Free Stuff

You might have noticed that Education World has begun running a new advertising campaign recently. We’re always running advertising campaigns, of course. It’s the only way free sites like ours can survive. This one caught my eye in particular, however, because the campaign gives readers the opportunity to sign up for free offers, coupons, newsletters, online tools, and more. Can there possibly be a word more enticing, more engaging, more noticeable than the innocuous-looking four-letter word free? I think not.

So in the spirit of getting noticed, I’d like to share with you some of the free-for-educators resources I’ve come across recently. They’re in some semblance of alphabetical order, simply because it seemed the simplest way to list them. I hope you find something here you can use. I certainly did.

“Behind Every Famous Person is a Fabulous Teacher” posters from Teachers Count.

Clean Up the Classroom lesson plans, worksheets and tips from Clorox.

Clip art from Education World. (Templates and worksheets too.)

A coloring book (in English and Spanish) from the
National Wildlife Refuge System.

Destination posters of Japan, England, Spain, Egypt, Italy, and France from Educational Tours.

Disaster Action Kids activity books, fire safety doorhangers, and more from FEMA.

Educational video programs with coordinated Web and print materials for K-12 professional development from Annenberg Media.

Feed the Pig for Tweens financial literacy program for grades 4-6 from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ad Council.

Five videos showcasing female scientists , and informing students about educational requirements, rewards, and challenges of careers in the biomedical sciences from Women Are Scientists.

Financial literacy publications from the Federal Reserve.

A fitness kit from Subway.

The Fuel Up to Play 60 School Wellness Kit from the National Dairy Council.

Gradebook Software for
Windows, Mac OS X, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile from Gradekeeper.

Interactive tools to encourage self-directed learning or to create fun, dynamic group projects from Microsoft.

Mathematics software for learning and teaching from GeoGebra.

An online library of more than 1,000 free media resources from the best in public television provided by Teachers’ Domain.

Mentally stimulating diversions -- quizzes and trivia -- from Sporcle.

Space Thrills poster for K-4 students from NASA.

Teaching and Learning Resources (lots and lots of them!) from Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE).

Think Green lesson plans, videos and interactive tools on the importance of the 4 R's -- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover -- from Discovery Education.

Seven water-resources education posters from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Yoga-Recess DVD from the Yoga Health Foundation.

And if you didn't find anything you can use yet, check out AppleEngine.com, a search engine of free resources for teachers, searchable by keyword, grade, or subject.

Did we miss any? Click Post A Comment to share your favorites.