Web Resources for Teachers

School Library Media Centers and Intellectual Freedom – As the first library that many children and young adults are introduced to and use on a continuing basis, school library media programs play a vital role in promoting intellectual freedom. Intellectual freedom issues arise in many broad areas of school library administration and operation. School library media specialists should consider the intellectual freedom implications of their role as a resource specialist; how they provide intellectual and physical access for students; how their collection development policies address intellectual freedom; procedures for handling challenges to school library resources and services, including student access to the Internet; professional practice; and how they might appropriately promote intellectual freedom as an aspect of a free and democratic society.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/iftoolkits/ifmanual/fifthedition/schoollibrary

The Children’s Literature Web Guide. An attempt to gather together and categorize the growing number of Internet resources related to books for children and young Adults. Much of the information that you can find through these pages is provided by others: fans, schools, libraries, and commercial enterprises involved in the book world.

TeachingBooks.net. Combines many great features: multimedia components, discussion guides to more than 1,000 books, author study, links to children’s literature sites.

http://www.teachingbooks.net

Carol Hurst. This site is now sponsored by Teaching PreK-8. It is a collection of reviews of children’s literature and ways to use children’s literature in the classroom. Features literature-related activities across many subjects and themes. In addition to author studies and book reviews, the site also contains a great deal of professional information. Direct links for ordering literature.

http://www.carolhurst.com

Jim Trelease. Though a bit commercial, this site, by the read-aloud master, offers some unusual links (e.g., parenting, publishers, author sites, “kid-safe” sites) and other features. Worth a visit.

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com

University of Calgary’s Awards Links. Links to most major children’s book awards, including many of the specific links that follow in this section. Canadian, British, New Zealand, and Australian awards too.

Caldecott Medal. Extensive information on current and past winners, honor books, history of the award, selection process. Operated by the American Library Association.

Coretta Scott King Award. This award “honors African American authors and illustrators for outstanding contributions to children’s and young adult literature that promote understanding and appreciation of the culture and contribution of all people to the realization of the American Dream.”  Offers information on the history of the award, criteria and selection, its present and past winners. Operated by the Amer. Library Asso.

Hans Christian Andersen Medal. Established in 1956 by the International Board on Books for Young People. Currently awarded every two years to one author and one illustrator in recognition of his or her entire body of work.

Phoenix Award. Given each year by the Children’s Literature Association to an English-language book that was first published twenty years earlier but that did not receive a major award at the time of its publication.

Georgia Children’s Book Awards. Does your state recognize children’s literature that has been selected by local educators or children? Do a search and find out!

http://gcba.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GCBANomineesDescriptions-2.pdf

Project Gutenberg. Thousands of public domain online texts of famous works. “Fine literature digitally re-published.”

http://www.gutenberg.org/

Reading A-Z. Offers downloadable books for guided reading and phonics. Each book has lesson plans and worksheets and the benchmark books have running record forms.

http://www.readinga-z.com

Hiyah.com. Online classic stories read aloud by well-known performers while text is displayed. Contains a featured story of the week and a few archived titles.

http://www.hiyah.com

Fable Library. Offers a number of engaging, downloadable fables (new ones, not the classics), mostly at beginning reading levels. Also contains a “Make Your Own Fable” feature, enabling children to create their own fables and submit them to the site.

http://www.fablevision.com/place/library/index.html

The Velveteen Rabbit. Online version of this classic. (Text only.)

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html

Aesop’s Fables. Collection of online texts, including not only Aesop’s fables but some from other sources as well. Some have audio versions available. Life of Aesop and information about the fable genre.

http://www.AesopFables.com

Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Twelve tales from the 1914 translation appear on this National Geographic site. Also offers activities, resources, and map.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html

Gallileo Internet Resources. Links to many other sources, including ERIC, USDOE, lesson plans, materials, more. Operated by Univ, System of Ga. Board of Regents.

http://www.galileo.usg.edu/welcome/

Internet4Classrooms. A a collaborative project developed by Susan Brooks and Bill Byles, this site contains a multitude of resources for educators at all grade levels. Includes online texts.

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/lang.htm

ABC Teach. This colorful and easy-to-browse website is one of my favorites. I recommend it to any educator or parent looking for useful and creative materials and ideas. It offers month-to-month teaching themes, a rain forest unit, printable Dolch lists, literature materials (e.g., Charlotte’s Web), portfolio resources, book report forms, graphic organizers, and many, many more.

http://www.abcteach.com

Public Broadcasting System. Many kid activities related to characters they re familiar with, such as The Big Red Dog, Bert, Ernie etc. There are also many interactive writing activities. Included are links to other PBS sites.

http://www.pbs.org

NEA. Home page of the National Education Association. Many links to resources and information for teachers. Try the “Readacross” link for materials, lesson plans, and more.

http://www.nea.org

Preschool by Stormie. Provides preschool teachers with monthly thematic activities. Stormie suggests a shape, colors, number, letters, gross motor focus, fine motor focus, nursery rhyme, water table activity, and mini-geographic/multicultural idea per month.

Enchanted Learning. Offers background information and free printable materials and pictures on a variety of common topics (e.g., butterflies, dinosaurs, states, Antarctica, rainforests).

http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/Home.html

The Muppets. Lyrics of Muppet songs, puppetry home page. Also includes a link to Sesame Street Lyrics Archive.

http://www.muppetcentral.com/

Song Lyrics.com. Check out the lyrics to those songs your teens are listening to! (Plus many others.). Linked to Google as a search engine.

http://www.songlyrics.com/songlyrics

Education World. This site claims a searchable database of 500,000 resources. Links include: Lesson Planning, News/Eye on School, Curriculum, Books in Education, Administrators, Education Site Reviews, Financial Planning. Sponsored by American Fidelity Assurance Company.

http://www.educationworld.com

New York Times. Presents a daily article from the New York Times, complete with classroom activities, plus this date in history, a crossword puzzle, and a current events quiz. Also offers online software and e-mail access to reporters.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning

Teaching with Folklore. Resources page for teaching folklore (myths, legends, tales, fables, religious lore). Developed by Gary Holzgang, a teacher at Hemmingford Elementary School, New Frontiers School Board, Quebec. Offers lesson plans, resources, search function, contact information, more.

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/teacher-resources/

Aaron Shepard’s Home Page. Devoted to reader’s theater. Includes advice on creating classroom scripts from children’s literature and also a number of downloadable scripts ready to use. Also offers contact information and a means of sharing scripts.

http://www.aaronshep.com/rt

Reading Rockets. Gives lots of information for both parents and teachers. Operated by WETA, a PBS station in Maryland. [Contributed by Susan Knell]www.readingrockets.org

Sleepopolis.  Bedtime stories for kids.

http://sleepopolis.com/education/bedtime-stories-for-kids/

Nancy Keane’s Booktalks. Good site for ideas and tips about giving booktalks. [Contributed by Susan Knell]

http://www.nancykeane.com/booktalks

Online Colleges in Georgia

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/georgia/

Addiction Resource. This site raises awareness on the dangers of addition and helps university students stay drug free.

addictionresource.com

Health Finder .gov.  This resource promotes better health on university campuses

healthfinder.gov

Affordable College Resources. College Resources for students with disabilities.

http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/college-resource-center/resources-for-students-with-disabilities/

Council for Exceptional Children. Homepage for the CEC, this internet site provides teachers with a valuable resources for their exceptional students.

http://www.cec.sped.org

LD OnLine. Provides information and suggestions for parents, teachers, and students. Useful links and activity section. A great site for lesson plans, regular and special education information, and teaching strategies across the curriculum.

http://www.ldonline.org

Four Blocks. Patricia Cunningham’s site, created to provide information about her Four Blocks model. Offers overviews, suggestions, research, and commercial resources.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/virtualwkshp/virtualwkshp003.shtml

SEDL. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory’s site, organized by area of reading (e.g., decoding, comprehension, letter knowledge, etc.). Contains a great deal of background on each area.

http://www.sedl.org/reading/framework

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy (DIBELS). A K-3 screening system developed at the University of Oregon for assessing (1) phonological awareness, (2) the alphabetic principle, and (3) fluency with connected text. Contains extensive background information. Instruments may be downloaded and used free of change, and for $1 per child per year results may be submitted through the Internet for instant analysis. (The acronym rhymes with nibbles.)

http://dibels.uoregon.edu

WordPlays. Interactive word games of all kinds and at many levels, such as Boggler, Crossword Challenge, Words In Word, Jumble, Anagram, Word Morph and Crossword Helper. Contains online dictionary. Created and maintained by one dedicated individual, Richard DeSimine.

http://www.wordplays.com

Sleepopolis. Education bedtime stories for kids.

http://sleepopolis.com/education/bedtime-stories-for-kids/

Fun Brain. Full of games for children of all ages and tends to be especially fun for school-age children.  There are also teacher and parent resources available on this site.

http://www.funbrain.com

Discovery School. For parents, students and teachers. Support for quizzes, worksheets, puzzlemaker, and lesson plans.

http://www.discoveryschool.com

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL). Offers advice to secondary and college students on grammar, writing in various disciplines, Internet research, more. Good resource for ESL writers.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu

Ask Jeeves. Pose any factual question and let “Jeeves,” a virtual manservant, look up the answer. This site is linked to several major search engines. It provides not only the answer but lots of related information. Results can be a bit complex, but upper elementary students should be able to sift through them.

http://www.askjeeves.com

Word Central. Offers a student dictionary, a “Build Your Own Dictionary” option, and the “Daily Buzzword.” Operated by Merriam-Webster.  Daily buzzword gives in-depth descriptions and even a nonthreatening multiple-choice question.

Google Images. A relatively new feature of this excellent search engine is the “Images” option. By entering your request and then clicking on the Images link, you retrieve only pictures. Excellent tool for struggling readers with imaging difficulties or others who find the Internet’s labyrinth of hypertext a little daunting.

http://images.google.com

Metasearch Engines. Ever think your search engine may have missed a few sites? You’re right. Google, for instance, captures only 42% of indexable web pages. Try this super engine that combines regular search engines and gives you a single list.

http://www.ixquick.com

Africa Online. Information about Africa, posted writings of African children, interactive games and activities, and keypal links.

http://allafrica.com/

Amazon.com. A totally virtual store with no physical counterpart outside of cyberspace; offers online comments from readers and authors. You can add your own book reviews.

http://www.amazon.com

Scholastic. Excellent source of children’s books and practical teacher resources.

http://www.scholastic.com

Education Place. Houghton Mifflin’s site, offering resources and support for major textbook programs, plus general resources for all K-8 content areas. Contains numerous related Internet links.

http://www.eduplace.com

The following woefully but unavoidably incomplete list of author sites combines “official” sites (not all authors have them) with other useful ones. Please forgive me if I’ve left out your favorite. If I have, simply go to Google.com and type in your author’s name. Chances are, you’ll be overwhelmed.

Avi http://www.avi-writer.com

T. A. Barron http://www.tabarron.com/

L. Frank Baum http://www.literarytraveler.com/articles/l-frank-baum-the-man-behind-the-curtain/

Judy Blume http://www.judyblume.com

Marc Brown http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/arthur

Eric Carle http://www.eric-carle.com

Nancy Carlson http://www.nancycarlson.com

Beverly Cleary http://www.beverlycleary.com

Susan Cooper http://www.thelostland.com/

Sylvia Engdahl http://www.sylviaengdahl.com

Brothers Grimm http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html

Anna Grossnickle Hines http://www.aghines.com

Erick Ingraham http://www.erickingraham.com

Brian Lies http://www.brianlies.com

Madeleine L’Engle http://www.madeleinelengle.com

Robert Munsch http://www.robertmunsch.com

Janie Lynn Panagopoulos http://www.JLPanagopoulos.com

Linda Sue Park http://www.lindasuepark.com

Dorothy Hinshaw Patent http://www.dorothyhinshawpatent.com

Gary Paulsen http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen

Tamora Pierce http://www.tamora-pierce.com

Patricia Polacco http://www.patriciapolacco.com

Beatrix Potter http://www.beatrixpottersociety.org.uk

Jack Prelutsky http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/jack_home.htm

Robert Quackenbush http://www.rquackenbush.com

Neal Shusterman http://www.storyman.com

Robert Louis Stevenson http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/rls/rls.html

R.L. Stine http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/rl-stine

Phoebe Stone http://www.phoebestone.com

International Reading Association. The principal organization for literacy educators. Offers literacy links, bookstore, listservs, research, “Choices” booklists (Children’s, Young Adults’, and Teachers’), grants, conferences.

http://www.reading.org/resources/booklists.aspx.

National Reading Conference. Information about the organization, which consists mainly of reading researchers, its annual meeting, and listserv. An excellent section on “Literacy Links” is guest-edited contains both current and archived links.

http://www.literacyresearchassociation.org/

National Council of Teachers of English. Site contains ideas for teaching English, Literacy, and Language Arts for P-16 teachers. Also contains information on books, journals and NCTE news.

http://www.ncte.org

American Library Association. Contains links to many author sites and book awards, such as those listed in a preceding section.

http://www.ala.org

Children’s Book Council. CBC online contains links for teacher, parents, and authors in their quest to encourage children to read. Ideas for Children’s Book Week.

http://www.cbcbooks.org

American Educational Research Association. Foremost organization of educational researchers in U. S. (Not limited to reading.) “Net Resources” link offers powerful search options.

http://aera.net

National Association for the Education of Young Children. Contains information on NAEYC’s membership, conferences, professional development, position papers, and their journal, Young Children.

http://www.naeyc.org

 Education Week. Current issue plus archives. You can register for e-mail updates. Also contains a link to Teacher Magazine.

http://www.edweek.org

Teacher Magazine. Contains current issue and links to grants and fellowship opportunities for you and contests and scholarship opportunities for your students.

http://www.edweek.org

U. S. Department of Education. Lots of links to agencies, documents, research, grants.

http://www.ed.gov

USDE’s National Center for Education Statistics. Lots of online research summaries, especially those involving demographics.

http://nces.ed.gov

USDE’s Institute of Education Sciences. Formerly OERI. Established in November, 2002, to increase the government’s research focus on scientific evidence only. IES consists of the National Center for Education Research, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance..

http://ies.ed.gov/

Reading Report Card. Report of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, with access to long-term trend results.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading

Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). Database, research summaries, “10 Principles,” “Hot Lists,” more.

http://www.umich.edu/~ciera

Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). CAST is “an educational, not-for-profit organization that uses technology to expand opportunities for all people, including those with disabilities.” Conducts research and develops software (e.g., Bailey’s Book House, Scholastic’s WiggleWorks). Good source of brain research linked to reading problems.

http://www.cast.org

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Now part of the University of Toronto, the OISE site offers an extensive network of resources, programs, and workshops.

Australian Literacy Educators’ Association. Information on literacy education in Australia, publications, standards, awards, conferences. An IRA affiliate.

http://www.alea.edu.au

iTools. Online dictionary (Webster’s), rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, maps, phone directories. etc.

http://www.itools.com/research-it/research-it.html

Onelook. Online dictionary, impressive in scope. Contains almost 3 million words.

http://www.onelook.com

RhymeZone. A rhyming dictionary online and a whole lot more. Type in a word and receive virtually very rhyming word in English. Very extensive listings, however, including arcane words. Subdivides results by number of syllables. Also provides (on request) definitions, synonyms, antonyms. It will even locate the word in Shakespeare and other sources.

http://rhymezone.com/

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Offers quick look-ups plus a thesaurus, word games, word of the day, more. (Connected with Word Central, listed previously.)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Encyclopedia Britannica. The entire contents online with a convenient search engine and many related links. By subscription.

http://www.britannica.com

Library of Congress. Home page of the most extensive information system in the world (except for the Internet!). Sections for parents and kids. Maps available.

http://www.loc.gov

Wordsmith.org offers several intriguing features. A Word a Day provides instructions for signing up through email to receive an interesting vocabulary word and its definition. (You can receive today’s word without signing on.) Site also provides anagrams – just type in a word or phrase. Offers other reference services via email.

http://www.wordsmith.org

First Names and What They Mean. Provides derivation of over 6,000 first names. Designed primarily for expectant parents but of interest to anyone.

http://www.zelo.com

ERIC Clearinghouse. Question-and-answer service through ERIC, related to the language arts. Maintained by Indiana University. Easy to use.

http://www.eric.ed.gov/

National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). A ” nonprofit organization supporting family literacy services for families across the United States through training, programming, research, advocacy and dissemination.” Located in Louisville. Good links.

http://www.famlit.org

Internet TESL Journal. This well-designed forum offers materials that one can download as well as articles, teaching techniques, lesson plans, and links to issues of interest to ESL teachers. It includes electronic discussion lists and news groups.

http://iteslj.org

 Literacy Assistance Center. The LAC provides information on resources and links to literacy on the Net. It is useful to teachers and students alike. Its web site links and e-mail contacts can connect teachers and students around the world.

http://www.lacnyc.org

Story Place. A very interactive site for beginning readers, organized around themes, each with a reading activity, an interactive activity, a printable activity, and a reading list. Each theme is available in English and Spanish. The site thus provides a great way to accommodate Spanish-speaking students and to introduce Spanish to other students.

Operated by the Public Library of Charlotte (NC) and Mecklenburg County.

http://www.storyplace.org

Book Hive. Makes book recommendations to kids through age 12. Organized by category. Online audio stories available. Operated by the Public Library of Charlotte (NC) and Mecklenburg County.

English-to-Go. Classroom-ready esl activities, based on articles that have appeared in Reuters; new lessons posted weekly, with complete lesson plans.

https://www.english-to-go.com