SEARCH ENGINES
With more than 2 billion websites to
choose from, the Internet is only a useful tool if you are able to find
the information, resource or entertainment you are searching for without
spending hours of frustration clicking on links that are of no use to you.
It is, therefore, imperative that students learn to use Search Engines
competently and confidently.
| KidsClick!
Click on the "Search Lessons" button at the top of the page for a complete online course of lessons in how to use search engines. Search Engine Watch Kids A list of Filtered Search Engines which allow you to search the web rather than just through a hand-picked selection of kid-safe sites. Results are filtered to remove objectionable material. Kids.Net.au This is an Australian search engine just for kids which is operated by volunteers searching sites that are fun, educational and child safe. The database of sites is mainly collected from user suggestions. |
The
Spider's Apprentice
This is not a search engine; it doesn't crawl the Web looking for URLs. It can't find stuff for you, but it can help you find it yourself. Ask Jeeves for Kids and Yahooligans are child-safe directories which use human beings to filter out sites that might be considered objectionable for viewing by children. Web Crawler Kid Sites Lycos Zone for Kids FactMonster |
WEBQUESTS, CHALLENGES AND INTERNET PROJECTS
A WebQuest is an activity in
which most of the information used is obtained from the Internet. Links
to appropriate sites are provided in order that the focus of the project
is to use information rather than to search for it, and to support learners'
thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
| Oz-WebQuests | The WebQuest Page - from San Diego Univeristy |
| EDNA Online Webquests | ThinkQuest |
| Lesson Plan Central Webquests | Aussie SchoolHouse - On the Web Projects |
| Best Webquests - Tom March's own Page and part of Ozline.com |
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND WORKSHEETS
| A
to Z Teacher Stuff
This is an enormous website providing excellent links to educational resources, lesson plans, thematic units, tips, articles and discussion areas. LessonPlanZ.com Lesson plans and resources for teaching Maths, Science, Social Studies, Language, Arts and Reading. There are thematic units and classroom activities for all ages. SchoolExpress.com School Express is an educational portal website. Links to thousands of free worksheets, hundreds of free software programs, online activities, ePhonics, and links to hundreds of educational websites. Puzzlemaker A great facility for making word and maths puzzles online either for inclusion in your web pages or as printable worksheets. |
Port
Macquarie Training Co-operative
Formed in 1996 by a group of teachers from the mid-north coast of NSW to provide support for cabling and networking in schools. It has developed into a valuable support network for both primary and secondary, across all KLAs and computer platforms. abc.Teach This is the place for kids, parents, student teachers, and teachers. Free Printables section offers over 5000+ free printable pages. Exams Club Great links for teachers and students to access school examinations for free. Add to the collection with your exams and help build a huge network of free information! |
TECHNICAL AND COMPUTER TRAINING
| Wazza's
Web Stuff
Fantastic site to support teachers and Computer Co-ordinators. Excellent links to all sorts of things related to the use of technology in K-12 education. Computer Training 2000 Free online computer training and support. This site has been designed to help you learn how to use the computer and how to integrate it into your everyday life. Beginners.co.uk As well as offering 525 online training courses at a pretty reasonable cost, there are over 550 free tutorials available for a wide variety of programs. Learn That Free online courses and free tutorials in a variety of computer, certification, business, lifestyle, and fun topics! They offer hundreds of free tutorials in Business, Certification, Computers, Finance, House, and Lifestyle topics. |
Tutorial
Find
Australian based resource offering the best tutorials on the Web. Over 3500 tutorials in over 300 categories. Online Tutorials Links to tutorials on anything you ever wanted to know - from 'How a 4 Wheel Drive Works' to 'How to Stay Cool in the Desert'. Information/Communication Technology A UK site providing ideas and information about managing IT in the classroom/school. Some useful hints and tips about reducing teachers' administrative burden facing by using technology. Education Online for Computers Offers both free and subscription based educational and training tutorials for all the Microsoft Office applications and other desktop software. |
COMPUTER LESSONS
| Electric
Teacher
Designed to help teachers use technology effectively in the classroom - resources on various software programs often used by teachers. |
Lesson
Plans Page - Technology
A collection of lesson plans developed by the University of Missouri. Lesson plans - teaching ideas for teachers, parents and students. |
| Internet
Island
Created by Miami Museum of Science as a tutorial for using the Internet. |
Integrating
the 'Net into the Elementary Classroom
Great list of links to integrate all the Internet offers to aid your teaching. |
| ActDen
Content for classroom or home use to introduce students to an Internet education experience. Tutorials for amny software programs! |
WebTeacher
A training tool designed for teachers to help them use the Internet in the classroom. Loads of links to lessons plans integrating the use computers. |
COMPUTER CO-ORDINATORS' HELP
| Wazza's
Web Stuff
A fantastic site to support teachers and Computer Co-ordinators. Excellent links to all sorts of things related to the use of technology in K-12 education. Useful Links for Computer Coordinators Jim Fuller shares some of his vast knowledge. Much of it is very technical - but there are some excellent help pages! Nerd's Heaven The place to find the places to get your mitts on stuff you want....software / freeware/ public domain / high tech...Tons of stuff at every link Web Publishing Curriculum Resources Great links to many resource web sites. Selective list of sites suitable for beginners/intermediate web developers! |
Lake
Macquarie District Office
Go to the Technology Links for some great resources and ideas! Technology Links Great set of links to tutorials and reference material provided by a Computer teacher. TECH SELF-HELP Part of the Country Areas Program web site - great links to technical help for all platforms. The Journal The Educational Technology Journal Sabine Technology Guide useit.com Computer Lab ICT in Education |
MATHS
| Clever
Games for Clever People
These really are clever games...and can be played with pen and paper at any time. Math Goodies A great collection of interactive Math Lessons together with homework help, worksheets and puzzles. A Maths Dictionary for Kids A Flash program designed by Jenny Eather, an Australian teacher. A terrific resource, which is also fun, bright and engaging. NRICH Online Maths Club From the NRICH centre in the University of Cambridge - free membership! Monthly Maths magazines - includes a Maths Thesaurus. Interactive Mathematics A library of web-based virtual manipulatives and concept tutorials mostly in the form of Java applets for maths instruction K-8. Maths.Com Includes assessment, maths courses, games, online tutoring and expert answers to Maths questions. |
BasketMaths
Interactive Learning
Select from the list of maths areas to be presented witha mathematics question. Correct answers result in a basketball shot animation. A+ Maths Great interactive maths site for students to practise their skills. Click on the Games Room to find both Java and non-Java games which the children love to play. Maths Forum resources, materials, activites, person to person interactions and educational produces and services to support the teaching and learning of maths. Daisy Maths Designed by Prof. Myles Harding to help his daughter, Daisy, understand maths concepts. Free download or use online |
ENGLISH
| Teachit.Uk
An incredible online library of English teaching resources for worksheets, lesson plans and schemes of work. Over 5000 pages of free resources for teaching English, Drama and Media Studies, plus online lessons, Interactive Whiteboard lessons and editable Powerpoint and Word documents for a small fee. |
ABCs
of the Writing Process
As this is an Angelfire site you have to put up with the annoying pop-up adverts - but there are some good tips and resources for getting the writing process up and running in the classroom. |
LITERATURE
| The
Book Adventure
Great free reading program for K-8. Reviews to help children select books and after they have read them they can take an online quize, with the incentive of prizes after a number of quizzes are completed. Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Sites This is a collection of reviews of great books for kids, ideas of ways to use them in the classroom together with collections of books and activities about particular subjects, curriculum areas, themes and professional topics. Children’s Literature Guide Resources related to books for children and young adults. There are links to author’s websites and to a number of online books which are available to download and read, some of which are only available on the web. A bit out of date now - but many of the links are still good. |
The
Doucette Index
Established by University of Calgary to provide teaching resources. Provides access to books and websites that contain useful teaching suggestions. Australian Authors & Illustrators The aim of this list is to make available official websites of authors who have had books entered for the Children's Book of the Year Awards. Pandemonium A website dedicated to Australian children's authors published by Pan Macmillan. Provides previews/reviews of titles, cover artwork, notes and newsletters from the authors, interviews, details of author tours and a huge collection of links to Literature sites on the Internet. Education Virtual Library Exploring Literature The Internet Public Library |
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
| The
Yuckiest Site on the Internet
Children have always been fascinated by the fact that we all burp, hiccup, poop, and vomit. On the Yuckiest Site on the Internet they can finally find out why their body needs to perform all these functions, get science questions answered, learn bug and worm secrets, and explore revolting games, recipes, and crafts. Great fun – and very yucky!! How Stuff Works Express! (kids) A huge amount of information offering activities designed to make Science and Technology entertaining. The staff of How Stuff Works Express includes writers, editors, graphic artists, Web designers and teachers of science, maths and language who have years of classroom teaching experience at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. |
A
Science Odyssey
This site is based on an American television series and presents many interactive pages to make learning fun. Find out about the lives of prominent scientists and learn about their inventions and discoveries. Human Anatomy Online Fantastic interactive site to help us all understand a little more about the bodies we live in! |
HUMAN SOCIETY AND ITS ENVIRONMENT
| Kids@nationalgeographic.com
This is the 'kids’ section of the National Geographic website and is a mine of information both in text and graphics. Go to the Great Barrier Reef and take a deep sea dive without getting your feet wet or take a trek through Nepal without leaving home. HyperHistory HyperHistory presents 3000 years of world history with a colour coded combination of graphics, lifelines, timelines, and maps. Over 2000 files interconnected throughout the site plus several hundred links to the Web. An enormous amount of information displayed in a unique way. Access Asia This is the website of The Asia Education Foundation, a national organisation formed to promote the study of Asia. The information contained in this site is a wonderful resource for classes of any age studying Asian culture. |
Maps
that teach
Download these map puzzles for students to learn in a fun way about the continents and where they are in relation to each other; the countries of the world, their capitals and major landmarks, physical features and what is far and near. Primary School.Com - HSIE Fabulous set of lessons, links and resources for many of the units specified in the HSIE syllabus. |
VISUAL ARTS
| Getty
ArtsEdNet
This site, produced by the J Paul Getty Trust, provides, amongst other things a plentiful supply of Lesson Plans and Curriculum ideas based on various forms of art and media. There are notes for art appreciation and criticism, aesthetics and cultural background. A must for art lovers and educators. Crayola Creativity Central Go to the Educators section to find links to some great lesson plans, art techniques, creative writing projects and science experiments. Aaart.tv This site, produced by a teacher with experience in both K-12 and tertiary settings, includes sections on Sacred Sites, World Galleries, Study Skills, Art History Resources, Art Critisism, Women and Art, Art making and Art Teaching Prompts. |
ArtLex:
This is a Visual Arts dictionary in which you will find definitions of more than 3,300 terms, along with thousands of images, pronunciation notes, great quotations, and links to other resources on the Web. The index appears a little confusing at first but if you scroll down the left hand frame there are shortcuts to some of the longer articles. The Incredible Art Department There are some great lesson plans here that have been written, tried and tested by teachers for all ages. Also read the Pet Peeves to find out about some incredible people. |
MUSIC
Energy
in the Air
This site was made as an entry in
the annual ThinkQuest competition and includes information about how sound
is made, what it looks like when it is recorded, information on the instruments
that play in the orchestra and sound clips of the orchestra playing music.
There is also an activities section showing how instruments are made.
You will need Real Player to access the sound files.
Music
Education at Datadragon
This is a wonderful resource.
You are able to listen to and read information about instruments, learn
notation, find information on various musical genres and read "Today in
Musical History". There are also many links to other musical sites
on the Internet.
Didgeridoo
This site contains "easy to follow"
instructions on circular breathing - although I can't imagine how anything
so unnatural can ever be described as easy.
DRAMA
| Virtual
Library of Theatre and Drama
Pointers to resources around the world, for professionals, amateurs, academics and students of all ages. The site is updated daily and is part of the WWW Virtual Library Theatre on a Shoestring |
Teachit.UK
- Drama Library
A list of Teachit's Drama materials for you to print off / download / peruse at your leisure / photocopy immediately. The site also contains a list of useful Drama links. |
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH AND
PE
| The
Human Race
Developed by the Children's Health Development Foundation in Adelaide, for students aged 10 - 15. It's an interactive program that encourages children to make physical activity a part of their daily lives. Once registered, students choose a physical activity in which to participate. They time their performances, record their results and have their improvement points calculated. These points can be compared with classes in other countries and students around the world can communicate with each other. |
Sports
Media
This is a tool for everyone who is interested in Health, Fitness, Nutrition and Sport and provides a platform where they are able to exchange their ideas about PE and Sport. The site is part of the World-Wide Internet PE & Sports Organisation and provides a virtual place to stretch your muscles and find a new challenge. There are lesson plans, coaching tips and sports from around the world. |
LANGUAGES
| Languages
on the Web
Here is a site that provides you with 30,000 of the best language related links. As well as learning languages as diverse as Bhojpuri and Azerbaijani you can read bilingual short stories and make requests for assistance in writing in various languages. An invaluable aid to any language teacher. International Collection of Tongue Twisters This is the fun section of a german translation site. There are 2080 tongue twisters in 90 languages but more can be accessed through their links. Personally I found pronouncing the names of the some of the languages hard enough. |
Quia
Languages
Quia, one of my favourite sites on the Internet, has provided games and activities in 28 different languages as well as offering the facility for you to make your own in order to practise the particular vocabulary your students are learning at any given time. Unfortunately the service is no longer free although you can get a 30 day trial period at no cost. Languages Online - provides an interactive format through which pupils can practise French, German, Spanish or Italian in a variety of exercise styles. These games and exercises are terrific as reinforcement and consolidation to teaching and are available for pupils to use in their own time. |
THEMATIC ONLINE LEARNING
| BRAIN
POP
Features Science, Biology and Technology subjects for 5-8 grades. Each subject contains a 3-4 minute Animated Movie, an Interactive Quiz, an Experiment, a Comic Strip, a 'How-To' application, a Timeline and a print-able Activity Page. A few of the areas may be accessed free of charge but schools that need more can buy a School Pass for $135 US per school per year. ZOOM SCHOOL Zoom School is an virtual on-line classroom with lessons in geography, biology, language. arts, and early childhood activities. Children love to explore and learn through the various themed units. |
In2edu.com
A fantastic site from New Zealand providing teacher and pupil resources. Over 600 themes, thematic units, unit plans and tasks. Free printable lessons plans, awards, certificates and banners as well as De Bono and Blooms resources. Sunshine Online This is the site of Sunshine Books in New Zealand. There are some great projects here – particularly in the areas of recycling and nutrition. |
ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES
| Freeality
Internet Search
Previously known as the Internet Oracle, Freeality provides a terrific set of links to online encyclopaedias. Apart from the conventional encyclopaedias there are listings for more selective sites such as the Encyclopaedia Mythica and the Enclyclopaedia of Philosophy. A one-stop shop for knowledge! |
Britannica.com
Britannica.com includes the complete, updated Encyclopædia Britannica, the oldest and largest general reference in the English language. The search facility includes more than 125,000 sites, and you can also search the text of more than 100 million Web pages to find more information. |
| Merriam
Webster Online Dictionary
This is a complete online language centre which also offers the facility of downloading a program to add a dictionary button to your Internet Browser or Web Site. I find this invaluable. Simply highlight a word on a web page and click the dictionary button on your tool bar to have a dictionary definition or thesaurus suggestion within seconds. Enclyclopedia.com. ...because knowledge is cool! Fabulous free encyclopedia provided by elibrary. A comprehensive digital archive of information for young and old alike. |
YourDictionary.com
YourDictionary.com accesses 1800 dictionaries in 230 languages. It also provides a games room. language identifiers, grammar information, specialist dictionaries and language tools. This is an excellent site offering a complete language resource. RefDesk Refdesk is a free and family-friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources. |
KIDS STUFF – Places to have fun
while you learn!
| Iknowthat
Children can design and create stickers and certificates or complete projects, which can be sent through email invitations containing clickable links. It's a great way for them to communicate and interact on the Internet and to learn skills which will be of benefit to them in other applications. Some good Reading and Maths activities included in the site and certificates are awarded on completion of a task. Primary Games Created by Susan Shuey Beasley, a School-Based Technology Specialist who originally designed the games for her own students. Personally I'm addicted to playing "Dot's Checkers" which meant writing this website took twice as long as it should have done! |
BONUS.COM®
the SuperSite for Kids
This website was recommended to me by some of the children at school. It is a huge site full of interactive games, activities, information, quizzes and projects; in fact it would probably be easier to say what isn't on this site rather than what is! Well worth a visit! Kids' Clubhouse This site, produced and maintained by the Houghton Mifflin Education Place, offers free games, activities, and resources for maths, reading, social studies, and science for grades K-6, together with some Wacky Web Tales for children to complete and have fun with as they learn different parts of speech. |
| FunBrain
A site full of brain teasers and games designed to enhance learning and make it fun as well as many resources for both teachers and parents. |
Prongo.com
Free online games, quizzes, clipart, ecards, wallpaper, jokes, screensavers and much more. A fun, interactive and educational way to learn. |
| Chess
Kids
Teach your kids how to play chess with the free online chess course. |
TEACHER RESOURCES
| Primary
Programs Plus
Reclaim the weekend. Fully integrated, outcomes based programs together with teaching and learning experiences, assessment strategies, weblinks and other resources. It's worth the few dollars it costs! PrimarySchool.com A must to bookmark. This site provides over 7000 links to educational resources all categorised according to the units specified in the NSW curriculum. It includes resources for teachers, students and parents with links to support services, professional reading, advice and information on current educational issues Quia Quia, provides tools to create, customize, and share learning activities and helps students learn by bringing the resources of thousands of educators together in one place. Unfortunately the service is no longer free and costs $49US a year to join - there is, however a 30 day free trial facility. Teachers’ Links Just what it says it is - produced in Australia this is a huge collection of links to resources, associations and sites to aid and abet us in all we do as teachers. Resources for Primary Teachers This fantastic site offers many hundreds of worksheets and lesson ideas sent in from teachers around the world. Discovery School DiscoverySchool.com provides teaching materials for teachers, useful and fun sites for children and advice for parents. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators A categorized list of both resource sites and sites providing professional development. Internet School Library Media Centre This is a huge collection of links to educational resources, online activity pages and professional asssociations (mostly American). Check out the “Needle in a Cyberstack” section for a comprehensive collection of search tools, research sites and useful resources available on the Internet. Dositey.com Free resources including interactive lessons, games, worksheets, puzzles, open-ended problems and other activities. Exercises and games are designed to teach in a fast and effective way. Teachers helping teachers The Lesson Plan Page The Teachers' Depot! Microsoft Lesson Plans (including Schoolhouse at Encarta) |
Virtual
Teacher
Great resources, links, support and professional development together with a free fortnightly newsletter. Australian based! Busy Educator's Guide to the World Wide Web Marjan Glavac, has developed this site as her contribution to the busy educators of the world. Check out the *Top Educator Sites* for a well documented list of resources for teachers. AskERIC AskERIC provides education information, resource collections, lesson plans and a huge database of more than a million documents and articles on education research and practice. Australian.Teachers.Net This is a division of the American Teachers.Net site and provides message boards, mailing rings and chatboards to enable Australian teachers to make contact and maintain links with other teachers both nationally and internationally. Education World® Education World has developed a search engine for educational Web sites only so that teachers can locate ideas or research materials without searching the entire Internet. The site provides original content - lesson plans, articles and information on how to make use of technology. teachers@work This New Zealand has selection of more than 3000 links which have all been reviewed and classified according to their layout, language level, content and educational approach. MyGradeBook.Com MyGradeBook.Com is a no longer a free website (it costs $43US a year) but it can be useful to teachers, students and parents. Teachers can add assignments, mark homework etc. Students are assigned passwords so they can log-in to view class information, work assignments and results. Busy Teachers Website Teachers First I love that teaching idea Teachers Net Teachnet Teacher Tech Country Areas Program Lesson Plan Central Thirteen Ed Online Teaching Ideas for Primary Schools |
PAGES FULL OF USEFUL LINKS
| Discovernet
- Online Museums
The gateway to Australian museums and Art Galleries, comprising a database of museums' education resources, an interactive game to introduce children to the curatorial process, online stories and a guide to museums. Oz Ed Web Stephen Lane of Brisbane put this site together for, in his own words, philosophical reasons. Whatever the reason - I'm glad he did. There are a great number of lesson plan pages (including Australian specific) listed on the side panel of the page and the site search engine brings up a huge selection. You gotta love those flying pigs!!! Teaching & Learning on the Web Sites for Teachers Busy Teachers' Web site Kathy Shrock's Guide for Educators Just for Kids |
Blue
Web'n
Blue Web'n is an online library of over 2000 outstanding sites categorised by subject are, audience and type. Search by grade level, broad subject level area or specific sub-categories. It's a great collection of sites and you can sign up for weekly updates! Internet4Classrooms Incredibly useful site with links for K-12 teachers including standardised testing practice links. Exworthy Educational Resources Huge comprehensive set of links to good educational sites put together by a husband and wife team. Link Library Elementary Links Best on the Web - Web Portal for Educators Web links Web 100 : Education and Reference |
RESEARCH AND HOMEWORK HELP
| HomeWork
Elephant
A first stop for internet resources to help complete homework assignments. Over 5000 carefully selected resources to assist with any homework problems. Proquest Homework Help Proquest uses the Internet to put teachers, students and parents closer to the information they need and provides instructions and help for teachers to create their own interactive centres of involvement. |
Global
Access to Educational Sources
Described as a cybrary for the Middle School and beyond it provides literary thousands of links to sites in the categories of Art & Music, American History, Geography, Internet Resources, Literature & Writing, Mathematics, News & Current Events, Reference Sources Science, Search Sources, Teacher Resources, World History. Homework Help with BJ Pinchbeck School Sux Student Research Resources |
DOWNLOADS AND FREE STUFF
The high cost of software and licences often limits the purchase of programs and resources. Fortunately there are plenty of download sites from where it is possible to obtain shareware, freeware and demonstration copies of commercially available programs.
| Eduventures
Educational Freeware Designed and Used by Educators for Elementary School Children to run on Macintosh computer. |
Virtual Free Kids Stuff |
WEBRINGS
Webrings are a great way to find sites with a common theme. Look at the bottom of webpages to see if the site is a member of a webring and click on the ‘List of Sites’ to find links to all the sites connected to the ring.
| Educational Webrings - This contains a great list of available educational and child-related webrings |
WEB PAGE RESOURCES
The following sites will provide assistance and resources to teachers and students wishing to make their own websites.
| Webmonkey
Webmonkey is a wonderful website developers resource providing tutorials, downloads, guides, codes and tips. Add the page to your browser toolbar to have information at your fingertips. Classroom Clipart |
Color Specifier |
SCHOOLS ON THE WEB
The Internet is all about communication. Use the following links to visit or contact other schools around the world, register your own school website or become involved in e-pal correspondence and collaboration.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE FABULOUS!!!
Words are an inadequate tool to describe
these sites as they are probably two of the best the Internet has to offer.
They combine a variety of multimedia including VR-360 panoramas, Quicktime,
Flash and streaming media to produce a visual feast. Use the
mouse to pan left and right on the panoramic photographs and keep a close
eye on the site maps provided to get your bearings.
| Sydney
Opera House
Clicking on "Tours" will lead you to the fantastic virtual tour of the Opera House. |
The
National Gallery of Art, Washington
This has to be the next best thing to being there and it saves the queues when the big shows come to town! |