Back to Educational Links Back to Ms. Downs' Home Page
Parents (all sites are free unless otherwise noted) Back to Primary School Home Page
Kid's Lab
(http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/SRW.htm)![]() |
Kindergarten-3rd Grade reading activities
designed for parents to work through with their child. Provides practice
in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, and reading
comprehension. Pros: Site has grade specific suggestions and activities, links to Between the Lions: Games, activities are interactive, positive and negative feedback is immediate, printable activities are available Cons: Children benefit most when adult is sitting with them and helping them by discussing their answers, benchmarks mentioned are from Florida. |
Teach R Kids
(http://www.teachrkids.com/)![]() |
Extensive math curriculum; individualized to meet
child's needs; online timed, drill based assignments; assignments
corrected online; large selections of math worksheets; self-paced.
PreK-5th grade. Subscribe for use of full site-$49.00/year Pros: Activities are divided into grade levels, free areas are clearly marked. Cons: need to subscribe to be able to fully use site, |
| Kinderart® Littles (http://www.kinderart.com/littles/) |
Welcome to KinderArt® Littles, a place where
you can find early childhood activities and lessons designed to help bring out
the creativity in your little ones as they learn. Here you can choose from a
wide variety of theme based ideas for preschoolers including:
Alphabet/Pre-Writing, Color, Imagination/Play, Music, Numbers/Math,
Oceans/Lakes, Recipes, Safety and Science/Nature. We also have coloring pages
and worksheets! Pros: Lots of great links parents can use to work with their little ones at home, tips for parents available, newsletter is available, ideas from other parents are presented Cons: Lots of advertising, site is not interactive-lessons are for parents to make and do with children. |
| Family Education (http://www.familyeducation.com/home/) |
Launched in 1996 as the first parenting site on the Web, FamilyEducation has
become the Internet's most-visited site for parents who are involved, committed,
and responsive to their families' needs. Parents find practical guidance,
grade-specific information about their children's school experience, strategies
to get involved with their children's learning, free email newsletters, and fun
and entertaining family activities. FamilyEducation brings together leading
organizations from both the public and private sectors to help parents,
teachers, schools, and community organizations use online tools and other media
resources to positively affect children's education and overall development. The
site continues to win accolades from media publications including USA Today,
Family PC, and Forbes. Pros: Expert advice on parenting divided up into age groups: 0-6, 7-11, 12-18, family oriented activities, parenting newsletters and messaging boards Cons: none |
Nicky's Nursery Rhymes
(http://www.nurseryrhymes4u.com/)![]() |
A collection of nursery rhymes and songs to share and enjoy, with pictures to
print off and color in. Also has games, parent's page, numbers, letters, shapes
and matching activities. Has songs and rhymes to go with holidays,
birthdays, and seasons as well as various early childhood themes. Pros: Easy to use, has an alphabetical list of rhymes, many rhymes are either read, sung, or have music with them so that you can sing them, all rhymes are color coded so that you know which ones are read, sung, or have music only, updated regularly. Cons: none |
Parent's Guide to the Internet (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/internet/index.html)![]() |
This booklet is designed to provide parents with basic
information about how to use the computer to find information and communicate
with others. Pros: Great information for parents about using the internet safely, good explanation of the internet. Cons: Information is from November 1997, lots of text and, although the information is good, it is a little dry. |
Simple Things Families Can Do to Help
(http://www.ed.gov/pubs/SimpleThings/family.html)
![]() |
14 things parents and families can do to help enrich their child's education.
Pros: Activities are simple yet important in helping children to be successful in school, activities are easy to understand and to do, page can easily be printed out for a handy reference. Cons: Information is from December 1997, but still very relevant. |
Scholastic: Parents
(http://www.scholastic.com/parents/index.asp)![]() |
Scholastic Parents is your online source for the latest information and advice
on learning and development, family life, and school success. Information
is relevant about children from birth to 8th grade. Includes parent boards and
blogs so that you can communicate with other parents. Pros: Site has lots of useful information for parents, has at-home activities, includes ways to help your child with homework Cons: Advertising and a few pop-up ads and surveys. |
National Parent Teachers Association
(http://www.pta.org/)![]() |
Contains information about PTA, parent resources, how to join PTA, finding
a PTA near you, Pros: provides extensive information for parents on educational issues and actions, news and events, parent resources, and information about PTA, provides information in Spanish as well as English. Cons: none |
Teach A Child To Read
|
(http://www.succeedtoread.com/resources.html)
Literacy web sites for parents and teachers. (http://www.succeedtoread.com/resources2.html)-Education and family information websites Pros: Websites that deal with helping children become better readers, information on reading disabilities, brain research, Between the Lions website, PALS website (phonological awareness activities), home schooling, worksheets, pre-school education programs. Cons: Links are not all up-to-date and do not have very detailed descriptions. For example: PALS site has moved to http://pals.virginia.edu/ |
Websites for parents and families of children
with disabilities (http://www.idahoat.org/files/factsheets/37Websitesforparents.pdf)
![]() |
Parents and families of children with disabilities can find a
wealth of information, support, and assistance through a connection to the
Internet. The following are web sites that can provide parents with needed and
welcome information to assist them to maximize their skills for parenting their
disabled children. (must have
Adobe Acrobat Reader
to view. Click link for free download) Pros: Great sites for parents who have children with various disabilities. Sites are general in nature, specific to certain disabilities such as blind, deaf, downs syndrome, attention deficient disorder, learning disabilities and more. Medical sites including American Academy of Pediatrics and Health Scout. Cons: Links are not hyperlinked, you must copy and paste them in your browser address bar. Information is from July, 2000. |
| National Association For the Education of
Young Children (http://www.naeyc.org/families/) |
Parents and families are young children's first teachers. That's why
we've dedicated a special section of our website to highlight resources
especially for you. Whether you're looking for a quality child care program,
preschool, or school for your child, or you're interested in activities you can
do at home to encourage your child's development, NAEYC can help! Pros: Provides parents with a list of NAEYC accredited programs or allows parents to search for one in their area, provides varies articles on early childhood learning and development which can be downloaded in pdf format using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Has a series of books and brochures for families Cons: Books and brochures are for purchase only, however the brochures are only $5.00 for the entire set of 12 brochures. |
| School-Home Links Reading Kit: First Grade
Activities Table http://ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/table1.html |
Listed on this site are 100 School-Home Links activities for
the first grade. The activities are organized by reading and literacy skills
appropriate to this grade. Under each specific skill there are varying
numbers of activities to help children develop their ability to read and
write. For the categories that have multiple activities, you can download
the entire section or the individual activities within that section by
selecting from a pull-down menu. |