Item (linked)

Rationale

Listservs or 
Forums

 Kids Nook

 This list serve is an online newsletter for busy teachers.  It can help you find information, lesson plans, and neat projects on the web.  I have not received any e-mails because they are on break now, but the archives were very informative.  It is also partners with a kid safe search engine.

 Gamequarium

 This ezine finds educational games for kids in grades K-6 using underwater themes.  They divide games in 30 categories and link to over 1,500 sites.  The server is slow to upload now and is down to be repaired, but I did access the archives last week and found it useful and fun.

Telecollaborative 
Projects

 Folk Tales & Values

 This site collects folktales from 20 different countries on moral themes of hard work, kindness, obedience, and respect for elders.  It exposes students to multicultural tales, allows for comparison and contrast, experiencing new animals from different countries.  Students can read submissions, write their own works, draw pictures to illustrate, and submit it all for publication on the web.  The editors compile a book of their favorite entries.  It only operates in English. 

 Grandmother & Me

 Inspired by the book Friends On-Line , by Carla Hurchalla of Salsbury, MD, a Title 1 Reading Teacher.  Started in May of 2000, it offers students multicultural, multilingual, stories of kids and their grandmothers.  It is geared for all ages, accepts creative writings and pictures celebrating families and cultures.  It encourages collaborative writing.

Search Tools

 Ask Jeeves For Kids

This is the kid friendly version of Ask Jeeves.  It operates like have an online butler to whom you can ask various questions.  It will restate a question if it does not recognize the query posed by the student, and still allow the user continue to narrow their search.  Fun and eye catching graphics help not hinder use by youngsters.  It includes only G-Rated pages, which means it does not allow access to adult sites.  You would be reasonably safe using it with your students.   In addition to searching the web, it will also make connections to on-line dictionaries and encyclopedias.   It did make allowances for some spelling errors.

Kids Click!

 This is a kid friendly search engine designed by librarians to help kids more easily find useful information.  Sites are G-Rated.  The graphics are fun and "tempting".  Kids can search by categories of do an alphabetical query.  Searches will result in multiple site listings complete with descriptions.   Each site lists the appropriate reading levels.

 Library Spot

 The site is an online library.  It is intended for adult use and is a great vehicle for librarians to use in providing patron services.  It contains links to various media, reference material, and more.  Links are provided for specialty libraries such as law, medicine, and government.  It is maintained by a company called Start Spot Media Group.  They have related "Spots" for homework, headlines, books, etc.

Lesson Plan 
Sources

 Cyber Bee

 Author: Linda C Joseph.  This site is intended to aid teachers in integrating internet tools into their classroom curriculum.  Updated frequently with connections to free and subscription online resources.  Connections to cyber postcards you can use with students.

 LION

 Librarians Online Information Network.  Made for librarian by librarians from the Philadelphia School District.  Provides lessons librarians can use to each research skills both online and the old fashioned way.  Can be use by grade level and skill.  Related to PA standards and ALA standards.

Data Sets or 
Online Tools

 Foreign Embassies in DC

 A resource for the Washington, DC community.  It offers alphabetical listings of countries along with their profiles, personnel, pictures, e-mail, and national government URL.  This is a great resource for country reports or web quests needing country and immigration information.

 Digital Dutch

 This site offers three neat tools.  The first tool converts pictures to HTML, but I don't understand this.  The second tool is a WWW Converter where you can give it a measurement and have it converted to what you need.  The third tool is an online atmosphere calculator.  These could be used for math and scientific calculations, cooking, understanding measurements from other countries, and much more.

 American Memory

 This site is maintained by the Library of Congress.  The have a digital collection of famous American media such as documents, sound and video recordings, and photos.  It is a great resource for primary source media.