Following is a list of World Wide Web sites that teachers and their students may find helpful.
Travel.
The Student Youth Travel Association announces a new site to help teachers and other youth-group leaders organize trips. The site provides travel and safety tips as well as advice on organizing a youth trip. It also includes information on more than 90 youth-specialist tour operators and other travel suppliers. www.syta.com.
Quizzes.
QuizStar, in association with amazon.com, has developed its own online quizzes. The quizzes include 6th grade science topics, fractions, artists, and college-level psychology. The quizzes can be taken online or downloaded at no charge for classroom use. www.aquiz.com.
Geography.
The Mining Company’s Geography Guide posts geography information and resources on its site, including weekly articles, annotated links to maps and geography information, Census data, clip art, an online world atlas, glossary, and weekly quizzes. geography.miningco.com.
Air.
The Air Travelers site introduces students to the basic principles of buoyancy, gas properties, temperature, and the techniques involved in hot-air ballooning. The site, designed primarily for upper-elementary teachers, is divided into four sections. “Balloon Activities” provides lists of materials, questions, and safety tips for projects. The “Teacher Background” section offers suggestions and detailed instructions for the various activities. “Science Background” goes behind the scenes of hot-air ballooning and links to definitions of some ballooning-related words. The “Gallery and History” section contains photographs, flight records, and other links. www.omsi.edu/sln/air.
English.
Vocabulary University produces free interactive cartoon word puzzles for students in grades 4-12, foreign students, and adults. There are also puzzles designed specifically for improving vocabulary for the SAT and ACT and puzzles with vocabulary words from books such as Catcher in the Rye and The Joy Luck Club. The site tracks participation, and students can eventually earn diplomas. www.vocabulary.com.
Virtual Field Trips.
The Virtual Field Trips site suggests nature-oriented trips for students. Each field trip covers a single topic and follows a story as it guides students through links and expert information. The site also offers resources, including reproducible documents and curriculum guides. The Teacher’s Lounge portion of the site gives instructions on creating an original tour. www.field-guides.com.
The Body.
Your Gross and Cool Body site explores body parts and sounds. Wendell the Worm and Dora explain how the body forms mucous and why armpits smell. There is also a list of fun facts about the body. The site also includes virtual tours through each of the body’s systems. www.yucky.com.
Justice.
The Department of Justice site for kids, Justice for Kids and Youth, provides crime prevention and information for K-12 students. The site includes safety rules and toll-free help lines for students. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno talks about prejudice and racial hatred and discusses children’s stories about dealing with prejudices in their homes and schools. There is also a section on the Justice Department’s civil rights cases, drug education, and links to the FBI’s kids and youth education page. www.usdoj.gov/kidspage.
Film.
At the Motion Picture Industry Behind the Scenes site, students can read filmmaker interviews, voice opinions on current movies, and explore the history of filmmaking. The Exploratory section lets users create their own films online with a unique filmmaking simulation or join a discussion with other filmmakers. Also included is information on the first film to be produced exclusively through the use of the Internet. library.advanced.org/10015.
Resources.
The Library Spot site is designed to provide an easy and fast way to find category-specific information on the Web. It provides links to an interactive atlas and encyclopedias as well as law, medicine, and music reference materials. Library Spot also has a collection of its own articles on topics including job searching, teacher planning, term-paper writing, and parenting. www.libraryspot.com.
Authors.
The Author’s Pen site provides information on more than 900 authors. It links to authors’ home pages, interviews, biographies, and complete bibliographies. www.books.com/scripts/authors.exe.
Art.
A. Pintura, Art Detective, is a site with games to help students in grades 4 and up explore art history. “The Case of Grandpa’s Painting” adventure takes children through a narrated search to discover the artist of an unknown painting. The site includes another game, “Inside Art,” in which players are “trapped” in a painting and must answer questions about it in order to escape. Teachers can also print out worksheets from the site’s resources section. www.eduweb.com/pintura.
