Educational Web sites
The web sites noted below are those that are particularly helpful to parents and students. The sites provide users with a wide variety of educational and cultural resources, research tools, homework help, tutorials and parenting expertise. The web sites provide comprehensive sources of information for parents, students and members of the community.
Categories include Art, Bilingual/ESL Education, Career Education, Early Childhood Education, Encyclopedias/Research Tools, General Education, Gifted Education, Health/Safety Education, Homework Help, Language Arts, Literature/Reading, Math, Music, Parenting, School Readiness, Science, Search Engines, Social Studies, Special Education, Illinois State Learning Standards, Study Skills and Test-Taking Strategies, and Technology.
Read the descriptions of the web sites below and select the title to move directly to the web site.
ART
Art Institute of Chicago
Special features of this site include a kids section and a family activities section.
Art Museum Network
Links are provided at this site to over 200 art museums around the world with access to their collections and resources.
ArtCyclopedia, The
This is an excellent source for all things art related. Search the extensive collection of 80,000 images from over 7,500 artists by title or art museum, or browse by artist, movement, medium, nationality, or name. There are also many links to other art sites.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Visitors to this site can explore over 44,000 works of art by department, types of art and subject.
National Gallery of Art
This site is rich and well-developed. It provides a full view of the collection and a special section for kids in addition to numerous other features.
Web Museum
At WebMuseum one can enjoy 10,000,000 images and documents from galleries and art museums around the world. Listings by artist are accompanied by short biographies and a list of available paintings, while theme listings include a brief introduction the period and a list of paintings. Unusual or important terms in all entries link to a glossary.
BILINGUAL/ESL EDUCATION
Babel Fish Translation
This site translates web pages, e-mails and typed or pasted text up to 150 words from and to many languages including English to Spanish and Spanish to English.
Dave’s ESL Cafe
This site has many items of interest to ESL students and teachers including in-depth sections devoted to idioms, phrasal verbs, and slang.
EduHound Español
This directory site offers links to Spanish-only resources on Hispanic culture, history, health, reference, and more. There’s also a Bilingual Tutorials section and links to Spanish-language media, from newspapers to radio and television stations.
Enchanted Learning Little Explorers
This site presents a great picture dictionary in English and Spanish with web links to more detail on the words presented.
Enlaces bilingües para niños y maestros
This site for elementary school students is mostly in Spanish. The site provides links to games, poems and stories. There are also links to lesson plans for teachers and information for parents.
Kokone
This interactive online Spanish-language kids’ site is about Mexico’s culture. Students will find games and riddles, a Latin American cooking section, an animals and eco-adventure section, a life through the eyes of the children of Mexico section, a literature section, and a historical section.
Mundo Latino Rinconcito
This interactive site features activities, games, and stories for Spanish-speaking students. The site also includes a bulletin board for children and links to more children’s sites.
National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education
This institution collects, analyzes, and disseminates information related to the effective education of linguistically and culturally diverse K-12 learners. The site includes an online library, language and education links, databases, and links to publishers and distributors of teaching materials.
CAREER EDUCATION
BLS Career Information
This site presents information on the most popular jobs in relation to school subjects in which students may be interested.
Career Key, The
This site can help students learn about career decisions and plan for a job that best suits their personality and abilities.
Family Network Career Exploration
This site allows students to select a career and review full information on that particular careeer.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Early Childhood Educator’s & Family Web Corner
This site provides information and links on all topics related to preschool and primary level education. There is a complete section devoted to parents which provides information on all aspects of raising young children.
Enchanted Learning Little Explorers
This site presents a great picture dictionary with web links to more detail on the words presented.
ENCYCLOPEDIAS/RESEARCH TOOLS
Academy of Achievement
This site presents a multimedia experience, designed as a virtual museum, to bring the inspiring life stories of this century’s eminent achievers to the fingertips of every student, teacher and parent. Biographies are supplemented by interviews and quotes and include audio and video of their subjects.
Awesome Library, The
A research portal with links to every possible type of reference source is featured on this site.
Biography.com
Detailed biographies with pictures of over 25,000 people are included in this site.
CIA The World Factbook
This site presents current facts, flags, maps and essential information on all countries.
E-Conflict World Encyclopedia
Billed as the best “country” site on the web, this site provides full information on countries as well as maps and multimedia. It even includes a sound file that will play the national anthem of each country.
Electronic Reference Desk
This site provides links to scholarly reference sources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, map collections and thesauri.
Encarta
This encyclopedia provides exhaustive content with over 47,00 articles, color graphics, multimedia and dynamic maps.
Infoplease Countries
This site presents current facts, flags, maps and essential information on all countries.
Information Please
This massive site provides reference materials such as almanacs, encyclopedias and dictionaries but also provides sections for teachers including lesson plans, activities and printable graphic organizers. There is also a very useful section for parents with links to many parent-related sites.
Kids Konnect.com
This site is a major gateway to educational web sites in all subject areas.
Library Spot
Library Spot makes finding the best information on the Internet quick, easy and fun. The resources are endless and include lesson plans for teachers and reading tips for parents. A bookmark at this site is like having a multitalented and versatile reference librarian available to answer questions 24 hours a day.
Lives, The Biography Resource
This is the largest guide to biography sites on the Internet. All Individual Lives link to biographies of people who are no longer living.
GENERAL EDUCATION
African American Web Connection
This site offers a good selection of mostly popular web pages on topics such as art, authors, history, and other index sites; also includes annotated listings for online periodicals, and resources for children.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress
This site categorizes as “treasures” some of the more than 110 million items in the Library of Congress. These include Thomas Jefferson’ handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jelly Roll Morton’s early compositions, Maya Lin’s original drawing for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the earliest known baseball cards, and the first motion picture deposited for copyright
BrainPOP
This is a great site for presenting learning concepts in all subject areas via movies and tutorials.
Copernicus Education Gateway, The
This site is a super source for all things educational on the Web. There is a major link to lesson plans and other teacher resources, a section specifi cally for students and a section for parents.
Dositey
This is a good site for math and language arts interactive activities and also for reinforcement with a large number of printable worksheets for all grade levels.
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning produces children's educational web sites and games which are designed to capture the imagination while maximizing creativity, learning, and enjoyment. The web site’s mission is to produce the best educational material, emphasizing creativity and the pure enjoyment of learning. This is a great, general education web site for students, parents and teachers.
Funschool.com
This collection of bright, colorful, entertaining and educational games is designed for young students to enjoy. There are social studies, math, and reading activities for preschoolers through middle school students. Animations show students how they are doing as they work, and reward screens notify the children when they have completed the games.
KiddoNet
This is a safe, secure yet exciting, educational web site with plenty of games and activities. The site is particularly useful for children’s free time and that long stretch of time over the summer.
Learning Page
There is a large collection of teaching tools available at this site including printable, leveled books, lesson plans, worksheets and clip art. There is also a large section for parents and links to parenting sites.
Museum Computer Network
This site provides links to over 1,700 museums around the world.
Schoolhouse Rock
Included on this web site are all of the lyrics to the Schoolhouse rock songs about math, history, grammar and science. In addition to the lyrics, students can actually listen to every song ever played on the Schoolhouse Rock television program. This is a fun and effective way for young students to learn basic concepts.
Smithsonian Institution
As massive and magnificent as the 16 museums and numerous libraries of the Smithsonian Institution, this web site provides links to the Institution’s resources as well as an education section with lesson plans, teacher tools and professional development opportunities.
Teacher/Pathfinder
At this site one will find an exceptional collection of links and materials. The parent section contains a top quality selection of sites that address family concerns.
GIFTED EDUCATION
ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education
This extensive site offers answers to questions about gifted students and students with disabilities. Fact sheets point to state resources, organizations and publishers of gifted curricula. One can also visit one of the many links to additional educational sites.
Gifted Education
This site offers the best resources on gifted education the Web has to offer. This site lists the characteristics of gifted learners, instructions for joining gifted listservs and a useful list of other resources.
Gifted Resources Home Page
This site contains links to all known online gifted resources, enrichment programs, talent searches, summer programs, mailing lists, and early acceptance programs.
HEALTH/SAFETY EDUCATION
BBC Kids Health
Take an interactive tour of the body, find out about the body’s systems, and discover ways to keep healthy at this site. There is also a powerful search function to connect to health-related links.
KidsHealth
This site provides accurate, doctor-approved, jargon-free health information about children from birth through adolescence. The site offers separate areas for kids, teens and parents. Each section has its own design, age-appropriate content and instructional tone and offers thousands of original articles, animations, interactive activities, games and resources developed by health experts.
Virtual Body, The
The Virtual Body contains a collection of interactive presentations on the functions of the brain, the digestive system, the heart, and the skeleton of the human body. The site presents information in either English or Spanish.
HOMEWORK HELP
Ask Dr. Math
This site contains an extensive archive of tutorials on all math topics. The Teacher2Teacher section is a valuable resource for teachers and parents who have questions about teaching mathematics.
Big Chalk’s Homework Central
The staff of academic and education specialists at this site have carefully reviewed the best Web sites and organized them into comprehensive collections for hundreds of subject areas. The academic subject collections are organized for three grade levels: elementary school, middle school and high school.Students can easily find the tutorials and research information they need by searching within this site. There are also robust resource sections for teachers, librarians/media specialists, school administrators, students and parents.
Factmonster.com
This site responds to homework questions by providing links that will provide the information students need. The site also provides glossaries and tutorials in all subject areas.
MiddleWeb’s Ten Best Homework Sites
Just as the title of this web site indicates, there are descriptions of and links to the 10 best homework sites.
Multnomah County Library Homework Center
This well-organized site provides a large number of links to all topics in all subject areas, allowing students easy access to answers for their homework and project questions.
LANGUAGE ARTS
6 + 1 Trait Writing
The 6+1 TraitTM Writing framework is a powerful way to learn and use a common language to refer to characteristics of writing as well as create a common vision of what 'good' writing looks like. Teachers and students can use the 6+1 Trait model to pinpoint areas of strength and weakness as they continue to focus on continued writing improvement. This Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory site is the official 6 + 1 Trait Writing site.
Garbl’s Writing Resources Online
This annotated directory features Web sites focusing on creativity, the writing process, English grammar, style and usage, plain language, action writing, reference sources, words, word play, online writing experts, books on writing and favorite fiction writers. You'll also find lists of Web sites on punctuation, concise writing, avoiding bias, spelling, vocabulary, writing for the Web and overcoming writer's block.
InterActive Six-Trait Writing Process
This web site provides a review of each trait and the scoring system involved. Exercises provided here will give students and teachers a chance to read sample writings, rate them, and compare their ratings with those of others. This will give a valuable opportunity for both students and teachers to improve their understanding of the Six Traits and, in the end, improve their own writing. Valuable links to other sites are also provided.
Virtual Thesaurus
Unlike a standard thesaurus that simply provides a list of synonyms, this site uses advanced graphics technology to create either a 2D or 3D word web of synonyms and word phrases. Definitions, derivatives, antonyms, parts of speech and other information is also provided for each word.
Young Author’s Workshop
This site provides students with all the information they need to write successfully: ideas, writing, revising, editing and publishing. There are also numerous links to resources for helping teachers teach writing successfully.
LITERATURE/READING
Children’ Authors and Illustrators on the Web
The websites linked here include authors' personal websites and websites maintained by fans, scholars, and readers.
Reading Village, The
This site is a great source of information for language arts educators! In addition to a wealth of lesson plans, there are discussion groups, recommendations for language arts software, standards and assessment information, numerous preservice resources, lists of the latest research articles and journals, plus great book lists for your students. There are resources for special needs teachers and their students.
Scholastic.com
This site offers interactive book-related activities with news, online discussions, author profiles, research tools and professional resources. There are sections for parents, kids and teachers.
Starfall
Starfall is a creative website designed to teach children to read. The free website is intended to help to inspire a lifelong love of reading and learning. The interactive books available here have sound. Teachers may request free writing journals for classroom use that reinforce the sequential phonics lessons of each interactive book. The Starfall learn-to-read program was created to meet the needs of the emergent reader by incorporating rhyming games and high-interest books that teach phonemic awareness (sounds in words), phonics, decoding skills, and comprehension. The program is designed to instill confidence and enable the child to proceed as quickly as possible to a balanced reading program.
MATH
A + Math
This interactive math site helps students improve their math skills with flash cards, drills, worksheets and games.
AAA Math
This site is a treasure trove of math materials with explanatory lessons, interactive practice, and challenging games. There is also a glossary and homework help.
Algebra.help
This website features lessons to help students learn or refresh old skills, a large collection of calculators, including graphing calculators, that show students how to solve problems step-by-step, and interactive worksheets to test students’ skills.
Coolmath4kids
Math is truly fun at this site packed with exciting games, interactive games, challenging word problems, coloring pages and online calculators. There are also tutorials on all aspects of math.
Harcourt Math Glossary
This multmedia glossary shows how math works. This is a great resource for reinforcing the meaning of basic math concepts.
Interactive Calculators, Converters and Math Tools
This section of the Math.com site features a large collection on interactive calculators, converters, math tools, equation solvers, formulas and tables.
Math Lab, The
This site is full of interactive lessons, math magic, games, a math dictionary, graphing calculators, humor, a math "gym", and lots more. Many of the lessons include practice problems which generate passwords when solved correctly. These passwords will take the user to "treasure rooms". The user can use any password by enterring it into the TreasureFinder on the navigation bar at the bottom of every page.
Math.com
This great site provides a wealth of math-related materials and resources. Students can access a range of converters, calculators, graphs, and equation solvers or they can take advantage of the excellent test preparation, study tip, or homework help sections. The can hone their skills with challenging puzzles, games and drills. For teachers, there are lesson plans, information on standards, career information and many additional resources.
MathFlash! Flash Cards for Kids
Straightforward computation flash cards are generated by this site. The site works well both for basic skills remediation and, using the optional time, as an enrichment activity for students interested in testing their mental math speed.
Professor Freeman’s Math Help
This site provides information about basic math, algebra, study skills, math anxiety and learning styles. This site also provides links for students and teachers to information about learning styles, study skills tips, and ways to reduce math anxiety and gives the students access to tutorials, algebra assignments, math videos, and a forum for discussing with the professor a variety of math topics. The site is intended primarily for students in District #87 who are taking pre-algebra and algebra classes.
Rick’s Math Web
This site features over 4,800 math problems for grades K-12 with downloadable worksheets and answer keys. Online tutorials are also available as are links to the most useful math web sites.
Webmath
This math site provides computerized step-by-step tutorials on individual problems in almost any math topic. There is also a teacher resource section as a part of this site.
Word Problems for Kids
This site is designed for grades 5-12 to help students improve their problem-solving skills. The problems are classified by grade levels, and each problem includes a hint and a solution.
MUSIC
Music Education Online
This site is one of the most comprehensive collections of music-related resources on the Web, organized by topics that include brass, string, percussion and woodwind instruments; orchestras, band and classical music; and vocal music.
Symphony: An Interactive Guide, The
This online guide to the symphony offers biographies of classical composers, audio clips of their work, and a timeline putting the events of musical history into perspective. There is no better way for students to meet the masters of music.
PARENTING
AT & T Learning Network
The resources at this site support the learning that takes place outside the traditional walls of the classroom—learning at home and across the community. Web site links supporting learning at home and family involvement in education include topics on education, safety, entertainment and motivation as well as many cable television resources.
Family Education Network
This site provides parents with information and advice on all aspects of parenting for all ages of children. It also provides significant assistance for parents helping their children with specific homework assignments.
Listening Ear, A
This site provides a large number of web links to valuable sites for both parents and teachers on such topic as children with special needs, health, nutrition, family economics, drugs & alcohol, single parenting, parenting skills and all school subjects.
Parent Smart.com
ParentSmart's website features over 50,000 articles on parent and family-related topics. The web site also provides reliable reviews of articles and links to help direct parents’ search for information. The site also feature subjects of special interest to parents and educators in the "Monthly Highlights" section. Site editors also anticipate questions and concerns by featuring topics that coincide with school milestones throughout the year.
Parenthood.com
This site presents every topic of worth to parents and additional links to valuable parenting and family-related topics.
Parenting & Family
This site covers more than 50,000 subjects with over 1 million links to the best resources on the Net and the fastest-growing archive of high quality original content. Topics range across all parent and family-related subjects. No one has greater depth and breadth than this site.
Parenting Links
This Parent Education Resources site lists a number of very useful links to web sites presenting information on parenting topics.
SCHOOL READINESS
ReadyWeb
This site is a resource for parents and educators on the subject of school readiness. ReadyWeb is an electronic collection of resources on school readiness sponsored by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
SCIENCE
How Stuff Works
The author of this site provides diagrams and pictures and simply explains how hundreds of inventions and other complex organic and inorganic mechanisms work.
NASA for Kids
This site has enough content to keep kids engaged for a year. It includes activities, lesson plans, webcasts, newsletters, and plenty of fun stuff.
ScienceMaster
ScienceMaster is chock full of information, news, links, pictures, products and services, with the best content from NASA, the USGS, the EPA, NOAA & leading colleges & universities. ScienceMaster is the place to learn about the universe, or space, find information on volcanos, and global warming, explore plants, animals or DNA, and study physics or chemistry.
Why Files, The
This site is an accurate, attractive science current events resource. Archives are conveniently sorted by science field.
Windows to the Universe
This site provides a rich array of documents, images, movies, animations, and data sets to help students explore the solar system and the historical and cultural ties between science, exploration, and the human experience. All pages are beautifully illustrated and include many links to other planetary resources.
Zoom Astronomy: Our Solar System
This site is simply written, well-illustrated and includes hypertext links embedded in the text to enable students to explore their interest in the solar system in a nonlinear fashion.
SEARCH ENGINES
Ask Jeeves Kids
This site is a full-service reference site that searches for information in response to questions. It also provides reference works, links to news sites and educational games.
Google
Google is a very popular and effective search engine, but it is not screened for offensive content. It is possible for student’s outside the school district’s filter to be lead to objectionable content.
Ivy's Search Engine Resources for Kids
Here you will find search forms for the major Internet search engines for kids. There are also Internet search engine links, links to web guides for kids, some specialized search engine forms and specialized search engine links of interest to kids. In addition, there are links to family friendly or general WWW filtered search engines and links to more pages like this. This site offers kid and family-friendly, filtered searches for information on the Web.
Kids Web
This site prescreens and provides links to web sites for students. The site is easy to navigate, safe, educational and age-appropriate.
Yahooligans
The Web Guide for Kids: This site is a full-featured reference site and search engine designed for kids and safe for kids.
SOCIAL STUDIES
About Geography.com
This major site provides extensive resources and information on geography.
Afro-Americ@ Kids Zone
This site offers an impressive collection of games, stories, brain teasers and information about African culture, geography and history.
Ben’s Guide to U.S Government for Kids
This site is organized into four levels for grades K-12 and provides significant information on all aspects of government. Printable activity pages are available and a list of government web sites for kids is also provided.
Blank Outline Maps
This site provides a comprehensive collection of printable black-line maps.
CNN Student News
This information-rich multimedia site relates daily news stories to curriculum content to help learners keep pace with world events. It offers a variety of teaching and learning resources, including background articles, online forums, films, sound clips and animations, and a powerful search engine for finding specific topics.
FirstGov for Kids
All government web sites for kids can be accessed through this portal. The best kid’s links to nongovernment sites are also provided. This is a very safe site for kids of all ages to surf.
National Geographic
This site provides all the resources of National Geographic plus a searchable data base, current events and information on TV programs. It also provides a great variety of geographic resources, including learning adventures, a 3D virtual trip through the solar system, and online tools including “Map Machine.” This site also provides special sections for kids, students and parents.
Time for Kids
This site features information on people and events in the news, historic profiles, a cartoon of the week, interactive talk, and online quizzes.
Weekly Reader
This online version of the popular newspaper for kids is highly interactive with lots of games, quizzes, contests, trivia, current events and coloring activities for students in grades Prek-10. There are also excellent articles for teachers and parents as well as links to other student news sources.
World Atlas.com
This site’s map resources include stylized clip art, color reference maps and blackline masters of the world, continents and many sovereign nations. Also included is a wealth of information on the nations.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Can Do! Web Site, The
The overall mission of the Can Do! Web Site is to help people, especially kids, develop a more positive attitude and perspective about themselves and the people in the world around them. Can Do! works toward this mission by using "ability awareness" to help kids focus on what they each CAN do... regardless of their challenges. In essence, Can Do! is dedicated to helping children reach their unique true potential by fostering a proactive, "can do" attitude that helps expand their vision of possibilities within themselves, in others, and in their futures. Can Do! encourages the celebration of individual differences and the abilities we all have.
LD Online
Rich in content, attractively packaged, and highly interactive, LD Online is undoubtedly the most concise and informative source for the latest and the best information on learning disabilities. LD Online is designed to appeal to parents, educators and students. The highly engaging KidZone features an art gallery, student newspaper, interactive activities and audio clips on IEPs specifically designed for children.
LD Online Bulletin Boards
This site offers bulletin board and live chat discussions among teachers and parents regarding learning disabilities. Teachers can garner specific teaching and learning strategies from this site.
SERI: Special Education Resources on the Internet
This site lists hundreds of links to information on specific disabilities, on materials for working with special education students and on techniques and strategies for working with special education students.
STANDARDS, ILLINOIS STATE LEARNING
Illinois State Board of Education
Information about the schools of Illinois and the Illinois system of education can be found at this site, including ISAT information and ISAT preparation materials.
Illinois State Learning Standards
This site is a part of the Illinois State Board of Education web site and details specifically the skills and concepts students are to master in each subject area at various stages of their school experience.
Illinois State Learning Standards Performance Descriptors and Classroom Assessments
Performance descriptors are statements of how students can demonstrate the knowledge and skills they acquired. Classroom assessments are statements of what students can do to demonstrate that they have met the standards and a means for evaluating the levels of their performance.
STUDY SKILLS AND TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES
Beat the Clock
Lessons in time management are presented at this web site. A teacher’s guide is included, and the web site is also helpful for parents working with their children on time management skills.
Factmonster.com Study Skills
This site offers common sense tips for studying and taking tests. A large number of other study resources are also available.
Study Guides and Strategies
This very helpful and informative site provides students with specific strategies for studying, learning and taking tests. The categories the site covers in depth include Preparing to Learn, Studying, Classroom Participation, Learning with Others, Project Skills, Reading Skills, Preparing for Tests, Taking Tests, Writing Basics, and Math & Science.
Study Skills
This simple web site provides details in outline form on how student’s can study effectivley.
Test Strategies for Students, Parents and Teachers
This no-frills web site provides concrete tips for students, parents and teachers on improving students’ test-taking skills.
TECHNOLOGY
Everything E-Mail
As the name suggests, this site provides all the information one needs to effectively communicate with e-mail. At the site there are links, tips, glossaries, discussion groups, newsletters, fun stuff and school-related links and information.
Finding Information on the Internet: A TUTORIAL
This site offers excellent information from the Teaching Library at the University of California at Berkeley. It walks the reader through information on internet jargon, search engines and directories, evaulating web pages and much more.
HelpWeb, The
This guide is intended to help people who are just getting started on the Internet learn their way around. The site is simple and informative and provides many valuable links.
Test Category
This is not a tour, it's a picture of a rabbit.
Test
