Today's
Weather. A detailed hour-by-hour weather
forecast for the Great Falls-McLean-Reston area from the Weather Channel.
Today's News. Breaking news from the region and around the world at The
Washington Post's KidsPost.
Today in History. Major events from this
day in history from FactMonster.
Today's
Vocabulary Word and Today's
Analogy. Quick one-word quizzes from FactMonster. And a tougher word of the day
from The New York Times.
Today's Game. Get your brain into gear with a new quick game every day
from A Game a Day.
Today's
Homework. Use your student ID and password to check
on your latest assignments via Blackboard.com.
Today's Lunch. The
Dictionary. An easily searchable version of the American Heritage
Dictionary, complete with full dictionary definitions, usages, roots, word
origins, synonyms, other forms, etc. Most words also come with audio so
students can hear the correct pronunciation.
Thesaurus. This online version
of Roget's II: The New Thesaurus provides an easy-to-use synonym hunter.
Encyclopedia. The sixth edition (2001) of the Columbia Encyclopedia is a
great first stop for any research. Each entry includes links to important
related areas.
Almanac. A
basic almanac from FactMonster.
Specialized Almanacs.
More than 100 specialized almanacs from the worlds of public affairs, science,
sports and entertainment, from InfoPlease.
World Factbook. The
World Atlas. From
MapQuest.
Magazines and Journals.
Thousands of magazines, journals, reports and other information that cost money
to access are available free on your computer through the Fairfax County Public
Library (use the number on your library card.)
Pencil
News. Daily news and features from MSNBC.
KidsPost. Daily news and features for students from The Washington
Post.
Time for Kids. Time magazine for students.
NewsforKids. Feature stories for students from the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution.
More News for Kids. Links
to kids and teen sections from dozens of other daily newspapers around the
country.
High School Newspaper. Find high school papers
from around the nation via the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Find Any Newspaper. Search via American Journalism Review for any
newspaper around the globe.
Understanding the Newspaper. The Washington Post
explains the elements of the front page.
World Factbook. The latest version of the
World Atlas. From MapQuest.
Encyclopedia. The sixth edition (2001) of the Columbia Encyclopedia is a
great first stop for any research. Each entry includes links to important
related areas.
Encyclopedia of World History. Ancient, medieval and modern history. The sixth edition
includes more than 20,000 entries.
U.S. History. “American’s
Story,” from the Library of Congress.
U.S. Government. Ben’s Guide to the federal
government, from the Government Printing Office.
Government
Agencies for Students. Links to more than 100 federal government Web sites
designed for students.
Census
FactFinder. Population, housing, economic and geographic data from the U.S.
Census Bureau. By state, county, city or town.
Virginia
State Government. The commonwealth's official Web site.
Virginia History. Provides
links to dozens of sites that specialize in Virginia's history.
Junior Achievement. Teaching about the free enterprise system.
Currency Converter. Translates value of currencies in different
countries.
Timelines.
Create timelines for your history reports, from Teach-Nology.
Venn Diagrams.
Create Venn diagrams for your history reports, from Teach-Nology.
Almanac. A
basic almanac from FactMonster and specialized almanacs from InfoPlease.
Local Maps. Use Yahoo! to find any area of the country, from an entire
state to a specific street.
Geography Bee. The
National Geographic’s GeoBee.
Web Cams. EarthCam for Kids links to
cameras all over the world that broadcast live on the Internet. See live
everything from a research lab at the South Pole to the surface of Jupiter to
Thesaurus. This online version
of Roget's II: The New Thesaurus is a handy tool for finding that perfect work
for your writing assignment.
Dictionary. The American Heritage Dictionary.
Spelling and
Grammar. Rules and tips on spelling and
grammar from FactMonster. A variety of other spelling and grammar
helpers have been compiled by the Ellington (
Research Papers, Book Reports and Essays. Outlines and tips on the different writing forms from Infoplease.
Writing Rules. William Strunk's classic book
The Elements of Style details the rules of great writing.
Famous Quotations. The writer can search for a famous quote or saying by
author, keyword or partial quote. The Bartleby's site searches three sources
simultaneously -
Draft
Outline. The "Concept Web" generator from Teach-nology allows students to create a basic outline around the
5Ws - Who, What, When, Where, How and Why.
Illustrating Reports. With more
than 10,000 photos, graphics and other clip art. And more clip art from DiscoverySchool.
Create
Word Puzzles. This DiscoverySchool.com site allows the creation of
crossword puzzles, missing words, cryptograms and other word puzzles. Other
crossword puzzles creators can be found at Teach-nology and edHelper. And for more complex crossword puzzles,
download free puzzle-making software from EclipseCrossword.
Create Word
Searches. From Teach-nology.
And another from DiscoverySchool.com.
Getting Published. Creative Kids,
the nation's largest magazine written by children, publishes stories, poems,
cartoons, photos and games by students 8 to 14. Other magazines and Web sites
available to elementary and middle school writers who want to get publish their
short stories, essays or poems published include Kidnews, Kidpub,
Stone Soup, Word Dance,
Writers'
Slate and Potato
Hill Poetry. Publications for high school authors include TeenInk,
Apprentice
Writer, Imagine, Writers'
Slate and Potato
Hill Poetry.
Book
Reviews. Reviews of thousands of children and young adult
books from Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.
Newbery Books. A complete listing of every Newbery Medal-winning book since 1922. The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the Association for
Library Service to Children, to the author of the year's
best children's book. List also includes Newbery
runners up for each year.
Great Children's Authors. Winners of the Laura Ingalls Wilder
Award, given by ALCS to an author who over a period of years has made a lasting
contribution to children's literature.
Books
for Young Adults. Award-winning
books for young adults, from the American Library Association.
Recommended Readings. From the Virginia State Reading Association (click to bottom for
readings by age group).
Reading Club. Recommended
reading from The Washington Post's KidsPost Summer
Book Club.
Culturally Diverse
Find a Book. The Library of
Congress is the world's biggest library.
Borrow
a Book. The online catalog for all
Create
a Graph. The
Illustrating Science Reports and Projects. With photos, graphics and other clip art.
Periodic
Table of the Elements. Provided
by
Periodic Table of the Elements.
Jason
Project. Follow the Jason Project expeditions online.
Science
Fairs. How to prepare for the science fair.
Science
Experiments. Links to several dozen science
experiment sites provided by the
NASAKids.
A site on astronomy and space exploration from the national
space agency.
Observatory
Park. Observe the stars and planets through telescopes at the Analemma
Society's Observatory Park in Great Falls.
Exploratorium. The online
version of Exploratorium: The Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception in
Science
Museums. Links to dozens of science and natural
history museums around the world.
Conversions. Convert any unit of measurement, from distance and time to
power and light.
Calculators. A wide variety of mathematical
calculators.
Create a Graph. The
Math. Definitions, explanations and examples
of math concepts from 4th to 8th grades from Math League.
Math Glossary. An animated math glossary for elementary school students by
Harcourt School Publishers.
The Math Forum. Tips, games and interactive questioning
of Dr. Math, broken down by age categories from elementary school through
college. Created by
And Lots More Math Sites. From KidsClick! at the
The President’s Challenge.
Details of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award program as designed by the
President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Sports News. Up to the minute sports
news from ESPN.
Youth Baseball Leagues.
Great Falls Little League, McLean Little League, Reston Youth
Baseball, District 4 Virginia, Little League Baseball, (national) McLean/Great Falls Babe Ruth
League, Reston-Babe
Ruth, and Babe
Ruth League (national).
Other Area Youth Sports.
McLean Youth Football, Great Falls Basketball, McLean Basketball, Great Falls Soccer, McLean Soccer, McLean Track and Field, Great Falls Lacrosse, McLean Lacrosse and Reston Raiders
(hockey).
Youth Baseball Training.
Pinkman Pitching, Virginia Baseball Club, Faris Baseball,
Ripken
Baseball, and Little
League Baseball Camp.
Professional Baseball.
Major
League Baseball, MLB Kids Club, Baltimore
Orioles, Minor
League Baseball, Potomac Cannons,
Bowie Baysox, Frederick Keys, Aberdeen Ironbirds
and Delmarva Shorebirds.
Smart Games. Dozens
of smart games from Math Baseball and Soccer Shootout to Grammar Gorillas and
Weather Dog from FunBrain.com. And other smart games and mind twisters -
Brain Boosters from
DiscoverySchool.com and more
games from Family Education Network and the Fun Attic.
Hangman. Play against the computer in this interactive version of
hangman, with topics from
Battleship,
Checkers, Tic-Tac-Toe.
And other classic games of logic from SuperKids.
Game a Day. Find a new game
to play on the Internet every day.
Games
& Quizzes. Math, science, spelling and
social studies games, quizzes and puzzles from Fact Monster.
Playground Games. The rules to more than 100 playground games, from capture the flag
to thumb wrestling.
Board Games. Links
to a wide variety of board games and sites on how to design your own board
game.
Magic.
Learn magic tricks from the All Magic Guide.
Origami. Learn the ancient Japanese art of paper
folding.
Music. Listen to rap, jazz,
rock, country or any other kind of music by listening to any one of hundreds of
radio stations through your computer from My Radio.
Internet Directories for Students
Library Homework
Center. A directory
organized into more than three dozen categories is the creation of the
Multnomah (
KidsSpace @ the
Internet Public Library. Thousands
of links with detailed categories and subcategories, designed by the library
school at the
KidsClick!
Another detailed directory for students created by the Ramapo
(N.Y.) Catskill Library System and updated by the Colorado State Library.
Student Directory. A directory of more
than 700 Web sites compiled by the Association of Library Service to Children.
DiscoverySchool.
B.J. Pinchbeck's Homework Helper, a directory with more than 700 links, was
created by a 14 year old.
Yahooligans!
A student Internet directory created by Yahoo!
Student
Search Center. From Teach-Nology.
EMS Virtual
Library. Compiled by the Ellington (
HomeworkSpot. Broken down by
main subjects and divided by school level (elementary, middle, high).
Google. The advanced search function of this powerful search
engine allows searching by exact phrases, individual words and exclusion of
words.
Ask Jeeves Kids. Designed for students. Just type in your
questions.
Yahooligans!
Yahoo's search engine for students.
Other Search Engines. From A Journalist's Guide to the Internet.
Today's Top Education Stories.
The latest education-related stories from newspapers around the nation,
compiled by Education Week. Other education stories from the education sections
of The New
York Times, The
Washington Post and Time.
Helping
Parents Help Their Children. A series of publications for parents from the
U.S. Department of Education.
Raising Kids:
Learning. Tips, advice and resources on how
parents can help their children learn, from Disney. And another parent learning
site from iVillage.
Parents Guide to
Cyberspace. Tips to help your child safely navigate the Internet, from the
American Library Association.
Parents
Guide to Libraries. Tips to help your child effectively use libraries, from
the American Library Association.
Fairfax County Public Schools. The main Web site for the
county school system includes everything from calendars and lunch menus to the
latest budget information and test score results.
Breaking News from Fairfax County Public Schools.
Text and Supplemental Academic Books. For K-12, from
Educators Publishing Service.
GT
World. A Web site for parents of children in Gifted and Talented programs.
Also see the National Association for Gifted
Children, the Virginia Association for
the Gifted, Fairfax County Association for
the Gifted and Gifted-Children.com
Homework Helper was created by Christopher Callahan, associate dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland who specializes in uses of the Internet. Homework Helper is designed to help middle school and upper-level elementary school students, and their parents, with nightly homework as well as long-term research projects. It was launched in January 2003. Any questions or suggestions can be sent to ccallahan@jmail.umd.edu.
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