CMS Library Curiosity Shop
Explore these sites. Play! Learn! Enjoy!
To-Dos with Tech
Developed by the MIT media lab, Scratch will help you think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. With Scratch you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations.
Online “how-to” courses for computer languages, labs for apps, games and web design.
Look for sections to use without creating an account or signing-in, too.
For Grades 6-12 : https://code.org/student/middle-high
https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/designs/learning
Learn how to design and print in 3D, code, and create circuits.
Canva
Amazingly simple graphic design software.
Some Subject Specific Sites (fun for all)
An interactive periodic table by the Royal Society of Chemistry features history, alchemy, podcasts, videos, and data trends across the periodic table.
Current Events and Information
Our balanced news coverage, media bias ratings, civil dialogue opportunities, and technology platform are available for everyone.
https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news
Smithsonian: Tween Tribune
TweenTribune is a free, not-for-profit online newspaper for kids, aged 8–15. It is updated daily with stories from the Associated Press that are chosen based on relevancy to pre-adolescents.
Virtual Visits: National Parks, Zoos, Libraries and Museums
Ellis Island Virtual Tour created by the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), Heritage Documentation Programs, National Park Service.
The San Diego Zoo
An entire site for kids with live cams, animal facts, activities and games. Check out favorites like the polar bear cam and the baboon cam for an experience that almost feels like being there.
There’s nothing more cheerful than a couple of pandas noshing on bamboo or soaking up some sun in real-time. Below the livestream, guests can learn more about giant pandas and even see what it’s like to be a keeper for a day.
The National Museum of the American Indian
Part of the Smithsonian Institution and is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere—past, present, and future—through partnership with Native people and others.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States.
https://americanart.si.edu/
The National Gallery of Art
The nation's museum – preserves, collects, exhibits, and fosters an understanding of works of art.
The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum
The world's largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement.
The North Carolina Museum of Art
An art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Explore works of art along with videos that discuss specific works.
Favorite Sites For Just About Anything
The Artcyclopedia
An index of online museums and image archives: find where the works of over 8000 different fine artists can be viewed online.
Explore.org
Live streaming videos from all over the world allowing us to observe a variety of animals in their natural habitats.
World History Online navigates through 3 000 years of world history, world timelines of civilizations (plus maps), people and world events.
For little brothers and sisters:
Storyline Online
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Daytime Emmy®-nominated and award-winning children’s literacy website, Storyline Online®, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Kristen Bell, Rita Moreno, Viola Davis, Jaime Camil, Kevin Costner, Lily Tomlin, Sarah Silverman, Betty White, Wanda Sykes and dozens more.
