Educational Links

Educational Links

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The following sites were chosen to accommodate a wide variety of educational subjects. These sites are in random order, so look carefully to find your interests. Courtesy of Kozminski. Enjoy!!!

http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/chapters/KML.html
A series showing the events and rituals characterizing the
life of a "typical" tribal African from birth through initiation,
leadership and death. It is the most interesting part of the
University of Iowa's "Art and Life in Africa"

(http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/index.html)

http://www.teachersfirst.com/cnt-curr.htm
A site with links to a large number of magazines and newspapers,
beginning with an annotated selection of special editions for kids
(e.g., The New York Times Learning Network, Time for Kids.)

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/
This is a natural place to look for maps, since classroom walls have
been decorated with National Geographic maps for years.
And, it is as good as it should be, with fine maps of every type, not
excluding star charts.
And helpfully, there is a full collection of excellent black-and-white
printable for duplication and use at students' desks.

http://www.sirs.com/tree/tree.htm
Here you will find a research guide, geared towards
teachers and librarians, to research on the web. Takes
you through 10 different subject categories, with
spotlighted topics available each month.

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath/
How do numbers affect every day decisions? A great
intro. and explanation here--just what to say when your
students complain that they'll "never use any of this
stuff anyway!" This site, produced by Annenberg, begs
to differ. You'll find lessons on determining probability
for the stock market and lotto, population growth, and
even home decorating. Hey, maybe this math stuff is
useful after all!
For homeschoolers who don't mind a bit of a messy
kitchen, look here as well for the lesson on Cooking
By Numbers. A lot of fun--and guess what? Students
will also learn about multiplication, ratios, and proportions,
as they go.

http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons
Geared to middle school students, there are at least
30 shareware math lessons available here, including
integers, percent, number theory, circumference,and
others. Each lesson has at least 3 examples and 5
problems, with challenge problems available with
mastery of the concepts. These lessons provide
detailed, excellent instruction, with a problem -
solving approach.

Math Games and Contests:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/contst.htm
For kids.
Go ahead! Play games and win contests at the same time.
Hey, did you know you are learning at the same time?
Pretty cool, huh. License Plate Math, Algebra, and
Number Properties may all be accessed here.

http://www.discovery.com/stories/technology/fractals/fractals.html
High school level.
Here you'll find Discovery Channel's Online site about
fractals, and it is fascinating. For fractal fiends, quite
sophisticated. You can listen to fractal music compositions
with RealAudio (under The Sound of Chaos), create
your own fractal music, or dive into a fractal image.
High school high art & math--cool.

Algebra One-on-One
http://sheppardsoftware.com/teachers.htm
Yes, the software here really is free. Registered
versions are available free of cost to teachers and
schools by request. Otherwise, shareware versions
are available to download at this site. Praise and
comments for the algebra program are also
posted.

Create an Online Newsletter for your Student Activity!
Highwired.Net, the world's largest online student publishing service
announces the Student Activities Site Builder, a revolutionary online
publishing tool for student activities. With this new tool, student
groups create their own online newsletter to communicate officer,
calendar and event information. And, chapters of Highwired.Net's
National Partners receive direct information from national
organization headquarters right on their newsletters! Visit today to
find out more!
http://www.highwired.net/activities
Education and the gifted child:
Gifted children often require special approaches
to meet their educational needs and potentials.
Education Week's current newsletter for educators
offers several resources and articles on many of
those needs and situations involved in teaching the
gifted child.

http://www.edweek.org/context/hotlist/gifted.htm
Also check into the back issues available on the same
topic. Links are provided to the Educational Program
for Gifted Youth(EPGY) at Stanford University, as
well as to the Educational Information and Resource
Center (ERIC) Digest on gifted education. A good
starting point.
For homeschooling gifted children, an extensive and
annotated bibliography can be found at:

http://members.aol.com/discanner/gifthome.html
Lastly in this section, you may wish to explore
Odyssey of the Mind, or OM. Now is a good time
to research or review the OM program, and be
prepared for next year's participation. Teams,
from kindergarten to college, approach problem-
solving in a unique and creative manner. Teams
compete regionally; winners go on to national, and
then international competitions. OM provides a
unique and wonderful challenge to involve the gifted
student.

Cinco de Mayo:
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listcincodem.html
A one-stop listing of Cinco de Mayo sites, compiled by
teacher Nancy Ramirez of Craig High School in Janesville,
WI. She has organized her site to include the history
of Cinco de Mayo, recipes to fit the day, and
traditional Mexican arts and crafts activities.

Spanish Lessons on the web:
First off, an English to Spanish/Spanish to English
dictionary:

http://grub01.physto.se/~calcato/espanol.html
Type in the word you want to know, and this program
will translate it for you. Contains around 29,000
words.

http://www.studyspanish.com/
Learn Spanish: This site has free online tutorials
in Spanish, to use separately or to incorporate
into your own Spanish classes. It also offers a free
grading program. A Vocabulary section offers
interactive games, while you can find lessons on
Spanish culture with Cultural Notes. Finally,
access an Online Translator, teacher info, and
Spanish lesson links.
Lessons on the works of poet Robert Browning,
featured in this week's Biography:

http://facweb.stvincent.edu/Academics/English/EL319/browning.htm
Here you will find an academic critique of his works, along
with provocative essay questions. For the serious literary
student, high school level.

A fun Cinco de Mayo lesson for kids, culminating in
making quesadillas to celebrate.
http://www.asfsa.org/teachers/lessons/cinco96.htm

Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies
http://www.mathgoodies.com/
This website is a huge math resource. Features include:

Interactive Math Lessons
http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/

Puzzles
http://www.mathgoodies.com/puzzles/

Math Image Library
http://www.mathgoodies.com/math_image_library/default.shtm

Calculators
http://www.mathgoodies.com/resources/

A Deeper Shade of History
http://www.ai.mit.edu/~isbell/HFh/black/bhist.html
From the Black History Database you can search for interesting
facts about Black History by month or year, or you can do a
keyword search for a particular topic.

http://www.accessexcellence.org/atg-bin/pphtml/ae/atg/
index.pphtml
This site is for and by science teachers. It includes teaching
strategies and activities organized around the Content
Standards of the National Science Educational Standards
(NSES). It is easily navigated, with an activities search, as
well as an activities exchange index.
The Standards section can be accessed separately from
the activities, and is organized by concepts, processes,
and student understanding principles. To make these
standards concrete and relevant however, try out the
numerous activities available. Teacher-authored, they are
tried and true, and highly creative. For instance, under
the New Activities section: the Heart Engineering Activity,
by teacher Jeff Dodds, creates a new heart, based on
the human heart, but with anatomical variations. Or
another lesson, How Much Land Does It Take To Produce
Your Food, by David Masterma. Teacher lounge available
for questions and exchange, and science teachers can
submit their own lessons for consideration.

Virtual Field Trips:
http://www.field-guides.com
This is a finely detailed site geared mostly to middle
school students, though a few new sites are popping up
for elementary students. Each field trip comes equipped
with a lesson plan, and includes Terms To Learn, and
Concepts. In the field trip Fierce Creatures, some
terms to learn are arthropods, boreal forests,
metabolic, malaria, and parasites. A concept in the same
section is How Does Malaria Infect a Human?
Other field trips include Hurricanes, and Natural
Wonders of the World. The write-ups and factoids
are very readable; several links are provided for
further research at each stop.

The Academy Curriculum Exchange:
http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/sci/inter.html
A large collection of science (and every other major subject)
"mini-lessons", though in most cases I did not find them
to be miniaturized. Most would fill a regular class slot.
The instructive units list purpose, objectives, resources,
and materials needed. Divided into 3 levels: elementary,
intermediate, and high school. Diverse and coherent
lessons.

Reeko's Mad Science Lab:
http://www.flash.net/~spartech/ReekoScience/ReekoIndex.htm
My 7 1/2 year old daughter always wants to do what she
calls "mad science experiments"--anything that bubbles,
fizzes, or pops. Reeko's Mad Science Lab is just the
place to find such experiments. How about building a
volcano? Also available here are Weird Science Questions,
such as How do chickens sit on their eggs without
breaking them? Lots of experiments, lots of fun, and
written in kidspeak so they don't even know they are
doing schoolwork!

Safe Search Engines for Kids
We all have concerns about the issue of safety
on the internet for children and teens.
The following sites are specifically designed and
regularly monitored for safe use by kids in both the
classroom and at home:
http://www.studentsurf.net
http://www.searchopolis.com
http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/kids.html
http://www.stengel.net/srkid.htm

http://www.funbrain.com
This site offers a wealth of activities, but the reason
it is featured here today is for its ambitious Quiz Lab,
replete with Lounge, for teachers. After an initial sign-up
(simple and short, requiring only teacher's name, email,
and school's name and address), you are assigned a password
to access quizzes. You can print out any of these tests,
or have the Quiz Lab mark and record the quizzes for you.
It will also keep track of student scores.
All grades. All subjects (math,science,spelling,language
arts, social studies, computer use, internet safety, music).
Fairly comprehensive, practical and applicable to subject.

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html
The above site is supplied by the SCORE Project (Schools of
California Online Resources For Education). It provides
cyberguides for teachers, with numerous student activities
to choose from. Its units are based on the California
Language Arts Content Standards, and they address the
core literature program.
The units are both wonderfully creative and instructional, and
you can choose one or several activities to go with each
story. The grade levels are varied. A very worthwhile site.

Back to http://www.funbrain.com
This time, click on games and activities for kids. Here you
will find challenging, but very fun, games for kids, arranged
by subject 1st, then level of difficulty. The games are
all free, over 30 in all, in 8 different subject areas. Try
out Grammar Gorillas, with 2 levels, to identify parts of
a sentence. Or Math Baseball, with 4 levels of difficulty,
and a special algebra challenge. Hits and runs are scored
based on answers and level. Learn how to read music
(4 levels) with The Piano Player, or take a geography
turn, test your knowledge of nations and capitals, with
Where Is That? Many more games, all educational and
appropriate, comparable to software that costs much
more than this free site.

We've added an exceptional set of elementary mathematics lessons. These
lessons all won Presidential Excellence in Teaching awards in a program
administered by the National Science Foundation. The lessons are listed
on TeachersFirst's mathematics lessons page:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/lesn-math.htm

Spring fever makes everyone want to be outdoors. How about climbing
Mount Everest!?! We've found a site that will let your students listen
in as two different teams ascend this highest mountain. There are also
daily written updates, as well as reports on other scheduled
expeditions. Check it out in this week's Hot Topics:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/hot.htm

This week we will also be expanding our ADHD listings to include
additional resources for classroom teachers. These listings are
available from the TeachersFirst Professional Resources matrix:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/prof.htm

We've started sliding into the party season, and TeachersFirst has added
a Shakespearean Feast! It's a recipe-laden lesson suitable for any study
of the Renaissance or Shakespeare. You can even use it as a tie-in to
the new film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. You can get there
from the TeachersFirst Shakespeare page:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/shakespr.htm (For additional recipes for
end-of-the-year parties, check out the recipes page that is part of the
TeachersFirst Teacher's Lounge section:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/lounge.htm .)

Summer e-mail?
Do we have your summer e-mail address? If you would like to continue
receiving TeachersFirst Updates over the summer, please be sure to
submit a "summer e-mail address." Just use the submission form on the
TeachersFirst opening screen: http://www.teachersfirst.com . We'll look
forward to keeping in touch!

Finally, the recent events in Littleton, Colorado have pointed out the
need for an ongoing dialogue on the issues surrounding school violence:
prevention, crisis management, and coping. In the weeks ahead,
TeachersFirst will be meeting with the National Association of School
Psychologists and the National Alliance for School Safety. We hope to
create an on-line forum, complete with reactions and suggestions from
leading school psychologists. This section of TeachersFirst should be up
soon, but if you have comments, questions, or other issues that you'd
like to see us cover, we welcome your suggestions. Simply send an e-mail
to editor@teachersfirst.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Art Safari
http://artsafari.moma.org/
This site prompts kids to explore paintings and sculptures from the Museum
of Modern Art. A series of questions guides children to write about what
they see. Then, kids are encouraged create and submit their own art.
Grade Level: Elementary
Content Area: Arts (Visual Arts), English (Writing)

CalPhotos
http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/
This UC Berkeley Digital Library Photo Collection includes over
35,000 images of California plants and habitats, animals, and Department of
Water natural resources. Browse or search by common or scientific names, by
location or subject (natural resources), or even by predominant plant
color.
Grade Level: Elementary, Middle School, High School,
College, Adult/Professional
Content Area: Science (Life Science)

Catalyst
http://depts.washington.edu/catalyst/home.html
This "integrated collection of resources, training, tools, templates, and
support" was created by the University of Washington to help faculty use
educational technology. Along with suggestions and advice for integrating
technology into curriculum, there are instructor profiles and practical
"how to" guides for everything from creating a course Web site to working
with digital images. Though many of the tools are specifically for UW
staff, there is plenty here for the rest of us.
Grade Level: College, Adult/Professional
Content Area: Education (Educational Technology,

Learning Planet
http://www.learningplanet.com
Learning Planet provides interactive Shockwave games to enhance learning
for kids preschool to sixth grade. Kids will enjoy these counting,
ordering, alphabet, and math games.
Grade Level: Early Childhood, Elementary
Content Area: Mathematics (Arithmetic)

Our Gold Rush Community
http://www.ncgold.com/goldrushtown/
Created by students and staff of Deer Creek School in Nevada City, this web
site tells about the rich gold rush history of this California community.
Students can explore the people, community, mining, and transportation of
the Gold Rush era as well as view photos and a timeline. This is an
outstanding example of collaborative learning, coordinated by teacher C.
Mendenhall.
Grade Level: Elementary, Middle School
Content Area: History & Social Studies (California History)

http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/math/
This is a very nice math site with a wide variety of appoach to all
levels of K-12 education.

Ewe 2: A Case Study
http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/ewe2/
This inquiry-oriented activity "places students in the position to ask
great questions, seek out the answers, develop new relationships, and take
a stand on a current hot issue: cloning. " Keith Nuthall, Tom March, and a
team of San Diego County worked together to develop this Case Study
approach to WebQuests. Complete with warm-up activites, instructions for
teachers, forums, and grading rubrics, the site includes everything you'll
need to get started. Plan about three weeks for the full case or pick
components that fit your curriculum.
Grade Level: High School
Content Area: Science (Life Science)
Application type: Activity, Project

Database Central
http://baobabcomputing.com/databasecentral/index.shtml
The Internet's "largest FREE collection of hand - picked database
resources" features regularly updated links to tutorials, articles,
reviews, books, products, and more. From Baobab Computing.
Grade Level: College, Adult/Professional
Content Area: Vocational Education (Computers),
Science (Computer Science)

The Drama Teacher's Resource Room
http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/erachi
This site includes lesson plans, production information, links, and more.
Grade Level: Elementary, Middle School, High School
Content Area: Arts (Performing Arts)

Tennessee Bob's Famous French Links
http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html
This guide links to over 7000 French language sites and French educational
sites. Compiled by Bob Peckham, University of Tennessee-Martin.
Grade Level: Middle School, High School
Content Area: Foreign Language (French)

Columbine High School Tragedy Links
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listcolumbinjo.html
This hotlist consolodates links related to the Littleton, Colorado
shootings and school violence prevention.
Grade Level: High School, Adult/Professional
Content Area: History & Social Studies (Current Events),
Education (Counseling)

The LSU Libraries
Internet Subject Guides
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/weblio.html

This is a long list of links to internet subjects. Categorized by
Business, Engineering, Government, Humanities, Science, and
Social Science and run by the Louisiana State University. It
has a great list of links to other internet sources, and many
good links to Louisiana resources.

The Space Place
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/muses1.htm
This site shows you how to build a mini planet rover. The
Japanese are sending a spacecraft to Asteroid 4660 Nerseus in
2002. With the spacecraft will be a little rover just a couple of
inches high - the "nanorover" built by the Jet Propulsion Lab.
This site gives instructions on how to build one from styrofoam
meat trays and a balloon - great!

KOSOVO WEB SITE
http://www.homeworkcentral.com/Top8/spotlight/kosovo/

The Math Forum
Internet Mathematics Library
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/library/
You can search this large website by keyword, math topic, resource
topic, or education level.

EnglishCLUB
http://www.englishclub.net/teachers/index.htm
This site provides classroom activities, lesson plans submitted by
teachers, classroom handouts, and a teacherís workshop.

WordCentral
http://www.wordcentral.com/
This website offers a Student Dictionary, a Daily Buzzword, plus games
like Build-Your-Own-Dictionary, Science Lab, and Computer Lab.

The History Channel
http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/index.html
The Classroom section of the History Channel website offers study
guides, a classroom calendar, ideas from other teachers, and several
exhibits.

Exploring Science in the Classroom
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/SPACEGRANT/class_acts/
This website features more than 25 hands-on science activities,
plus teacherís guides.

Space Science Institute: Curriculum Materials
http://www-ssi.colorado.edu/Education/ResourcesForEducators/
CurriculumMaterials/1.html
(This is a very long website address, you will probably have to
copy the address and paste it into your browser.)
This website offers downloadable curriculum for ìSolarscapes:
Sunspots and Rotationî, and ìCassini Teacher Guideî.

inQuiry Almanack
http://www.fi.edu/qa99/qanda4.html
This monthly, online magazine from The Franklin Institute is for
inquiring minds. This monthís issue features a look at early
currency of the American colonies; ìEMF/X - Secondhand
Electrictyî, Silly Putty possibilities, and more.
You can access the inQuiry Almanack Archives from here:
http://www.fi.edu/qa96/archive.html

PBS TeacherSource
preK-12
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/

Your birthday in PI
http://www.facade.com/Fun/amiinpi/
This site will simply search through PI for any sequence of numbers
you want. It will then tell you where it occurs.

Violence among teens and in schools will be on many teachers' minds this
week. TeachersFirst's Guidance page has some new additions from the
American Psychological Association, the Centers for Disease Control, and
others. These include some resources which teens themselves can use. The
guidance page is available from the TeachersFirst Professional Content
Matrix - http://www.teachersfirst.com/prof.htm

Go fly a kite - or build one using one of the two resources we've listed
among this week's featured sites. These two international sites offer
lots of plans to help your students fashion something elegant that
flies! This week's featured sites also include a great Egyptian webquest
and a wonderful Sherlock Holmes site. The featured sites are at
http://www.teachersfirst.com/feature.htm

Owls can be fascinating - or so you'll believe once you finish with the
Owl Pages. Check out the pictures and explanations on the TeachersFirst
Earth Science pages, available from the TeachersFirst Content Matrix:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/matrix.htm

NATO is also in the news - as is the ongoing conflict in Kosovo. This
week's Hot Topics page has information on the NATO 50th Anniversary from
three different sources. TeachersFirst Hot Topics can be found at
http://www.teachersfirst.com/hot.htm Additional information on the
Kosovo conflict - including some new Serbian sources - is available at
http://www.teachersfirst.com/kosovo.htm

WWWebster Dictionary
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary

Dictionary.com
http://www.dictionary.com/

Biographical Dictionary
http://www.s9.com/biography/
This website features more than 25,000 biographies that you can search
by name, date, or keyword. There's also a teacher section:
http://www.s9.com/biography/ideas.html

A Basic Dictionary of American Sign Language Terms
http://www.masterstech-home.com/ASLDict.html
Scroll down toward the bottom of this page to access the basic sign
alphabet, numbers 1-10, and a few terms.

Little Explorers Picture Dictionary
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html
This dictionary is also available in French, German, Portuguese, and
Spanish.

Life Science Dictionary
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/pages/dictionary.html
Most of the terms on this site deal with biochemistry, biotechnology,
botany, cell biology and genetics. Thereís also some terms relating
to ecology, limnology, pharmacology, toxicology and medicine.

The Unofficial Smiley Dictionary
http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_286.html

Ancient Egypt Webquest
http://users.massed.net/~mdurant/AncientEgyptWebquest.htm
This website sends students on a quest that requires them to complete
a number of tasks to decode a secret message thatís written on the
inside Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen's burial mask.

Beat the Clock
Lesson in Time Management for Middle School Students
http://thechalkboard.com/Corporations/DayRunner/lessons/
Through four lesson plans, students will learn how to prioritize their
daily and weekly activities, and how to use a Month-In-View calendar
for long range planning. The emphasis in these lessons is scheduling
and completion of daily homework and long term projects. The lesson
plans are designed to be used in four 50-55 minute class periods or in
twelve 15-20 minute homeroom or "advisory" periods.

"Don't Let a Good Thing Go to Waste" and "An Ounce of Prevention"
Environmental Lesson Plans for Gades 2-5, 6-9
http://www.plasticbag.com/EDU/index.html
This web site starts off with a pop quiz, for you! Then you can order
the free lesson plan kits online by filling out a short web page form.
The kits include lesson plans, hands-on activities, and handouts.

You can also order a free Grime Fighters Earth Day Poster
http://www.plasticbag.com/EDU/posterorder.html

National Science Teachers Association
http://www.NSTA.org/

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) was founded in
1944, and it is the largest organization in the world committed to
promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning
for all.

NSTA provides many programs and services for science educators,
including awards, professional development workshops, and educational
tours. The NSTA website has links to state, national, and
international science education organizations, an on-line catalog of
publications, and two "discussion rooms" to foster interaction and
ongoing conversations about science education.

Science Resource Center
Grades 9-12
http://198.110.10.57/Chem/EastSciRes.html
Categories on this site include: Chemistry I and II, Life Science,
Biology II, and Chemistry Exams.

Physics Humor on the Web
http://www.cyberspc.mb.ca/~dcc/phys/humor.html
Just in case you don't find any lesson plans you like!

Early Elementary Lessons
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/mathscience/funexperiments/agesubject/
earlyelementary.html
(This is a long website address. So, copy the address and paste it
into your browser.)
Lesson plan categories on this site include: Biology, Chemistry, Earth
Science, Physical Science, and Technology.
Here's the entire "I have a Dream" speech online:
http://web66.coled.umn.edu/new/MLK/MLK.html

For younger students here's "A Teeny, Tiny Book About Martin Luther
King, Jr." that can be printed, colored, and stapled.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/6459/mlk.html

Two printable MLK worksheets:
http://www.schoolexpress.com/free/socialstudies/MLK/index.html

Here's an online article by Arun Kumar Tripathi titled "The Internet
in Education."
http://www.gsh.org/wce/archives/tripathi.htm

Harnessing the Power of the Web
http://www.gsn.org/web/
First added to Blue Web'n in 1995, this tutorial shows K-12 teachers how to
harness the power of the World Wide Web for classroom use.
Grade Level: Adult/Professional
Content Area: Education (Educational Technology),
Technology (Internet, Web Development)

Cinema: How Are Hollywood Films Made?
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/cinema
Inspired by programs from the American Cinema video series in the
Annenberg/CPB Multimedia Collection, "Cinema" explores the creative process
of filmmaking from the screenwriter's words to the editor's final cut.
Includes interactive activities from writing dialogue for a scene to
managing the production of a film.
Grade Level: Middle School, High School
Content Area: Arts (Visual Arts, Performing Arts)

The Evergreen Project Adventures
http://www.mobot.org/MBGnet
This attractive site features What's It Like Where You Live? (resources on
biomes and aquatic ecosystems for students in grades 4 and up), Partners
For Growing (plant investigations for primary students), and WebWorkShops
(online credit courses for teachers). Produced in collaboration with the
Missouri Botanical Garden.
Grade Level: Elementary, Adult/Professional
Content Area: Science (Environmental Studies, Life Science)

Waterford Press
http://www.waterfordpress.com
This site offers free print-based instructional materials to support
elementary natural science curriculum.
Grade Level: Elementary, Middle School
Content Area: Science (Life Science, Earth Science)

The Role of American Women in World War II
http://www.muscanet.com/~mather
In this WebQuest, students examine the various roles of women in WWII,
research the Internet, interview a WWII survivor, then create and publish
an oral history. Includes national social studies curriculum standards.
Grade Level: High School
Content Area: History & Social Studies (World History,
United States History)

KidsConnect
http://www.ala.org/ICONN/AskKC.html
K-12 students looking for information on the Internet for a report or
project can use KidsConnect to get help from a volunteer librarian, usually
within a few days. From the American Association of School Librarians
(AASL), a division of the American Library Association.
Grade Level: Elementary, Middle School, High School
Content Area: Community Interest (Reference Desk)

Discovery Channel School
Lesson Plans
Grades K-12
http://www.discoveryschool.com/lessonplans/index.html
The Discovery Channel School website offers a number of special
features, and web links; plus lesson plans in the following
categories:

    Ancient History
    Animals
    Astronomy
    Earth Science
    Economics
    Human Body
    Literature
    Life Science
    Oceans
    Physical Science
    Professional Development
    Space Science
    Technology
    US History
    World History

Guide to Grammar and Writing
http://cctc.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/grammar.htm
Prepared by Professor of English/Humanities Charles Darling for
English courses at Capital Community-Technical College, this
website offers Interactive Quizzes; Forms of Communication (sample
letters, memos, resumes, etc.); Eminent Quotables; and more.

You can find the Internet Library at: http://www.ipl.org

Their mission statement is at http://www.ipl.org/about/newmission.html
and in part quoted below.

A statement (and page of links) on organizing the internet are at
http://www.ipl.org/svcs/organizing.html , within their "Especially For
Librarians" section.

The online texts collection is at http://www.ipl.org/reading/books/

The reference center is http://www.ipl.org/ref/

Online literary criticism is at http://www.ipl.org/ref/litcrit/. This is
one area where they seem to go more for collecting external links than
supplying material directly. The Richard Wright page, at
http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litcrit.out.pl?au=wri-236 ,
is by no means as thorough as eCUIP's Wright resources, but does provide
some interesting presentational ideas.

Also pointing to other sites is the new media fiction collection
http://www.ipl.org/reading/nmf/

Magazines & journals, and newspapers, respectively at
http://www.ipl.org/reading/serials/ and
http://www.ipl.org/reading/news/.

The Exploratorium Science Snacks
http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/snackintro.html
Science Snacks are miniature versions of some the most popular
exhibits at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Each of the Snacks
includes instructions, advice, and helpful hints.

Free Worksheets
http://schoolexpress.com/free/index.html
Worksheet categories are: Geography; Math; Science; Sentences &
Story Writing; and Miscellaneous.

Worksheets
http://www.tut-world.com/
Worksheet categories on this website are English, Math, and
Science. To view and print the worksheet, just choose the subject
and the standard you want, then click on the colored ball.

K-6 Math Worksheets
http://www.mathgen.com/free.htm
This site offers 15 work and answer sheets.

Media Builder
http://www.mediabuilder.com/index.html
If you need fonts, icons, banners, graphics, scripts, or
animations for your school's website, youíre going to have a field
day at this website! There's free online tools, images, fonts,
and lots of features that are updated daily.

Bring it to life with Oska DeskMate.
Oska is an interactive character that lives
and plays on your Windows 95/98 desktop.
!!FREE!! DOWNLOAD NOW !!FREE!!
http://www.oska.com/oska0066.htm
Go on. Have Some Fun

THE REFERENCE DESK

Science Toys You Can Make with Your Kids
http://www.netroglycerine.com/scitoys/scitoys/about.html
Topics on this website include: Magnetism; Radio; and
Thermodynamics.

Science Experiments
http://www.brighterkids.com/experiment.html
This site contains more than 50 experiments and demonstrations,
including: Levers Forever; Build a Laser Communicator; Kitchen
Science; Make an Electroscope; and Fire Underwater.

Fun Science Gallery
http://www.funsci.com/
Experiments on this site include: From Lenses to Optical
Instruments; A Telescope; A Sidereal Indicator; A Stereoscope; The
Sky in a Room; and Folk Toys.

Science Activities
Grades K-3
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7997/scicrafts.htm
This website lists more than 10 experiments, including: Raisin
Elevators; Ice Cube Experiment; Explosions; and Eggs in a Bottle.

Lesson Plans for Your English Class
Grades 6-12
http://www.net-language.com/find3.htm
Produced by The New York Times, you can search the lesson plan
archives, or have a lesson plan e-mailed to you daily.

Find Your Representatives In Congress And Your State Legislature
http://congress.nw.dc.us/governet/search.html
This website lets you search for your representatives alphabetically
or by zip code.

TeachersFirst has added a page of attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder resources to our collection of professional listings. We plan
to add to this introductory information in the weeks to come, but this
first set provides the basics for teachers who may need help figuring
out what the appropriate steps are in working with students who have
this disorder. Like all TeachersFirst professional resources, the ADHD
page is available from the Professional Resources Matrix -
www.teachersfirst.com/prof.htm. Many of these topics have been expanded
in the past few weeks. Take a look!

Many of you have written asking how your classes can help refugees from
the strife in Kosovo, or even how you can get in touch with schools and
students in the region. TeachersFirst has posted information from
leading refugee agencies that are desperately seeking support for their
efforts in the area. We will continue to redouble our efforts in this
area, as well as our ongoing listings of web resources related to the
conflict. The refugee agency information can be found at
www.teachersfirst.com/kosovo.htm - the other Kosovo listings appear on
our Hot Topics page: www.teachersfirst.com/hot.htm

If spring is here...can summer be too far behind? TeachersFirst is
planning a special set of summer resources for both teachers and
families. Please let us know if there are particular web resources that
you'd like to have - or that you'd like your students to have - this
summer. Just send e-mail to editor@teachersfirst.com.

We've recently made some improvements to TeachersFirst's search
capabilities. If you prefer this method to our content matrix, try the
new search engine on the classroom resources page -
www.teachersfirst.com/class.htm

The survey results are in! Our thanks to all of you who responded to our
recent users' survey. More than 1,400 people responded to our questions.
As promised, we have posted the results on the site so that you can see
how our users responded. For the most part, you've all said that we're
on the right track, so we'll keep trying to improve TeachersFirst's
resources. Since some of you have asked for it, we will also begin
investigating bulletin board and chat options. The results are posted at
www.teachersfirst.com/survey-res.htm

We've made the news! WJLA-TV, the Washington, DC ABC affiliate, featured
TeachersFirst in their evening newscast earlier this week. If you'd like
a peek at their story, check out the page from the WJLA web site,
accessible at www.teachersfirst.com/wjla.htm

A Beginner's Guide to the Balkans
http://www.abcnews.com/sections/world/balkans/
This ABC News Special Report provides an overview and context for current
events in the Balkans. The site includes an interactive map, timeline, list
of Who's Who, Q&A, and more. We first added this site to Blue Web'n in
August, but it seems appropriate to feature it again.

If you are looking for a way to get involved, see the Emergency Kits for
Kosovars Project from the American Friends Service Committee
(http://www.afsc.org/emap/kosemerg.htm).

Pilkey's Website of Fun
http://www.pilkey.com/
Children's author, Dav Pilkey, aka Sue Denim, has a unique and amusing
website about himself and his stories. Also included is a section on jokes,
interactive acitivies that include printable coloring sheets and games, and
a section for teachers on how to use Dav's site as a teaching tool.
Grade Level: Early Childhood, Elementary
Content Area: English (Literature, Reading), Arts (Visual Arts)

Satellites
http://www.thetech.org/exhibits_events/online/satellite/
Learn the what, why and how of man-made satellites, then build one of three
Java-based satellites with the interactive construction sets. Includes
information about Communications, Earth Remote Sensing, Weather, Global
Positioning, and gallery lesson plans. From the Tech Museum of Innovation
in San Jose, California.
Grade Level: Middle School, High School
Content Area: Science (Astronomy / Space, Earth Science), Science
(Physics)

The Community Tool Box
http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu
The Community Tool Box contains thousands of pages of how-to material and
tools on community health and development. There are sections on everything
from strategic planning to writing brochures. Each of the over 100 sections
contains information on the topic, checklists, links to useful information,
examples, and information that can be transferred to overheads for training
purposes. In addition, links to related websites included.
Grade Level: Adult/Professional
Content Area: Community Interest (Health)

thunk.com
http://www.thunk.com/
Thunk.com presents kids with a fun and educational web based activity where
they make their own secret messages. Kids also learn about secret codes
cryptography and how secret codes are used in real life.
Grade Level: Elementary
Content Area: Science (Computer Science)

http://www.poets.org/lit/listen.htm
Listening Booth
Several dozen poets are represented here in print and with Real
Audio clips of their work. African American poets including
Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes and Claude McKay
are included.

Intel in Education
Grades K-12
http://www.intel.com/education/
This resource from Intel (the Pentium Processor people),
includes:

How Transistors Work
http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/
An interactive site where you can explore how the building blocks
of the microprocessor works.

Resources and Tools
http://www.intel.com/education/k12/resources/index.htm
This section includes "The Journey Inside: The Computer", and
lesson plans. Lesson plans include science, math, and using
technology.

E-Rate
http://www.intel.com/education/erate/INDEX.HTM
Information on a government program for elementary, secondary
schools, and public libraries to save up to 90 percent off the
cost of building a network, getting connected to the Internet,
and purchasing telephone services.

Schoolwork.ugh
Grades 7-12
http://www.schoolwork.org/
Here's a searchable, categorized homework resource. Categories
include: Art, Biography, Government, Math, Newspapers, Science,
and more.

Integrating Technology into the Classroom
Grades K-12
http://ericir.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/Ed_Tech/
Lesson plans at this AskERIC Educational Technology page include:
Computer Writing Lesson, Computer Olympics, and "Let Me Tell You
About My State!"

Teaching and Learning With Technology
Grades K-12
http://www.rockyview.ab.ca/bpeak/galileo/tlt/tlt.html
This Canada website provides technology projects for all grades.

Search for Giant Squid
http://partners.si.edu/squid/
This is an interesting website for information about Giant Squid
and a recent New Zealand expedition. For a quick start, you can
go directly to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section:
http://partners.si.edu/squid/ArchiteuthisFAQ.html

Watauga High School
Boone, North Carolina
http://www.ced.appstate.edu/whs/

Submitted by: Carolina Elliott, Special Ed Teacher
This is a terrific school site, with links to school sports, News,
Weather & Events, Career Information, College Information, and
links to programs and web sites used to make the site.
http://www.globalschoolhouse.org/join/promotions/kaleidoscope.html

The Center for Science Education
at the UC Berkeley Space Science Laboratory
Grades K-12
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/

This site is a terrific resource! If you're looking for lesson
plans, you can access the Lesson List from here:
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segway/master.html

You can visit The Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum:
http://sunearth.ssl.berkeley.edu/

for Classroom Activities, NASA Missions, Images, etc.
There's also a link for help building your own web-based lesson
plans:
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/lessons/build.html

American Association of School Librarians
http://www.ala.org/aasl/
For librarians and media specialists, this site contains news,
events, and lots of resources.

Miscellaneous
Grades K-5
http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/misc/elem.html
This website offers links to more than 35 lesson plans like: Art
and Art Appreciation for Young Children (K-2); Digestion
Experiment (5-6); Learning to Spell Through Cooperation - The
Alphabet Game (3-6); and Flexible Thinking Using Squiggle Art
(K-5).

Miscellaneous
Grades 6-8
http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/misc/inter.html
This page provides 25 lesson miscellaneous plan, including:
Assorted Creative Thinking Activities (4-12); "Egg Baby" Parenting
(8); and Cooperation Activity (6-12).

Miscellaneous
Grades 9-12
http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/misc/high.html
Thereís 14 lesson plans on this website, including: What to do
between AP Exams and Semester Finals (10-12); Parenting Activity,
"Cool Parent vs. Messed- Up Parent" (7-12); and "Beat the Pro",
fun review activity (6-12).

SandlotScience.com
Opitcal Illusions
Grades
http://www.sandlotscience.com/
Judi Hofemann -- third grade teacher at Centennial School in
Oregon -- says this about the Sandlot Science website:
"Here is a great site that my kids love. It has so many math
and science activities that stretch the mind and make them think
in different ways. It is very popular in my 3rd grade class!
" (It is also popular with the teacher ) "
There's a number of "Do-It-Yourself" projects on this site that
you can print and build. Just look for the "gear" icon.