Free Textbook Downloads for Math and Science

FlexBooks Free Downloadable Textbooks

Finally!  Free electronic textbooks for middle and high school students.  FlexBooks, from the cK-12 Foundation, offers textbooks in science, technology, engineering and mathematics - STEM - that students can download and teachers can customize for individual classes.

I've seen a small variety of free textbooks available online, but none of them match the features and customization available with FlexBooks.  As of this writing, FlexBooks offers more than 80 textbooks and supplemental materials in math and science, as well as a few in technology and engineering.  Many of the books include teachers' editions.

Like printed editions, these textbooks include pictures and diagrams to illustrate concepts.  The material is standards-aligned and updated frequently to adapt to changes in the STEM fields.

What makes these textbooks particularly attractive for students and homeschooling parents is the variety of formats available for using them.  Download and read a book as a .pdf.  Or use an online reader.  Or read a book online in .html format, with interactive videos, audio and animation.  Download a FlexBook to your Kindle from Amazon.com.  Or load a Flexbook to your iPad from Apple's iTunes Store.

The cK-12 Foundation also offers lots of assistance in using FlexBooks and for teachers customizing them.  They have tutorial videos, an FAQ, and webinars.  All in all,  Flex Books are a great way to start getting rid of those quickly-outdated, lead-weighted math and science textbooks.

If you're looking for some free interactive exercises to help middle and high school students put STEM concepts into practice, there are many listed on LearningReviews.com Math, Science, and Engineering.

Do you know of some other free K-12 ebooks textbooks?  If so, please leave a comment.

Counting Coins Interactive Games and Lessons

Pocket Change from Armor Games

My campaign continues to do away with worksheets - in this case, counting money worksheets.  Many free counting money interactive games are online to help kids practice counting coins and bills.  I've described several of them in my Squidoo post, Counting Coins Interactive Games.  There's even a free money counting app for the i-world.  The post also describes several money counting lesson plans that include fun activities for use in your classroom.

So banish those money worksheets from your classroom!  OK, banishing worksheets completely may not completely realistic.  But try a few counting money interactive games in your classroom.  Or post the links to your classroom website for the kids to try at home.

These are just a small sample of what's available to help kids learn money sense.   There's dozens of websites and interactives to teach kids financial literacy.  They're listed on

LearningReviews.com Money and Finances

Games, Interactive and Lessons

 

Do you have a favorite money counting game or lesson?  Please leave a comment and share it with us.