Over two decades ago, Explore & More opened in a 500-square foot room in a school basement. The idea of having high-quality play-based learning for children from all over Western New York had been cultivated in the minds of a small group of dedicated parents, educators and toy designers. The museum with its all-volunteer staff saw 1,000 visitors that first year. Flash forward 21 years later, to Explore & More today, currently housed in a space 14 times that size, serving over 60,000 children ...

Located in Rochester, the Seneca Park Zoo offers animal exhibits, educational programs, and special exhibits. Highlights include the Genesse Trail and Discovery Center and the Rocky Coasts exhibit.

The mission of Brooklyn Children’s Museum is to engage children in educational and entertaining experiences through innovation and excellence in exhibitions, programs, and use of its collection. The Museum encourages children from infancy through high school to develop an understanding of and respect for themselves, others and the world around them.

The World Awareness Children’s Museum has been a NYS Designated Charter Museum since 1995 with a mission to inspire curiosity and foster understanding and appreciation of worldwide cultural diversity. Its collection is comprised of pieces from 140 countries including 8,000+ artifacts (fashion, musical instruments, dolls, toys and other objects) as well as 7,000+ pieces of international children’s art. Art and artifacts are featured in the Museum’s hands-on learning space go! where children di...

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS is located at 28 East 20th Street, between Broadway and Park Avenue South. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, lived at this site from his birth on October 27, 1858 until he was 14 years old. The reconstructed house contains five period rooms, two museum galleries and a bookstore.

As a part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River stretches 73.4 miles (118.3 km) along the New York-Pennsylvania border. The longest free-flowing river in the Northeast, it includes riffles and Class I and II rapids between placid pools and eddies. Public fishing and boating accesses are provided, although most land along the river is privately owned. Wintering bald eagles are among the wildlife that may be seen here. This unit of the National...

26 Wall Street was the site of New York City's 18th century City Hall. Here John Peter Zenger was jailed, tried, and acquitted of libel for exposing government corruption in his newspaper, an early victory for freedom of the press. City Hall hosted the Stamp Act Congress, which assembled in October 1765, to protest "taxation without representation." After the American Revolution, the Continental Congress met at City Hall, and in 1787 adopted the Northwest Ordinance establishing procedures for cr...

The Queens Zoo features exhibits of wild habitats, from the Great Plains to the rocky California coast to a Northeast forest. At home in these naturalistic settings are American species of American bison, mountain lions, California sea lions, American bald eagles, Roosevelt elk, and more. South America is represented as well and the Queens Zoo is also the only New York home to spectacled bears, endangered natives of the Andes Mountains. The aviary is a geodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Full...

The Bronx Zoo is the flagship of the largest network of metropolitan zoos in the country, with exhibits featuring over 4,000 animals. View Western lowland gorillas in the Congo Gorilla Forest , snow leopards in the Himalayan Highlands Habitat, and almost an acre of an indoor Asian rain forest. Offers educational programs and special exhibits.

The National Toy Hall of Fame® at The Strong, established in 1998, recognizes toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period. Each year, the prestigious hall inducts new honorees and showcases both new and historic versions of classic toys beloved by generations. The classic toys of the National Toy Hall of Fame sit alongside, and complement, The Strong museum collection, the world's largest and most comprehensive assemblage of toys, dolls, board games, vide...

Ross Park Zoo sits tucked into the northern face of Binghamton's South Mountain. Highlights include Cat Country Complex, the Spectacled Bear exhibit, and Our Changing World and Penguin Exhibit.

The Buffalo Zoological Gardens is the nation’s third oldest zoo. Located in 23.5 acres of beautiful Delaware Park, the Buffalo Zoo exhibits a diverse collection of wild and exotic animals, and more than 320 different species of plants. Animals on exhibit include the lowland gorilla troop, rhinoceros, hyenas, polar bears, and many more.

This park commemorates women's struggle for equal rights, and the first Women's Rights Convention, held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, NY on July 19 & 20, 1848. Three hundred women and men attended the Convention, including Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass. At the conclusion, 68 women and 32 men signed the Declaration of Sentiments drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The park consists of 4.38 acres owned by the National Park Service and 2.45 acres of non-federal land in Seneca Falls ...

The National Parks of New York Harbor represents a collaboration, or organizational network, of these parks: Gateway National Recreation Area, Governors Island, Manhattan Sites and Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island, as well as one affiliated site, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. These remarkable places include Jamaica Bay, the largest continuous piece of open space in all of New York City and icons such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, recognized the world over. The parks also includ...

CMOM inspires children and families to learn about themselves and our culturally diverse world through a unique environment of interactive exhibitions and programs. Since opening in a neighborhood storefront in 1973, they’ve grown into a unique 38,000 square-foot learning facility with outreach programs at nearly 50 sites throughout New York City.

For the Good of the Earth and Sun is for teachers at all levels, especially for those teachers who feel anxious about introducing poetry to students. Georgia Heard offers a method of teaching poetry that respects the intelligence of students and teachers and that can build upon their basic originality. She explores poetry from the inside as it is: a powerful and necessary way of looking at the world, and one of mankind's most durable inventions. Her book provides detailed, organized information so that teachers themselves can begin to enjoy and feel knowledgeable about poetry, and, from there, pass those feelings on to their students. The author's text is supplemented by examples of students' work in original and draft form.

Phonics Pathways begins with short-vowel sounds, slowly progressing to whole words, phrases, and sentences of gradually increasing complexity. Special teaching tips, extensive examples, and 100% decodable practice readings reinforce each lesson. Contains all spelling rules with a spelling index, spelling charts, spelling short-cuts, diacritical markings, and a wealth of inspirational proverbs. The new 9th edition of Phonics Pathways features many new enhancements including a wealth of reproducible games, a step-by-step spelling guide, teacher/student record sheets, a Dewey-the-Bookworm Bookmark and a new carefully-researched appendix detailing how Phonics Pathways aligns with most State Standards. Supplements to this program include The Train Game (to teach letter sounds), WordWorks (a set of cards used to reinforce phonics reading skills), and Blendit! (a set of eleven board games that reinforces knowledge of specific begining spelling patterns). For product information on Phonics Pathways, click here or visit their website.

Sing, Spell, Read & Write is a phonics-based program that uses a 36-step program of carefully sequenced steps to teach reading, writing, and spelling. More product information can be found here.

This set of 10 simply designed colorful wooden blocks and pattern boards includes 100 blocks in six different shapes and colors. They help develop shape recognition and spatial relationship skills. The contents store neatly in a durable wooden case. This games was awarded the Scholastic Parent & Child's 2004 "Top 22 Toys that Make Kids Think" award.

This teacher's manual, written by a homeschool educator with experience as a professional school teacher and private tutor, shows how to teach reading the "write" way. By phonetically teaching spelling from the start as the backbone for reading, all children can be taught, regardless of learning styles, to read and spell. If your student knows how to read already, this program can improve his or her spelling. Find out more about this product here.

The poetry anthology, Climb Inside a Poem: Original Poems for Children, uses the writings of contemporary children's poets, whimsical illustrations, and an expansive big book format (14"x 18") to create a 36-page poetry playground. The children's poems crafted expressly for this collection are written by acclaimed children's authors.

Create! Press carries creative approaches to teaching creative writing and composition. Their products include the Create-A-Story game, Writing Adventures, Stepping Stones, and more.

Drawn Into the Heart of Reading was developed for use with students of multiple ages at the same time, perfect for the homeschooling family. It is designed for use as an entire reading program or as a supplement to an existing program for students in grades 2-8.

At Last! A Reading Method for Every Child offers a balanced approach with intensive phonics and literature-based reading instruction. This is a simple method of teaching reading, with lots of supplemental materials. Get product information here.

English from the Roots Up explores the Latin and Greek roots of words. Many people haven't realized how valuable the Latin and Greek vocabulary is in the formulation of the finely structured English vocabulary of today. Even learning a few Latin and Greek root words gets you hooked and you want to learn more. Why? Because you can move from "what words mean" to "why words mean"&mdashin short, a thinking vocabulary. You'll find product information here.

A Reason For® Reading offers a series of over 100 Leveled Readers that provide small increases in difficulty from level to level. These colorful books feature Scripture stories and Christian value themes. Story Guides include high-frequency words, teaching ideas, discussion questions, and much more.

Explode The Code provides a sequential, systematic approach to phonics in which students blend sounds to build vocabulary and read words, phrases, sentences, and stories. Frequent review of previously learned concepts helps increase retention. Each workbook in this series contains exercises that incorporate reading, writing, matching and copying. The consistent format of the books helps facilitate independent work. This series includes primers—Get Ready for The Code, Get Set for The Code, and Go for The Code—which introduce initial consonant sounds. In addition, Beyond The Code provides a comprehension component introducing basic comprehension skills with phonetically controlled stories. You'll find product information here.

Montessori Reading is a beginning reading and writing program for elementary aged children. This series of books introduce phonetic letter sounds, phonogram combinations, reading simple sentences, and reading and writing words that name everyday objects, animals, etc. A teaching guide and a child's journal are included.

A Reason For® Spelling combines the latest research on how children learn to spell with all the strengths of traditional programs. It teaches highfrequency base words, plus hundreds of other word forms. Values-based stories set the theme each week and help make spelling fun. You'll find product information about A Reason For® Spelling here.

Beautiful Feet Books publishes Rea Berg's "History Through Literature" study guides. They offer fine children's literature, including the D'Aulaire biographies and Genevieve Foster's "World" titles. This is a great resource for anyone wishing to utilize an approach that studies history through literature.

Happy Phonics uses games to teach early reading skills. Simple yet entertaining and educational, these phonics games are printed on colorful, sturdy cardstock ready to cut out. Included is a mother-friendly guidebook which contains details on how to teach phonics and reading, how to pronounce and teach the phonics sounds, how to make your own simple beginning readers, and step-by-step teaching information for each phonics sound. Happy Phonics covers beginning to advanced phonics.

Grades K-4. Each 120 page book contains worksheets and has selected activities that cover the major math standards. Each page outlines the grade level, materials needed, settings, learning experiences, and are based on NCTM Standards.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature is a fully integrated language arts program that teaches grammar, reading, spelling, vocabulary, writing mechanics, creative writing, thinking skills and more.