Digital Citizenship Week: www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship-week
"Each October, Common Sense leads Digital Citizenship Week, an annual campaign to promote a healthy, balanced, and positive approach to media and tech use among young people."  
There are a week's worth of free lessons for elementary, middle school, and high school. 

Ms Rachel - Toddler Learning Videos: www.youtube.com/@msrachel
"Toddler Learning Videos and Baby Learning Videos with a real teacher, Ms Rachel! Ms Rachel uses techniques recommended by speech therapists and early childhood experts to help children learn important milestones and preschool skills! ... Ms Rachel also gets kids moving through fun nursery rhymes & kids songs videos! Her videos for toddlers are informed by research and are full of learning standards that will help preschoolers thrive! Ms Rachel loves teaching letters, numbers, colors, animal sounds and more! She also has learn to talk videos and incorporates sign language! Ms Rachel has a masters in music education from NYU and is almost finished a second masters in early childhood education. Parents and children can watch and learn together."

Summer Learning Tips to Go! Text Messaging Service: www.startwithabook.org/reading-tips-text-messages
​In English or Spanish, three messages per week, features hands-on activities to keep kids reading, creating, exploring, and learning all summer. Sample activities are shown.. 

Bird Cams: www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/
"A virtual window into the natural world of birds" from around the world through live-streaming nest cams. 
By CornellLab: All About Birds 

Free Classes from Google and Adobe That Certify Educators Have Basic AI Literacy: www.techlearning.com/news/free-classes-from-google-and-adobe-that-certify-educators-have-basic-ai-literacy
In Googles 2-hour course, "...participants learn about generative AI, which is a type of AI that creates new content, such as text, images, or other media. You’ll explore how to use generative AI tools to assist your teaching practice by saving time on everyday tasks, personalizing instruction to meet student needs, and enhancing lessons and activities in creative ways. Gemini and ChatGPT are examples of generative AI tools that are used with conversational prompts; in other words, you ask the AI tool for something, and it responds to your request."
In the 30-minute self-paced Adobe Express Lightning Learning course, "...participants learn about the many applications Adobe Express’ new generative AI features have for teaching and learning and explore creative and simple activities that support students throughout any project."

Eclipse imminent!  Try out these interesting activities with students: districtadministration.com/solar-eclipse-learning-activities-connect-classrooms/
This site has links to a live stream at the NASA app, interactive maps, directions for taking photos of the eclipse, lesson plans, and more 

Screen time Linked to Decreases in Measures of Paren-Child Talk: www.healthday.com/healthpro-news/child-health/screen-time-linked-to-decreases-in-measures-of-parent-child-talk
"Young children's exposure to screen time linked to decreases in adult words, child vocalizations, back-and-forth interactions"
The subjects of this study were infants 12 to 36 months of age. and the purpose was to see the association between screen time and adult words spoken, child vocalizations, and conversational turns. I appreciate the details that were presented in the study for the different areas and various ages.  

How Much Time Should Teachers Spend n a Foundational Reading Skill? Research Offers Clues: www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/how-much-time-should-teachers-spend-on-a-foundational-reading-skill-research-offers-clues/2024/02
According to this article, research says that 10.2 hours is the ideal amount of time to spend on phonemic awareness instruction.  After that point, it showed diminishing returns. 

While this site: nyslibrary.libguides.com/c.php?g=1284706&p=9754019 was created for New York State Libraries, most of the activities can be used by many types of groups or even individuals. 
"...a total eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8, 2024. The 2024 eclipse in particular is the last total solar eclipse that will be visible in the U.S. for another two decades!"

Happy New Year 2024 Free Coloring Pages for Kids to Welcome the New Year: 30seconds.com/mom/tip/15241/Happy-New-Year-2024-Free-Coloring-Pages-for-Kids-to-Welcome-the-New-Year
​At this site, there is also a link to free winter coloring & puzzle pages,