Sites+We+Like

Sites We Like - Please add yours! Add a favorite educational website site to the list below. Include a 2-3 sentence description or idea of how you use it.


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__English / Reading / Language Arts__


 * [|Brain pop] this site has short cartoon videos for all subjects. They are fun and short and have online quizzes.
 * [|Citation Engine] is a fine site for students who have left their MLA guides at home. Our school uses //The Practical Writer// which also has the MLA guidelines for scholarly citations.
 * [|Site for making your own Comic Book Hero]
 * [|Comp Facts] is a wiki run by Writing Program Administrators at various colleges.
 * [|Currency Converter]-want to find out how much Jane Eyre's salary from Rochester would be today?
 * [|Project Gutenberg] -- free electronic books and stories and poems.
 * [|Ed Helper] -- A great site for all subject areas. You must become a member to get everything, but the free things are so helpful. You can print off things that you need.
 * [|Enchanted Learning]
 * [|Free Rice] For each correct vocabulary answer, Free Rice donates ten grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.
 * [|Intros and Conclusions] from Cleveland State College
 * [|Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators] updated site with resources for teachers in all subjects areas, links to other sites, PowerPoints and pdfs for educators.
 * Map of [|Odyssey] locations.
 * [|Poetry 180 - A Poem A Day for American High Schools]. Billy Collins put this together.
 * [|Starfall] - a phonics based program for early elementary students.
 * [|Victorian Literature] Concordance.
 * The [|Wesleyan College] site has great practice for grammar works.
 * [|Webenglishteacher]This site is a great resource for ALL English language arts areas for grades K-12. Educators can easily navigate the user-friendly links and topics. A plethora of available resources from vocabulary to Shakespeare to novel guides and project ideas.
 * [|Book Adventure]- A good site for students in kindergarten through eighth grade to find books that would be of interest to them. Searches can be done by grade level, interests and genre.
 * [|Book Club Girl] - This is a wonderful and amazing blog with suggestions for reading, book club resources, audio interviews with authors, and links to related sites for, as the site says, book club girls everywhere! The site is colorful, fun, and very appealing and informative. I would use this for readers' advisory in a school or public library, as well as a possible link on my school library webpage in a just for fun section.
 * [|Find-a-Book] - If you are interested in finding books of a particular level, try the "Find a Book" website on the Lexile webpage for help with books that are appropriate for your child’s reading level as well as books he or she might be interested in. It is helpful to have your child’s Lexile score, but the Lexile number is not required. Your child can choose areas of interest, and the Lexile website will suggest books and even tell you (based on your IP computer address) the nearest public library where you can find the books. //This site was previewed in the [|Georgia Department of Education Customizable Monthly Media Newsletters].//
 * [|AJL Jewish Values Finder]- Sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries, this is a great website for locating the latest Jewish children's books for both Jewish and non-Jewish readers. Whether you want to find a Hanukkah book, a fiction or nonfiction book on Israel, etc. you can search by subject and find an annotated list of appropriate books. The Jewish values found in each book are also listed, and you can search by those values, many of which are universal, such as honesty, compassion, courage, etc. You can even narrow your search by grade levels or copyright dates.
 * [|Nobel Prize] - This website includes information on the history of the Nobel Prize, author bios, interviews and documentaries as well as speeches from Nobel Prize for Literature laureates such as Doris Lessing, John Steinbeck, Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer...the list goes on. The site lists not only the Nobel Prize winners for literature, but also for chemistry, medicine, physics, economics and and of course--for peace. Each include text and/or video and audio for many of the banquet speeches and lectures--dating back to 1901. The site also includes games for all ages and for each genre. It is an extraordinarily rich resource for both students and teachers.
 * [|The Purdue Online Writing Lab]: Amazingly thorough writing resource for secondary English students. This site includes information on MLA and APA writing styles, grammar and mechanics, research, and much more. It is a go to for the high school English teacher and student.
 * [|Reading Level Check]- I read about this site in School Library Journal. It provides a quick way to check reading levels of various books for children. It is great when a new book is "discovered" and a parent or teacher wants to know if it is appropriate for their student. It is a speedy way to compare reading levels and many of the teachers at our school have this site in their favorites.
 * [|WebEnglishTeacher] - This site is full of information about teaching English and literature. I am normally just looking for information concerning sixth graders, but it seems to be related to all grade levels. The opening page has many links concerning the Copyright and Fair Use laws that we need to know. There is also a free newsletter you can sign up for.
 * [|Spelling City] - Great site for listing weekly spelling words. Students are able to hear words pronounced and take spelling tests.
 * [|To Kill a Mockingbird - Student Survival Guide] - If you teach //To Kill a Mockingbird//, this site is a great addition to your tool kit. It contains vocabulary, allusions, summaries and yet does not destroy the joy of reading the book. I keep it linked on my class web site.
 * **[|Tumble Books - eBooks for eKids!]**- Tumble Books is an online collection of books. There are Tumble Readables, Tumble Talking Books (online audio streaming) and TumbleBooks Library. The library consists of animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading in a format they'll love. TumbleBooks are created by adding animation, sound, music and narration to existing picture books in order to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read to you.
 * [|Vocabulary]- This site provides study guides and materials for some popular vocabulary textbooks, providing a wide range of different ways to work with the words.
 * [|Synonym Toast] Game from Scholastic (Samantha Saykaly, Woodward Academy)
 * [|Wordle] A word picture created from your own list of words. Use for plot, theme, symbols, or anything. Play around with the look.
 * [] Wonderful spelling practice for several grades (Sonya Braun, Providence Christian)
 * [] All about Greek gods, heroes, and monsters. Excellent student-friendly versions of stories such as the Odyssey.
 * [|Folger.edu] Really good resource for teaching Shakespeare. I love the 'Shakespeare Set Free Series'. Really good ideas and tools for use in the classroom especially good video clips and podcasts.
 * [|Reading Rockets] This site is full of information for parents and teachers about how young children learn to read.
 * [|Read Write Think] This site offers a plethora of writing and reading activities for all ages.
 * [|Grammar & Writing Guide] - the best grammar and writing guide ever, easy to use, great examples
 * [|Mythman]-Wonderful, comprehensive site for everything mythical. Includes Greek, Roman and Norse mythology. Easy to navigate and useful for teachers and students.
 * [|Fantastic Fiction] - This is a great site for locating information on authors, works, up and coming titles and finding series titles. It is extremely helpful when questions are asked about fiction books for all levels.

Mathematics

 * [|AAA Math]
 * [|Online Graphing Calculator-] Students can graph four functions at the same time using different colors . It's user friendly, shows the table of values and can trace points. It's a perfect way to show transformations of functions in a lab or for teacher demonstration when graphing calculators cannot be purchased.
 * [|ThatQuiz] students take quizzes and/or practice with basic math and teachers get results online
 * [|Free Math Worksheets]- This is a wonderful site for both teachers and parents. Printing free worksheets enables extra practice for math skills ranging from basic operations to geometry and algebra.
 * [|Logic Problems] - This website is filled with logic problems created by Randall L. Whipkey. Logic problems are a great way for students to stretch their critical thinking skills without feeling like they're trudging through boring word problems. The puzzles range in difficulty, which is distinguished by the number of stars (1 to 5). Many of the them are themed and fall seamlessly into the holidays set in the school year, providing fun challenge exercises while the students are away from school. I personally recommend [|The Busiest Shopping Day of the Year: The Husbands Hit the Stores] (2 stars) as a good one for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
 * [|Infinite Algebra] - This website is wonderful for creating customized worksheets in minutes. Some of the software's characteristics are: saves time, custom spacing, prints multiple versions, never runs out of questions because it doesn't use a question bank, creates multiple-choice and free-response questions as well, no internet connection required. The website offers free, premade worksheets too. I personally use the [|Algebra 2 worksheets] and I am really pleased with what they offer for free.
 * [|MathWarehouse] - Love this site for middle school to high school aged students. The site discusses many topics within the math curriculum. Each of the topics typically has a discussion of what the topic is, a manipulative to explore and then practice questions to answer. All of these can be used as an additional resource. The site also include game, puzzles and riddles if you like those!!
 * [|The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives]- The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is an NSF supported project that began in 1999 to develop a library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis). This is an awesome site and kids LOVE it!
 * [|Wofram Alpha] - Here you will find a computational knowledge engine. Ask a question that involves data, mathematics, computations, or an algorithms, and this search engine will respond with facts, charts, graphs, and comparisons. You can do mathy type things like find the prime factorization of a number or graph a function and find its zeroes. But you can also use it for a research project on the elements of the periodic table, or compare the classifications of various animals (bear, wolf, dog for example). How about looking at the weather of your hometown with both historical information and forecasts in graphical form? The possibilities are amazing!
 * Gameaquarium: Math Games Math games for all levels and skills (Cindy Free, White County)
 * [|Multiplication.com] - A great site for memorizing the basic multiplication facts
 * Learning Planet.com - A lot of great games for student learning.
 * Math Supplements by Trey Cox and Scott Adamson. While not state of the art or fancy interactives, this site has some really good ideas for projects for pre-calculus and calculus that I have used successfully. They are based on familiarTV or animated characters, like Wile E Coyote, Bert & Ernie, or Gilligan's Island, and can easily be adapted (as I have done).
 * [|Mrs. Renz Math Links] Pages of math sites on every math unit for grades two and above
 * Math Games : This site offers math games for elementary students. It is a fun way to practice those important skills.

Social Studies / History / Current Events

 * [|Colonial Williamsburg for Teachers] activities about Colonial America.
 * [|Landmark Supreme Court Cases]-great introduction and excercises for Government, Political Science, and US History classes
 * [|HistoryTeacher.net]- an amazing source for secondary Social Studies educators **//and//** students including review questions PowerPoint presentations, maps, resources, and more...a MUST visit! Created by a former colleague, Susan Pojer.
 * [|Jewish Virtual Library]- This site is a great starting place for the basic research in Jewish History, there is a full menu of Biographies; History; and much more. It is pretty kid friendly and there are links to other sites as well as a number of helpful tools. Articles are short and to the point and so keep students' attention, in order to finish their research.
 * [|United States Holocaust Memorial Museum] - An excellent resource for both Social Studies and English/Language Arts; complete with virtual tours, photography and current events.
 * American Social History Online- Find and use 19th and 20th century primary resources from unique historical digital collections simultaneously. Free service but you may login to save search histories and set profile preferences. Database keeps growing as institutions add resources. Appropriate for history, social science, music, art and language arts. (Cathy Treager, Providence Christian Academy)
 * Bill of Rights Institute Program that develops instructional materials and educational programs on America's Founding documents and principles for high school American History and Civics teachers and students. There are lesson plans for teachers and activities for students. There are contests for students that result in prize money or scholarships. Great website!!
 * American Rhetoric Top 100 Famous American speeches with mp3 audio files!!
 * [|Time For Kids] (Around The World) - This portion of the Time For Kids site is great for global studies units.
 * Encyclopedia Mythica- This site is well organized, but slightly clunky to navigate. It is filled with amazing and helpful genealogies and biographies of the gods from ancient to modern civilizations as well as encyclopedic information about folklore and religion from 6 defined regions of the world.

Science / Health

 * [|Enchanted Learning]- great resource for animals, dinosaurs, lots of science but also has social studies information.
 * [|NASA- National Aeronautic Space Association]**-** Astronomy /space web site – has both teacher education and student information
 * [|Alaska Seas and Rivers Curriculum] - Great ocean units grades 3- 8th - Wonderful resource on using Science notebooks in the classroom.
 * [|San Diego Zoo] - great website with information about different animals in their animal bytes section.
 * [|American Museum of Natural History Resource Page] - Search by topic: Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Earth Science, Paleontology and over 1100 differnt web-links. Incredible informational resource for students of all ages, teachers, parents.
 * [|Nova] - A great resource for free short (or long) videos on interesting science related topics - everything from Anthropology to Physics.
 * [|Tonight's Sky] - This is a great website for students and parents. How many times have you looked up at the sky and wondered what you are looking at? Simply click on this website and it will give you a description of the night sky. You can also look ahead if you are making a trip to the beach and see what stars, planets, and constellations will be visible.
 * [|Cells Alive] - CELLS //alive!// represents 30 years of capturing film and computer-enhanced images of living cells and organisms for education and medical research. The site has been available continuously and updated annually since May of 1994 and now hosts over 4 million visitors a year.
 * [|Visual Elements]-- Royal Chemical Society periodic table page. Very attractive and enticing to view.
 * [|Not Exactly Rocket Science] - Discover Magazine blog discussing Science, Technology and the Future. Very interesting articles.
 * Alliance for a Healthier Generation - A site that promotes healthy schools and combats childhood obesity.
 * [|MyPyramid.Gov] - I use this site to discuss nutrition and to help the students evaluate their diets. The students record everything they eat over a 3 day period and then use this site to evaluate their diets.

Foreign Language

 * [|Apprendre 2.0] Ning that connects French teachers and speakers.
 * [|Radio France International] For reading and listening to French news from around the world. They also have ready made lessons for teachers.
 * [|Salsa] A Georgia Public Television website suporting the **Salsa** television production which teaches Spanish to young children
 * [|Word Reference.com] Online language dictionaries. Offers definitions from several sources, along with images and examples. There is also a comprehensive verb conjugator. There are two forums: one for vocabulary and another for grammar questions.
 * [|XE- Universal Currency Converter]- Many cultural texts talk about prices in local currency. Use this site for students to discover the equivalent in US dollars.
 * [|Batanga.com]For listening and viewing music videos of various genres of Latin music including salsa, merengue, bachata, flamenco and tango. Listeners can create their own online "radio station" and search through the most popular and recent hits in the various genres.
 * [|English Tricks]- This website is designed for Spanish who are learning English, but it is also very helpful for English speakers who are learning Spanish. It explains how to use idiomatic or expressions in the language. Sayings are arranged by categories for easier use.
 * [|American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language] This website is a great online resource for networking for teachers of foreign languages. There is an annual convention and many workshops and continuing education information.

Arts / Music / Performance
[|Notcot].com
 * [|Education Planet: Music]- Quickly search online educational resources including over 150,000 teacher reviewed online [|lesson plans].
 * __and [|Notcot.org] This is a great site to check out fresh new creations out there. It serves as my muse when I draw a blank. "For your ideas, aesthetics, and amusement."__
 * [|Songza] An easy way to search for, stream and share any song at no cost.
 * Artful Thinking. [] Teaching thinking skills using art
 * [|American Ballet Theatre Online Ballet Dictionary] Definitions with clear, professional classroom VIDEO clips illustrating most terms.
 * [|ARTS EDGE] Education and Arts Advocacy Website of the JFK Center in Washington DC-Lessons, Standards, Web Links, How-To's, etc.
 * [|Broadway: All About American Musicals] Everything you ever wanted to know about Broadway and American Musical Theater is here.
 * [|Classics for Kids music, history, games & more!] Music clips and info about the music of various countries, composers and historical time periods, different musical styles, with games, activities, broadcasts, web links. Useful for Social Studies and Language Arts and well as Music, Dance, & Art!
 * Feed the Head is unlike any website I've ever seen. It is more than a game, it's a visual experience. Start by pulling off the nose then just click on stuff like a kid would.
 * [|Destination Modern Art] This part of the Museum of Modern Art's website features an interactive exploration of Modern Art with lots of hands-on activities appropriate for K-2.
 * [|MoMA's Education Website for K-12 Teachers] the Museum of Modern Art in NYC provides online learning, educational guides, images and lessons.
 * [|Mondays with Merce-Modern Dance Class "webisodes"] Online learning courtesy of Jan Duffy's favorite dance teacher-Merce Cunningham. Merce is a choreographic genius, abstract artist, and continual innovator-he designed dance for the camera in the 80's and later helped invent the first dance choreography software-he's still at work, though he's 89 years old and the living embodiment of Modern Dance History. Filmed in the past year, these classes with commentary by Merce are an incredible resource for dancers, choreographers, dance educators and dance historians.
 * DSO Kids The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Kids' Page is a wonderful site for kids with games, composers, instruments. It's very colorful and easy to use. Also good resources and lesson plans for music teachers.
 * [|The Getty Museum] Thanks to a de.liou.cio.us search, I found that the Getty has oustanding short videos on design principles for art students. In addition, there is an excellent video for social studies teachers on mummification. (Michelle Stein, Davis Academy Middle School)
 * [|The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History] I have been referring students to this site for years. The Met has compiled an extraordinarily comprehensive site in which the user may search using just about any tag to find information on visual art history. (Michelle Stein, Davis Academy Middle School)
 * Schoolhouse Rock! Jam Studio This is a great tool I found it in class one day, and the kids went crazy! It allows them to create music and share it. Check it out! Even if you are not a musician! (Robert Michek, Davis Academy)
 * [|SmartHistory] A dynamic, collaborative site of art resources, including videos of masterworks with commentary. (Michelle Stein, Davis Academy Middle School)
 * Art Daily "The first art newspaper on the net." Current events happening in the art world
 * [|Exploratorium] Great ways for children to explore the science of sound!

Technology
Shelley shared this site at our original tech class years ago. Use it all the time to time SAT essays, etc
 * [|GlobalSchoolNet.org] Project based site that allows classes to connect with other classes internationally to compete, debate, and share pertinent knowledge
 * [|iknowthat.com] - This is a multi-purpose website that can be used by teachers and students. As a teacher, you can use this resource to search for content quizzes or create your own on the "quiz central" link. The quiz format can be played alone, against the computer, or against other students. It's a engaging, fun format for the students and an easy to construct quiz format for the teacher. Students can access your quizzes easily from home, allowing them to get extra practice.
 * [|Class timer]
 * [|ABCYA.com] - Technology and Education Meet - How to use your computer. I use this at the beginning of the year when the little kids are coming in and remembering how to close out of programs and how to manipulate the mouse and keyboard. St. Johns -Lindsey Pollitt
 * [|Wordle] - I just had the best fun with this. Copied and pasted whole chapters from our online biology book and got to see what words were really important.
 * [|myplick.com]- Synchronizes pictures, power points, KeyNotes to the song of your choice
 * [|CyberBee]Internet resources for teachers- Teach students the basics about copyright with this interactive tool.
 * [|GlobalSchoolNet.org] Project based site that allows classes to connect with other classes internationally to compete, debate, and share pertinent knowledge
 * [|Classtools] Great site for creating review games, diagrams, and activities. My favorite is the Fruit Machine which is part of the Random Name Picker on the right!
 * Dance Mat Typing - Great typing practice for early grades.
 * [|Glass Giant Picture Making] - great creative uses to add to yours or your student's wiki page, keeps student's interest.
 * [|Internet4Classrooms]- a free web portal designed to assist anyone who wants to find high-quality, free Internet resources to use in classroom instruction, developing project ideas, reinforcing specific subject matter areas both in the class and at home and even for online technology tutorials.
 * [|CyberSmart] - a free web resource for teachers that are responsible for preparing students to be both careful and smart users of the internet. The curriculum features standalone lessons for grades K-12. The lessons are organized into five categories; Safety and Security, Manners and Cyber Citizenship, Authentic Learning and Creativity, Research and Information Fluency, and 21st Century Challenges.

Other / Multi-Disciplinary
[|Donor's Choose] [|Free Printable Flash Card Maker]
 * DiscoveryEd - a website for searching for CC licensed educational resources. More.
 * [|Edutopia] - A magazine from the George Lucas Education Foundation with many timely and thought-provoking articles.
 * [|Go Huskies -] A great site for alumni to network (I'm not a teacher but work in school communications. Hope this site is okay to list.)
 * [|Kathy Schrock's Guide to Educators] A excellent site for teachers to find all sorts of free or purchase 2.0 tools for classroom use.
 * [|Parents as Partners -] great podcast for creating meaningful partnerships between schools and parents
 * [|ProTeacher Community] - A great website for lessons, discussion, and chatting with other teachers!
 * [|Quizlet.com] Created by a high school student to help him memorize French vocabulary. It has since expanded to include many subjects. Can be used by teachers for their students, or for students to use on their own. Super easy and FUN!
 * [|Education World]- This site might look busy but has great resources for many subjects, search for any state or national standards
 * [|Library of Congress] - Resources for teachers. See the American Memory section with free access to historic maps, photo, video, audio.
 * [|Cramberry] a site that could allow students to create their own flashcards for review of a topic.....could this even provide the basis for the test in a subject?
 * [|Pete's Power Point Station]- lots of links and interactive games for students in various subject areas. Resources for teachers
 * [|All My Faves] - scans the Internet for the best and latest sites on the web. Updated every Monday, hand-picked impressive site offer users a little bit of everything each week with the added value of introducing new sites and fields of interest to users.
 * [|Busy Teacher's Cafe] - This site provides a multitude of resources including theme ideas, forms, graphic organizers, lesson ideas, etc. for teachers in grades K-6.
 * __- This site allows teachers to submit projects and donors (mostly businesses) can choose to fund the projects for the teachers. Several teachers in our district have already had projects funded.__
 * [|Free Rice] - UN World Food Program will donate rice for each correct answer in math, language, chemistry, art,english and geography. Great way to learn your math facts, countries of the world and do something for someone else at the same time.
 * [|BrainPOP] - You can use this page for all subject areas. The site has free items and also has items that you can use with log-in. There are movies with explanations, worksheets for the topics, an practice quizzes. Student's seem enjoy them!!
 * [|Pics4Learning] - Pics4Learning is a site where teachers and students can go to use pictures for anything they might need. There is a table of contents on the homepage that shows categories of pictures that are not copyrighted! I found historic maps that could be used for geography or historical fiction. I also found pictures that have entire lesson plans to go with them!
 * [|Edutopia] - I refer to this site often when I am beginning a new teaching module or concept. There are great videos here as well as blogs and thought provoking articles on current educational theories/practices. It is a George Lucas Educational Foundation creation. It builds around the philosophy that all of us, teachers, parents, students and administrators can make education better and where schools have access to the same resources that businesses do. Through this site, the foundation makes available resources to help build an innovative, interactive teaching and learning environment for our students and teachers today.
 * [|Dewey Decimal Game] - This looks like a great way to review some basic concepts about the DDC with our 3rd and 4th graders. Plan to use it now that we have enough computers in our elementary library. (Gwen Porter, Providence Christian Academy)
 * [|Universal Streaming] - An outstanding resource to use for all curriculum areas for grades K-12. It offers video streaming (full episodes and clips) as well as images and teacher resources/guides for adding to the lessons. Your school may have to have an account for it to be used. Jan Holcombe/King's Ridge Christian School.
 * []This is great for academic teams. This site includes states, elements ... (Sonya Braun, Providence Christian)
 * [|Posit Science] has some really fun brain games - check them out
 * Responsive Classroom - I love this approach to building community in the classroom and school. The website is great and has so many short videos that demonstrate their very simple, effective approach.
 * Prezi this is a really cool alternative to Powerpoint presentations. Students can create their own, and there are very easy to understand video tutorials. It helps students organize information in a way that makes sense to them!
 * [|Discovery Education]this is a great website for videos for all subjects and all grades. I love that I can get most of the shows that are seen on many of the Discovery channels. There are also professional development videos and
 * [|The Teacher's Corner]-has daily writing prompts, bulletin board ideas, monthly units and lesson plan ideas, pen pal connections
 * [|Discovery Education]visit this site to watch a variety of educational videos with your class. You can find something on almost any subject.
 * All Kinds of Minds this blog give updates on how educators can apply the principals of different learning styles in the classroom.

Video

 * [|100 Awesome Classroom Videos to Learn New Teaching Techniques] - This resource provides an annotated list of videos that educators can use to enhance their teaching and engage their multi-media enriched students. Videos are listed in the following categories:The Basics; The Arts; Getting Physical; Education and Technology; Special Needs; Creative Techniques; Videos Made by Students; Teachers Say; Classrooms on the News; and Just for Fun. (Brian Metcalfe, Winnipeg School Division)