Working on the Web
Archives from February 2005 to Present
by Vickie Dickneite, Resource Coordinator
June 04, 2008
June 2008
Summer is here, and with it comes the promise of family vacation fun. Many families will vacation close to home this summer due to the continuing spike in gas prices. Included in this issue are sites to help you plan for low cost vacations close to home.
www.visitmo.com The Missouri Tourism site has everything you need to plan an in-state trip (or summer school field trip) this year. Log on for money-saving coupons, a trip planner, several destinations and area events to consider. Click on “Getaway Guides” for your guide to Missouri Lakes and Rivers, Historic Places, Scenic Drives, Music and Entertainment, Caves, Civil War, and Route 66. Another great feature of the site will take you to separate regions of the state, and by clicking on the city name, you’ll have access to local events and things to do. FAMILIES/TEACHERS
www.gasbuddy.com With Gas Buddy, find the lowest gas prices in your area, or check trends across the nation. You can also read helpful tips on how to improve gas mileage and reduce costs. FAMILIES
www.gmap-pedometer.com Gmap Pedometer can help you map your routes for summer walks or jogs and this handy tool will calculate how many miles you traveled. FAMILIES
www.walearning.com “On the Go” free parent-child early literacy materials--This is a set of 14 birth through preschool early language and literacy development activities designed to be used outside the home: in the car, while walking, during bus rides, etc. Direction is provided to modify the activities to meet the needs of children with disabilities. To access the “On the Go” file, click on the “Free Parent Education Handouts” button on the site’s home page. These materials were developed with grant support from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Program and can be reproduced and distributed as long as they are not sold. FAMILIES/RESOURCES/TEACHERS
May 2008
www.teachermagazine.org Teacher Magazine has a new print periodical, the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook. Among the offerings are articles on energizing your teaching career, school-based coaching roles, new-teacher support, online professional development, and revitalizing your classroom practice. TEACHERS
http://teacher.scholastic.com/newteacher Scholastic’s section for new teachers nearing the end of their first year of teaching who still have questions or doubts about a future in the classroom. Includes Q and A, resources and activities by grade level and tips from veteran teachers. TEACHERS
www.teachertube.com TeacherTube allows teachers to have some fun while learning new teaching ideas. Like YouTube, this site has many videos on many topics. Search a specific topic, or browse through the “Most Discussed”, “Most Viewed”, “Top Favorites”, and more to give your teaching a boost. Some videos are meant to make us think, others to just laugh, and still others to teach and learn. TEACHERS
March 2008
http://parenting247.org/ Parenting 24/7 from University of Illinois Extension is a “One-stop source of news, information, and advice on parenting and family life. PARENTS
www.edreform.com/parentpower Parent Power! is an on-line newsletter sponsored by The Center for Education Reform. This is a good site for parents with questions on testing, school report cards, charter schools, home-schooling, school choice, teaching, and how to get involved. PARENTS
February 2008
www.scholastic.com/freeprograms has lesson plans, activities, games and free stuff for your class and their parents. TEACHERS/PARENTS
www.kid-lit.com offers quick book lists for boys and girls by age or reading level.
FOR KIDS/PARENTS/TEACHERS
www.schooltimegames.com is a cool site offering games based on themes-Social Studies, Language Arts, Science, Math, Sports, Logic, Arts and Music, and Arcade games. This site is great for classroom use or a rainy day indoors. FOR KIDS/PARENTS/TEACHERS
December 2007
www.surveymonkey.com is a tool that PPP and several PPP schools have been using to collect information from parents and school staff. The schools we’ve spoken with remarked on the ease of setting up surveys and getting results. Survey Monkey compiles the results for you and generates reports as well. The results can be used (in our case) in reporting, and for use in planning future PPP nights. TEACHERS
www.doodle.ch/main Doodle Scheduling is free internet resource for simple surveys. It is available in several languages. TEACHERS
www.hotchalk.com NBC, in partnership with HotChalk, has opened its video archives to teachers and students of all grades and subjects to supplement textbook learning with primary source multimedia content. Its digital curriculum resource has more than 5,000 video and print resources, giving teachers access to current events and historical archives. School subscriptions are required to use this site. TEACHERS
www.usatoday.com/educate/sponsors.htm USA Today provides sponsorships of its daily newspapers to K-12 classrooms with the help of a variety of corporate sponsors. Newspapers tailors for students are delivered to schools nationwide. Each newspaper comes with a daily lesson plan and online teaching guides based on articles from the day’s paper. TEACHERS
Help for Military families and children:
www.militaryonesource.com has every topic you can imagine relating to military life.
www.guardfamilyyouth.org is like entering a mall with lots of options to choose from.
www.deploymentkids.com has several ideas for kids with parents serving in the military.
www.militarykidz.com You have to sign up and you get to make up your own code to enter and have some fun! FAMILIES/KIDS
October 2007
www.prekinder.org is a site set up by Pre-K Now to help Latino families learn more about early education options, eligibility and availability in their community in order to make informed and confident decisions about pre-k for their children. The site contains extensive information about early education. FAMILIES
www.parentsanonymous.org Parents Anonymous is a community of parents, organizations, and volunteers committed to strengthening families and building strong communities, achieving meaningful parent leadership and shared leadership, and leading the field of child abuse and neglect prevention. PARENTS
www.search-institute.org Search Institute conducts research to identify what children and adolescents need to become caring, healthy, and responsible adults, and they provide resources to apply this knowledge and to motivate and equip others in ensuring young people are valued and thrive. (They have brochures available for purchase on a variety of topics as well.) TEACHERS/PARENTS/RESOURCES
September 2007
www.middleweb.com is a great site for new and seasoned middle school teachers. It offers tips and new ideas for teachers to take directly into their classrooms. In addition to being a great site, those interested can sign up for a bi-weekly newsletter with information on resources and ideas just for middle school teachers. TEACHERS
www.cccoe.net/social/skillslist.htm Check out this site for numerous lessons in social skills for middle school students. No fancy bells or whistles, just simple lesson plans that lead to solid ideas and information on topics ranging from “passing in the hallway” to “expressing empathy.” TEACHERS
http://www.marcopolo-education.org The MarcoPolo Program provides resources for K-12 students, teachers, parents and after-school providers. Lesson plans, games, activities, and more are available and can even help with research by providing the ThinkFinity search engine. TEACHERS/PARENTS
May 2007
www.dadsanddaughters.org supports the relationship between dads and their daughters and gives advice and support to families of all ages. FAMILIES
www.eduref.org The Educator’s Reference Desk is an excellent tool for educators. It contains over 2000 lesson plans, 3000 links to online education information, and 200 question archive responses. ERIC documents are available through this site. TEACHERS
www.sesameworkshop.org/tlc/index.php is a site set up by the producers of Sesame Street for families whose parents are deployed in the military. FAMILIES
www.reallygoodstuff.com/resources.asp is excellent for teachers. It contains a newsletter with tried and true suggestions on dealing with parents, management tips, teacher story of the month, and activities and ideas for the classroom. Also included in the site is a Q&A forum for teachers to share concerns and ideas. TEACHERS
March 2007
www.brainconnection.com/library Brain Connection’s library has several articles on the subject of brain research as it affects student learning. TEACHERS
www.iwebquest.com works with teachers to develop online lesson plans, units, and projects to promote higher level thinking skills in students. TEACHERS
February 2007
www.arrak.fi/en/ag for fun with anagrams. Great foul weather activity for kids. KIDS
http://nlvm.usu.edu.en.nav/vlibrary.html The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives offers an amazing interactive math experience. It is a challenging site for students in kindergarten through twelfth grades. KIDS/TEACHERS
www.cnn.com/education can help students with their geography by offering downloadable maps of the six continents and the world. The CNN Education website has lots of other information to offer as well. KIDS/TEACHERS
http://bytecrime.org/ask_mcgruff/bytecrime_booklet.html McGruff, the Crime Dog helps us to “Take a Bite out of Cyber Crime” with a free, downloadable booklet on Internet safety with valuable tips and information. KIDS/TEACHERS/PARENTS
November 2006
www.teachingtolerance.org provides many free resources to schools, including Teaching Tolerance, a magazine published twice yearly. Spanish materials are offered as well. Grant opportunities are available, and kits are offered to help plan lessons and activities on a variety of special occasions like Latino Heritage Month or Mix It up at Lunch Day. TEACHERS/RESOURCES
www.education-world.com Education World is a favorite site devoted to helping teachers with lesson plans and resource ideas for many holidays and every day. Great ideas are given for teachers of K-12 students. TEACHERS
September 2006
Top online research tools for students:
www.kidsclick.org is a search engine put together by librarians. KIDS
www.yahooligans.com is great for ages 7-12, and kids should have fun while learning. KIDS
www.lii.org is the Librarians’ Internet Index, a list of trustworthy sites created by librarians. KIDS/TEACHERS/PARENTS
http://clusty.com is a kid-friendly search engine that includes links to excellent photos and other images. KIDS
June 2006
Free Resources to build your Family Resource Library:
http://nmhicstore.samhsa.gov/publications/ordering.aspx The United States Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides many resources free of charge including posters, notebooks, reports, articles, books and fact sheets available in English and Spanish. TEACHERS/RESOURCES
www.ed.gov The United States Department of Education provides free publications that are timely and useful. In addition, they carry many publications in Spanish. Especially helpful is the “How to Help Your Child . . .” series of booklets. Keep this address in your favorites list as they change or offer new publications often. TEACHERS/RESOURCES
Food Pyramid/Nutrition related sites:
www.5aday.org The US Dept. of Agriculture has the most up-to-date food pyramid guidelines with activities for kids and ideas for teachers. TEACHERS/KIDS/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.calasparagus.com/consumer/kids.htm California Asparagus for Kids KIDS/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.chiquitakids.com Chiquita Kids KIDS/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.freshdelmonte.com/content.cfm?pageID=74 Del Monte Kid Zone KIDS/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.dole5aday.com/Kids/K_Index.html Dole’s 5 A Day site KIDS/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.fandvforme.com/au Fruit and Vegetables for Me KIDS/FAMILIES/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.healthychoices.org Healthy Choices for Kids KIDS/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.sunkist.com/kids Sunkist Kids KIDS/HEALTH & FITNESS
December 2005
www.exerciseforkids.com The home of Movin’ and Groovin’: Fitness for Kids videos. KIDS/FAMILIES/HEALTH & FITNESS
www.worknotes.com/IL/Chicago/Fit4FunKidsFitness/h2.stm gives a super “Veggie Workout” for kids. Try the “Strawberry Stretch” or the “Tater Tot Trot”! School personnel and families could spend hours on this site learning fun activities and exercises. The site also contains links to other good sites! KIDS/TEACHERS/FAMILIES/HEALTH & FITNESS
November 2005
www.fastaid.com FastAID is simple, yet effective. Students input some information and the site will provide a list of eligible scholarships and information on how to apply. Best of all, it’s free! HIGH SCHOOL KIDS/TEACHERS
www.fastWEB.com FastWEB, much like FastAID, uses information submitted by the student to do a scholarship search from a database of more than 600,000 scholarships, loans, grants, etc. They will even help with writing application letters. HIGH SCHOOL KIDS AND PARENTS/TEACHERS
www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/grants gives many links for finding money and writing proposals. One great section is ‘tools’, a review of software that might make your grant writing proposal process easier. TEACHERS
September 2005
MATH
www.aplusmath.com is a website developed to help students improve their math skills interactively. Kids can create their own flashcards, play games, or try the Homework Helper to check homework. KIDS
www.aaamath.com contains hundreds of pages of basic math skills that are divided by grade level or topic providing practice and games for families to enjoy. FAMILIES/TEACHERS
www.learningwave.com/abmath provides the award winning Absurd Math game and other pre-algebra problem solving games. Players proceed to the next mission by using math skills and knowledge. Also available are links to core subjects, parenting links and teacher resources. KIDS/TEACHERS/PARENTS
SCIENCE
www.childrensmuseum.org/geomysteries/fieldtrips.html gives interesting ‘field tips for field trips.’ Learn about rocks and mineral, fossils and more. KIDS/TEACHERS/FAMILIES
www.howstuffworks.com is impressively kept up-to-date and up-to-the-minute. Learn how everything works, from hurricanes to cells to fuel. The site is great for kids and families (or as a classroom project) with lots of curiosity. KIDS/TEACHERS/FAMILIES
www.invent.org is a fascinating site devoted to inventors and inventions. It also supplies information on what to do when you want to patent an invention of your own. KIDS/FAMILIES
READING/LANGUAGE ARTS
www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottwinners/candecottmedal.htm will give you great book ideas. See the winners of the Caldecott Medals from 1938-present. Find out how the winners are chosen. KIDS K-12/PARENTS/TEACHERS
www.writing.com is the source for people of all ages interested in doing some serious writing. Helpful writing tips, feature articles, a chat room for young writers, and a place to submit ideas are available. TEACHERS/KIDS/PARENTS
www.eduplace.com/tales/index.html gives budding student authors a place to submit their
stories. The site offers writing tips and shows current writing samples from other young writers. KIDS K-12/TEACHERS
SOCIAL STUDIES
www.congressforkids.com contains everything you need to know about the United States Government, including the three branches and concepts like democracy, the Supreme Court and the Electoral College. TEACHERS/KIDS K-12
www.embassy.org provides links to all foreign embassies in the Washington, D.C. area. This is a helpful tool in understanding the embassies and what they represent. KIDS K-12/TEACHERS
http://rs6.loc.gov/amhome.html is the Library of Congress American Memory Collection, one of the premier sites on the web. Learn about any event from history at this interactive, overwhelming and comprehensive site. TEACHERS/KIDS K-12
May 2005
www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/index.html or www.fec.tv In response to requests from teachers, the US Department of Education officials has unveiled the Teacher-to-Teacher Workshops Website. This $5 million instructional site was designed to provide professional development in math, English, and science for FREE and at the convenience of the teacher. Major components of the site are teachers’ presentation videotaped during the Department of Education’s summer workshops. TEACHERS
www.earlychildhoodfocus.org Educators and parents can find out the latest childcare news from all over the US. Up-to-date topics included are consumer education, early literacy, fatherhood, federal administration, Head Start, quality, special needs, state/local issues, TANF/CCDBG, and workforce. TEACHERS/PARENTS
www.dhe.gov The Missouri Department of Higher Education is worth a look for middle school and high school students, parents, and counselors. This site provides information on how to prepare for and choose a college, choosing a field of study, and how to pay for college. It provides in-depth information on virtually every imaginable topic related to postsecondary education. MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS/PARENTS/TEACHERS
www.brainpop.com is a site that has won multiple awards. It is a must-have for teachers or parents seeking new ways to reach/teach kids, all while having fun! BrainPop offers movies, quizzes, and games related to specific topics (1000+) in math, science, English, social studies, health, and technology. The only drawback—in order to access the site completely, there is a subscriber fee. However, one can get a good idea of what the website has to offer by browsing its free movies. From there, you can decide if it’s worth the cost. TEACHERS/FAMILIES
February 2005
www.search-institute.org has lots of resources that can be ordered at a minimal cost. Items found on this site would make a nice addition or start to your Family Resource Center! TEACHERS/RESOURCES
www.clewebsales.org The Center for Law & Education has legal and educational resources, as well as resources for parents and vocational education. Of special interest is the Parents are Powerful booklet, which covers preschool through teenage years. This is a well constructed and attractive publication, worth the $1.80 charge. TEACHERS/RESOURCES
www.npin.org has information for many topics like home schooling, learning disabilities, homework help, tutoring, and attention deficit. This is a helpful website with many links to similar topics. PARENTS/TEACHERS
www.freeed.gov Federal Resources for Educational Excellence has free teaching and learning resources available from Federal Agencies combined into one site. TEACHING/RESOURCES
