100+ Free Things For Teachers and Homeschoolers
These links include free art resources and general resources for teacher. I have excluded links to “free” things that give a condition, such as buying a program. I have also excluded shareware.
Arts & Crafts
Art and Design- A directory of many free resources including lessons, games, guides and more.
Arts and Ideas- A page of free PDF’s of articles ranging from Investigating Children’s Drawing and Development in Art, Why Teach Art?, and Technology and the Artist’s Hand to What Happens When We Make Art?
Free Craft Lessons- Nick Jr.’s page of free craft ideas for young children.
Free Art Resources on the Web- The Art Libraries Society of North America has a page of free resources.
Free Art Classes, tutorials, workshops- A page of resources.
Presenters’ Resource- With free Powerpoints, tips, tutorials, interactive tools and links to free things on other websites.
Free Art Teaching Video- Sorry, this is only available for Maine art teachers.
Hidden Pictures- Great handouts for the substitute. Find the hidden items and color the picture. Offered free from Highlights Magazine. There are new ones every month.
New Art Teacher Success Guide- This PDF is offered by Crayola.
Learn How to Draw and How to Paint- Browse this site to find free lessons, puzzles, and great resources for new art teachers.
Free Art Education Quick Reference Guide- You can get this by calling Delphi at (888) 281-5780.
New Teacher’s Survival Guide 
[PDF]- a free guide with templates, checklists, grade sheets and more.
TeachersFirst Resource Listing- This page includes a number of free art resources.
Free and Cheap Web Resources for Art Educators- This includes free hosting sites, free software and online tools.
The Western Artist- Submit your western-related art here for exhibit free.
Books
Animation Meat- With many animation tutorial eBooks by Disney instructor Walt Stanchfield.
Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul- Two free books from the New York Best Sellers List.
Google Books- A huge selection of free online books that are searchable.
Internet Text Archives- A huge database of free books that can be downloaded for free.
Library of Congress, with manuscripts in the public domain.
Online Books Page, with a list of many online books in the public domain.
Page By Page Books- with free books in HTML format.
Project Gutenberg- A huge collection of books that have expired copyrights.
ReadPrint- a free, large online library with downloadable books for students and adults.
Certificates, Gradebooks, and Templates
Achievement Award Certificates- Download certificate templates in Word and PDF format for free.
ESL Printables- Free worksheets, lessons, and flashcards. You have to wade through all the ads at the top, but it’s worth a visit.
ThinkWave Educator Gradebook- You can download this gradebook software for free.
Free Award Certificate Templates- You can create your own certificates online.
Free Monthly Planner- From Davis Publications.
Free Online Graph Paper/Grid Papers (pdf file downloads)
Legacy- With free certificates, books, cards, games and crafts.
Substitute Teacher Guide- Although this is a checklist for subs, this is great for your first week of school.
Teachers Report Assistant- Produces report cards using Microsoft Word. Reports can be tailored to suit individual students. There is a comments library that goes with the program. Created by a Wales primary teacher .
Teacher Tools and Templates- From Education World
Worksheet Library- This site has free worksheets. The owners fo the site describe themselves as struggling teachers. Although I didn’t see any art worksheets, there are some that are good for integrated thematic instruction.
Computers and Electronics
Computers for Learning- Need a computer? Register on this website to be hooked up with companies who are donating computers.
The Lexmark PrintArt Program- Where you can sign up for a free printer, CD-ROM of art masterpieces, teachers guides, and more.
Free Color Printers- Xerox offers free printers that also scan and copy!
Keyboard Cover- Just tell them the make of your keyboard and they send you a free cover.
Discounted or Items on Clearance
Oriental Trading Company Clearances
Sax Arts & Crafts Web Specials
Teacher Created Resources- 75% Off Page
General Education
Center’d on School Events- An interesting website where you can set up a calendar for your school event. Upload pictures and and send out invitations.
The Legacy of Rosa Parks- A free educational kit for teachers and schools. It includes a 40-minute documentary and guide with activities.
Free Teaching Templates- Includes templates for KWL, Venn Diagram to compare and contrast, graphic organizers, and thematic web.
Reach Every Child- Free bulletin board ideas for all subject areas.
Timesavers for Teachers- Download free forms, such as report cards, worksheets, incident reports, class list, parent contact sheet, and more.
Free Donations- They match teachers with donors. Submit your wish list and donors contact you.
Free Stuff for Teachers- NEA’s page of free resources.
Teaching Tolerance- They have free resources, magazines, posters and more.
Free Tools and Resources for Your Classroom- A page with free lesson plans, ideas, teaching guides, and more.
MarcoPolo- A huge collection of free things including lesson plans, templates, graphic makers, and much more.
Interactive Notes- The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is making posters, $20 and $50 notes, and more available for download.
Free Handwriting Fonts- For primary teachers at About.com.
Fuel For School!- Kellogg’s offers free activities, recipes, special offers, coupons, and more.
Smuckers Promotions- Where you can get free recipes and cookbooks.
Free Course Management Software- This is from Virtual Office. Just fill out the form and submit.
Bob’s Place of Educational Links- This page has many free resources, lessons, and more.
Colgate Bright Smiles- Get free educational content and their kit.
Index of Free Tools
Aviary Tools- These are web-based art applications that are free to try out.
EverNote- Create notes containing text and audio online. Send them to your wireless phone or computer. Their free software is available for both Mac and Windows.
Flashcard Exchange- Thousands of flashcards submitted by teachers around the world.
Fonts 2 Write- A great index of free fonts, free font viewers, and font managers
Freed Printables- This site has many free graphics, photos, and worksheets like crossword puzzles, games, and lessons.
Free Tools For Teachers- Includes exam builders, worksheet, puzzles, certificates, gradebooks and more.
Printable Paper- Print patterns on paper including graph, lined, music, dot, note, and many others. Download the patterns in PDF. Don’t go out and buy graph paper, print it up in multiple ways from your printer.
Teacher Created Resources- A list of free brain teasers, calendards, teaching tips and more
Teachers Pay Teachers- With handouts, patterns, activities, illusions and more. Search by subject area.
Free Stuff for Canadian Teachers- With templates, assessments, seating chards, activities, and more.
Teacher Planet- With a large selection of free certificates, rubrics, tools, calendars and more.
Teacher Tools- With assessments, lesson plan templates, forms, activities, and more.
Plugged In Teacher- With free downloads, lesson plans, resources and more.
Quizlet- Create your own free flashcards and quizes, and view what other teachers have created.
Magazines
Arts/Entertainment/Gaming magazines- free magazines. Also find arts related magazines on this page. No catch!
Computer Graphics magazine- Fill out the application and it’s free.
Coroflot Magazine- About portfolies and creative jobs.
Classroom Idea Book- This is the biannual teacher’s magazine created by the A&E Television Network.
It’s Art Magazine- They have a free pdf version of the magazine.
Pict*ture Magazine- Magazines are in pdf format.
Rangefinder magazine- You have to qualify to get it free.
Trade Magazines- Get free subscriptions to over 100 magazines- no catch!
Today’s School Magazine- Get a free subscription
Women are Scientists Magazine- Get a free subscription
Miscellaneous Items
Free magnets- Either use a stock design or upload your own design. Vista Print is the manufacturer.
Multimedia
Science Educational Material from Fusion Education- Get a free CD-ROM, videotape, CD, activities, pamphlets and more.
Harry Potter Screen Saver- Scholastic magazine offers screen savers for both Mac and PC. You can also get a free Harry Potter screen saver from Warner Brothers.
Pete’s PowerPoint Station – where you can download free PowerPoints for teachers to use for lessons. There are also PowerPoint collections and presentations.
Rollip- Create Polaroids from your own photos for download or print.
Video Classroom- This is an incredible site that allows you to search for free videos by subject, technology, location, and instructional strategie.
U.S. Fire Administration’s Free Publications- This page offers books, videotapes, and kits free of charge.
Online Tools
Docstoc- You can access thousands of free templates, forms articles, pictures, etc. You can also upload your documents for free for everyone to see.
Episilen- Create a free ePortfolio and network with other educators.
ProBoards- You can put up a free online bulletin board on your web page.
Lesson Planner- Create lesson plans online for free. (Discovery School)
Localendar- A free calendar for your website. You can also use it for your own classroom.
Assign-A-Day- A free online assignment calendar. Great for students to view from home.
GreatTeacher.net- Get free internet service, websites, chatroom, resources, message board and more.
Homework Calendars and Teacher Websites- With a free online homework calendar.
NTeQ Lesson Plan Builder- Create lesson plans that integrate technology into your subject matter.
Teacher Tools- A collection of online tools by The Matzat family
Science Related
Free Earth/Mars Comparison Poster- from NASA for teachers only.
Teachers Manuals from the History Channel- This features the history of the Declaration of Independence, The Missouri River, the White House and more.
Ocean Surface Topography from Space- From the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. With free posters, brochures, CD’s and Slides. Plan a cruise to the Gulf of Mexico to study whales, explore El Nino or meeet oceanographers.
NASA Promotional Materials- With PDF and Word documents.
Teach Free- This site offers a free wellness kit and downloadable resources relating to nutrition and health.
Miss Maggie’s Earth Adventures- With free lesson plans, spelling games and puzzles.
Gorilla Teaching Materials- The Gorilla Foundation is offering free teacher supplemental materials online.
Read to Feed- A free leader’s packet on animal care, family health, and more.
Hands On Plastics Kit- Get a free safety poster and information on recycling.
Software
Mac
Free Educational Software- Ray has several free software programs relating to word games, letters, symbols, and numbers.
GifBuilder for Mac OSX- This is free software that allows you to add animation to your website. Highly recommended! I use it on this website.
Info-Mac Software- A list of free art software for the Mac. Most require OS 9 Classic software.
Graphics Programs for the Mac- A list of freeware for the Mac.
Painting Goodies- A page with several free programs for the Mac. There is a free painting user’s guide.
Absolutely Mac Software- A page of free sofware programs for the Mac.
Windows
MSW Logo- A page of free software for Windows to draw logos and other objects. Includes interactive books.
BlackMagic- Free Windows software for colorizing black and white photos.
Make a Town- Free Windows software for kids to create educational arts and crafts projects.
Photoshop Brush Viewer- A free brush plug-in program for Photoshop.
Segmation- a digital version of paint-by-numbers.
Both Platforms
Adobe Software Donation Program- You have to apply for this. Cross your fingers! Adobe bought out Macromedia and is now the largest provider of the most popular graphic art programs.
Design Software- A page of Freeware and shareware art programs.
Dr. Pinkston’s list of free software- From a professor at Indiana University Southeast.
Free Quality Font Foundry- Download fonts for free.
Free Stuff for Canadian Teachers- You can get free software, samples, and other resources.
Google Sketchup- A free 3D software program by Google.
Moodle- A free course managment system. Also set up an online learning community.
MyTeacherSoftware- Free software. You only pay for shipping.
Top 100 Free Software Downloads- With many free downloads.
Special Education
ESL Student Resources- Have students who are learning the English language? This site has free English games.
ESL Resources- Get free workbooks, tests, and more for your ESL students.
SEN Teacher- A large collection of free resources for teachers of special education students.
VIA http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/toolbox/free.html
