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National Day Calendar is the authoritative source for fun, unusual and unique National Days. We now track nearly 1,500 National Days, National Weeks and National Months. In addition, our research team continues to uncover the origins of existing National Days as well as discover new, exciting days for everyone to celebrate.

We keep track of fun holidays and special moments on the cultural calendar — giving you exciting activities, deals, local events, brand promotions, and other exciting ways to celebrate.


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Craft Gossip Handpicked crafts for creative people

Skip to My Lou a resource dedicated to all sorts of crafts, many of which are family-friendly. There are also lifestyle ideas for decorating and entertaining.

Jennifer Maker Interested in crafting with a Cricut machine? With an emphasis on connecting to one's creative side, the site also features projects and advice on how to get the most out of this new machine. Projects for vinyl and fabric, as well as paper, are offered.

Ravelry is a free website for knitters, crocheters, and fiber artists. You must sign up for a free account to use this great website!!!


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Home » Articles » Amazing Library Collections to Explore Online

AMAZING LIBRARY COLLECTIONS TO EXPLORE ONLINE

By lsimon on March 17, 2020

Librarians are caretakers of some of the world’s greatest treasures—from historical documents and out-of-print books to archival photographs and illustrations. And thanks to the wonders of digitization, many library collections are available for everyone to explore online. Check these out during your next internet deep dive:

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress—the largest library in the world and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States—is filled with artifacts and images from the nation’s history. More than two million items from their collection are available online, including American newspapers dating back to 1789 and thousands of musical recordings.

New York Public Library

In addition to the 3.5 million New Yorkers served by NYPL, people all across the world can enjoy the library’s digital collections online. They currently offer more than 850,000 digital materials (including manuscripts, maps, and videos) with more added every day. Highlights include turn-of-the-century photos from Ellis Island and the first folio edition of William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.

The British Library

The national library of the United Kingdom, the British Library has more items cataloged than any other library in the world. Many of those holdings are available to peruse online, including thousand-year-old maps of Great Britain and original copies of the Magna Carta.

Harvard University

Harvard boasts the oldest library in the United States and the largest academic library in the world. Members of the public can discover more than six million items from their collection online—highlights include two original Mozart manuscripts and Chinese stone rubbings dating back to 200 BCE.

Bodleian Library

The University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library has been collecting and preserving cultural artifacts for more than four centuries, and now many of those materials are accessible for free online. Their digital collections include a Gutenberg Bible and pages from an original draft of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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Podcasts for Online Lessons

All appropriate for third through fifth grade students:

Circle Round ( folktales from around the world, rich in sound and music, with printable coloring pages)

Smash Boom Best (debate show for kids and families, with topics like dragons vs. unicorns, with printable scoresheets and coloring pages)

The Big Fib Podcast (This podcast is great for digital citizenship because it teaches students to spot fake news. After listening, ask your students to make their own true and false stories to share with the group. The group will then guess which one is true.)

Kids Listen Activity Podcast is a daily show with related activities for students to do at home or school. For example, listen to a podcast about the Erie Canal, then build a waterlock system.)

Kids Ask Authors (hosted by Grace Lin, authors and illustrators answer questions from kids)

Wow in the World (an NPR podcast for kids about the wonders of the world around us)

Brains On (science podcast for kids from American Public Media)

Forever Ago (history podcast for kids from American Public Media, explaining the origins of things and teaching listeners to think critically about history)

Story Pirates (songs and sketches based on stories written by kids. Your students can write and submit their own stories.)

Six Minutes (an adventure story is told in 6-minute episodes. Students could write or draw their prediction for what happens next. You must listen to the episodes in order!)