FREE RESOURCES

These resources may be subject to specific copyright requirements.  Please use for their intended use only.

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Action Schools! BC Resources – a best practices model designed to assist schools in creating individualized action plans to promote healthy living. Seven, free downloadable teacher resources dealing with physical activity and healthy eating. gr K–9.

Alphabet Zoo – a downloadable, 50 page, fun-filled activity book. gr. K – 3 (5.2 mb).

Animal Action Education – The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Animal Action Education program inspires a new generation of people to care for animals and their habitats through curriculum-linked lesson plans and activities. IFAW offers Animal Action Education packs about cats and dogs, marine mammals, biodiversity, tigers and elephants as well as crafts, activities and interactive programs for free download. By registering on the website, you can also receive supplementary resources via email throughout the year. IFAW works to improve the welfare of wild and domestic animals throughout the world by reducing commercial exploitation of animals, protecting wildlife habits and assisting animals in distress.

The Canadian Encyclopedia – The Canadian Encyclopedia features more than 50,000 expertly researched and edited articles and biographies on notable Canadians from every sector of Canadian life with free access to all users (English and French versions). The Canadian Encyclopedia is part of the non-profit Historica-Dominion Institute, an independent organization dedicated to Canadian history, culture, heritage, and citizenship. The website also provides free online access to the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, a resource about Canadian music and musicians.

Choose Your Voice – an award-winning curriculum-based teacher’s tool that empowers students to speak out against racism, antisemitism, bullying and discrimination of all forms. The Teacher’s Guide includes 4 lesson plans, 28 Fact Sheets for research that profile many different minority groups hat have faced discrimination in Canada, rubrics and graphic organizers. There is also a 22-minute DVD with interviews of Rwandan genocide survivors, First Nations representatives, Holocaust survivors and others. A bilingual version is also available. The files may be downloaded at no cost and curriculum links are on the website. Gr. 6 to10. gr 6–10 years – a downloadable, 50 page, fun-filled activity book. gr. K – 3 (5.2 mb).

Digital Storytelling Project – Social Change – The History of Social Change produced by SEE Change Magazine documents ten social movements in Canada through the eyes, ears and words of their key players. From Suffrage to Labour and Marriage Equality and from the Environment to Aboriginal Self-Governance and Human Rights, each movement is explored through digital stories, one-on-one interviews and podcasts with activists, politicians and others who played seminal roles in effecting change. SEE Change also published an e-book offering more in-depth coverage of those ten movements, with links to the digital stories embedded within each respective chapter. The e-book is currently being sold on the website, with a portion of proceeds going towards helping Syrian refugees to Canada.

EcoKids – Designed for kids and educators grades K to 8, EcoKids is an environmental education website with a large library of resources including science experiments, hands-on activities, craft ideas, lesson plans, book lists, printable worksheets. Brought to you by Earth Day Canada.

Evergreen – a Canadian organization that aims to enable flourishing cities, has developed a number of K – 12 teaching resources for outdoor learning and play.  Take your students outside to learn using these free resources.

Freerice – a non-profit website with vocabulary quizzes related to several subjects. Freerice is owned by and supports the United Nations World Food Programme. For every right answer in a vocabulary quiz, 10 grains of rice are donated to help end world hunger. ages 8–16 years.

Fundamental Freedoms – offers resources for teaching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to Canadian students.

Growing Up Organic Workbook – a reference for school garden activities designed to increase youth awareness and access to local organic foods. The book offers step-by-step instructions for building school food gardens, delivering curriculum-connected garden-based workshops, developing summer camp programming, organizing field trips to organic farms, and more.

Handbook of Language and Literacy Development – A Roadmap from 0 to 60 Months – an evidence-based reference and guide for researchers, parents and caregivers to the milestones for children’s development in the areas of: Auditory, Narrative, Reading, Speech-Language, Spelling and Writing, Social-Emotional, Vision, Computer Use, Children’s Literature and Numeracy. ages 0–60 months.

Inspiring Global Citizens: An Educator’s Guide – This resource is designed to help students understand their role as global citizens in an increasingly interconnected world. Students will gain a deeper understanding of global inequalities and sustainable solutions through engaging activities that encourage them to make connections between their own lives and others around the globe. Easily adaptable to the unique needs of your classroom and students, INSPIRING GLOBAL CITIZENS incorporates a range of skills-based competencies such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and map analysis. This resource includes: class activities with alternatives and extensions; discussion guides; student assignments; backgrounders with relevant additional information; links to videos and other supplemental materials; real-world examples, both local and global.

Integrated Media Literacy Project –  The Cinematheque Education Department, with the support of Vancouver Foundation and Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication, has developed free, downloadable PDF lesson plans to document their Integrated Media Literacy Project. Developed in partnership with teachers, and test-run in BC classrooms, these resources offer practical techniques and project ideas to develop students’ critical thinking skills, using cost-free and easy-to-use Web 2.0 technology in the classroom.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) –  has created a school resources page where teachers can find educational resources about refugee and humanitarian issues, the work of MSF, and teaching materials for French as a second language. The toolkits were developed by educational experts in Canada and Europe and are suitable for grades 6 to 10. The website contains a number of videos, links to multi-media sites, posters and book suggestions that can be useful resources for a number of subjects such as world or social studies, geography and French.

Pacific Edge Publishing – free teacher created worksheets for Science, Life Skills, Social Studies and Language Arts. gr. K – 8.

Planning a Theme Based Unit – handy downloadable resource in pdf format by Pacific Edge Publishing to assist teachers in planning theme based units. gr. 2–4 (1.6 mb).

Resources for Rethinking – an online database of teacher-reviewed, curriculum-matched classroom resources that promote the development of an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable society. Users can search its inventory by sustainability issue, subject, grade or province/territory, in both English and French.

ScrubClub.org – teaches children how to properly wash their hands. Interactive games teach children how illnesses are spread and how to prevent them. Materials such as a Scrub Club® membership card and educational materials can be downloaded directly from the site.

See History As It Happened – Follow The War Amps YouTube channel as a newsreel from The Canadian Army Newsreels series is added weekly.

Sow and Save – USC Canada is offering resources to educators as part of its Canadian elementary school program called Sow and Save. Sow and Save highlights the importance of seed biodiversity and seed saving in a strong and resilient food supply by supporting students and educators wishing to learn more about how good seeds grow good food. Sow and Save resources fit with Canadian elementary school curricula and can be used to complement activities in current school garden programs or as part of general science-based activities focused on seeds and biodiversity.

Speak Truth to Power Canada – a website about Canadian human rights defenders and their achievements. Jointly developed by the Canadian Teachers Federation, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the website offers lesson plans and classroom activities that align with provincial and territorial curricula.

TELUS WISE for schools and educators – Bring digital literacy into your classroom. TELUS WISE (Wise Internet and Smartphone Education) is a free educational program on Internet and smartphone safety and security. The program offers interactive and informative workshops and content to help youth have a positive experience as digital citizens. Topics include cyberbullying, protecting your online reputation, identity theft and more.

That’s Not Fair! – a suite of resources, including videos, a teachers guide and lessons plans developed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to engage young people in discussions about the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

“The Stone Age” Interactive Resource – Mathew Charlton is an archaeologist in the UK who has been working with filmmakers, designers, teachers and historians to produce a six week cross-curricular interactive resource that covers the Stone Age from the Palaeolithic period through to the Iron Age. The six week program covers What is Prehistory apothekefurmenschen.de? The Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age, with cross-curricular lesson plans and activities. Each week has key facts which outline the important changes for each period. The resource features cartoons, videos and photographs so that the information is as visual as possible. As a taster, there is a free week on the Palaeolithic.

TIMESAVERS for TEACHERS – a downloadable package in pdf format of 30 attractive, often used forms, worksheets and practical tools for teachers. A real time saver.