Freely Educate

Classic Records from the Golden Age

                     

the following is from the Kiddie Records site:

Introduction

Kiddie Records Weekly began in 2005 as a one year project devoted to the golden age of children's records.  This period spanned from the mid forties through the early fifties and produced a wealth of all-time classics.  Many of these recordings were extravagant Hollywood productions on major record labels and featured big time celebrities and composers.

Over the years, these forgotten treasures slipped off the radar and it became our mission to give them a new lease on life by sharing them with today's generation of online listeners.  Each week throughout the year we added a new recording and before we knew it, our one year project turned into three!  Although we will not be continuing beyond 2007, Kiddie Records Weekly will remain online and we will update the Bonus Records section every now and then.  

So whether you are hearing these records for the first time or reuniting with a childhood favorite from long ago, we hope you take great pleasure in your trip down memory lane!

Thank you, Angelle, for this high quality, 100% free, educational find!

Big Grammar Book from English Banana (elementary)

It's sort of hard to take a website name like English Banana seriously, but after taking a look at their Big Grammar Book for elementary-age students, I think it's quite a find!

The following text is from the Big Grammar Book's introduction:

About the Big Grammar Book

"It's jam-packed from cover to cover with a great selection of photocopiable worksheets taken from the popular English Banana.com website. We wanted to provide teachers with a really useful book of no-nonsense grammar worksheets that they can dip into and use in class with students at ESOL Core Curriculum Entry Levels 1 & 2 [Elementary Level]. It is also ideal for students to work with at home since the answers are all printed at the back.

"The book is divided into four parts and is graded in difficulty, so that it begins with some basic stuff and builds up to more challenging grammar activities. It features a selection of Essential English worksheets which provide practice for crucial basic areas of knowledge for learners at Entry Level, like using numbers, writing the alphabet, spelling days and months correctly, and so on.

"We hope that you find this book a big help and full of material that you can use with your learners. A big thank-you must go to all the students who have already been trialling these worksheets in class. Their feedback has been invaluable to the development of this book..."

If you want to look at a few of the pages, to sample the book, or just want to download it slowly, go to this page for a list of available pages with links to download them (these download are .pdf files, straight from the English Banana site). 

If you'd like to download the entire kit and kaboodle in one click, go here to download the full grammar book (this download is through CNET's trustworthy and spyware/virus-scanned Download.com site).

Thank you, Jenn, for this high quality, 100% free, educational find!

Lotsa Freebies!

To make up for my week-long blogging vacation/family reunion (thank you for allowing me that break!), I thought I'd share multiple freebies from The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Freebie Directory 2008.  Will that make up for a week of not posting freebies?  I'm not sure.  Some of the freebies are just samples.  But go check the site out anyway, just in case it's helpful to you...

A (Bloggy) Vacation until October 27th

I'm at a family reunion this week, so I'll be taking a bloggy vacation.  I just know that between 11 children and lots (and lots) of food, I won't take a minute to blog.

I will see you back here on October 27th (Monday) with more freebies.  And, oh, goodness, I'm lining up a slew of giveaways in the near future.   Yes.  That means a lot.

~ Lori Seaborg

Giveaway for ALL! A free month of Precious Girls Club for ages 4-10

Do you remember Precious Moments?  Those cute little porcelain figurines with the tear-drop eyes that our moms and grandmoms (and many of us!) used to, or do, collect.  Well, the Precious Moments company recently created a website for girls, ages 4-10, to (virtually) play in a safe location on the internet.  They write:

"I just wanted to let you know about our new site that just launched for girls ages 4-10, Precious Girls Club. It’s actually a Precious Moments® site so it has all the same wholesome values we associate with this trusted brand and those we are trying to instill in our own children like loving, caring and responsibility. These values are reinforced throughout the site in fun and engaging experiences for girls and through a chapter book series and related products that go along with the site. The site just launched and the books are available in stores and online."

Playing on the site is free, but you can also get a free month of premium Rainbow Club membership by entering 1UIC-XT9Y-3EM4 on the web access code page.

 

Practical Skill: Woodturning: Creating a Top

On my other blog, Just Pure Lovely, I posted a series of photographs I took Saturday while at a local heritage festival. In the photo series, the woodworker is creating a spinning top. 

If you have a mini lathe around, or access to one, you might be able to figure out how to create a top from the photos. 

Or, it's less messy and probably less expensive (but definitely less fun) to just gather the kids around the computer to see how a spinning top is made. 

Here's the link to my post on How to Make a Spinning Top

~ Lori Seaborg

Blackline Masters: Math Printables for grades Pre-K to 9

My bloggy dust hasn't settled yet because...well, because I'm slow, that's why  (In case you missed it, I'm moving a few things around on the sidebar) .

Meanwhile, you can keep busy with the dozens of "Mathematics Blackline Masters for Preschool to Grade 9."

Thank you, Jenn, for this high quality, 100% free, educational find!

'xcuse My Bloggy Dust This Weekend

If Freely Educate looks a bit odd this weekend, please do bear with me.  I'm adding an exciting new you-get-paid-for-looking-at-the-ads-instead-of-looking-for-free thing (you might be able to see it in the right sidebar as I'm working on the blog - it's called YouData.  If you can see it, feel free to try it out). 

I will unveil the new exciting gizmo and let you see through the bloggy dust (crooked sidebars, unbalanced header, etc.) by Monday. 

Scott Foresman: Grammar Curriculum for grades 1-6

This is a terrific find!  The Scott Foresman site offers a free grammar & writing curriculum for grades 1-6 (separate "handbooks" for each grade).

The books are broken down into lesson-sized links, making downloading (to .pdf) quick. and printing convenient.  The lessons are written in a large font with black and white graphics included. 

Go here to view the Scott Foresman Grammar & Writing Handbooks.

Thank you, Jenn, for this high quality, 100% free, educational find!

NEED: Science Fair Projects for grades 5-9

Thanks to winning a grant, a team of education professionals at NEED (The National Energy Education and Development Project) were able to create a site full of science fair projects for middle school-aged children (grades 5-9).

The above link, at NEED's site, offers the science projects in downloadable .PDF form.  These .PDF files have graphics and easy-to-read (and easy-to-print) instructions.

The instructions may also be found at this site, but with a lack of graphics and less appealing to print out and read.

Mathway: Math Answers for Free (don't tell the kids!)

This is a site for you, the educator, not for your students, unless you don't mind them knowing the answers to math problems.  Enter a math problem into Mathway, click "Answer," and you'll get your result immediately!

Visit the main site or go to the following links for more specific math answers:

• Basic Math
• Pre-Algebra
• Algebra
• Trigonometry
• Precalculus
• Calculus
• Graphing
• Glossary