With Thanksgiving right around the corner many of us have already started thinking about Christmas (whether we want to or not). For us Christmas decorations and music don't being until the day after Thanksgiving, which was a tradition in my household growing up and one that I've continued with my own children. I feel that it's important not to rush each holiday, but that we take time to savor each one that is important to us.
I do however like to plan ahead, so get ready to bookmark these 7 free resources for the holidays to get the kiddos into the holiday spirit.

Hero-Themed Alphabet Handwriting Worksheets

 Who it's for: Pre-K to Kinder Why it's great: Have you met the Educents Heroes? Print these pages out and ask your child practice their alphabet with 53 pages of FREE handwriting alphabet worksheets featuring Super Doggie!! The Educents Heroes are prepared for this activity and have included both lowercase and uppercase letters.

 

5 More Freebies You Will Love

• DIY Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer Recipe
• Cancer Awareness Bookmarks
• Four Types of Sentences Flipbook
• Sight Word Stack 'Em Ups!
• Solar System Notebooking

 

Here are some FREE kindle books listed today.

Biochemistry Free & Easy

If you've been to the stores recently, you'll know that the Christmas and Holiday items are starting to creep their way out onto shelves. Some folks like to start their shopping early as they don't like to deal with the crowds and rushing around at the last minute. The holidays are meant to be a time of peace and time spent with family. Myself I prefer to shop early and do as much of it online as I can as well as go to our local main street to help support small businesses. What's your plan? Have you already begun your holiday shopping? In our house we prefer educational toys over frivolous toys as they help shape the mind and create a love of learning.
Last year I bought several gifts for my toddler from Educents and they are well used and loved. Are educational toys important to your family?

Tegu Blocks - Give your kiddos the opportunity to defy gravity! These wooden blocks are embedded with magnets so that kids can build structures they have only dreamed of! Magformers Challenger Set - With this 112-Piece magnetic building set, kids ages 6 to 12 imaginations are guaranteed to run wild! This is a great gift to give to siblings to share. It can also be a generous addition to a classroom or after-school program! Frozen Puzzle Pack - Winter is the time of year to celebrate the very popular Disney movie, Frozen! Keep the Frozen fun going after the movie is over with these four Frozen puzzles. Veggie Tales Floor Puzzle - Little ones can put together this fun floor puzzle with their favorite Veggie Tales characters! This 3-foot puzzle will keep your little learners thinking and laughing as the faces of Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber begin to appear piece by piece. Coloring Books for Everyone - Coloring is not just for kids anymore, it's for everyone - making this a great gift for an entire family! These six coloring books are filled with mesmerizing designs. Gift these coloring books to a family, classroom, or split up the books to give to six artists who you love! Frozen Etch a Sketch Jr. - The classic and creative tool we all grew up with has been updated with your child's favorite characters from Disney's Frozen. Elsa and Olaf can watch your little one draw on the Etch a Sketch as they are inspired by their favorite Disney movie. Then Elsa's magical snow will wipe the canvas clean, ready for another masterpiece. Holiday Coloring Book Freebie - If you’re looking for a low-cost way to say “thinking of you,” this coloring book is as easy to give as 1-2-3. Just download it for free, print it, and add a nice card to your envelope. Slimy Squishy Polymer Set - Give the gift of science exploration! This fun, hands-on experiment only requires water, adult supervision, and creativity! What a fun way for kids and parents or older siblings to learn together! Science Experiment Subscription - Science experiments require a lot of planning. Let the scientific FUN come to you with a 1-year subscription to the award-winning Young Scientist Club! Human Body Puzzle - This classic puzzle from Melissa & Doug stretches four feet long after your little one assembles it! Encourage critical thinking and study the skeletal and circulatory systems. Life of Fred Beginning Reader Set - Children who are learning to read will love listening to mom, dad, grandma, older brother, or anyone else read the Life of Fred stories aloud! Read these silly stories together and learn basic concepts about math, the English language, colors, and science! Berenstain Bears Books - Read these books over the holidays to encourage family values like cleaning up, the joy of giving, saying “I’m sorry,” and more! The book bundle includes Thanksgiving and Christmas stories too! A set of The Velveteen Rabbit, Corduroy, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and other classic books! Add these classic titles to your little one’s library, or distribute the books to a handful of little ones who love to read! What are you shopping for this holiday season? The gift of learning a new language? Picking up a new talent like playing a musical instruments or stargazing? Discover amazing gift ideas that promote education on Educents!

Life of Fred is a fictional narrative that introduces students to essential concepts in a fun and easy way. Kids really love reading the Fred books. The Language Arts Series covers concepts on spelling, grammar, punctuation and more.

This series is best suited for middle school and high school students. The books can be re-read once every year to ensure total comprehension of all the concepts covered. Lessons include the seven parts of speech, punctuation, spelling, similes, silent letters, and so much more. Why these books WORK:

• Language Arts concepts are weaved throughout a fictional narrative about Fred, the 5-year-old math prodigy. The books read like storybooks, but have meaningful lessons embedded within the stories.
• Every chapter is a daily lesson that only takes about 20 to 30 minutes to read and complete.
• At the end of every chapter, there is an opportunity for students to practice the concepts covered during Fred’s adventure.
• The Language Arts Series can be re-read once a year to keep concepts fresh in students’ minds.
• Kids want to actually read these books - they are so fun!

Take a Look Inside Life of Fred Language Arts What customers are saying about the Life of Fred Language Arts Series: "This is a wonderful series. While it is presented in a silly, quirky manner it has a good coverage of grammar, and then some. It is an engaging story that helps you relate what you are learning to 'real' life." - Educents customer "My kids love this series. We started with Elementary Math and have used Fred for our entire schooling. Hands down, the best curriculum we have found." -Christian The Life of Fred Language Arts Series includes four titles: Australia, Begin Teaching, Classes, and Dreams. Here are a few examples of the concepts covered in each book. In Life of Fred: Australia, students will learn… -The difference between a hemistich and heteronym -What these abbreviations mean: p.s. ps ps. and Ps. -How to experience two summers and no winters each year In Life of Fred: Begin Teaching, students will learn… -The uses of 12 tenses in English -The 16 ways to make plurals -Why “since” is a dangerous word In Life of Fred: Classes, students will learn… -The six rules for hyphenating compound adjectives -How the three moods in English are used -The four uses of italics In Life of Fred: Dreams, students will learn… -The three uses of a dash -How to pronounce “viz” -The difference between metaphor and metonymy Check out the Language Arts books and the entire Life of Fred collection offered at the best price on Educents!

Check out these science experiments, science freebies, and science books that will make back-to-school fun for everyone.

Magic School Bus Polymer Group Pack

Seat belts everyone! Get ready to grow amazing polymers! Young Scientists grow super balls, snow, rainbow beads, crystal gels, and polymer flowers while learning about the importance and science of super-absorbent polymers. This kit provides enough materials for 30 students and is great for the classroom, after-school programs, science enrichment, boys and girls scouts, camps, and a Magic School Bus birthday Party!
 

FREE - Osmosis: The Colorful Celery Experiment

Are you teaching your students about osmosis? Perhaps it is a part of your science curriculum, or maybe you want to just do a little experimenting... The Colorful Celery Experiment is the perfect introduction to Osmosis. Your students will learn how water moves with this fun experiment.
 

Science Story eBooks - 50% OFF

Follow Merrin and Pearl to combine science with adventure in Brainiacs. Also learn about the nervous, digestive, immune, skeletal and circulatory system with a five part series from Human Body Detectives eBooks.

Magic School Bus Inspired Planet Study - 30% OFF

Plan games, worksheets, and coloring pages to expand your young astronomer's understanding of space!  
 

More Science Resources

Looking for more inspiration for science experiments? Check out these resources:

• The Young Scientists Club - Engage boys and girls around the world in an educational science adventure that lasts a lifetime.
• Science printables for older kids - Teach With Fergy offers printable task cards, complete science units, PowerPoint lessons, and more!
• STEM Mystery Books - Teach science and math with these books full of dozens of one-minute mysteries that kids love to solve!

World Maps are so exciting to explore. The best way to engage a student learning about the world, is to ask them to label it. The Mini Peel & Play World Map Set on Educents provides students all the materials they need to explore and label a world map. Better yet, the map is small enough to stick onto the car window while you're traveling. It's also easy to move the map from room to room in your house - the map has a safe adhesive that allows students to stick the map to a surface over and over again.

The Map In Action

Check out the Mini Peel & Play World Map in action during this video.

Activity Ideas

Looking for ways to make the Mini Peel & Play World Map interactive? Use these activities: Label the oceans - use the labels to point out oceans around the globe. Ask your student to match the sticker with its continent. What does your student see in that continent? What is the climate there? Is that continent above or below the equator? After your student has placed all the sticker labels on the globe, s/he can refer to the map while responding to these writing prompts:

• Name all of the oceans in the world.
• Locate your home on the map. If you wanted to visit Australia, which direction would you need to travel?
• How would you travel to Europe - by foot, by boat, or by plane?
• Which direction does a ship need to sail to travel from South America to Africa?

Bonus!! You can download ready-go-to lessons to accompany the Peel & Play sets. Check out the World Map Teaching Guide.

Do your Minecraft kids need some encouragement to practice math? How about a quick addition refresher before going back to school?



Download Multi Taskin' Mom's FREE Minecraft Themed Addition Worksheets. These fun math worksheets include single digit to double digit addition, making this freebie useful for Minecraft kids ages 5 to 12. Here's more ways to use your child's interest in Minecraft for learning:

• Writing about the Minecraft World
• 10 Exciting Lessons for your Kindergartener Using Minecraft
• Math Lessons Using Minecraft - Show Your Work
• How Minecraft Taught my Daughter to Read

Looking for more ways to turn gaming time into learning time? Check out all the Minecraft-themed educational products offered on Educents at a discount.

Animalearn provides a whole host of resources for educators and students at no cost. Their programs are suitable for a variety of educational levels, including K-12, college/university, and veterinary/medical. They offer humane education curricula and educational kits that cover issues ranging from dissection to product testing. Educators and students can also choose from a large variety of books, brochures, videos, and more, many of which are available for free. Additionally, their Science Bank is home to the latest in high-tech, animal-friendly educational technology for the classroom. 



Borrow plastic animals to dissect or learn about critter insides with software. Credit card insures against loss. You pay only return shipping.

Age Range: All (All grades, children with parental supervision). This website is companion to the Peabody Award Winning PBS series, Liberty! The American Revolution. But even if you don’t have access to the program, there is still a lot of learning opportunities available here. With this website visitors are encouraged to travel the road through the history of the American Revolution with simple but interesting inter actives.



When arriving at today’s link, select from the following: 

• Chronicle of the Revolution - Read about the headline events from Boston, 1774, Philadelphia, 1776 and 1791, Trenton, 1776, Saratoga, 1777, and Yorktown, 1781. While in this section, check out the Timeline of the Revolution and comprehensive subject index to discover the people, pivotal events, documents, and social and cultural context of the Revolution.

• Liberty! The Series – Read episode descriptions, about the making of Liberty!, meet the cast and scholars in the series, and about the accompanying music.

• Perspectives on Liberty – Through interactive images, learn about daily life in the colonies, the global village, and military perspectives of the American Revolution.

• The Road to Revolution – Play this question and answer game as you travel along the Revolution Road from Boston to Washington D.C.

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades: K-12, with parental supervision). Mr. and Mrs. Farino created The Teachers' Café in 2004. It was originally started as a simple way to store worksheets online instead of using a filing cabinet.




As they began to understand the need for teacher resources their website morphed and changed to meet the growing need and today the website contains literally thousands of teaching aids like: 

• Printable worksheets

• Downloadable workbooks

• Reading Lists

• Holiday Printables

• Assessments

• Audio books

• Classroom management tools

• You can even study Spanish!

This website is a huge resource for many subjects; Math, Science, History, Social Studies – all of it can be found here!

Age Range: 10-18 (Grades 4-12 with parental supervision). This website is sponsored by the non-profit foundation called SEED (Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development), to support teachers, parents and other mentors with resources to help students learn about technology and science with regard to global issues, such as water, energy, climate change, and much more. SEED offers free science resources including informative articles, lab experiments, as well as math puzzles and games.




When you get to the site, you'll see some featured resources. Use the menu on the left side of the home page to explore: 

• Articles – Enjoy science articles (that can easily be used as lessons) on topics such as: Air & Space, Earth Science, Health & Safety, Energy, Water, and more. Place your cursor over the topics to see a drop-down menu of related articles. All of the articles include fascinating information and are linked to experiments students can do to demonstrate the concepts covered in the articles.

• Laboratory – This online lab provides students with the materials list (includes common household items and materials available at a pharmacy or hardware store) and instructions for conducting experiments to learn more about Air & Space, Earth Science, Electricity & Magnetism, Properties of Liquids, and Energy. Click on any topic and see a drop-down menu of experiments. For example, students can build a personal seismograph or build their own star! There are Teacher’s Notes, as well as examples of results.

• Math Puzzles – Sharpen your math skills with fun puzzles and games that include arithmetic, probability, algebraic thinking, geometry, topology, logic, and more.

All of the resources are available in a variety of languages too, just look for the language menu at the top of the page.

You can also purchase science kits, books, and games from the online store, but no purchase is necessary to access the free resources mentioned above.

As technology becomes more prevalent in our daily lives with the creation of kindles and tablets e-books have become quite popular. Libraries are still very important and we shouldn't neglect them, but for those days when you or the kids are sick, snowed in, or rained out turning to online library sources can be extremely helpful and necessary.

I came across Open Library about 2 years ago and I love it. I've found a lot of great books for myself as well as the kids. They have over 1,000,000 e-book titles to choose from! You can read them on kindle, the computer, tablet and smartphone.

If you haven't had a chance to check it out, please do so, you won't regret it.

• Two cups of plain flour
• One cup of salt
• Two cups of water
• Two teaspoons of cream of tartar
• Two tablespoons of cooking oil 
  

1. Add all the ingredients into a pan.
2. Cook mixture over a medium heat, stirring continuously to prevent sticking to the pan.
3. When the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan remove from heat.
4. Take dough out of pan and knead the warm dough.