Two weeks. Five weeks. Five months. The truth is nobody including the Department of Education really knows how long the schools and colleges will close for. This is an evolving situation, and the WhatsApp rumours are just that: rumours.

Its a stressful time for parents, particularly for those who have to work from home while trying to keep children amused and educated.

For however long this goes on, The Irish Times education team will be helping parents and students access the best resources to learn from home.

We will highlight online resources, as well as work that can be done without internet access, and we want to hear from parents, teachers and students about how theyre coping, what theyre learning and their top tips for each other.

Weve already had a great response to our online callout to teachers, and its clear the education community is pulling together to support learners and each other.

Please share your top tips via Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #EdShareIE, and well do our best to highlight as many as possible.

The good news is there are tonnes of resources out there to meet the needs of children of all ages and stages. Here are some of the better ones as recommended by teachers and parents.

Literacy / numeracy:

Twinkl.ie

Created by teachers, ideal for home education, it has lots of appealing games, stories, worksheets, etc. It is offering a free months subscription (enter offer code: IRLTWINKLHELPS)

Khan Academy (khanacademy.org): Nonprofit site that provides free video tutorials in maths and reading

IXL.com (ie.ixl.com):

Subscription-based learning experience that provides curriculum-aligned maths and English content from junior infants up to sixth year

Storyberries.com

This is a free, online collection of easy-to-read and beautifully illiustrated stories, comics and poems for kids. You can select stories by theme

handwritingpractice.netWhatever happened to the art of handwriting. This site lets you create custom handwriting practice worksheets.

Over the Moon English resources(GillExplore.ie)

Gill Education have provided Over the Moon English resources for junior infants to second class children on their site GillExplore.ie

Gaeilge:

Cla4 (cula4.com)

This free Irish app from TG4 is aimed at two groups: Cla4 na ng is aimed at under-sixes, while Cla4 is aimed at older children. As well as TV shows, there are games and creativity sections.

Selection of primary resourcesCiara Reilly is a former primary teacher and now a lecturer in education with expertise in ICT and digital education at Marino Institute of Education. She has compiled an outstanding bank of resources at padlet.com/ciarareillymarino/primarydistancelearning, including Irish resources.

Physical education:

Go Noodle (gonoodle.com):

Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts and used widely by teachers who say it is a great opportunity for kids to wake up their bodies, engage their minds and be their best.

Super Troopers (supertroopers.ie)

Super Troopers offers a health homework programme that encourages children and their families to live happier and more active lifestyles.

Stem (science, tech, engineering and maths):

Scratch (scratch.mit.edu):

Learn to program interactive games, stories and animations

Maths, Gaeilge and reading lessonsTeacher Michael OConnor is posting daily Maths, Gaeilge and reading lessons on YouTube for the kids in his class, which might be useful to other 4th, 5th and 6th class kids and their parents: youtu.be/bt4rFdbpGkY

Geography:

National Geographic Kids (kids.nationalgeographic.com):

Learn about science, geography and history.

Nasa Kids Club (nasa.gov/kidsclub/):

Child-friendly resource where kids can learn about science and space.

History, Geography and Science (@RangOrlaith)

rlaith N Fhoghl is a third class teacher and she has put together activities and resources relating to the history, geography and science curriculum on padlet.com/orlaithnifhoghlu/wqeiqvodvbl4

Games/tests:

Kahoot.com

Search from millions of existing games on any topic such as brain teasers, trivia of all sorts, news quizzes and science.

Sarah Webbs writing games (@MoLI_Museum)Award-winning childrens writer Sarah Webb is posting fun writing games and story prompts over on Twitter.

SmartycatgamesGames to help children learn Irish and French in a fun and exciting manner.

Special needs:

SEN Teacher (senteacher.org/)

This site has free special-needs teaching resources and learning materials. Its print tools allow you to create, adapt and share resources.

Revision:

Dublin Academy (dublinacademy.ie)

The Dublin-based grind school is posting free-to-access classes on YouTube over the coming days.

iRevise (irevise.com)

This Irish revision website is providing students with free study resources for a month due to the school closures.

Studyclix (Studyclix.ie)

One of the most popular of Irelands study websites, it offers notes, videos and a forum for students preparing for the Junior and Leaving Cert.

Protutor (protutor.ie)

It is running a series of free webinars on Leaving Cert accounting topics aimed at fifth and sixth years next week.

Studynotes (studynotes.ie)

Students and teachers can use the free platform to share their notes and resources.

ExamLearn.ie

Founded by three recent school-leavers, who between them got 30 As in the Junior Cert and over 1800 points in the Leaving Cert. Homeschool.ie provides an online grinds service for Leaving and Junior Cycle students.

Individual subjects

Spanish

Susan Leahy (pancomido.wordpress.com/)

Spanish teacher Susan Leahy has a free website for Spanish teachers and students, with lots of resources for the now-cancelled Leaving Cert orals and the higher-level essay questions.

Gaeilge

Stephen Heffernan (@shffnn)

Leaving Cert students can keep themselves fresh by using the Vifax resources from NUI Maynooth where they take a story or two from Nuacht TG4 each week and prepare worksheets on them. vifax.maynoothuniversity.ie

Leavingcertirish.com

Teacher John Gavin has hosted this website since 2001; it provides a host of updated learning resources relating to Leaving Cert Irish orals and the written exam. There are free daily webinars that anyone can watch live or look back on.

History

Dr Eoin Donnchadha(@eoinodonnchadha)

History teacher Dr Eoin Donnchadha has compiled a twitter thread on how Junior Cert history students can compile their family tree.

WaterfordMemories.comThe lives and experiences of women in Waterfords Magdalene Laundry can be a great case study for history and CSPE students, @AnBurcach (Stephen Bourke) suggests.

Geography

Eoin Hughes(@_ehughes_)

Geography teacher Eoin Hughes (@_ehughes_) has compiled Leaving Cert Geography resources here: bit.ly/2TKWCMu and Junior Cert resources here: http://bit.ly/2TR4GeZ

Politics and Society

PolSocPodcast.com

PolSocPodcast.com covers all things and is presented by Dr Jerome Devitt, a teacher of Politics & Society, History, and English.

Maths

Joyce MahonMaths teacher Joyce Mahon has compiled Leaving Cert suggestions on jmmaths.weebly.com/

French

EssentialFrench.ieStudents of French should check out teacher Natasha Lynchs excellent resources, which are available on EssentialFrench.ie. Her Snapchat account is particularly popular.

Physics

SophiaPhysics.ie

SophiaPhysics.ie has a resources section and is covering topics for Junior and Leaving Cert physics while telling the story of related physicists.

English

SCCEnglish.ie

Run by Julian Girdham at St Columbas College in Rathfarnham, SCCEnglish.ie has lots of resources for post-primary English, and more resources and ideas on JulianGirdham.com

AoifesNotes.com

English teacher Aoife ODriscoll has a free website and has been uploading notes for Junior Cycle and Leaving Cert English on it for over ten years now.

Graphics

Irish Graphic Teacher

Will Nolan is sharing graphics videos on the IrishGraphicsTeacher channel.

youtube.com/channel/UCanBKZVzCbgzO-LomL-gp4w

Art

Sheila Flahertys art tutorialsTeacher Sheila Flaherty has posted online art tutorials for children at youtu.be/3hSWT86uyxk.

Teacher Support

PDST (pdst.ie/DistanceLearning):

The Professional Development Service for Teachers linked to the Departmenbt of Education has an updated section on supporting online learning during school closures with links to resources like Scoilnet and Webwise. It also features video to help guide teachers around online teaching.

Cogg.ie (cogg.ie/bunchar-aiseanna/)

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Home tuition: Our guide to the best teaching and learning resources online - The Irish Times