NetBabies: Using the Internet



NetBabies: Using the Internet

With Grades K-2-An Update

Spring, 2010

Contact Person: Dee Davis

Teacher/Librarian, Xavier High School

(Note: If you would like to tell us about a great site on the Internet to add to this list please e-mail Dee at ddavis@cr-cath.pvt.k12.ia.us. We also welcome any comments or suggestions.)

Go right to “Net Baby” Links

“There are currently more than 230 million websites and billions of individual Web pages.” (USA Today, 12/9/09, pg. 2B)

“30,000 hours of new footage is added every day on YouTube.” (10/22/09, KDAT radio station, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

The last time I did this presentation was in the fall of 2001. As you can imagine many things have changed in almost a decade. According to the latest figures a huge percentage of students K-12 have a presence on the Web, not just as users, but as Web developers, members of Web 2.0 communities and as full-blown cyber citizens. Today’s world is a very small place compared to a little less than a generation ago, when computers and the Internet were first introduced in our schools. This presentation is meant to aid lower elementary teachers in their quest to use the Web/Web 2.0 with their students and make that integration as seamless in your curriculum as the use of the Web is to even our youngest children.

Back in 2000 I heard a great story to illustrate Web use that a first grade teacher shared with a conference group. She asked her students on the first day of class who could spell his/her own name. Several hands were proudly raised. The teacher selected one little girl and asked her name. The young lady replied, “Marie”.

“Okay, Marie. Please spell your name for us.”

“M-A-R-I-E at .”

Today, not only do many of your students have e-mail addresses to connect to friends and family, they also have cell phones, pagers, Leap Frog hardware/software, Wii’s, and much more.

I can’t imagine any lower elementary administrator/teacher asking this query today, however, we’ll address the question of how much do young children today really use today’s technology and, in particular, the Internet. Elizabeth Haynes, a faculty member at the School of Library and Information Science at U. of Southern Mississippi, wrote a very telling article in the Jan./Feb., 2010, Library Media Connection(pgs. 10-11) about the “Class of 2022”. Ms. Haynes aggregated some statistics and facts about what today’s kindergartners can expect to be exposed to in an average home. (These articles are listed in the bibliography at the end of the first part of this presentation.)

*Some have never seen a videocassette

*Many live in homes with no land line

phone.

*More than 1/3 of them have a TV in

their own room.

*At least 25% of them have used a

computer on a typical day.

*80% of them have at least one

computer at home.

*They can, and do, use a mouse and

easily navigate on a computer

to find what they need or want.

*They can use a remote to operate TV’s

or other media players. They can

load CD’s, DVD’s, etc.

*A few have their own cell phone.

*Reading aloud/being read to is still

valued by parents and children.

*Many have of their own books. (print

or e-books?-Dee’s addition)

*They love music.

*Almost 20% have played a console or

hand-held video game. More have

played games on a computer.

*They expect their toys to do something.

(Please note the above figures were taken from surveys taken in 2007.)

I think by looking at the above stats we can see that technology is an integral part of an average student’s regimen, and, even more so, for our special needs populations.

In other words, even our very young children can be categorized as “Digital Natives”. Does this mean that they need no guidance or direction as they use the technology that is available? Of course not!

It is imperative that parents and educators very closely monitor how and why students use technology and the Internet. Children at this age benefit most from using the technology with an entire class. The younger we start making students aware of the rules of netiquette, ethical usage, age appropriateness, relevance of information, etc., the better off our students are as they progress to grade 12.

Is there evidence that professional organizations that support the young child are on-board with the use of technology? Absolutely! One prominent example of this would be the position statement put out by the NAEYC (National Assoc. for the Education of Young Children) in 1996. It’s title is “NAEYC Position Statement: Technology and Young Children-Ages Three through Eight”. It is found at and is positive in it’s enthusiasm for technology for our young ones when used in age-appropriate ways.

Another example is that of the ISTE technology standards for students (NET∙S) that start at the K-2 grade level. These standards first came out in 1997 and basically dealt with skills. They have been updated starting in 2007 and now have an emphasis on how educational technology will enhance our school and private lives.

The 6 NET∙S standards are:

1. Creativity and Innovation

2. Communication and Collaboration

3. Research and Information Fluency

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving

and Decision Making

5. Digital Citizenship

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

To integrate these standards you should purchase the book, National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Connecting Curriculum and Technology, 2nd edition. (This text can be found with other great information at )

The school branch (AASL) of the American Library Assoc. also has developed similar standards.(See “Just for Teachers” links.)

“21st Century Skills” is a large component of integrating the Internet for even our youngest students. Nationally the 21st century skills() are:

• Life & Career Skills

• Learning & Innovative Skills

• Core Subject & 21st Century Themes

• Information, Media & Technology

Skills

I am a teacher/librarian in the state of Iowa and we have interpreted these for our students as:

• Civic Literacy

• Employability Skills

• Financial Literacy

• Health Literacy

• Technology Literacy

Another piece of this puzzle has just been published in draft form by the Dept. of Education. It is our first look at the government initiative called “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology” that was introduced during the first part of March, 2010. Go to the following Web site to see this draft:

A reminder that at the end of the first part of this presentation there will be a list of current articles, books, etc., that would be good resources for you.

Some concepts to keep in mind when deciding to use the Web/Web 2.0 with our youngest students:

☺The mantra that is heard throughout the Catholic educational community that we “do so much more with less” really does not apply to technology. You are able to do more with more and please don’t confuse fiscal responsibility with “we can’t afford it”.

☺Rule of Thumb: If computers are more than 3 years old they will not run most current software without upgrades or replacement.

☺Infrastructure that is robust meets student goals and eliminates frustration for all constituencies.

☺You need the best “pipe” you can afford to get your Internet access. If you can’t afford a fast connection for your school it will be difficult for you to enjoy the many activities that will meet your educational goals.

☺Beware of vendors bearing gifts. Catholic schools can be a target for educational vendors who offer product at ridiculously low prices. This usually means that the new generation of the program is coming out and you may be stuck with no tech support, no training, etc. Know the questions to ask!

☺On-going staff development and training with available educational technology, software, online databases, the Web, etc., is ESSENTIAL for administrators, teachers and staff. For the money you spend it would be tragic for material not to be used because a school skimps on training.

☺Parents also need training about Internet usage when it comes to helping their children. The school is the best place to make sure that parents are welcomed to workshops where they see the best of what your school recommends for their children to use to be academically, socially and ethically successful.

☺Survey your parents on a regular basis as to what is available for their child at home. For example, if only 10% of your parents have computers at home it might be difficult to complete an assignment using Skype.

☺You live in an educational community that should have a climate that demonstrates the policy of “No Teacher Left Behind”. Please be supportive of one another’s efforts and think outside the box and your comfort zone to present meaningful, relevant and age-appropriate Web resources and activities for your K-2 curriculum. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at what you can do with your students.

Bibliography/Webliography

-American Association of School Libraries-Technology integration standards for students at:

-Bonk, Curtis J. The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA,2009.

-Builta, Vicki. “Experience the Library of Congress”, Library Media Connection, Jan./Feb., 2010. pgs. 50-52

-Deubel, Patricia. “Social Networking in Schools: Incentives for Participation”, T. H. E. Journal, 09/16/09, 4 pgs. Accessed at:

-Haynes, Elizabeth. “The Class of 2022: How Will We Meet Their Needs and Expectations”, Library Media Connection, Jan./Feb., 2010, pgs. 10-11.

-Palfrey and Gasser. Born Digital, Basic Books, New York, 2008.

-Toppo, Greg. “Plugged in but Tuned Out?”, USA Today, Jan. 20, 2010. (Survey of time spent by children with various media.)

-Toppo, Greg. “Kids’ Digital Day: Almost 8 Hours”, USA Today, Jan. 20, 2010.

-21st Century Skills-These basic skills are for all K-12 students. Check them out at:

Tips for Using the Web in a K-2 Setting

• Make sure your IT person is remembered at Christmas because you may need to touch base with them frequently to make sure plug-in’s are in place and that the Web site you want to use is running at optimum!

• Use of the Web for K-1 is probably going to happen in a classroom setting. You will be able to do some independent work by the time students are in 2nd grade.

• Make sure you have looked at the site thoroughly before you use it with students so that there are no surprises.

• At this grade level students have limited writing skills so you may want to use a Web site like VoiceThread where students can verbalize their questions or comments.

• Do not shy away from a Web resource like a Web Quest until you try it. Like any lesson you do it will take planning, but the results are well worth it.

• No one expects you to be using the Web all of the time. So try it with one lesson or whenever it would seem appropriate and go from there.

• You are the pivotal person in working with K-2 students using any Web resources, whether you are reading, asking questions, inputting questions, writing thank-you’s, etc.

• Your room needs a proper set-up for computer and Web use. My recommendation is to use a large screen TV and hook your computer into that. I think this is more versatile than a ceiling mounted video projection unit. When you start to use these Web sites you should have a color printer in your room.

• You need to try out using a computer lab with your students. Some students can handle this and some can’t. (Be aware: If you are asking them to access a Web site with sound and/or music you can go crazy listening to all that noise.)

• You need to prepare kids for general Web use by explaining basic skills like scrolling, not to click on “Ad’s”, tell someone if they see inappropriate things, cyber safety issues when they might apply/occur, netiquette, etc.

• At 2nd grade many students can handle a group project like a Web Quest.

• Educational games online can be great reinforcement for themes you are teaching. Make sure you can load any plug-ins you might need to make your games/Web sites work correctly.

• “Read aloud” is a very handy feature for K-2 kids on any Web site. You may want to try and stick with these sites.

• To filter or not to filter that is the question. If you get e-rate money you filter. You must be very careful in what you filter out. Filtering only works with words and not pictures.

The vast majority of these Web sites are free, some have a free section and a pay section, however, I have avoided any Web sites that are subscription only. A few very good general pre-school sites have been added to aid teachers of beginning Kindergarten.

|Activities, Puzzles, etc. |Animals, Insects & Fish |Arts & Crafts/Music |Authors |Character Ed./Values |

|Dinosaurs |Farm Fun |Fitness/Wellness |Just for Teachers |Kids & Computers |

|Language Arts/Reading |Math |Misc. Curriculum |Money Matters |Multicultural/Foreign Lang. |

|Online Story Time |Primary Source Docs |Religion |Reader's Theater/Drama |Safety |

|Science |Social Studies |Subject Directories |Virtual Field Trips/Cams |Web Projects/e-Pals |

Activities, Puzzles, etc.

*Apple Corps-A virtual Mr. Potato Head at:

*BBC Schools-An English site for kids ages 4-11 at:

*Berit’s Best Sites for Children at:

*Billy Bear’s Playground-Beware of ads otherwise a good site:

*Chateau Meddybemps-Activities galore plus a fun story collection at:

*Contractor’s Lesson Plans-Great lesson plans to help children learn about construction at:

*Coolplays-Great activities for very young at:

*Disney-Their goal is to sell Disney product, but their Web site is wonderful. Go exploring at:

*Edheads-Simple machine activities and more at:

*Enchanted Learning-This is one of the best!!! Many games, activities, explorations, etc. English, Spanish or French at:

*First Grade Back Packer-Excellent site for first graders at:

*Fun & Games from National Geographic at:

*Funology: Science of Having Fun-Great for parents and kids at:

*4 Kids-Great for cross-curricular investigations at:

*FunBrain-Terrific educational games. Click on age group 6-10 at:

*Fun School-A wonderful sites that starts with pre-school and the younger grades at:

*Games with Flash-A great site to explain plug-ins like the flash player at:

*Hello Kitty, the Party-Have a tea party and fun with Hello Kitty at:

*Jigsaw Puzzle Platinum at:

*Jigsaw Puzzles for Pre-School & Kindergarten at:

*-For very young children who will use later at:

*Kids Space-A kid’s view of the world at:

*Kindle Park-A learning playground for kids 3-6 yrs. at:

*Knowbie: Interactive Web Adventure-Games that need the Shockwave plug-in at:

*Learning Planet-Select activities and games by grade for PreK-6th at:

*Little Kids Games online at:

*McGuffie Ave. Gang-Interact with the McGuffie family at:

*Muppet World-A look at the Muppets and various activities at:

*NickJr.-This site is full of activities while getting young children ready for the MTV generation at:

*PBS Kids-Look anywhere you want on this site and find fantastic things many linked to the characters that appear on PBS kids programs at:

*Perpetual Preschool-One of THE sites to visit for preschool types of activities at:

*Professor Bubble’s Official Bubble Page at:

*Sesame Street Central-Activities and stories to read at:

*10 Minute Bed Time-All kinds of stuff to make at:

*Weekly Reader-Lots of things to do for kids PreK-6 grades at:

*Wicked4Kids-“Play, laugh, think and create at this web site that is using “wicked” like Harry Potter does at:

*Zini’s Activity Page-Activities and worksheets and lots more at:

*-A terrific site for learning games for toddlers to grade 3. You can choose by grade or age level at:

*Zoom School-One more segment of the terrific “Enchanted Learning” world at:

☼Back to the Index

Animals, Insects and Fish

*A to Z Animals on KBear at:

*Animal Facts, Quizzes, etc. at:

*Animal Group Names at:

*Animal Planet Web site that accompanies the TV channel at:

*Animalland-A site that down plays the brutal side of animal life at:

*Animals, Myths & Legends at:

*Arachnology-All about spiders at:

*Bagheera-An endangered species site specializing in big cats at:

*Bats, Bats, Everywhere-Great bat site for kids in grades K-6 at:

*Birds at the National Zoo at:

*Birds-How to teach kids bout birds at:

*Bugbios-A wonderful insect site at:

*Bugscope-A K-12 site for close-ups of our insect friends. You can also send in bugs you find and they will post its picture on the web site at:

*Butterflies & Moths of North America-All things butterfly at:

*Electronic Zoo-THE BEST site for young children to see pictures of animals, their habitats, and other information at:

*Endangered Animals in the U.S. at:

*Field Trip Earth-A look at the Earth’s animals at:

*Fish Link Central-Great fish facts and info on aquariums at:

*Froggy Page-Everything frog including the sounds various frogs make at:

*Frogland-Information on frogs and tips on taking care of a pet frog at:

*Koko’s Kids Club-The site for the gorillas that learn sign language and the place written about in Koko’s Kitten at:

*Kratt’s Creatures-The Web site for the PBS TV show at:

*Lincoln Park Zoo-A great zoo site to learn about animals at:

*Mrs. Jackson’s Morris Farm Alphabet Book-Go to a farm and see things from A to Z at:

*Monterey Bay Aquarium-Great web cams and a look at all kinds of ocean animals at:

*National Zoo-Our national zoo is connected to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC-Lots of great information and critter web cams at:

*Observing aquarium fish at:

*Ocean Link at:

*Penguins at Kidzone at:

*Puffy the Puffin’s Book of Fun Fish Facts at:

*Snakes & Reptiles at:

*Sounds of the World’s Animals-In the U.S. a pig says “oink”, what does it say in Japan or Germany? Several species represented at:

*Tetra Fish-Set up an aquatic environment and check out how to set up an aquarium at:

*Using Live Insects in the Elementary Classroom, K-3 at:

*Whale Time Kids Page-For grades K-6 on whales at:

*The Wild Ones-For kids ages 7-14 giving them opportunities for cooperative science activities about animals at:

*World Wildlife Federation-The world-wide organization that is trying to protect endangered species at:

*Worm World and Roach World-An absolutely spectacular site to help kids understand worms and roaches at:

*Zoom Whales at:

*Zoos:

-National Zoo at:

-Bronx Zoo at:

-Minneapolis Zoo at:

-San Diego Zoo at:

-Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, IA at:

-Nashville Zoo at:

-Oakland Zoo at:

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Arts & Crafts/Music

*Artslynx International Arts Resources at:

*Assoc. for the Advancement of Arts Education K-12 at:

*Cartoon template-This helps you make cartoons at:

* at:

*Craft recipes at:

*Craft recipes at:

*Crayola home page with lots of things to color at:

*Create a Cartoon with Disney Characters at:

*Creating Music for grades K-8 at:

*Disney Song Lyrics at:

*Edible Crafts at:

*Edible Play Dough-Several different recipes at:

*Eduweb: Art Adventures at:

*Elementary Art Lesson Site at:

*Global Show-n-Tell-Even the youngest student can share their art work here at:

*Illuminations K-12-Choose by grade level. From the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This site looks at art and math connections at:

*Incredible Art Dept. Favorite Lessons at:

*Instrument Encyclopedia at:

*Instruments in the Symphony at:

*Interactive Coloring Book with artist Kathy Haring at:

*Kididdles: Mojo’s Musical Museum-Lyrics to over 2,000 children’s songs at:

*Lyrics to Kids songs at:

*Mama Lisa’s World-Songs from all over the world at:

*Michael’s Kids’ Club-The Michael’s people give elementary teachers oodles of things to do with kids at:

*Music Lesson Plans for K-12 at:

*Niehs Kids’ Pages for Music at:

*Puppet Gallery at:

*Puppet Manipulation at:

*Sanford Art Adventures at:

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Authors

Note: In general all authors have a presence on the site of their individual book publishers, i.e., Random House, Scholastic, Harper, etc.

*Authors! Authors! At:

*Jan Brett-The best children’s author site on the Web. It is extremely child and teacher friendly at:

*Betsy Byars at:

*Beverly Cleary at:

*Bruce Coville at:

*Mary Engelbreit at: (Make sure you visit the “make & take” tab)

*Eric Carle at:

*Eric Carle Museum for Children’s Book Art at:

*Kevin Henkes at:

*Crockett Johnson-A look at the illustrator who worked in purple at:

*Jeff Kinney at:

*Laura Numeroff ‘s Web site at:

*Mary Pope Osborne at:

*Barbara Park and Junie B. Jones at:

*Bill Peet at:

*Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators at:

*Seussville at:

*Johanna Spyri-The author of Heidi that is based in Switzerland at:

*Chris Van Allsburg at:

*Rosemary Wells at:

*E. B. White the author of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little at:

*Laura Ingalls Wilder, frontier girl for grades K-6 at:

*Laura Ingalls Wilder web site at:

*Laura Ingalls Wilder site at the Herbert Hoover Museum at:

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Character Education/Values

*Berenstain Bears Home Page at:

*Bullying Web site-How to handle bullying in your school at:

*First Names and What They Mean at:

*Good Character Web site at:

*Teaching Tolerance-Official Web site of the magazine that is written for school children. Contains lesson plans, hidden bias tests, etc. at:

*Character Counts from the Josephson Institute: Center for Youth Ethics at:

☼Back to the Index

Dinosaurs

*Dino Directory-Choose a dinosaur by name or age at:

*Dino Resort at:

*Dino Sounds-Pick a dinosaur and hear how they might have sounded at:

*Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette-A great place to find out about dinosaurs at:

*Download a Dinosaur-This site is for K-8 and there are 15 dinos to download at:

*PreSchool Rainbow Dinosaurs at:

*University of Hawaii Site at: (Note: Under reconstruction March, 2010, but it will return.)

*Zoom Dinosaurs-Lots of Dino activities in English, French & Spanish.

☼Back to the Index

Farm Fun

*Camp Silos-For kids K-8 with an Iowa slant at:

*The Farm Animals at:

*Farm Animals Coloring Pages at:

*Farm Safety for Just Kids at:

*Farm Service Agency for grades 2-6 at:

*John Deer Kids Korner at:

*Kbears Farm at:

*Kids & the MDA-Excellent agriculture site at:

*Kindergarden-Children & horticulture at:

*Mrs. Jackson’s Morris Farm Alphabet Book at:

*USDA for Kids-Click on “Education & Outreach” and then on “USDA for Kids” at:

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Fitness/Wellness

*Children’s Nutrition Resource Center at:

*Chocolate Education Site-An elementary school has put together recipes and activities centered around chocolate at:

*Dole SuperKids Home Page at:

*FDA Kids Home Page at:

*First Grade Plus-A good site for drug education for first graders at:

*Hand Washing Activity at:

*Health & Human Services at:

*Health & Hygiene for First Graders at:

*Health Choices for Kids at:

*Healthy Teeth at:

*Kellog’s Cereal site for kids at:

*Kids and Teen Food Safety at:

*Kids Heath K-12 at:

*No Cavities at:

*Nutrition Exploration at:

*Playground Games at:

*Popcorn Board for Kids to learn math and other cool stuff at:

*Sports Illustrated for Kids at:

*Sun Safety at:

*TeachCircus-A K-12 site that helps students learn juggling, manipulation and unicycling at:

*Your Gross and Cool Body at:

☼ Back to the Index

Just for Teachers

*A to Z Teacher Outlet online-Source for discounted school supplies at:

*AASL’s Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning at:

*ASCD(Assoc. of Supervision and Curriculum) at:

*Alliance for Childhood-An international group that is committed to the idea that every child deserves a healthy and fruitful childhood at:

*Association for Library Service for Children (ALSC)-The part of ALA that supports the future of library services for children at:

*Blio-Brand new as of April, 2010. A free service by the tech guru, Kurzweil, with one million titles in the library to place any of there titles on any mobile device you might have and have the book look exactly has you see it. Check out the latest on this new educational tool at:

*Building a School Web site K-8-A site full of tips and helps in developing an elementary school web site at:

*Cable in the Classroom-Download the early morning shows offered on cable channels that can be used in the classroom along with lesson plans at:

*Classroom Learning 2.0-The California School Library Assoc. has set up a web site with various tutorials to help every teacher become tech savvy. This site is particularly strong in the new Web 2.0 tools at:

*Creative Commons Licensing-A look at the site that helps you understand the new kind of licensing for all kinds of educational programs that are being shared on the Internet at:

*Database of Award-Winning Children’s Literature at:

*Discovery Education at:

*Early Childhood Educator’s and Family Web Corner at:

*Early Childhood Site at:

*Edsitement-A Web site put up by the National Endowment for the Humanities at:

*-A K-12 site with thousands of lesson plans, WebQuests, worksheets and much more at:

*Educate the Children at-Lesson plans, curriculum units and more at:

*Education World-If you could access only one education web site to help you as a teacher this would be it at:

*Educator’s Videos-The creator of various free on demand video sites has created a site for teachers at:

*Edutopia-This is the magazine for the George Lucas Educational Foundation(GLEF) where we see the future of education now at:

*ERIC Clearing House for Elementary and Early Childhood at:

*Everything PreSchool at:

*Explore-Lesson plans for K-12 in Math and Science at:

*4Kids-A great place to look for investigations across the curriculum for grades K-6 at:

*First School Learning at:

*Google Docs-You’ll need a free gmail account to be able to use these documents, but this s a tremendous tool to keep up-to-date with your cadre, department, fellow grade level teachers, etc. The collaborative work tools here are easy and very interactive to use at:

*The Graphic Organizer-A great companion to Inspiration and Kidspiraton to explain how graphic organizers can work for you at:

*Holiday Lesson Plans at:

*The Idea Box-Early childhood Education & Activity Resources at:

*International Reading Assoc.’s Position Paper on Technology & Literacy at:

*International Society for Technology in Education(ISTE) at:

*Internet in the Classroom at:

*K-3 Learning Pages at:

*Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Educator’s-How to use the Internet with students K-12 at:

*Kidsource-A great place for teachers and parents. Click on K-12 under “Our Areas” tab at:

*-Click on “Kid Friendly Places” tab at:

*”Landmark Websites for Teaching and Learning” Bookmark at:

*Learning Style online-Use this informal learning profile to develop a sketch of how an individual student learns at:

*Lesson Plan Search-Search lesson plans for K-12 at:

*Library of Congress-This is just a phenomenal site for all Americans especially the American Memory Project at:

*Mr. Donn’s Page-Lesson plans here focus on history, geography and social studies K-12 at:

*Mrs. Gridley’s & Mrs. Oakes Guide to K-6 Technology-“How-to” sheets for teachers to help students at:

*National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC) at:

*National Center for Early Development and Learning at:

*National Center for Early Childhood Development and Education at:

*101 Kindergarten Tips at:

*Parents & Children Together Online-This is the magazine that comes out of the Family Literacy Center at the Eric Clearing House at:

*Partnership for 21st Century Skills-An important part of all education K-12 at:

*PBS Kids-A terrific site for lesson plans and activities with your favorite characters like Sesame Street, Between the Lions, etc. at:

*PBS Teacher-Go to PBS for lesson plans, worksheets, etc., at:

*Perpetual Preschool at:

*Pics4Learning-A great place to find thousands of copyright friendly images for students and teachers K-8 at:

*PreSchool Education at:

*PreSchool Rainbow at:

*Printable Worksheets for K-5 at:

*Read, Write, Think-Another site that is terrific for the general curriculum at:

*RefDesk-A good reference search site at:

*Scholastic Publishing Teacher Resources at:

*Smithsonian Education-Check here for lesson plans & activities using the Smithsonian resources at:

*Super 3 Research Model-This is put out by the authors of the Big 6 and is for younger children at:

*Superkids Educational Software Review-Review educational software at:

*Standards for 21st Century Learners from Amer. Assoc. of School Librarians at:

*Teach the Children Well-Hundreds of Web sites in several different categories at:

*Teacher Tube-Yep, there is a YouTube just for teachers at:

*TED-Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world at:

*Thinkfinity-A plethora of great projects that students across the country have created at:

*Thinking Fountain-A collection of great resources from the Science Museum of Minnesota for K-6 at:

*Voice Thread-A site to use with non-writers to get messages sent by voice at:

*Tiny url-Go to this Web site to cut your long Web addresses down to size at:

*Web Clip Art-Clip art to use in presentations with and by students at: (If you use these images on a Web site make sure you have read their copyright permissions area first.)

*Webspiration-This is Inspiration on the Web at:

☼Back to the Index

Kids & Computers

*Alvarado Cyber Explorers-For kids K-6 done by 3rd grade teachers at:

*Character e-cards-At this site you can choose colors, background music, etc., at:

*Computer Explorers at:

*Disney d-cards at:

*Disney’s Cybernetiquette-A good place to start with the concept of being civil when using the services of the Internet at:

*Get Net Wise-Ways to help kids do safe surfing at:

*Internet Safety at:

*K-3 School that does blogging, wikis, podcasts, etc. with their students at:

*Jan Brett’s e-Postcards at:

*K-5 Cybertrail at:

*KidsCom-Using the Internet with kids including e-mail and Internet Safety at:

*KidsKonnect-Thousands of Kids Safe prescreened links at

*Kids’ Search Tools at:

*Looney Tunes e-cards at:

*MaMa Media-An e-zine about kids and the Internet at

*My Secure Cyberspace out of Carnegie Mellon at:

*Net Smart Kids at:

*Schrockguide-Kathy Schrock’s guide to teachers integrating the Internet with all levels of students at:

* for computer safety at:

*Surfing the Net with Kids at:

*Teaching with the Web-This site is updated sporadically, but can still be useful at:

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Language Arts/Reading

*Angelina Ballerina-A PBS show for young ones at:

*Animals, Myths & Legends-Mythology comes to life at this Australian site at:

*Annie’s Rhyme Time-A vocabulary building game for grades 1-6 at:

*Arthur Site from PBS at:

*Berenstain Bears Country at:

*Between the Lions on PBS-Many excellent reading activities at this site at:

*Book Spot at:

*Buddy’s Bearded Collie Literacy Notebook-Follow Buddy the dog as he helps young children learn to read at:

*Candlewick Press-Find activities that accompany the books this company publishes for young children at:

(Their section on authors & illustrators is at: )

*Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Site-Lots of great links to authors, book reviews, etc., at:

*Children’s Book Council at:

*Children’s Bookwatch at:

*Children’s Literature Web Guide at:

*English/EFL units-K-12 lessons on Oral language, Visual Language, Written Language, etc., at:

*Fairy Tale and Folk Tale Cyber Dictionary-For grades K-4, 40 tales illustrated by children from around the world at:

*Fact Monster at:

*Free Reading-This is an “open source” sequential, research-based literacy/reading program for Kindergarten/First Graders. It is a 40-week process. The licensing for this program is under the “Creative Commons Attribution-Share A Like License”.

*Giggle Poetry-A great place to interact with fun poetry at:

*Hank the Cowdog-Hank is the head of ranch security at:

*Improving Education, Inc.-Online language arts worksheet for grades K-4 at:

*Kids Books to Read at “” at:

*Kids at:

*Kids’ Storytelling Club-Where kids can meet and work on stories at:

*Literacy Center K-2-Learn about colors, shapes, letters, numbers in four languages at:

*Mrs. Alphabet-Language Arts education from A to Z at:

*Today in Literature at:

*Nursery Rhymes-Lyrics, Origins & History at:

*Nursery Rhymes-a list of hundreds of nursery rhymes that every kid should know at:

*Peter Rabbit Web site at:

*Pooh Corner at:

*Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bestseller List at:

*Reading and Cyberguides for grades K-3-Various books read at this level and their integration into a curriculum at:

*Reading Lesson Plans at:

*Scholastic Author Index at:

Then click on “Books & Authors” tab

*Seussville-Games with Dr. Seuss characters at:

*Visual Dictionary Online at:

*Word Clouds at:

*World of Curious George at:

*Write Me a Story at:

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Math

*AAA Math-Pick your grade level and select from an array of materials at:

*Abacus online for grades 2-12 at:

*ArithmAttack-How many problems can you do in 60 seconds. For kids in Kindergarten and older at:

*Aunty Math K-5 at:

*Blue Dog Can Count-Have blue dog count with your children at:

*Coolmath4Kids-For grades K-8. This site includes coloring pages for young ones at:

*Gathering Data and Analyzing Activities at:

*Houghton Mifflin Education Place-Click on “Activity Search” and search Math for grades K, 1 & 2 at:

*Interactive Calendar at:

*K-2 Math at:

*Math on Nick Jr. at:

*Math Advantage at:

*Math Forum Internet Resource Collection for Elementary at:

*-A great math reference tool in English, French or Spanish. It is for grades 2-12 at:

*Picturing Math-Math using picture books at:

*National Math Trail Online Project for K-12-This online project connects math and the environment at:

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Miscellaneous Curriculum

*Cooking for Kids for grades 2-8 at:

*Holiday Fun with Billy Bear at:

*Pumpkin Patch-A great place to visit and do lots of things at:

*Sebastian Swan at:

*Santa on NORAD-Close to Christmas you can follow Santa around the world at:

*Weekly Reader Galaxy-For kids PreK-Gr. 10 at:

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Money Matters

*15 Ways to Teach Kids About Money at:

*Council for Economic Education K-12 at:

*Handsome Banking: Money Skills You Need for Life-4 age groups done by Wells Fargo at:

*Kids & Money at:

*Teaching Young Children to Manage Money at:

*Financial Skills for K-12 at:

*Lemonade Stand Game-Open an interactive lemonade stand and see how much money you can make at:

*Money Smart Kids K-12 at:

*Practical Money Skills for Life & Financial Literacy for Everyone K-12(Also available in Spanish) at:

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Multicultural/Foreign Languages

*Activities for Multiculturalism at:

*American Indian FAQ for Kids at:

*American Sign Language Browser for grades 2-12 at:

*Chinese for Kids at:

*Dora the Explorer home page at:

*French for Kids at:

*Games from Around the World at:

*German for Kids at:

*Guide (93 pages) to gender, stereotyping, bullying for K-5 at:

*Hello in Different Languages at:

*Hello in Different Languages at:

*Kidlink Multicultural Calendar at:

*Native American Resources for kids & teachers at:

*Russian for Kids at:

*Sesame Street in various languages-Go to Google and put in the key words, “Sesame Street in_________” and add your foreign language. Sesame Street is seen all over the world and many of these countries will have an accompanying Web site.

*Sounds of the World’s Animals at:

*Spanish for Kids at:

*World Village-Kidz at:

*Teaching Tolerance-The Web site that goes with the educational magazine that contains lessons plans, projects, etc., to further our understanding and acceptance of each other at:

*United Nations for Kids ages 5-18 at:

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Online Story Time

*Children’s Storybook Online at:

*Digital Storytelling Web sites to check out:













*Flip Books to make and send at:

*Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Stories at:

*Star Wars for Kids at:

*Stories, Folklore, and Fairytale Theme Page at:

*StoryPlace-PreK-Gr. 2-5 interactive stories provided by a public library in North Carolina at:

*Toot & Puddle Tour the World-Follow Toot & Puddle has they tour all around the world at:

*Write Me a Story at:

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Primary Source Documents

(You might not think of primary source documents at this level but The Library of Congress, for one, has many original pictures, maps, games, etc., from American history that are fun to explore with your kids. Also, check with your local historical societies and museums online to see what their archives hold.)

*American Memory Project from The Library of Congress at:

*Library of Congress at:

*Our Documents at:

*Primary Source Access K-12 at:

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Religion

*United States Council of Bishops-Look here to find out what is happening with the K-12 curriculum which will be rolled out over the next few years at:

*Bible Stories read aloud at:

*Catholic Education Resources Center at:

*Child-Bible-Lessons at:

*Child Bible Stories online at:

*Children’s Bible Stories at:

*DLTK Craft Site-Contains a section for Bible Crafts at:

*eBible Teacher at:

*Garden of Praise-Bible story area at:

*National Catholic Education Assoc. (NCEA) at:

*Resources for Catholic Educators at:

*Silk Net Bible videos at:

*Silk Net lesson plans at:

*Sites for Teachers at:

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Reader’s Theater & Drama

*Author’s Online! Aaron Shepard’s Home Page at:

*Avi’s Reader’s Theater at:

*Beginning Drama lessons at:

*Bruce Covill’s Full Cast Audio at:

*Classroom Creative Drama-Great lesson plans and more at:

*Drama lessons for Elementary Teachers at:

*K-3 Classroom Reader’s Theater at:

*Reader’s Theater Scripts, over 200 at:

*Teaching at:

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Safety

*Children’s Safety Zone at:

*Fire Pals at:

*Fire Safety at:

*Keep Schools Safe at:

*National Farm Safety at:

*The Otto Club for PreK-Gr. 1-This portion of the site is for pre-readers about car, bike and pedestrian safety at:

*Playground Safety Tips at:

*Safety alerts-Find out about recalled and dangerous items at:

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Science

*Aggie Horticulture for Kids at:

*Arbor Day Foundation at:

*Arty the Part-Time Astronaut K-8 at:

*Bill Nye the Science Guy at:

*Bubble Town at:

*Build Your Own Comet for K-3 at:

*Cool Science for Curious Kids at:

*Dan’s Wild Wild Weather Page at:

*8 Planets-This is the best site to visit our planets and other things in outer space (use to be Nine Planets) at:

*Environment Education Link at:

*Flipbook on the Plant Life Cycle-Create a flip book on the plant cycle at:

*Globe Program-This site is for grades 1-12 to get kids interested in being stewards of our Earth at:

*”Grow” a beautiful paper flower garden at:

*Interesting Places for Kids at:

*Jump into a Healthy Heart-A project done by kids at:

*Hubble Space Telescope-Look at the breath taking pictures of outer space and print them off in color to display at:

*Katerpillars and Mystery Bugs for Grades 1-6 at:

*Kid Klok-Help small ones tell time at:

*Life Cycle of a Frog at:

*Mrs. Lee’s Kindergarten Experiments with Science at:

*NASA Star Child Project-

*NASA’s Kids Club at:

*National Parks Kidszone at:

*Oceanlink at:

*Oceans K-Sub-Go underwater and visit the oceans at:

*Professor Bubble’s Official Bubble Page at:

*Outdoor Action Animal Tracking Cards-Learn about animal footprints that you find outdoors at:

*Questacon-An Australian museum takes kids through science puzzles, optical illusions and more at:

*Rain Bird Rain Forest Curriculum at:

*Rainforest Alliance at:

*Science with the Magic School Bus at:

*Safari Touch Fish Tank at:

*Science Fair Projects at:

*Sci4Kids-Explains what scientists do even to young kids at:

*Science Learning Network for ages 4-18. Helps kids do online activities to learn more about science at:

*Science Net Links-Select K-2 for appropriate material at:

*Simple Machines Construction Site at:

*Smithsonian Kids-An education outreach from the Smithsonian Institute at:



*Snow Animal Unit at:

*Snow Crystals-A great site to go along with the book Snow Flake Bentley

At:

*Solar System Lessons for K-3 at: space.html

*Undersea and Oversee at:

*Weather Channel at:

*Weather Eye-Lessons for grades 2-8 at:

*Your Gross & Cool Body at:

*Zoom Astronomy at:

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Social Studies

*American History for kids at:

*Ben’s Guide to the U.S. Government for Kids K-12 at:

*Blank Outline Maps-A very handy site at:

*Communities-Lesson plans on what makes up a community at:

*Geography site at:

*Geo Mysteries with Rex the Dino Detective for kids K-8 at:

*Google Earth-Look at any place on Earth at:

*Kids Activities in Community Service-A list of hundreds of activities that kids can do to get involved in their communities at:

*Kids Government site at:

*Kids Past-A terrific site for kids of all ages to learn about our historical past. This site includes world history at:

*National Geographic Web site-A great place for interactive maps, social studies and geography info at:

*News for kids at:

*Plimouth Plantation-Lots of things to do under the “kids” tab at Plimouth and the first thanksgiving at:

*Social Studies for Kids at:

*Time for Kids K-6-Time magazine online for young kids to fill them in about the latest news and information at:

*U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)-A look at American geology, maps, etc., for grades K-6 at:

*Weekly Reader Galaxy for kids PreK-Gr. 10 at:

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Subject Directories

(An educational subject directory is much safer to use with children then search engines like Yahoo, Google or Bing. General popular search engines are not set up to help kids do homework.)

*Ask Jeeves for Kids at:

*Cybersleuth Kids-A search engine for kids K-12 at:

*Internet Public Library at:

*-A terrific site that is monitored by librarians and teachers for kids in grades 2-12. Level of web site is not interest level it is reading level at:

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Virtual Field Trips(VFT)/Webcams

(If you can’t take a real trip to the White House take a virtual one. If you can’t observe the animals at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, then watch them over a Web Cam)

*Animal Cams-Look at animals in various habitats in real time at:

*A to Z Kids Stuff-A great site for virtual field trips at:

*Boowa & Kwala-Travel to 12 different countries, sing songs, etc., for 2-8 year-olds at:

*Butterfly Cam-A virtual tour of a butterfly zoo at:

*Critter Cams/Wildcams at:

*Earth cam-Where the world watches the world at:

*Field Trips with HUD (Dept. of Housing and Urban Dev.)-Take virtual tours of a community at:

*Monterey Bay Aquarium-Web cams galore to look at all of the denizens of the deep around Monterey Bay, California, at:

*Real Time Cameras at:

*Scholastic Web Guide for K-8-Great sites and field trips at:

*Virtual Free Sites-A site to search for VFT’s, Web cams, etc., at:

*Virtual Field Trip List at:

*Virtual Field Trips galore at:

*Volcano Cams-Look at volcanoes all over the world at:

*Walk in the Rain Forest-A self-guided tour at:

*Zoo cams-Many zoos across the world have “critter” cams. Look in this list under “Animals, Insects & Fish” or google the zoo that interests you and look for a tab or subject that says something like “Web cam”.

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Web Projects & e-Pals

*International e-Pal Classroom Connection-Connect with classrooms from all over the world via e-mail, skype, etc., at:

*KidProj-A one-stop shop for online projects K-12 at:

*Mrs. Proctor’s School Page-Webquests for grades K-8 at:

*PodCasts for Kids at:

*Skype-Free video calling anywhere in the world. A great place to form a “sister” or “brother” class or other e-pals to visit all year long at:

(Please note your picture and sound will only be as good as your connection to the Web.)

*WebQuest Home Page-This is the original home page for Bernie Dodge who invented the WebQuest for students. Everything you need is here to run an already set up WebQuest to a template for setting up your own.

*WebQuest for K-6 at:

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