Especially for Students

Welcome to the Explorers' Club -- U.S. EPA's Web site for kids. Get ready to explore your environment and learn about neat things you can do to protect it. There are games, pictures, and stories and other fun things.

Cool Science for Curious Kids: Fun and interactive site to help kids appreciate science with five activities adapted from science and children's museums.

High Beam Research: This site provides pre-configured navigation to over 100 categorized search sites, including multimedia and current news, with user-customizable
features and a minimalist design. Factors in development were simplicity, innovation, and usefulness. Manage all your research from one web site!

Vocabulary University: At Vocabulary University participants learn vocabulary in context at grade 5 through college prep in puzzle form. Diplomas are awarded. Graphic word games & creative activities help vocabulary acquisition. Endorsed by teachers.

Kidtastic.com: Thousands of fun pages filled with Games, learning, homework help, contests and prizes, music, art, coloring, painting, exploring, education, and much more! For children and families of all ages!

CBC 4 Kids: CBC4Kids is a powerhouse of fun and learning for kids of all ages. Hundreds of features, frequent updates to entertain and challenge!

The Emoticon Universe: To provide a complete directory of every emoticon available to email users. It is sometimes difficult to relay your feelings to your reader when writing email or understanding the feelings of others when reading their email. Often, the writer's true feelings get lost behind the words he or she has written. Emoticons help. And they're fun too! ;-)

Time.com for Kids: Here you will find a fun, interactive site for children that includes news features; games; magazines; a learning center called the Tool Box with Calculators, fun facts and more; an Explore center to learn more about our world; and opportunities to give your own opinions about the things that are on your mind.

Chem4Kids! The web site that teaches chemistry fundamentals to children and adults!

Smithsonian Magazine's Kids' Castle was constructed to be a safe, educational, free and fun place for kids ages 8-16 on the World Wide Web. Kids' Castle features articles written about the things that interest kids today: sports, history, the arts, travel, science and air and space, all with great photos. There are message boards filled with questions to get kids from all over the world talking to each other and thinking creatively.

JigZone: A real online jigsaw puzzle with hundreds of beautiful pictures and puzzle shapes to choose from. Control the level of difficulty for fun by all the family, or a quick distraction for boring days. Send puzzle postcards to friends, subscribe to the puzzle of the day, and register to upload YOUR photos to turn into puzzles!

The Acronym Finder: Find definitions for acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms about all subjects, including information technology, telecommunications, military, government, and much more.

Free Translation: Free translation of web sites and text for Spanish to English, French to English, German to English and English to Spanish, English to French, English to German, English to Italian, English to Norwegian and English to Portuguese.

The Official Website of LEGO toys: Find info on Lego products, enter contests, play games, send post cards, download screensavers and wallpapers, get Lego building tips and tricks, and much more....

Virtual Library: An expertly run directory of sections of the web.

NetTrekker allows for searching web sites that have been pre-approved by educators, and linked to national education standards!

Wacky Uses for every day items: Discover hundreds of uses for well known products. Learn weird facts about the products you use every day.

Reader's Club for Kids: This new site is meant to be a great reader's advisory tool for kids, parents, & teachers. Book reviews will be added to this site on an ongoing basis.

Groovynet.com's Kid Start Page: Kid safe surfing starts here! Check out the groovynet Not Boring activities! Great rainy day games.

KidsClick Web Search: A web search engine created for kids by librarians!

Suessville: Dr. Suess on the Web!

Yuckiest Site on the Internet: The self-proclaimed yuckiest site on the internet is really a fun way to introduce kids to the world of insects.

Online Map Creation: Draw simple maps interactively. Give the borders of the desired map, check the options and a map according to your specifications will be returned to your browser.

FunBrain: Here is another super site for kids. Offers help with everything from spelling to grammar to geography to math! (Top of page)

Homework Help Sites

Mad Sci Network is an *Ask the Scientist* type of site: "a collective cranium of scientists providing answers to your questions." For good measure there are a variety of other odds and ends as well.

FactMonster Homework Center : The largest free reference site just for kids! Get homework help & find facts on thousands of subjects, including sports, entertainment, geography, history, biography, education and health.

Online Conversion: Online Conversion is a resource for weights, measures, calculators, converters.

HomeworkSpot: A site that simplifies the search for homework help, including subject-specific resources for English, math, science, social studies, art, music, technology, foreign language, health and more. Sites are organized by grade level. The site also features a top-notch reference center, current events, virtual field trips and expeditions, extracurricular activities and study breaks.

Scholastic Research Tools

Cybersleuth Kids

Discovery Channel School Homework Helper

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Families and Educators

Book Adventure: Book Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 6,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read offline, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by the Sylvan Learning Foundation and is sponsored by Sylvan Learning, Inc.

The World of Bubbles! Bubbles, bubble blowing, bubble solutions, bubble history, bubble fun, bubble games, bubble machines and bubble trivia are found on this website... and you can learn all about Professor Bubbles.

Core Knowledge: The foundation conducts research on curricula, develops books and other materials for parents and teachers, offers workshops for teachers, and serves as the hub of a growing network of Core Knowledge schools.

Kaboose.com is a trusted, family friendly, interactive, entertaining, kid safe, helpful site with hundreds of reviews, message boards, crafts, games, contests, holiday fun, printable activities, party plans and family travel destinations.

The Open Door Web Site: Science research including questions and quizzes. Includes internet guide for pupils, parents and teachers. Topics include Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Technology and History.

Teach...Multiplication: Site features activities, games, and worksheets to help teach the multiplication facts.

Math Cats features the magic chalkboard introducing interactive math activities for kids: exploring real-life problems, math concept-
building, geometry, and MicroWorlds projects.

Puzzlemaker: A puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and
parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword and math
puzzles using your word lists. Build your own maze or print our specialty
hand-drawn mazes created around holidays and classroom topics.

Chemical Elements.com: An up-to-date periodic table with detailed but easy to understand information.

The Internet Learning Network is a free, exciting and interactive Web site where students, parents and teachers can assess their own achievement in math and science, compare themselves to students around the world, and ehance their learning. The ILN provides a voluntary, no-risk opportunity to self-assess-with instantaneous international benchmarking based on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Fun Science Gallery: Fun, simple, low cost science experiments for amateur scientists! Here you will find instructions showing you how to build scientific equipments from relatively cheap materials. Projects include instructions for making telescopes, microscopes, batteries, sidereal indicators, and several other instruments.

Virtual Tour of the U.S. Government: Tour the White House and branches of the US Government. Additional links lead to Hot Government Topics, House and Senate Web Sites, the Judicial Branch, Government Information Resources, Library of Congress Exhibits, Whitehouse Press Releases, Gallop Polls, Historical Documents, Politics and Political Newsgroups.

Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The Pics4Learning collection consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers. If you are looking for a picture to use in a presentation or report for teaching or to submit to a teacher, this is the place to look! There are no copyright restrictions as long as the image is used for educational purposes.

Surfing the Net with Kids: The best of the Web for kids, reviewed by nationally syndicated newspaper columnist Barbara J. Feldman. Each weekly column features five fabulous Web sites on topics as diverse as Gargoyles, Monarch Butterflies and Stock Market Simulations.

How Stuff Works: We are able to flick a switch, press a button or even put a coin in the slot and expect things to happen without asking...How? Well, this site would like to provide you with the opportunity to find out just "How Stuff Works."

DriveHomeSafe.com provides parents and teen drivers statistics, driving instruction, education, articles, books, tapes and a newsletter on everything about safe teen driving. A Parent's Survival Kit and a Teen Driver Training Chart for Parents are available free.

HOAXBusters: This web page, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and maintained by the Computer Incident Advisory Center (CIAC), states: "While hoaxes do not automatically infect systems like a virus or Trojan, they are still time consuming and costly to remove from all the systems where they exist. At CIAC, we find that we spend much more time de-bunking hoaxes than handling real virus and Trojan incidents. These pages describe some of the warnings, offers, and pleas for help that are filling our mailboxes, clogging our mail servers, and that generally do not have any basis in fact."

National Gallery of Art: The National Gallery of Art houses one of the finest collections in the world illustrating major achievements in painting, sculpture, and graphic arts from the Middle Ages to the present. Search the collection by specific artist, title, or a combination of criteria. Tour the collection by medium and school, or choose a Gallery Guide in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish (PDF format) for your visit. In-depth studies focus on artists and works of art.

FamilyFun Magazine: The web site for active families. Look to us for the best crafts and activities, travel destinations and party ideas, recipes and reviews for your family.

Parent Smart: The best search engine for parents, teachers, and counselors - finding important articles to help children succeed in school.

Joseph Wu's Origami Page: Origami is the Japanese name for the art of paper folding. However, it has now become a beloved artform for people around the world. This site is the most comprehensive collection of origami materials available on the World Wide Web.

Classical Music Archives: The Classical Music Archives contains thousands of classical music files you can listen to at the click of your mouse. Most composers are represented. A search engine in included.

Familyeducation.com: Find parenting advice, child development news and information, gifted children resources, child safety tips, special education, kid's games, children's health news, family fun and family reference.

Science Master: A science/education portal for students and teachers. Provides news, information, links, columns, and homework help. Focus: 6-12 graders. Easy to navigate, clear and concise information in all major areas of science.

Texas Instrument Calculator Tutorials: Provides quality online tutorials for using Texas Instruments graphing calculators in mathematics courses. Appropriate for the high school and college level.

Achieve Inc. : Created by the nation's governors and business leaders in 1996, Achieve helps states raise academic standards and achievement so that all students graduate ready for college, work and citizenship.

Amusement Park Physics: This interactive exhibit, part of the Exhibits Collection, explores how the laws of physics play a role in the design of amusement park rides. Activities in the exhibit invite visitors to design a roller coaster and determine the outcomes of bumper car collisions. The exhibit also includes related Web sites.

Science Toys You Can Make with Your Kids: An on-line book that describes in simple terms how to make a variety of toys that teach science. In addition, author Simon Field explains the science behind the toy.

Career Web Site: Comprehensive job and career guide gives realistic, readable information for middle and high schoolers - usually what teachers are asking kids to look for.

Artcyclopedia: The declared mission of this site is to become the definitive and most effective guide to museum-quality fine art on the Internet.

Math Goodies: A free educational site featuring interactive mathematics lessons. Students can interact with the lessons at their own pace. This site also has other resources including mathematics forums, links, puzzles, tips, and so on. A great site for students, teachers, and parents!

Natural Perspective: Dedicated to the beauty and science of nature and to the joys it brings those who explore it. The site illustrates four of the five Kingdoms of nature: Animals, Plants, Fungi, and Protocista; with photographs and non-technical text descriptions.

Primary Grade Net Users: This site has a lot of resources for K-8, including online games, weekly brainteasers and a searchable database of projects.

Sea World: Within the web site is a lot of information on all sorts of marine and land animals. Beautiful pictures are included in case you want to see how they look. Check out the Penguin Cam!

The Franklin Institute Online: Updated monthly with online activities, as well as online exhibits. If you've been there in person, the web site lives up to the real thing! (Top of page)

Resources for Educators

Gamequarium: A portal to hundreds of free, online learning games and activities for K-6 students.

Teacher's Worksheet Generator Tool: Now you can create customized worksheets in less than 5 minutes! Choose from several vocabulary and math worksheet templates in the "Create a Worksheet" area below. Or just use a teacher-created worksheet in our library of "Worksheets to Go"!

Library of Congress Learning Page: This page offers organized help for searching the Library's primary resource collections that have been on-line since 1994.

Great new Biology Lesson Plans: These 85 Biology lessons plans were developed by Public and Catholic High School Biology teachers in the Chicagoland area.

Sites for Teachers: This website has helped teachers find tons of FREE lesson plans, and other curriculum.

The Educators Network: A jumping off point for lesson plans, theme units, worksheets, teacher tools, rubrics, and even educational news.

Teachnet.Com features lesson plans for all grades, postcard and buddy exchanges, Teacher-2-Teacher email forums, a free newsletter, how-to projects for the classroom, commentaries, reviews and much more.

Educational Units and Lesson Plans: Source of teaching units and lessons, all grades and subjects. Resources available for student research also.

The Surf Report: The Wisconsin Educational Communications Board guide to great interactive educational sites on the web. There are archives for projects under various subjects.

The Plagiarism Theme Page has links to information about Plagiarism. Teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...) and reference materials to help them learn about this topic and how to teach their students. In addition, there are also links to instructional materials (lesson plans) which will help teachers provide instruction in this theme.

HomeroomTeacher.com: Great links and information just for teachers. Free educational clip art, free HomeroomTeacher e-mail & online community, weather, history & more.

Teachers Helping Teachers provides basic teaching tips to inexperienced teachers with ideas that can be immediately implemented into the classroom; new ideas in teaching methodologies for all teachers; and a forum for experienced teachers to share their expertise and tips with colleagues around the world.

EduPuppy.com: This site offers a comprehensive, prescreened database of relevant Early Childhood Education (Preschool - Grade 2). Links to content, resources, technology integration, theories and practices, literacy, development-appropriate practice, special education, standards, professional articles, and more!

EdHelper Lesson Plans: Over 4,500 Lesson Plans, Math Lesson Plans, Social Studies Lesson Plans, Science Lesson Plans, etc. A complete education resource for teachers.

A to Z Teacher Stuff: FREE online lesson plans, thematic units, childrens book activities, and teaching resources. The place to find online lesson plans, thematic units, theme resources, book or literature activities, and more.

Scholastic - Teacher's Homepage: The best resources online for K-8 teachers. Lesson Plans, reproducibles, authors, books, research tools, activities, magazines, book and software reading programs.

Rubric Construction Kit for Project Based Learning: Hosted by the High Regional Plains Technology in Education Consortium, who understand that rubrics are an important adjunct to project-based learning, but few teachers relish making them! By providing a large set of possible rubric criteria, sorted by grade level and subject matter, this site tries to automate the process. Click on the criteria for assessment, and the Web site compiles the rubric. It also allows for insertion of different or additional criteria.

Virtual Chase: Evaluating the Quality of Internet Resources - Although part of a site for legal professionals, this is a very well-done compilation of critical evaluation information when examining Internet sites.

Mathstories.com - Math for the Internet Generation: This site contains over 1,000 math word problems for grades 1 through 5 classified according to grades and topics. The goal of this web site is to help grade school children improve their math problem-solving skills.

Your Guide to the Online World in the Classroom: Using the Internet as a teaching tool.... Try webquests, scavenger hunts, etc., in your classroom. A long list of activities to fit many curricula.

The Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM): This project helps educators quickly find and access free lesson plans, curriculum, and other educational resources on the Internet.

Spelling and Vocabulary Plans from the Teacher's Desk: Teachers (grade four to seven) can find several ideas for teaching spelling and developing vocabulary. These ideas are not just for lesson plans, but many can be used as learning centers. In addition, card games for the vocabulary development can be tailored for small groups or the entire class.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE): A government-based web site that allows educators to search hundreds of educational resources supported by agencies across the U.S. Federal government.

Ask an Expert: A sampling of "expert" resources you can use to integrate the internet into your curriculum to enhance your lesson plans. A one-stop resource to ask questions from experts around the world in subjects and professions from the Amish to zoology. Perfect for lesson plans, collaborative projects, and research.

Education Search Engine: Search by keyword, or by the Topic List, or browse the Awards for extensive reviews of the hottest education sites of the month.

Connections+: This site consists of Internet resources - lesson plans, activities, curriculum resources - linked with corresponding subject area content standards. Also included in these resource packages are other links to assist teachers, such as a direct link to the Lycos search engine.

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