The following Web sites looked interesting :
From the magazine, Teaching Pre K - 8, October 2004
Hot Web Sites
Center on Congress - learn about the US Congress at this online site created by Indiana University.
Iz and Auggie Go to the Polls - try all seven episodes that explore the election and voting as students research campaigning and the election process.
Election Lessons - at this site find a collection of technology-based curriculum lessons on the election.
Elections - great collection of election links that will help you in your study of the elction process.
Electing a President - at this site find lessons about primaries and learning about the candidates.
Topic : Track, Cards and More
Punxsutawney Phil - at this site get the history of Punxsutawney Phil, upcomong activities and lessons and kids activities for groundhog day.
Golden Spike Tour - create your own clues for the 2004 track events. Plan for this year's tour, or vote on a sporting event to track.
Billy Bear's Post Office - at this site you will find hundreds of free postcards, stationery and greeting cards to choose from or design your own.
Topic : Mysteries
Kids Love a Mystery - at this site find detailed lessons and handouts at learning with Mysteries, author biographies in History of the Mystery, online activities and extensive kid mystery examples.
Millennium Mystery Madness - here find the history and anatomy of mysteries, tips and a scavenger hunt.
Get a Clue - here you will find an entire month of Web resources for the study of mysteries.
From the newsletter, Connected Newsletter, October 2004
Classroom Today - here you will find Internet activities to do every day.
Lesson Plan Goldmines
Construction and Trade Lesson Plans - ( K - 12 ) - the Vocational Information Center has assembled this excellent collection of lesson plans related to carpentry, construction, and a number of other trades.
Dick Blick Lesson Plans - ( K - 12 ) - Dick Blick, recognized as a good place for purchasing art suppplies, hosts 50 excellent art lesson plans.
Mrs. Seagraves' Lesson Plans - ( K - 6 ) - at this Web site, Mrs. Seagraves, a veteran teacher from Alabama, has posted more than 10 units and lesson plans she has used in her classroom. Titles include Whodunit ?, Ladybugs in the School Yard, and Virtual Pond.
PDC Science Lesson Plans - ( K - 12 ) - here you will find 50 science lesson plans, organized by subject - biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science - which are part of the Professional Development Collection of the School of Education, Loyala University, Chicago.
Vertebrate View: Teaching and Animals Lesson Plans - ( K - 12 ) - this site is devoted to teaching about animals in a humane manner.
Everything ESL - ( K - 8 ) - Judie Haynes, an ESL teacher from New Jersey, at her Web site, provides 30 content-based ESL lesson plans for beginning through intermediate students.
A+ Web Gallery
American Memory - ( 4 - 12 ) - American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library is a project from the Library of Congress. Visitors can access over seven million items in 100 different collections, including documents, maps, photos, films, and audio clips.
The Archaeology Channel - ( K - 12 ) - is produced by the Archaeological Legacy Institute. This site provides a collection of free video and audio clips that allow users to travel across time and cultures as they examine the wonderful diversity of the human experience.
Baseball Almanac - ( K - 12 ) - this site has baseball-related facts, figures, and trivia.
Cable in the Classroom Online - ( K - 12 ) - offers an outstanding collection of educational online resources.
Elections 2004 - ( 2 - 12 ) - provided by the University of Michigan, is an outstanding place to research all aspects of elections and campaigns.
Listen Up! - ( 9 - 12 ) - is a youth media network that provides support for young video producers. It offers an amazing range of free resources for young filmmakers including Web space, streaming, and distribution for youth-created projects.
Nutty Birdwatcher - ( K - 12 ) - is a wonderful destination for avain watching. The site includes such things as bird identification, photographs, basic survival needs and more.
Oxford University Museum of History of Science - ( 4 - 12 ) - offers a number of online resources, such as Epact: Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Cameras: the Technology of Photographic Imaging and The Measures: a Flemish Image of Mathematics in the Sixteenth Century.
Poets.org - ( K - 12 ) - this Web site has biographies of 500 poets, 1400 poems, and 100 audio clips.
U.S.
Naval Observatory Astronomical Data
- ( K - 12 ) - this site provides data for important astronomical
events.
Young
Bookworm University - ( K - 6 ) - created by Diane Brazell
Corley, a teacher, is for budding readers and authors. This site
has information about 32 favorite authors.
Kids' Corner
Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun - ( K - 8 ) - this site is an educational, simple, and friendly review of all subjects with four sections that are packed with activities that students will enjoy.
ReviseWise - ( K - 5 ) - this site developed by the BBC to help students prepare for national tests.
Tox Town - ( 3 - 8 ) - from the National Library of Medicine, takes visitors on a tour of town and city to identify the potential hazards they possess.
Creative Chemistry - ( 6 - 8 ) - this site created by chemistry teacher, Dr. Nigel Saunders, contains worksheets and notes, crosswords, word searches, hangman, concentration, jigsaw puzzles, and more that help reinforce chemistry knowledge.
How Things Fly - ( 4 - 8 ) - is an exhibition of Washington, DC's National Air and Space Museum. This onloine companion to the exhibit answers many of the questions studnets have about airplanes, spacecraft, and balloon flight.
Harcourt Math Just for Kids
- ( K - 8 ) - this site offers enticing math games that build
math skills.
From the magazine, Technology and Learning, September 2004
Topic : The New Literacy By Sara Armstrong and David Warlick
The 3 Rs evolve into the 4 Es.
Topic : Special Needs Technologies: An Administrator's Guide By Terry Lankutis
A collaborative process makes sure the assistive technologies you purchase actually help students meet their academic goals - and the school's requirements under the law.
Topic : Handhelds and Special Needs Students By Karen Vitek
Today handheld computers offer students of varying types of disabilities the power of technology in the palm of their hands. Students can take their handheld computers to their work rather than take their work to the desktop computer.
Topic : Data Security: Fighting Off Cyber-Hackers By Carol Holzberg
High-speed access to the Internet may be great for improved information retrieval, but it has its dark side. For example, do increasing numbers of pop-up ads appear in your browser window? Think they're totally innocuous? Think again! Pop-ups may be evidence of intruders infecting your computer with malicious software code. If left untreated, these digital parasites could slow down system operation, cause crashes, lead to data theft, or result in file destruction. For more information on computer security threats and what you can do to defend against adware, spyware, Internet hackers and the more than 500 PC viruses discovered each month, visit these Web sites:
Anti-Virus 101-Computer Virus Software and Protection - Patrick Douglas Crispen of Internet Tourbus fame tells you everything you need to know about computer viruses and how to protect your system.
Stinger - If you suspect your computer has a virus infection, download and run McAfee AVERT Stinger, a free stand-alone Windows-compatible utility that detects and removes over 40 specific viruses.
Symantec - At the Web site of this well-known provider of security solutions for networks, servers, computers and handhelds, you'll find tools and information for pro-active and real-time defense.
McAfee - At this site you'll find information about current virus threats, a search tool to locate information about specific viruses, information about virus hoaxes, help with removing specific viral-infections, anti-virus tips, plus McAfee's free FreeScan anti-virus tool that you can download to help detect viruses on your computer.
Ad-Aware - Ad-Aware detects, quarantines and removes pernicious programs, cookies, and noxious digital parasites that install without your permission, run constantly in the background without your knowledge, and direct you to problematic Web sites that take over your browser with impunity.
Spybot Search and Destroy - When it comes to spyware removal, you can double-your computer's protective immunity by downloading and installing both Ad-Aware (see above) and Spybot-S&D v1.3.
Anti-Phishing Working Group - Learn more about phishing at this industry association Web site aimed at putting an end to this identity theft and fraud scam.
Protect Your PC - For an introduction to Windows security, visit the Microsoft Security Web site, featuring helpful articles such as Increase Your Browsing and E-mail Safety.
Computer Hacking - This is a very readable introduction to the world of hacking. You'll find definitions of the term hacker, how to educate students not to engage in hacking, the legal implications of hacking, an explanation of the differences between hackers and crackers, and several great links to sites with anti-hacking resources for Mac and Windows.
Topic : Making Connections through Online Student Clubs By Mary Mitchell, Kay Ruhle, and Doris McManus
How does one take the distance out of distance education? At Florida Virtual School, one way we strive to do that is through our online clubs. We believe our clubs create a four-way community involving parents, students, teachers and the school. The clubs promote camaraderie among partners usually vastly removed from each other. Like clubs in a traditional setting, they also allow for further exploration of the subject beyond the school lesson.
Topic : Incorporate Multimedia into Documents by Jeffrey Branzburg
Want to jazz up your presentations and documents? Try using multimedia-a mixture of text, audio, video, graphics, and images. Most major computer-based tools support their use. For example, you can put video into a Word document, audio into Inspiration, and more.
Topic : RESEARCH TOOL
Onfolio - Students and teachers can collect, organize, and share information found online with Onfolio. The tool allows users to cite and annotate information from the Web as it's collected and share that information in documents, presentations, e-mails, and research reports.
Topic : SCIENCE
Science Bulletin Web site - the American Museum of Natural History, has relaunched its science bulletin to include documentary videos, photographs, graphics, and interactive data visualizations and breaking news in astrophysics, earth sciences, and biodiversity.
Dinosphere: Now You're in Their World - Based on an exhibit at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, "Dinosphere: Now You're in Their World" provides a virtual tour of the exhibit, lesson plans for teachers, and WebQuests for students.
Coral Reef Data - the Web site for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Conservation Program provides links to coral reef data and news as well as resources for students and lesson plans for teachers.
Topic : OnLine
Assorted
Stuff - For
all you blogophiles out there, instructional technology specialist
Tim Stahmer's Assorted Stuff is one of the more compelling Web
logs covering K-12 education. In addition to waxing eloquent about
the latest education news in the general press, his day-to-day
experiences as an educator, and his thoughts on Apple iMovie versus
Windows Movie Maker, Stahmer, who works in the staff development
department of the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, touches
on politics, life in the District of Columbia, The Daily Show,
and other, well, assorted stuff. What's appealing about the site
is that it captures the essence of what a blog should be-timely,
opinionated, and well-written-without being overly self-promotional.
From the ISTE publication, Learning and Leading with Technology, October 2004
Web Resources for the following articles :