There are thousands of excellent web sites on the Internet that can save you time and energy in the classroom.  From lesson plans to certificate makers and everything in between, if you know how to look you can find just about anything on the web.
Searching Tips & Tricks


Some good search engines to use are:

This is just a partial list of some of the more popular search engines.

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Evaluating Web Resources

You should evaluate information found on the Internet just like you would any other resource. Here are some questions to keep in mind when you're evaluating Internet resources:

A site that is maintained by a school or established organization is probably more reliable than one posted by a normal person. Web sites ending in .org, .gov, .edu (organization, government, education) are all fairly reliable sites. A .com site is a commercial one and could be biased. It is important to consider the source of information; an expert will usually give accurate information. Sites with no author are probably not as reliable as ones with the author's name and title. People who are posting factual information generally want to get credit for it so if there is no author given you might want to examine the intentions of the page. In addition, if there is a list of sources (bibliography), you are probably dealing with a reliable site because the author is giving you a place to check their facts. In some cases, it doesn't matter how old the information is but if you need current figures, check the date. Historical information probably doesn't need to be updated very often but try to use material that is less than 3 years old. If nothing else, be aware that you might not have the most recent statistics. Who put this material on the Internet and why? Many different organizations have pages on the Internet and they all have some kind of message they are trying to voice. You need to evaluate to decide if the information is biased or factually accurate.

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Must-See Web Sites

AAA Math    http://www.aaamath.com   K-8
This site contains hundreds of pages of basic math skills including interactive practice and explanation and several challenge games.

BrainPop   http://www.brainpop.com   K-6 (depending on topic)
This site has many animated movies that explain how things work, science and health topics, and more.  Each computer can watch up to three movies a day without subscribing, so pace yourself!

CanTeach   http://www.track0.com/canteach/index.html   K-6
With hundreds of lesson plans, thousands of links, and tons of other resources, you'll find all kids of useful stuff here.  Try the links to the side to explore elementary resources including lesson plans and songs and poems.

Education World    http://www.education-world.com/  This site calls itself, "The Educator's Best Friend".  It is a site that contains links to teacher resources, information, activities, lesson plans, and more.  Check it out and see if it lives up to its name.

eNature   http://www.enature.com    3-8
On-line guide to more than 4,800 North American plants and animals.

Fact Monster   http://www.factmonster.com/index.html   This is a truly impressive site that provides students and teachers with online reference materials plus a whole lot more that could be used in your classroom on a daily basis.

FunBrain   http://www.funbrain.com    K-8
This site provides a variety of games and quizzes that teach and test math, language arts, culture, and science skills.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators    http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/    K-12
A categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth.  It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.

Learning Page    http://www.learningpage.com    K-3
A huge collection of professionally produced instructional material for you to download and print.  Become a member (it's free) and you have full access to a plethora of lesson plans, worksheets, and much more.

Little Explorers    http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html   K-3
LITTLE EXPLORERS makes surfing the Internet very easy. A picture-dictionary format is used to link to hundreds of carefully chosen child-friendly sites around the world. Since the pictures are links, even pre-readers can surf with a minimum of help and guidance from their favorite adult. Older kids can use Little Explorers as a school reference.

NASA Kids    http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/   3-6
If your students are studying space and are looking for information, pictures, or video clips, then search no further.  This is a reliable site that is easy to use and contains information from only the best Space sites.

RubiStar   http://rubistar.4teachers.org/    K-12
RubiStar is a tool to help the teacher who wants to use rubrics but does not have the time to develop them from scratch.

Secretary of State's Kids Page    http://www.state.me.us/sos/kids    3-5
The place to come and learn about Maine.  Information about government, animals, people, weather, and more--all within Maine.

Special Education    http://specialed.about.com
A great site that includes information and links to a range of issues in special education:  IEP's, inclusion, organizations, and dyslexia to name a few.

Time for Kids    http://www.timeforkids.com    3-8
On-line version of the great kids magazine.  Includes games, lesson plans, and support information for teaching with the magazine.

TrackStar   http://trackstar.scrtec.org/    K-12
TrackStar helps instructors organize and annotate Web sites (URLs) for use in lessons. The resource list remains visible allowing the user to easily stay on track.

Virtual Tours & Fieldtrips    http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/cti/virt.html    3-12
Visit museums, countries, and other places of interest without leaving the classroom!

World Almanac for Kids    http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/index.html    3-8
Companion site to the best selling World Almanac for Kids.  Dive in and explore.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Page created by Stephanie Estes and Ryan Palmer