Keep Learning All Summer
Suggestions and Ideas
From
Sky Valley Education Center

Local Free or Low Cost Educational Summer Activities
If you like free and you like museums see the list below of museums that offer free admission on the first Thursday of each month, along with the 'free' hours that day.

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture - 10:00 am - 8:00 pm - http://www.burkemuseum.org

Experience Music Project - 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
http://www.emplive.com

Henry Art Gallery - 11:00 am - 8:00 pm
http://www.henryart.org

Museum of Flight – 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
http://www.museumofflight.org

Museum of History and Industry - 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
http://www.seattlehistory.org

Northwest African American Museum - 11:00 am - 7:00 pm
http://www.naamnw.org

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame - 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
http://www.sfhomeworld...

Seattle Art Museum – 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org

Seattle Asian Art Museum - 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/visitSAAM.asp

Wing Luke - 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
http://www.wingluke.org/


Also the Museum of Glass in Tacoma has free admission on the third Thursday of each month from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm http://www.museumofglass.org

And the Bellevue Arts Museum is free the first Friday of each month from 10:00 am - 9:00 pm http://www.bellevuearts.org

 

Other free and low-cost opportunities –

Jetty Island, Everett - free boat to island, shallow sandy beach with warm water like Hawaii on a hot day, body board beach, nature guides

Forest Park, Everett - free petting zoo, swim center, water playground

Hollywood Hill Saddle Club - Take horse crazy kids to see gaming and horse shows.  Free to watch, food available

Gold Creek Park - see natural setting, ravine is cool in hot weather, many access points

Tolt Pipeline – hiking trail from Woodinville Redmond Rd to Avondale, or Duvall

Ballard Locks - There is a free movie in the visitor office to show the history and purpose of the locks as well as how it was made. There are books and coloring books etc. to make it interesting for all ages. It shows how they accommodate the fish in the fish ladder, how the fish travel from the ocean to the Lake. It is so interesting to see the safety process used to hook up the boats and fill up or drain the sections. A variety of boats go through, fishing as well as pleasure boats. There is a beautiful garden there with the names of the plants. In Ballard the north end of Seattle

25 Hikes in Snohomish County - http://www.snohomish.org/index.php?page_id=502

Kayak Point Park ($7/day parking) - Fishing, crabbing, and beach combing.  Large playground structure and BBQ areas.

Geocaching (Free Apps on most smart phones)

Centennial Trail

$1 Summer Movies on Tuesdays/Wednesdays at 10 a.m.
For detail visit - http://www.regmovies.com/summermovieexpress/default.aspx

Everett’s Children's Museum has 1/2 price admission on Thursday afternoons
www.imaginecm.org

Ice Skating at Comcast Arena in Everett - special rates on certain days; see details at
http://www.earthcorps.org/

 

When the weather outside is not conducive to outdoor activities, families from Sky Valley Education Center recommend the following Online Resources:
http://planetkodu.com/
Kodu provides an end-to-end creative environment for designing, building, and playing your own new video games. The core of the Kodu project is the programming user interface. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Programs are composed of pages, which are broken down into rules, which are further divided into conditions and actions.

http://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/
The Lure of the Labyrinth Challenge is a free online math challenge for grades 6-8. While playing Lure of the Labyrinth, students use mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills to progress through a compelling graphic-novel story.

http://sketchup.google.com
SketchUp is a 3D modeling program optimized for a broad range of applications such as architectural, civil, mechanical, film as well as video game design — and available in free as well as 'professional' versions. The program highlights its ease of use, and an online repository of model assemblies (e.g., windows, doors, automobiles, entourage, etc.) known as 3D Warehouse enables designers to locate, download, use and contribute free models. The program includes a drawing layout functionality, allows surface rendering in variable "styles," accommodates third-party "plug-in" programs enabling other capabilities (e.g., near photo realistic rendering) and enables placement of its models within Google Earth.Free and fun educational websites

Act.org - http://www.act.org/compass/student/index.html
COMPASS is an untimed, computerized test that helps your college evaluate your skills and place you into appropriate courses. COMPASS offers tests in reading, writing, math, writing essay, and English as a Second Language (ESL). You will receive your COMPASS test results immediately upon completion of testing, and your score report will include placement messages informing you what courses you should take and how to register.

Algebrahelp.com - http://www.algebrahelp.com
Algebrahelp.com is a collection of lessons, calculators, and worksheets created to assist students and teachers of algebra. This website provided by the Everett Community College testing center.

Khan Academy - http://www.khanacademy.org/
What started out as Sal making a few algebra videos for his cousins has grown to over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises and assessments covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history. This site was recommended by the Everett Community College testing center.

Math.com - http://www.math.com
math.com hope to provide a greater love of mathematics, both for its beauty and its power to help solve everyday problems. This site was given to us from Everett Community College testing center.

PurpleMath.com - http://www.purplemath.com/
Helping students gain understanding and self-confidence in algebra.

TestPrepReview.com - http://www.testpreview.com/compass_practice.html
TestPrepReview.com - Your Source for Free Online Practice Tests. This website was given to us from the Everett College Center testing center.

Texas Student Assessment Division - http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/resources/release/
Scroll down a couple of sections to the Interactive Online version of the Texas state assessment.

You might find the Interactive Online version helpful in making your child feel more comfortable with the testing process. Or you could use it as a practice site.

Internet 4 Classrooms - http://www.internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help.htm
This website has a number of interactive language arts activities for grade levels K-8. For activities grouped by concept, choose the Skill Builders (Lang Arts, Math) link - right under each grade level heading.

Sail On - https://sites.google.com/site/sailonedu/
This website has interactive activities by grade level in a variety of content areas including language arts.

Bed Time Math - http://bedtimemathproblem.org/
Great website for helping children apply math thinking to everyday problems.

Interactivate - http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/
This website has links to activities, lessons, tools, discussions, and standards. The activities link is really good. There are interactive games for students to play. Areas include number sense, geometry, algebra, and statistics.

Math TV - http://www.mathtv.com/
Teaching videos for basic math up through Calculus. Great resource!

West Point Bridge Designer Software - http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/download.htm
The West Point Bridge Designer 2007 will introduce you to engineering through an authentic, hands-on design experience. This software provides you with the tools to model, test, and optimize a steel highway bridge, based on realistic specifications, constraints, and performance criteria.

Free Rice - http://www.freerice.com
For each answer you get right, Free Rice donates 10 grains of rice through the World Food Program to help end hunger. Activities related to language, humanities, geography, English, math and chemistry.

Thinkfinity - http://www.thinkfinity.org/
Hundreds of teachers use Thinkfinity. Here's why: Free, exciting, top-quality materials; Quick, accessible and easy to use; Content created by trusted experts and leading educators; Thousands of standards-based lesson plans; Valuable professional development opportunities

e Field Trips - http://www.efieldtrips.org/
eFieldTrips consist of four major components:

Trip Journal
First, the teacher downloads and gives students copy of a printed Trip Journal. It is a simple one page fill-in the blank type worksheet that helps to keep the students focused and provides a way for the teacher to grade student participation if he desires. The students fill-out the Trip Journal while they are completing the next component, the Virtual Visit.

Virtual Visit
The Virtual Visit is an interactive Flash movie that teaches the students about the eFieldTrip topic. It can be completed at anytime and at the student's own pace. It typically takes about 15 minutes for a student to go through the Virtual Visit.

Ask the Experts
After completing the Virtual Visit, students have an opportunity to interact with the experts. Students can ask questions via an "Ask the Experts" web form, and receive an answer in 1-2 days.

Live Chat
Another way students can interact with experts is by participating in a live web chat at a scheduled time.
(Copied from the efieldtrips.org website)

KPL - Kids Programming Language - http://www.kidsprogramminglanguage.com/kids.php
KPL makes it easy for kids to learn computer programming. KPL makes it fun, too, by making it especially easy to program computer games, with cool graphics and sound.

Book Adventure - http://www.bookadventure.org/
Book Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from more than 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by and is maintained by Sylvan Learning.

Starfall - http://www.starfall.com/
Starfall has resources designed primarily for preschoolers through second grade children. It is a resource focusing on learning to read.

HowToons - http://www.howtoons.com/
According to the magazine, Edutopia, "Howtoons are beautifully illustrated cartoons that teach readers ages 8 - 15 how to build fascinating and fun science projects using everyday objects."

NOAA's Game Portal - http://games.noaa.gov/
This arcade is a portal to games and interactive activities focused on ocean and air themes. It highlights the science and the activities of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other agencies and organizations promoting environmental stewardship.

NOAA's Waterlife: Where Rivers Meet the Seas - http://games.noaa.gov/oscar/
This serious game is based on the ecosystem of a United States west coast estuary and follows a human, Valerie, as she encounters Oscar, the sea otter, and the Claminator, a geoduck clam. The friends are challenged to learn about the factors that produce healthy estuaries, food webs, and why estuaries are essential to ocean life and to humans. Geared toward 4th - 7th grade students

Try Science - http://www.tryscience.org/
TryScience.org is your gateway to experience the excitement of contemporary science and technology through on and offline interactivity with science and technology centers worldwide. Science is exciting, and it's for everyone! That's why TryScience and over 400 science centers worldwide invite you to investigate, discover, and try science yourself.

Comic Creator - http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/index.html
The Comic Creator invites students to compose their own comic strips for a variety of contexts (prewriting, pre- and post reading activities, response to literature, and so on). The organizers focus on the key elements of comic strips by allowing students to choose backgrounds, characters, and props, as well as to compose related dialogue. This versatile tool can be used by students from kindergarten through high school, for purposes ranging from learning to write dialogue to an in-depth study of a formerly neglected genre.

edufind.com - http://www.edufind.com/english/englishtests/list_of_english_tests.cfm
This site has some games and activities related to English instruction. While this is a pay for services site, most of the games are free. The link above will take you specifically to the free games.