Zipping Along The Information Super-highway (Or: ‘How I Traded in the ‘79 Pinto for a 2008 Porsche’) Deborah Byrne, Glendaal Elementary Betsy Farquhar, Lincoln Elementary March 2008

Slow Zone Use Caution: Super-highway roads can be curvy and slippery!

Evaluating Web Sites »First impressions are important!!: »Is it student friendly…by age & interest level? »Does the site load quickly…are the links all active? »Is the site (mostly) advertisement-free? »Do you feel comfortable and confident getting around the site?

The 5 W’s of Web Site Evaluation »Who? – Who wrote the pages…reputable and reliable source? »What? – What is the purpose of the site and what makes it easy to use? »When? – When was it created and last updated? »Where?– Where does the information come from? »Why? – Why is this information useful for my purpose? Why is this page better than others?

Next Exit: ‘20 in 25’ Twenty great websites in Twenty-five Minutes (Rev your engines…!)

Cruisin’ Through Your Own Neighborhood Some of the best resources are already in your own backyard….

NOVELlist Literature Info » »Looking for the perfect book? Read up on general literature topics, or search for the perfect book by subject, reading level or age range for kids, teens, and adults.

Grolier: Amazing Animals »Amazing Animals: Search for information about each animal by category, or animal name in the search box and click “go.” It’s that easy! »Username and password required… check with your Library Media Specialist

PowerMedia Plus » »Download and stream videos for classroom use on a variety of topics. » Browse by subject and grade level; create playlists for various topics.

Meta-Search Engines and Portals (No….not potholes…)

Dogpile » »A Meta-search engine that uses the best search engines: Google, Yahoo, Ask, Looksmart, MSN, and more »Easy ‘advanced search’ »Relevancy ranks sites by ‘sponsored sites’ and ‘unsponsored sites’

Kids.gov » »The official U.S. Government portal for kids »Students can learn about the gov’t and the election process, however… »It doesn’t just have gov’t information! »Provides links to great K-5 educational sites by curriculum area. »The site can be used by teachers as well as by students – many of the sites compiled here are kid friendly

ALA Great Web Sites for Kids » »Reviewed sites for students- compiled by the American Library Association »Browse through the sites using a Yahoo-style subject index or… »Target search by grade level and subject »Results are tagged by grade level

Library of Congress » »The Library of Congress has a portal for teachers »Provides social studies lesson plans and multimedia resources across many curriculum areas for use in the classroom

America’s Story from America’s Library » »This Library of Congress site allows students to read more about different time periods, people, and places in American history »The site provides documents, images, video and sound from the library’s collection.

SearchEdu.com » »This search tool allows you to search for materials, ideas, & research sources by only searching educational institutions (‘.edu’ sites). »Other bells and whistles…..biography searching and more »This site is powered by Google.

Education World » »This is a free site that provides a wide variety of templates, printables, and lessons plans.

Teachnology » »This site is a great resource for teachers »Free access to: »28,000+ lesson plans »6,700+ printable worksheets »Rubrics »Webquests (and a webquest generator!) »And more…..

Discovery Education » »Includes a lesson plan library, puzzles, ‘learning adventures’ (webquests) and more. »Provides classroom activities that support core science curriculum topics

Geography Games » »Interactive games to learn about the 50 states, capitols, and regions »The material is leveled by: initial tutorial, beginner, intermediate, and expert levels.

PBS »PBS has resources for teachers ( ….. »And for students (at »PBS provides standards-based educational resources across most curriculum areas

Create a Graph » »Collect all your data, and then enter it into this graph wizard to make different graphs. »When you’re done, you can print, or save the document as an image or PDF!

Teacher’s Domain » »Multimedia resources for the classroom – from NOVA and PBS »Produces results that are based upon our state standards »Can search resources by grade level »Includes resources for professional development »Free registration for unlimited access

Time for Kids » »Based upon the student version of Time magazine (Time for Kids!) »There is a teaching resource section for current events and current information on a variety of topics »This section provides mini-lessons, worksheets, graphic organizers, and more »There is also a section for students – with current news, activities, homework helpers, and research guides.

DK Clip Art » uk.co.uk/static/cs/uk/11/clipart/ uk.co.uk/static/cs/uk/11/clipart/ »This site provides high quality images from DK’s fabulous image library »Covers a variety of topics: science, animals, the human body, plants, rocks and minerals, and more. Permission is given for educational and home use.

School Discovery Puzzlemaker » »Create word searches and crossword puzzles customized to your curriculum. Students also enjoy this site!

ThinkQuest » »Oracle’s library of web sites created by students »Can be used to generate project ideas or to provide examples to students »Many are very well executed and can be used for projects