Elementary Pre-K - 2nd Grade

What's happening in the Lower Elementary?

 

Dates to note:

August 6th - New student enrollment

August 13th - PreK Parent Meeting at 5 pm

                        Open House from 5 - 7 pm

August 15th - First Day of School

 

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A**Summer Ideas for family fun!

 

We have great area parks and swimming access at Claremore Lake and Oologah Lake. There are several fun splash pads around, including Claremore Lake Park and Will Rogers Park near RSU. Some indoor/outdoor local attractions include the Will Rogers Birthplace, Will Rogers Museum, Blue Whale Park, and farm petting excursions like Shepard’s Cross.

Across the state there are several kid-friendly museums and attractions aimed at challenging children’s minds while treating them to plenty of fun and exciting adventures. From aquarium touch tanks and kid-sized mazes to awe-inspiring planetariums and sky-high slides, Oklahoma’s kid-centric attractions will leave the youngsters in your family filled with wonder. Visit any of the delightful attractions listed below for an enjoyable outing the whole family will love.

Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum - Seminole

The Jasmine Moran Children's Museum in Seminole is one of the world’s largest children’s museums where thousands of children come each year to experience the grown-up world from a kid’s perspective. Kids can try out career choices through play and make-believe while also having fun with the popular bubble factory and 16-ft. climbing maze. Outdoors there is also a miniature train ride and a large castle maze to navigate.

Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden - Oklahoma City

Experience the wonder of one of the nation's top-rated zoos at the Oklahoma City Zoo & Botanical Garden. State-of-the-art enclosures such as the Cat Forest, Lion Overlook and Great EscApe, which is home to a wide variety of gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans, give children an up-close-and-personal view of magnificent animals. Marvel at the diversity of underwater life in the aquarium, visit the zoo’s impressive elephant habitat and get the chance to pet barnyard animals in the Children’s Zoo complete with a forest exploration area and playground. The zoo showcases over 2,500 animals on 110 beautifully landscaped acres, ensuring there is something for everyone.

Tulsa Zoo - Tulsa

Trek to the tropics, watch adorable penguins at play and feed feathered friends at the Tulsa Zoo, home to more than 1,500 animals on over 75 acres. A perfect place to bring children to learn about diverse ecosystems and animal life, the Tulsa Zoo encourages visitors to explore every region of the globe while watching Malayan tigers meander through the Asia exhibit or listening to the call of exotic birds in the Tropical American Rainforest area. Kids jump at the chance to ride the ONEOK Safari from one end of the park to the other and can even hop as high as a kangaroo on the bungee Frogger.

Science Museum Oklahoma - Oklahoma City

A massive complex featuring hands-on exhibits, one-of-a-kind displays and a planetarium, this “amusement park for the mind” provides hours and hours of fun and educational entertainment. Science Museum Oklahoma is home to more than 350 hands-on exhibits and educational programs. Catch the Science Live shows where explosive demonstrations of scientific principles will blow your mind and explore the CurioCity, a 20,000-square-foot village featuring eight whimsical neighborhoods.

Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium

The Tulsa Air and Space Museum features several full-size fighter jets, hands-on exhibits about Tulsa's aerospace heritage, interactive exhibits for children including a T-37 cockpit trainer, wind tunnel and more. The planetarium is only the second of its kind in the world and allows audiences to experience the universe in a 50-foot diameter dome.

Kids can try out career choices through play and make-believe while also having fun with the popular bubble factory and 16-ft. climbing maze.

Lost Creek Safari - Stillwater

Kids will have a blast interacting with emus, monkeys, chipmunks and other amazing creatures at Lost Creek Safari in Stillwater. This family-owned, USDA-certified animal park invites guests to pet, feed or meet a variety of friendly animals, from adorable mammals to beautiful birds. Prepare for plenty of photo ops with a giant zebra named Tatar, Erica the ostrich or Gilbert the camel. Lost Creek Safari even has several miniature animals, including a tiny Zebu cow and pygmy donkeys. Make an appointment to the park before you go, then enjoy a hands-on learning experience with these unique animals.

Oklahoma Aquarium - Jenks

If an underwater adventure is what your family craves, check out the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, just across the river from Tulsa. Children will marvel at the magnificent displays of color and the mystery of the more than 200 exhibits of marine and aquatic animals, many of them from around the world. Walk through the gigantic shark tank tunnel and bubble which is home to the world's largest captive bull sharks, enjoy the touch tank where you'll find starfish, anemones and urchins and even try your hand at feeding turtles, manta rays and small sharks.

Kiddie Park - Bartlesville

This special amusement park has been providing wholesome family fun since 1947. Kiddie Park provides 16 brightly painted rides that do not go very fast, far or high. Rides include a Ferris wheel, airplanes, carousel, bumper cars and many others. Each ride costs only 25 cents, so the kids can enjoy to their heart's content and parents won't mind. The park is open Tuesday through Saturday evenings during the summer months.

Leonardo's Children's Museum & Adventure Quest - Enid

Leonardo's Children's Museum is a hands-on museum with experiences for youngsters in the areas of arts and science. Touch a real dinosaur egg, slide down a three-story slide, build your own castle in the carpentry shop, get lost in a variety of bridges, tunnels and mazes, experiment with different scientific principles, tell time on a sundial, travel to the moon in a simulated space shuttle, and lots more. All-day admission also includes Adventure Quest, an outdoor science playground featuring a three-story castle.

Discovery Lab - Tulsa

At the Discovery Lab, kids are invited to help create the exhibits while learning about art, science, technology and engineering. Inspire their inner inventor with a trip to the Make Shop, a do-it-yourself workshop and craft area that encourages kids to create items using recycled and repurposed items. Don’t miss the suspension bridge, walkway and 30-ft. slide made entirely from packing tape or the toddler area featuring hands-on activities, books and a mini-ball wall.

 

10 Best Educational Apps for Kids in 2024

 

Best Educational Apps for Kids

from Research.com

1. ABCmouse.com: Best Overall App for Early Learning

 

This app can be a crowd favorite. It is downloadable on any iPad, iPhone, and most Android phones or tablets. With a wide range of learning activities and videos that teach math, science, art, reading, and so much more, it brings “everyday" things and basic concepts to life that will keep kids’ curiosity up while learning and having fun.

This app does wonders for early learning education for children ages 2-8. It is on a considerably low-cost subscription basis. Users may opt for a one-month free trial, then $10/month subscription. 

2. Quick Maths: Best App to Improve Mathematics Ability

 

Yu-Hui et al. (2018) suggested that different avenues of learning such as toys and board games to be instrumental to critical solving ability in young students as supplementary for traditional methods of learning. Quick Maths features fundamental arithmetic skills and concepts, and new challenges with every difficulty level as the child’s skill and ability advances and develops. What makes it more exciting and challenging is that kids can practice their math skills against time.

This innovative app is best for students in grades 2-6, and added to its perks is handwriting recognition, which makes it helpful and fun for kids to practice handwriting as they can draw and write their answers. The cost is free and it’s available on the App Store for iPhone and Ipad. 

3. Duolingo: Best Language Learning App

 

Duolingo offers free language courses for over 30 languages through fun lessons where you can practice speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Language and interactive games on computers provide learners with real and creative avenues of learning, thereby creating opportunities for learners to enhance their skills and knowledge (Senel & Akman, 2016).

Indeed, Duolingo proves to be a fun and interactive app where users can practice through audio, word identification, and short, easy exercises. Most suitable for kids aged 10+, but take note, it is not just designed for children—it is also for anyone who wants to learn any foreign language be it French, Italian, Spanish or any language that one finds interesting.

It is totally free on iOS or Android, but it comes with an optional ad-free Duolingo Plus for $6.99/month. 

4. YouTube Kids: Best App Made Just For Kids

 

This app only shows age-appropriate educational videos and is great for kids ages 2-12 as it screens YouTube content. It is created for kids to explore on their own with a wide collection of shows and topics that will surely entertain and enhance their learning skills as well. Parents and guardians can set up controls or customize the child’s use with Parental Controls.

You can get it for free on iPhone, iPad, or any Android devices. 

5. SplashLearn: Learning that’s fun, effective, and personalized

 

SplashLearn is an innovative and engaging online learning platform designed for children to enhance their math and ELA skills in a fun and interactive way. Available on Web, iOS, and Android devices, SplashLearn offers an extensive library of math and ELA lessons and games for kids from pre-kindergarten to grade 5. The platform employs personalized learning paths, engaging graphics, and intuitive features, making learning math an enjoyable experience for kids. With its research-backed curriculum, the platform aligns with Common Core and state standards, ensuring children receive a comprehensive and effective education. The platform’s progress tracking and reporting feature allows parents to monitor their child’s learning and identify improvement areas.

Parents can take advantage of a 7-day trial before subscribing to one of the pricing plans, starting at just $7.49 per month when billed annually.

6. Epic!: Best Unlimited Learning and Reading App

 

Epic! is an e-book library that offers over 40,000 children’s books—absolutely an amazing library that any child can have access to any time, anywhere. It includes a vast collection of books from audiobooks and eBooks to read-along books. It is the best app for children to explore their reading interests and develop a love of reading. It is appropriate for kindergarten as well as for kids aged 6-12.

You can get it on iOS or Android and start a free 30-day trial. The app costs $7.99 per month. 

7. ClassDojo: Best Educational Communication App

 

Education is not just about studying and learning. Communication among teachers, students, and parents is also instrumental in learning. That is why ClassDojo was created, to make learning more fun and interactive. It is a communication app where teachers can easily keep track of the students and update the parents of their performance or inform them of any announcements, class activities, photos, videos, or any other educational content within this app. Students can also add their completed activities, such as homework and projects, and share them with the class and with their parents as well.

This app is well-suited to younger learners as it features cute characters for classroom decorations and cute monsters to monitor behavior. It is free to download on Android. 

8. Science 360: Best Science App for Kids

 

Science 360 is an amazing educational app that lets students explore science content, such as the latest science images and videos from around the globe. With this information-packed app, science and engineering are brought to life on the small screen with its high-quality videos, news, and information on all major branches of science gathered from different scholars and accredited higher learning institutions.

This app is most appropriate for K-12 students as it provides tips and notes for rigorous courses and examinations. Smyrnova-Trybulska et al. (2017) emphasized that students, especially those in elementary, need to be strongly prepared with skills that the 21st-century demands through advanced learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Science 360 is produced by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is available on Ipad and Android for free. 

9. Spelling Stage: Best Spelling Challenges for Kids

 

According to Yesilel (2017), there are a number of advantages that Technology-Enhanced Language Learning provides; software that enables the use of voice help students to develop skills in vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, and comprehension as well. In that case, Spelling Stage may be an ideal app for the aspiring spelling bee wiz and champion! It comes with a paid subscription that gives access to a wide selection of words from simple to complex with audio and visual cues. The game imitates a spelling bee contest that young and older students will surely enjoy. Users may even use screen recording apps to document the words they have spelled for later reference. Features also include creating your own content to practice.

Purchase a 1-month subscription for $1.99, 3 months for $5.99, and 12 months for $7.99.  You may also try the free trial and see for yourself what the app has to offer. Available on iOS.

10. Starfall ABCs: Best Alphabet App for Kids

 

Easily one of the best language learner apps for kids and then some, this fun and exciting learning app is designed for kids ages 2-5. Starfall ABCs features an animated introduction to learning words and letters in the English Language Arts. Children will love to explore and learn the alphabet for it also features a wide variety of games and songs. It has a free version but it can be upgraded to a paid version where you can have more access to learning and exciting offers. It is available for free download on Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Fire, as well as on Amazon.