3 New Online Resources Offer Enjoyable, Educational Content for Early Learners

Posted on July 2, 2024 at 5:00 am

Our Digital Library has three new online resources for young children and their educators that make learning enjoyable and entertainment educational.

BookFlix and Just for Kids both have educational and entertaining content for young children.

Scholastic Teachables is a resource for parents and adults who teach children, pre-kindergarten through grade 8.

BookFlix

BookFlix combines animated, narrated fiction with nonfiction books on similar topics. Each fictional picture book has been made into a video by Weston Woods, a production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. These stories are each paired with a popular nonfiction book from Scholastic.

These can be watched and read by a child, together with a child, or the child can use the read-aloud feature to follow along with the narrator and text on the screen.

Through carefully paired fiction and nonfiction texts, early learners discover the joy of reading while building both real-world knowledge and beginning reading skills.

Reading Aloud

Reading comprehension begins with language learning connected to experiences seeing text—in other words, by hearing written language read aloud while engaging with the text in books. Reading is both a useful skill and an integral part of the way young learners learn to use their minds.

Gaining Skills

BookFlix is designed to bridge the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Animated storybook classics are paired with thematically related nonfiction eBooks and supported by comprehension activities to build skills, confidence, and curiosity.

Cementing New Knowledge

With Puzzlers, BookFlix’s built-in comprehension activities, students can put their learning to the test in fun and dynamic ways, making the reading experience even more joyful and rewarding.

Connecting Fiction & Nonfiction

BookFlix is the perfect resource for homeschool parents and teachers who purposefully integrate multiple forms of text in the classroom to engage student interests and experiences. The book pairings build background knowledge and support understanding of fiction and nonfiction.

Engaging & Extended Learning

The authentic nonfiction texts are embedded reading support tools, including natural voice read-aloud with word highlighting and vocabulary hinting that guide students through complex or unfamiliar concepts while building skills and confidence. Curious minds can also explore more than 1,100 curated websites to safely dive deeper into a topic to further their learning.

Just for Kids

Just for Kids offers popular videos for children that are kid-safe, advertisement-free, and entertaining while educational. You never have to worry about ads interrupting videos and taking your child out of the Just for Kids platform.

Some of the most well-known names in children’s programing are available, including Franklin, Arthur, Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Jim Henson, The Berenstain Bears, Dr. Seuss, The Electric Company, and more!

In addition to videos, the subject areas also include games, audio files and music, and interactive elements to keep early learners engaged as they discover a learning environment that is fun, safe, and entertaining.

Just for Kids is designed for pre-kindergarten to elementary-school age learners. The content is always reviewed and vetted, making for a fresh, fun, and engaging experience. With a good variety of subjects and popular categories, Just for Kids has something for every young learner!

Check out these subjects and other features:

ABCs & 123s

A fun way to start the learning experience is with videos, songs, and content that teaches about the alphabet and beginning math. These short videos provide young learners with this knowledge to help build a solid learning foundation.

The Arts & Music

Engage young learners with videos with the topics of Arts & Crafts, Dance, and Music. All the videos in this subject area are great to use for interactive learning.

Health & Physical Education

You can help children build character with topics such as Being a Good Friend, Building a Better You, Healthy Habits, Safety, and Sports. These videos and songs make learning fun, physical, engaging, and thoughtful.  

History

Biographies, Inventions, United States, and World are the areas focused on within the History subject. Age-appropriate content helps the young learner gain knowledge about important people in history, their inventions, and notable U.S. and world historic events.

Math

Subtopics within the Math subject area include Addition & Subtraction, Basic Principles, Math in Daily Life, and Multiplication & Division. These videos help make learning enjoyable, with animations, friendly characters, and exercises that reinforce math concepts.

People & Places

Help young learners explore and learn more about Countries & Cultures, Holidays & Celebrations, People in Our Community, and Peoples of the Past with this subject area. These videos take kids on a journey to discover people and their cultures all over the world and in their own community.

Reading & Writing

Topics include Books & Stories Brought to Life, ESL, Grammar, and Vocabulary Builder. Listen to and watch videos of classic stories and folktales. Grammar and Vocabulary Builder topics bring a basic understanding of parts of speech and help the young learner to learn new words. Discover great content for ESL learning with a series that introduces the early learner to words, phrases, and common terms.

Sciences

Spark their interest in science! Topics such as Building Blocks of Science, Computers & Technology, Our Human Body, Outer Space, Plants, Animals & Insects, and Weather & Environment provide the basic groundwork for the young science explorer. Great animated videos make learning about science exciting and engaging.

World Languages

Explore the different ways people communicate with one another with the World Languages subject. Topics include American Sign Language, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish. Lessons teach vocabulary and phrases in several languages, and American Sign Language provides students with a non-verbal perspective on language and communication.

Other Features

Interactives offer a great overview of a topic with lessons, animation, and activities that help reinforce the learning experience. Engaging games on a variety of subjects include math, language arts, geography, and science, and enhance the crucial concepts, themes, ideas, and fact sets.

Audio titles are available in each subject and provide young learners with an opportunity to listen to the spoken word or a song, as they use and refine their auditory skills. Audio resources can also help students who are struggling with reading and comprehension. Listening to the words may help them with word pronunciations as well as understanding the content and context of a topic and processing the information more clearly and accurately.

Educational Games are a great way for pre-kindergarten to elementary-school learners to learn and test their knowledge, while having fun at the same time. Just for Kids includes educational producers, such as Mr. Nussbaum’s Learning Games and Reading Comprehension Activities and Learnetic, that use age-appropriate technology that is easy to understand and navigate.

Scholastic Teachables

Teachables is an incredibly helpful resource for parents and adults who teach children, pre-kindergarten through grade 8.

Teachables includes printable lesson plans and activity sheets for parents, teachers, and homeschool teachers. Activities are updated continually and include seasonal options, offering high-quality, engaging, and trusted resources.

All assets have been created by teachers and precisely leveled for their age group. These high quality, ready-to-use resources support parents preparing kids for kindergarten readiness, homeschool teachers and learners, and young learners who need extra skills practice. 

Searchable Materials

To find lesson plans and activities, you can search from among over 30,000 skills and activity sheets, mini-books, educational crafts, and more by topic. Then, easily filter your search results by grade, subject, theme, and resource type. From there, you can select the resources to meet your student’s needs.

Kindergarten Readiness

Letters and numbers, colors and shapes, and rudimentary writing are just some of the skills expected of incoming kindergarteners. You’ll find countless activities and fun practice sheets focusing on all these skills and more.

Homeschool & Homework Helpers

With nearly 2 million kids now being homeschooled, parents need a variety of educational supports for every grade and subject. Scholastic Teachables offers skills practice for kids as well as lesson plans and teaching support for their at-home educators.

Stay-on-Track Packs

It’s important for kids to have age- and level-appropriate exercises to keep their skills sharp—whether in school or over holiday, spring, and summer vacations. Teachables includes monthly, thematic, and summer packs that are a great way to provide hands-on educational activities all year long.

Tags: animated books, BookFlix, digital resources, early learning, Just for Kids, kids, parents, read-alongs, Scholastic, Teachables, teachers