Home learning - Educational resources

In response to schools transitioning to remote teaching and learning due to COVID-19 concerns, AISWA Libraries wishes to support all school library staff to be able to continue to provide the best digital library services they can to their school community.
Below are links to various free educational resources that are available or that have recently become freely available for a period of time. We hope you find this page helpful to provide your staff, students and families with a range of online resources to support learning at home.

This page will be regularly updated as we discover more resources. 
Last updated: 5th April, 2020

Information Resources

Abdo Digital - is offering free digital content now through June 2020. Their collection includes fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. You may search by grade level, genre, subject, and title.  Browse Abdo's Elementary Bookshelf for grades PK - 8 or ABDO's Secondary Bookshelf for grades 5 - 12. (Note: this is mostly US specific content, although there may still be some relevant resources.)

Follett Offers Interactive ebook Platform for Free to Schools

Gale - Resources to support libraries and educators impacted by COVID-19  
  • Kids InfoBits introduces elementary schoolers to database searching with easy-to-use resources featuring age-appropriate, reliable, curriculum-related content covering a broad range of educational topics. 
  • Gale In Context: Middle School combines reference content with age-appropriate videos, newspapers, magazines, primary sources, and more.
  • Gale In Context: High School supports student papers, projects, and presentations while empowering the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills with content aligned to national and state curriculum standards.
  • Global Issues in Context contains international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues.
  • Novels for Students in Gale eBooks contains content-rich discussions of the literary and historical background of 15 to 20 works from various cultures and time periods per volume.

Gale - Reference ebooks & Academic Onefile and Powerpack via The Booklegger.
​Free links till at least May 31st 2020. Click here for more details.​​

Jstor & Artstor - find millions of journal articles, ebooks, images, and other media available as open access or free to everyone.


​Literature Resources

Abdo Digital (ebooks) - as noted in the previous section.
Audible stories
Audible has made hundreds of its audiobooks available for free. All titles can be accessed by desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.

Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library has released a range of free resources to support teachers and students:
Teaching during Covid-19

Harry Potter: A history of magic - Explore the wonders of the British Library exhibition

Harry Potter at home - an online space your younger children to discover the magic of Harry Potter.

Project Gutenberg
A free library of over 60,000 free eBooks that include a children’s literature category where kids can download or read online classics like Little Women and Peter Pan.

Storybox library
This Australian based subscription educational website is providing free access for an initial two months. created for children to view stories by local authors and illustrators, being read aloud by fantastic, predominantly Australian and New Zealand, storytellers. Storybox is providing free access for an initial two months.
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TeachingBooks and Book Connections: Book and reading engagement kit: Home edition
This website is providing permission to access links through to at least the middle of September, 2020. 

Vooks
A kid-safe, ad-free streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks. There is a teacher appreciation offer providing a free first year of Vooks exclusively to all school teachers and homeschool educators! You may like to share this with parents. Terms and conditions apply.

Virtual storytimes for children:
Other links
  • Librivox - free public domain audiobooks (most are classic works that are out of copyright or works that have been released by the author for free)
  • OpenCulture -  1000 free audiobooks (mostly classics)

Open Educational Resources

ABC Education - brings you thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources for Primary and Secondary students and teachers.

Big History Project
This is a free online social studies course for middle and high school students that emphasises skill development as students draw connections between past, present and future.
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Digital searching Excellence
Teacher Librarian, Barbara Stout, provides links to a range of other OER resources (made available at her presentation at the AISWA Libraries PLD meeting, "Digital Searching Excellence," held on the 13th September, 2018).

Google Arts and Culture
Features content from over 1200 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online.

Khan Academy
A non-profit educational organisation providing short lessons in the form of videos and a set of online tools that help educate students. The website also includes supplementary practice exercises and materials for educators.

OpenCulture
200 free kids educational resources: Video lessons, apps, books, websites & more.

​Parliamentary Education Office 

Smithsonian Learning Lab - millions of carefully curated, easily accessible, customisable, and shareable open educational resources.

Copyright Resources

Smartcopying
Read aloud copyright permissions

Online teaching & learning PLD

Teaching Online training - A Griffith University education expert has created a free online resource to help teachers keep students engaged outside the classroom. Read the Griffith University news article here.

Lynda.com (video courses) - Available through City of Perth Library eResources. Residents of Western Australia who are members of the library have free access. Join the library here.

More Resources

Amazing Educational resources - an extensive spreadsheet of 300+ educational companies offering free subscriptions for a period of time due to school closures COVID-19 school closures. 
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Commonsense Media - A leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families and schools. How to find great learning resources for your students during school closures.

Joyce Valenza - Resources for learning at home

Junior Library Guild - Free access to JLG Digital

Learning at home - The Western Australian Department of Education has resources and information to support learning and wellbeing in the home.

School library journal - Free access to digitised edition of SLJ

State Library of Western Australia - Membership is free for all Western Australian residents. 
Wide Open School (just released)- an amazing free collection of learning experiences and activities for kids, organised by grade band and subject. You will also find daily schedules with creative breaks and recommendations to keep kids engaged and exploring, one day (or one hour) at a time.
Image credit: ​“Together” by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay