Office of Educational Services & Support

Resources

NOTE: Presentation of any particular curriculum does not constitute endorsement, approval or recommendation for adoption of that curriculum. All selection of curricular programs or items should be made by local school boards or administrators.

Academic Areas:

Variety: (These sites have ideas for many subject areas.)

• Federal Recourses for Educational Excellence - This site is packed full of well organized ideas.  Many selections, such as the art area, have slide and audio portions to them.

• Afterschool Exchange - This site shares after-school activities and tips.

• Smithsonian Magazine Kid’s Castle - A variety of activities in many fields.

• South Dakota EDWeb - This site was designed to have many resources in many areas.  You just put in an area in which you want some activity suggestions, the age group that you are working with, and it gives you a list of possibilities to check out.  It is in the process of being updated.

• PBS Teacher Source - This site allows you to plug in the topic you are interested in and it will give you a list of possible activities.

• Academic Enrichment Activities - This site is designed to help you select activities based on Math, Literacy, and Science.  Choose the academic content, select the grade level, and a variety of programs are available

• Expanded Learning Opportunities - This site is sponsored by Southwest Educational Development Laboratories (SEDL).  They are working to find exemplary programs and ideas in after-school to share.

• Destination ImagiNation - Destination ImagiNation is a community-based, school-friendly program that builds participants' creativity, problem solving, and teamwork in enjoyable and meaningful ways. There is a South Dakota competition.

• Razzkids.com - Great Web site for activities.

• South Dakota State Library Kids Page

Science:

• Science and Life Skills activities - This site has some fun interactive opportunities.

• American Science Surplus - This lists some supplies that you can order.

• Cool Science for Curious Kids

• Calendar - This page allows you to create calendars for your needs.  It also has a fun “Countdown to the New Year in days, minutes and seconds.

• Patents - This website has all the patents registered.  You can search by patent or inventor.  You can read the actual patent information and see the actual drawings.

• South Dakota Discovery Center

Reading/Literacy:

• Aesop’s Fables - All the fables are here to read.  For some of them you are able to look at the print version while listening to a child read it to you.

• Reading A to Z  - Great website for ideas for teaching reading.

Geography:

• The World Fact Book - This is a great site in which you can plug in the name of any country in the world and you will get a long list of facts about the country.  It also has maps and flags of the countries.

Social Studies/History:

• Kids in the House - This site is sponsored by the U.S. House of Representatives and has a lot of information about the legislative process. 

• Congress for Kids - This site is sponsored by the U.S. Senate and has information about the legislative process.

• Lewis and Clark - Sponsored by the National Park Service.

• National History Day - This is an annual competition around an historical topic. There is a South Dakota competition.

• South Dakota State Historical Society - This site is sponsored by the state and details projects and kits that are available to check out.

• Kids.Gov - This site was developed and is maintained by the Federal Citizen Information Center. It provides links to Federal kids' sites along with some kids' sites from other organizations all grouped by subject.

• Governor Rounds page for Kids

Health and Physical Activity:

• Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) - This national institute provides after-school providers' with information and strategies they can use to design effective and engaging after-school programs that promote student learning.

• Nutrition Education - Child and Adult Nutrition Services (CANS) is able to assist in providing nutritional education curricula, workshops and media resources. For information contact Amy Richards at amy.richards@state.sd.us. 

Math:

• Figure This - On this site, you can select a category and then an activity.  It is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Math.

• On-line Math League -  You may register individuals or teams of four.  There is a $75 charge per team.

• MathCounts -  is a national math enrichment competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement in every U.S. state and territory. There is a South Dakota competition.    

• National Council of Teachers of Math - It has some fun “problems of the day” and they are listed in appropriate grade levels.

Summer Activities:

• Beyond Fun & Games: Tips for Summer Programs.

• Summer Learning Calendars - Download a copy of the Center for Summer Learning's calendar of famous birthdays and special holidays that occur in June, July, and August each year at http://www.summerlearning.org/activities/calendar.html.  The calendar is full of suggested learning activities for children and adults.  The calendar features a wide variety of activities for school-age children.  

• Summer ideas from the Maryland family network:

  • http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/summer/

  • http://www.creativekidsathome.com/summerkidsactivities

  • http://www.activitiesforkids.com/Default.htm

  • http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/summer/

• Reading is Fundamental (RIF) Summer Reading Guide
  Go to:  http://www.rif.org/summer/

• Family Fun - This site has lots of summer programming ideas

Music/Art:

• Keeping Score - This is a wonderfully interesting website at which you can match paintings with pieces of classical music and put together your own slide show.  There is also another part to it where you can select an emotion and then it will play a portion of a piece of classical music. 

• Meet the Music - This one allows you to select a composer that interests you.  You then find a write up of one of their selections.  As you read through the writing, you are given the opportunity to click on an icon and hear that portion of the piece.

Youth Development:

• Special Needs Children - Shares information about working with children with special needs in after-school programs.

• Character Ed. Net - This site is dedicated to providing quality online, ready-to-use curriculum, activities and resources

• Don’t Laugh at Me - This site tells about free materials available for ideas to use in building good character in young people.

• Foundations for a Better Life - This site has some short stories about real heroes and also has video clips of commercials about living with good values that might be good conversation starters.

• Search Institute - Information on an array of topics related to youth development.

• Stop Bullying Now - This page has suggestions to deal with a bullying problem.  

Grants and Funding:

• Finding Funding - This is a book of several sources of funding with contact phone numbers and more.

• Grants Alert  - This is a site that lists grants as they become available. This is not just for after-school programs but all areas.

• Grants Information - This is the page that tells about current federal grants.

• Grants Index - This lists grants available for all types of educational entities.

• Grants and Fundraising - A general page of links to grants and methods of applying for funding.

• Grant Writing Tips

Organizations:

• Foundations, Inc.

• National Afterschool Association - Provides information on quality school-age care and after-school programs.

• Learning Points Associates

• Afterschool Alliance - Their programs center on advocacy for awareness of after-school programs.

• Coalition for Community Schools  -  Provides tools to help community schools deal with the challenges they face. This site also offers the opportunity to participate in an online discussion forum and to be part of their email newsletter.

• National Institute of Out of School Time (NIOST) -  Provides information on announcements, upcoming events, training services, publications and data, and resource links, as well as information about the NIOST initiative and a proposed partnership to establish standards and accreditation of school-age child care programs.

• Promising Practices in After School - You can see promising practices from programs around the country, talk with other afterschool staff, and share your own "aha's." Ideas may find planning activities for your program, find funding, or look for a new curriculum.

• U.S. Department of Education publications distribution center has several books available free.  Many of them were written for parents.  You may order up to 50 copies in most instances.  More information is available on their website: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html . Here are some of titles:

• Questions Parents Ask About Schools

•  Helping Your Child Become a Reader

• Helping Your Child with Homework

• Helping Your Child Become a Responsible Citizen

• Helping Your Child Learn Mathematics

• Helping Your Child Learn Science

• Reading Tips for Parents

• Homework Tips for Parents

• Tips for Parents on Keeping Children Drug Free

• A Child Becomes a Reader: Proven Ideas for Parents from Research—Birth-Preschool

• U.S. Department of Education - Offers information and materials to an array of topics related to 21st Century Community Learning Center Programs.

• 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) State Program - State plan page from the U.S. Department of Education.