Information for Students

Information for Parents/Adults

Learning Activities For Kids

Following is information to help children continue learning…after the school bell rings. Below you will find a list of reading books, instructions on fun experiments, links to local kid friendly events, activities, and more.

SUGGESTED READING

Reading Level: Baby to Preschool

The Runaway Bunny
By Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

The Napping House
By Audrey Wood and Don Wood

Good Night Gorilla
By Peggy Rathmann

The Going to Bed Book
By Sandra Boynton

Counting Kisses: A Kiss & Read Book
By Karen Katz

Too Big for Diapers (Too Big Board Books)
By Random House and John E. Barrett

Guess How Much I Love You Board Book
By Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
By Eric Carle

Owl Moon
By Jane Yolen

Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8

The Red Book
By Barbara Lehman

Stellaluna
By Janelle Cannon

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
By Judith Viorst

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
By Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett (illustrator)

Where the Wild Things Are
By Maurice Sendak

If You Give a Pig a Pancake
By Laura Numeroff
*also If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Goodnight Moon
By Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

Mommy?
By Maurice Sendak

Harold and the Purple Crayon
By Crockett Johnson

Reading Level: Ages 9 to 12

The Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle - series
By Bill Myers

The Case of the Flying Toenails
By Bill Myers

A Series of Unfortunate Events - series
By Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist

The Lost Colony
By Eoin Colfer

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
By J.K. Rowling

Peter Pan in Scarlet
By Geraldine McCaughrean and Tim Curry

The Chronicles of Narnia
By C. S. Lewis and Pauline Baynes

Peter and the Shadow Thieves
By Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, and Greg Call

Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly
By Gail Carson Levine

Reading Level: Young Adult

Alphabet of Dreams
By Susan Fletcher

Maximum Ride: The Angle Experiment
By James Patterson

The Art of Keeping Cool
By Janet Fletcher

A Key Keepers Mystery: A Game Begins
By Liz Shore

An Audience for Einstein
By Mark Wakely

What My Mother Doesn't Know
By Sonya Sones

Sloppy Firsts: A Novel
By Megan McCafferty

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
By Carolyn Mackler

Love and Other Four-Letter Words
By Carolyn Mackler

All ages

Have you ever wondered how ice cream is made?  You can make ice cream with a few simple ingredients and objects around the house.  The first step is to mix the ingredients until the mixture becomes foamy.  The second step is to emulsify the foam, which means suspending it within another liquid.

Cooking, baking and preparing foods are good ways to practice math skills that you would not otherwise use, such as fractions.

What You Need

• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 cup Milk or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
• 6 tablespoons Rock salt
• 1 pint-size Ziploc plastic bag
• 1 gallon-size Ziploc plastic bag
• Ice cubes

How To Make It

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully.
4. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy!

Helpful Hint

The more fat in the liquid, the creamier the ice cream will be.  Try experimenting with different kinds of milk (skim, 2%, half and half, or cream) to see how the texture of your ice cream changes.  You can also experiment with different flavorings.

Visit the following sites for more fun with math:

AAA Math(www.aaamath.com)
Designed for grades K-8, this comprehensive math resource contains hundreds of pages of basic math skills and randomly created interactive practice activities.

Brain Teasers  (www.eduplace.com/math/brain)
Brain Teasers presents a weekly word problem for 3 grade ranges; answers are given the following week. A section with past 'teasers' is also available.

Pattern Player (http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/patterns/patterns.html)
Some patterns you can see, others you can hear.  With Cyber Pattern Player it’s both.  Click the squares to make a pattern. Another fun game from the PBS Kids site.

Number Cracker (http://www.funbrain.com/cracker/index.html)
Help Mr. Cracker obtain the secret code before the insidious Prof. Soup catches him by guessing what number comes next in a series of numbers.

Math Brain Game (http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html)
An electronic board game with 25 games to test your skills including Bumble Numbers.

Fresh Baked Fractions (http://www.funbrain.com/fract/index.html)
The word on the street is that Fraction Jackson is a dog who loves pie (pi?). If you answer 24 problems correctly, you can put your name on Jackson's list of Master Pie Bakers.

Math Games (www.funbrain.com/numbers.html)
Various challenging math games including Soccer Shootout, and MathCar Racing.

Mancala Snails Game (http://www.rocketsnail.com/mancala/)
Based on the ancient game of counting and strategy.

Age: Elementary +
 
Encourage your children to explore science in their own backyard. Plant a garden, catch butterflies, or better yet, build a live volcano! Sound tricky? You'll be surprised. MaryAnn Kohl, author of the book Science Arts, makes it easy with the following simple instructions.

Materials needed:

• Baking pan
• Soda bottle (16 or 20 oz.)
• Moist soil
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 cup vinegar
• Red food coloring
  

1) Place baking pan on the grass. Set soda bottle in the middle of the pan.

2) Mound and shape moist soil around the bottle to form a mountain. Bring soil up to the top of the bottle's opening, but don't get the soil inside the bottle.

3) Pour one tablespoon of baking soda into the bottle.

4) Color one cup of vinegar with red food coloring.

5) Pour the colored vinegar into the bottle. Stand back and watch red foam spray out of the top and down the mountain like lava from a volcano.

What happened?Vinegar is an acid and it reacted with the baking soda, which is a base. Together they form carbon dioxide gas. That's what brought the foamy liquid to the surface!

Visit the following sites for more science fun:

Volcano Live (www.volcanolive.com )- Volcanologist, John Seach offers facts about volcanoes from his real life experiences.

Interactive Frog Dissection (http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/frog//Frog2/)

- The purpose of this lab activity is to help you learn the anatomy of a frog and give you a better understanding of the anatomy of vertebrate animals in general, including humans.

Cyber-Fair (http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/steps.html ) - Get some ideas and tips for your next science project, what makes a good project and important points that should be covered in your report.

EurekAlert! Science for Kids portal (http://www.eurekalert.org/kidsnews ) - This site has family-friendly breaking news, special features, and science, technology, and health resources.

BillNye.com (http://billnye.com/core.html?flashtarget=core.html&noflashtarget=noflash.htm)  - Fun site that offers science demonstrations that you can do in the home.

USFA Kids Page (http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/ ) - The U.S. Fire Administration’s kids page is full of tips that can help you and your family be safe from fire. Test your knowledge identify fire hazards and escape planning knowledge.

Space Place – (http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/) Amazing facts and fun activities to do to learn more about space science.

National Zoo – (http://nationalzoo.si.edu/default.cfm) Visit the online exhibits, or take a tour and learn about the plants, animals and people of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

Books to read:

Title:    The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book: Boil Ice, Float Water,  Measure Gravity-Challenge the World Around You!
Author: Tom Robinson

Title:     Big Book of Science Activities
Author: Robert Wood

Title:     365 More Simple Science Experiments With Everyday Objects
Author: Martin Gardner

Visit the following sites for kid friendly happenings and places to visit throughout RI:

Roger Williams Park Zoo (www.rogerwilliamsparkzoo.com/calendar/calendar.cfm )

Pawtucket Red Sox (www.pawsox.com)

Boston Red Sox (www.redsox.com)

Providence Youth Opportunities Web Site (www.youthguide.org)

Providence Public Library (www.provlib.org)

RI State House Tour (www.sec.state.ri.us/elections/civics/Tours/guidedtours.html)

Roger Williams National Memorial (www.nps.gov/rowi/)

Providence Children’s Museum (www.childrenmuseum.org/htdocs/index.html)

Museum of Natural History & Cormack Planetarium (www.osfn.org/museum/)

Heritage Harbor Museum (www.heritageharbor.org)

RISD Museum (www.risd.edu/museum.cfm)

Slater Mill Historic Site (www.slatermill.org)

The Newport, Rhode Island Mansions (www.newportmansions.org)  

The South County Museum (www.southcountymuseum.org)

Rhode Island Historical Society (www.rihs.org)

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Haffenreffer/)

Quonset Air Museum (www.qam-ri.com) 

The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society (www.providenceri.com/RI_BlackHeritage/)