilst doing it!) http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/educational-ipod-ideas.html

St Ambrose Catholic School offers some childrens activities and teachers resources covering several subjects and a wide age range as far as I’ve seen there isn’t anything overtly religious http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Links/newlinks.htm

Hotchalk Lesson plans covers quite a few subjects and allows you to choose the types of worksheets you want as well as providing inspiration http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Worksheets.htm

Your Resources offers some free printables on a variety of subjects including French! http://www.yourresources.co.uk/free.html

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Older Students/Adult Learners


Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/about/about/index.htm

The OpenLearn website gives free access to Open University course materials. This is the LearningSpace, where you'll find hundreds of free study units, each with a discussion forum. Study independently at your own pace or join a group and use the free learning tools to work with others. http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/index.php

BookBoon free textbooks available online http://bookboon.com/uk/student

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Resource list websites offer links to many sites providing various games, lesson plans, activities etc

Resource Lists


TopMarks is brilliant! Very well organised into loads of different catagories to help your resources search go quickly and smoothly http://www.topmarks.co.uk/

Whilst not very visually appealing, clicking on a section will take you to another visually tortuous but helpful list of resources for that given topic http://www.freestudentcourses.co.uk/

Sites for Teachers http://www.sitesforteachers.com/index.html

Sites for Parents http://www.sitesforparents.com/index.html

An Old Fashioned Education – warning! This is a Christian heavy site, however even if you aren’t religious don’t let that put you off as it has links to many resources and not all of them are religious in nature http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/index.html

Homeschoolingideas.com good for inspiration and resources, I recommend signing up for the newsletter http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/

Home-ed.info is a highly useful site covering a wide range of subjects. The link I’m supplying takes you to the HE in the UK section that has links to many resources. I highly recommend their pages on grammar http://home-ed.info/index.html

Awesome Library is an American resources list site. Everything is very neatly divided into catagories which should help speed up searches for new sites of your choosing http://www.awesomelibrary.org/

National Curriculum – I sometimes reference this site to reassure myself that my daughter is doing ‘at least’ what is expected of her age (it’s normally well beyond!) I really think this is a good reference for those just starting out with HE that worry they aren’t doing enough as you’ll normally discover you’re doing far more! Also by referencing this site you will know what any LA goons expect of your child and how to placate them whilst allowing your child autonomy for the most part http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-1-and-2/subjects/index.aspx

Surfing the Net with Kids offers a lot of categorised links to hundreds of online educational games and activities http://www.surfnetkids.com/

TopicBox is a free directory of over 2,000 educational websites, categorised into subjects http://www.topicbox.net/

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Books Online


Has 2 books to read online as well as a link to an excellent in depth game with great educational merit and some help with getting your kids past fears concerning reading http://www.wheredidtherivergo.co.uk/storybook/

Scottish Resources


A guide to Scotland’s curriculum http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence/index.asp

Glow – an intranet between schools in Scotland, not available yet in all areas check this link to see if it’s available in your area, it’s not in mine so I don’t know if they will allow access for HE families but it’s worth a shot if you are registered with your LA http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/glowscotland/localauthorities/index.asp

Learning and Teaching Scotland http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/

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Create Your Own Worksheet/Games Sites


Create your own handwriting worksheets here http://handwritingworksheets.com/

What2Learn. make your own revision games http://www.what2learn.com/games/add/

Math create your own worksheets site http://www.mathworksheetwizard.com/

Quiz Creator is a free way of making online quizzes in various formats http://www.quiz-creator.com/blog/2009/09/8-ways-create-online-test/

Create your own Maths worksheets quickly and easily with quite a few options including answer keys (if you want) there is an option for a wider variety of worksheets to make but that’s a paid for service however most parents should find what is on offer here free a real boon http://themathworksheetsite.com/

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Recycling/ Conservation


Recycling activities, online games, colouring pages and information http://www.watchyourwaste.co.uk/kids.html

Nature Detectives – superb resource http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/download/trees.htm

RecycleNowSchools http://www.recyclenow.com/schools/

Robinson’s Be Natural, if you click on the Activity videos you’ll find some about birds and a nature scavenger hunt http://www.robinsonsdrinks.com/benatural/

The Great Plant Hunt – a wonderful way to get kids interested in local plant life and a gateway for discussing conservation. The teachers area is divided by country England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland http://www.greatplanthunt.org/
[FONT=&quot]ABCTeach has it’s own ‘Green’ section that isn’t to be missed! http://abcteach.com/directory/think_green_teach_green/[/FONT]

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Online Educational Games


Primary Games covers a wide selection of subjects http://www.primarygames.com/

The Kids Page has a massive amount of games both just for fun and of educational value. The link I provide takes you straight to a memory game but the site is very easy to navigate. Please bear in mind they do have some advertising but normally you can just skip right over this with no problems http://www.thekidzpage.com/freekidsgames/memorygames.htm

Legula from Learn Direct This game is highly educational and draws you in with it’s rich graphics. Some of the puzzles are even a little challenging to an adult, it’s a good one to play with younger children in your lap or for older kids to explore on their own, not to be missed http://game.wheredidtherivergo.co.uk/final/index.html

PBSkids.org has a large range of games suitable for younger children primarily however their Between the Lions games are still a challenge for children up to about 8 years of age http://pbskids.org/

Net Smartz is a great site full of games and videos concerning how to be safe on the internet. I actually enjoy this site myself so I highly recommend it http://www.netsmartzkids.org/games/index.htm?page=webville_roundup/main.htm

One More Level is a site full of educational and just for fun games however my personal favourite is Castle Wars. It’s a ‘card’ game but you can play in 3 modes which makes this more fun than the usual online game. You have the option of playing 1 player against the computer, 2 players against someone in the same room as you or against someone else that is logged into the network. This game is surprisingly addictive however it does a great job of teaching strategy and sportsmanship so I count it as educational vs just for fun http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/castle_wars

BBC Blue Peter – enough said! http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/

SimCity 4 now free to play great teaching opportunity and so much fun! http://simcity.ea.com/play/simcity_classic.php

FunBrain offers quite a few fun and educational games http://www.funbrain.com/

[FONT=&quot]Yucky brought to you by Discovery is well… yucky! But gross is cool and fun so let your kids get stuck into this, they might not even realise they’re learning shhhh http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/[/FONT]

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Online Just for Fun Games


Lego themed games http://play.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx

Ben & Jerry’s silly but amusing games http://www.benjerry.com/fun/

Facebook hosts a huge selection of games I personally play Castle Age and occasionally Farm Town (this one is good for kids) but there is a lot to choose from. Please note: some games are adult oriented so supervision is suggested when searching for games http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=games&init=quick

[FONT=&quot]List and review of 20 best free games you can download. Whilst some could have educational value most are just for fun so I’m listing them here. Most of these games are suitable for older kids and adults http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2340697,00.asp[/FONT]

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English/Spelling etc


Great little site that helps kids and adults alike improve vocabulary whilst earning towards donations of rice to kids in 3rd world countries http://www.aidtochildren.com/index1.php


Welcome to the City of IF, the home of storygames: free online adventure games with story-based roleplaying. Storygames are like multiplayer Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks: interactive adventures that you read, write, and share with others! http://www.cityofif.com/


BT - The Communication Cookbook is a resource book of activities to support children’s language and communication. Developed by
I CAN and the BT Better World Campaign, it focuses on 5 essential ingredients that support children’s communication skills, and contains simple recipes to help parents and teachers to develop these in skills in children. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for free PDF files of each section http://www.btbetterworld.com/pg/developing_skills/free_resources/Communication_Cookbook/home.ikml

Teach kids how to write a novel – this blog has both webpages and pdf’s covering how to write a novel in great depth http://www.littleblueschool.com/2009/08/how-to-teach-child-to-write-novel.html

StoryNory offers a new audio download each week as well as having choices available online at all times. They also have their own podcast http://storynory.com/

Slyvan Dell Publishing is offering ‘temporary’ access to approx 30 Ebooks (actually these are digital copies of the real books) you can have them read to you in either English or Spanish or you can just read them to yourself. You’ll need the access code MSBL9J this was supposed to have expired already however it’s still working for me so let’s keep our fingers crossed this resource remains available a bit longer! http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ebooktrials.php?e=MSBL9J


Spell Check simple online spelling ‘test’ http://www.funbrain.com/spell/


Madlibs online! Madlibs help teach your child (or help adults refresh their memories!) about what nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns etc etc are and how they work in sentences. This ‘game’ can be played alone or with a group. The initial page asks for various types of words such as plural noun, verb ending in –ing etc which you type in and then submit. Once submitted these words are placed into a ‘story’ and usually hilarity ensues! The site has a few nice features, one being that if you can’t remember what say and adverb is you can just mouse over it and it will give you an explanation. The other is that it ****’s out cheeky words so if you’re worried about that sort of things your kids will soon stop trying that on and use more appropriate language! http://www.itsamadlibsworld.com/

[FONT=&quot]MakeBeliefsComix helps your kids to create their own comic strips! This is a fun tool to encourage writing in kids of all ranges with plenty of ways to personalise and make things interesting http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/[/FONT]