May 2002
General | Grades K-2 | Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 | Grades 9-12
As we wind down on the school year over the coming
weeks, student records are updated and recorded. Are you responsible for
maintaining student portfolios? A portfolio is a purposeful record that
demonstrates student learning over a period of time. Electronic portfolios
use technology to deliver this information. They can include scanned artwork
or handwriting samples, video clips of student oral presentations, student-created
PowerPoint or HyperStudio projects, a record of student-led conferences,
student reflections, and written poetry, prose, and reports. I have found
a number of sites that discuss the benefits of electronic portfolios,
as well as schools that already showcase student work using this technology.
Creating Electronic Portfolios
How to develop student records using Hyperstudio software.
http://www.hyperstudio.com/showcase/portfolio.html
Creating and Using Portfolios on the Alphabet Superhighway
An excellent intro to electronic portfolios- what they are and how to
use them.
http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash/teacher/portfolio.html
Students Electronic Portfolios
What is an electronic portfolio? Mr. Lambert's students have electronic
portfolios to share with you from their classroom in the Hong Kong International
School.
http://dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/up/Clusters/Grade34A/Lambert/ElectPort.htm
Using Technology to Support Alternative Assessment and Electronic Portfolios
Resources collected by Dr. Helen C. Barrett, one of the earlier innovators
of the vision of using technology to create records of student work.
http://transition.alaska.edu/www/portfolios.html
If you have some extra money in your budget or are
already looking into software for the coming school year, I would recommend
that you look into this resource:
Inspiration Software
Check out this software designed to help students organize and visualize
their thinking. There are programs for students in grades K-12.
http://www.inspiration.com/home.cfm
Technology Assisting Literacy Knowledge
Ways to use Inspiration software for literacy development.
http://www.fayette.k12.ky.us/instructtech/talk/apps/inspiration/default.htm
Teachers Using Inspiration
http://lakelandschools.org/EDTECH/Inspir.htm
http://www.globalclassroom.org/together/kidspiration.html
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_inspiration.htm
http://www.globalclassroom.org/authors/zachary.html
Please look out into the western evening sky over the next few days:
The Planets Line Up
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2002/news-planetsalign.asp?list7180-115
I found lots of resources to share with you this month. Please browse,
but don't get too overwhelmed. I try to find at least one helpful resource
for everyone. Enjoy!
General
100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English
Help learning those tricky words with mnemonics.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html
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26 Teaching Tips for the Dog Days
Debbie Wolf offers 26 tips from 26 years of teaching.
http://teachers.net/gazette/APR02/dwpage.html
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Adventure TV
Explore the natural world of adventure through streaming video. Experience
wildlife, the natural environment, indigenous cultures and adventure travel
destinations worldwide.
http://www.adventuretv.com/
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All About Asthma
This unit helps kids understand what asthma is, what can trigger it, how
to cope during an asthma attack, and how to stay healthy and active if
you have asthma.
http://pbskids.org/arthur/grownups/health_tips/asthma.html
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Band-Aides and Blackboards
Children and teens with chronic illnesses share their stories through
poetry, photos, and prose.
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/fleitas/contents.html
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Building Bridges: Digital California Project
Dr. Richard Navarro moderates a live interactive staff development experience
on May 16th, 2002 from 3:30 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. pacific daylight time. Discussion
will center on California content-based second grade writing and middle
school math standards.
http://streamer.lacoe.edu/DCP/index.htm
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Building Tests to Support Instruction and Accountability
The National Educator's Association reports on the education commission's
nine requirements in creating responsible state assessment systems.
http://www.nea.org/issues/high-stakes/buildingtests.html
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SFS Kids Fun With Music
Visit this website for a refresher course on the Instruments of the
Orchestra or for an introduction to reading music in Meet the Notes.
http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1
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Cultural Diversity and Gender Equity
This Tech Learning article by Carol S. Holtzberg recommends numerous Web
resources that help to dispel common myths and stereotypes about America's
diverse ethic, religious, and cultural populations.
http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/cultdiv.htm
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Digital Divide Debate
You may have heard about the "Digital Divide", the gap between
those with computer and technology access and those without. Here are
various articles on both sides of the debate.
http://www.cosn.org/resources/040202.htm
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"Do We" Really Know Dewey?
This Thinkquest project teaches about the Dewey Decimal System and its
author, Melvil Dewey.
http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5002/
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Educating Jane
K-12 site with links geared toward helping a girl reach her potential.
Covers a wide range of subject and theme areas.
http://www.educatingjane.com/Study/NewK-7.htm
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An Educator's Guide to School Networks
Learn the pros and cons of having a school network, find out about cabling,
hardware, software, topology, and references presented by the Florida
Center for Instructional Technology College of Education.
http://fcit.usf.edu/network/
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ENC: Teacher Change
Ideas to discuss to facilitate reflection and evaluation of current practices
and possible improvements in teaching math and science to help students
learn more effectively.
http://change.enc.org
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English for Everybody
Free English language courses with EFL exam practice and English language
games.
http://www.english-online.org.uk/
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English Online Reading Comprehension Project
For English Language learners, there are 26 reading comprehension lessons,
tests, and many resources to help improve reading comprehension.
http://www.geocities.com/philliptowndrow/
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Erasing Native American Stereotypes
The Anthropology Outreach Office of the Smithsonian Institution presents
these thoughts from June Sark Heinrich to help teachers and museum educators
evaluate their own teaching of the history of Native American Indians.
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/anthro/outreach/sterotyp.html
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ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management
What's New in recent trends and issues involving education? ERIC provides
timely articles and abstracts to keep busy teachers informed.
http://eric.uoregon.edu/index.html
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EZInstructions.com
Simplified instructions for novice computer users in Microsoft Word, Excel,
and Windows programs.
http://www.ezinstructions.com/
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The Facts: No Child Left Behind
Get quick information about President Bush's education plan.
http://www.nochildleftbehind.gov/start/facts/index.html
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Froguts
Richard Hill has created a virtual dissection of a frog that is about
as real as you can get. Get the experience without killing a frog to do
it.
http://www.froguts.com/index.htm
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Graphic and Clipart Resources
Linking Teaching with Technology provides these extensive links of graphics
and clipart resources.
http://www.lttechno.com/links/graphic.html
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Guide to Appropriate Giving
The Disaster Response Committee from InterAction provides these tips for
those who want to help relief efforts throughout the world.
http://www.interaction.org/disaster/guide.html
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Historic Baseball
Includes historic and recent events including baseball history, player
and team profiles, Hall of Fame, Negro League, Federal League, obituaries,
and more.
http://www.historicbaseball.com/
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Integrating the Internet
BuddyPicks provides this lesson by Tammy Payton to help you find ways
to integrate the Internet into your classroom curriculum. See the many
formats of integration, then actually design your curriculum, then finally
deliver and then evaluate what you have designed.
http://www.buddyproject.org/teach/integrate/default.asp
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KEO
To be launched in 2003, KEO is a satellite that will travel through time
and space for 50,000 years before returning to earth. It will carry messages
from today's children to the children of future generations. You can send
a message as soon as you decide what you would like to tell them.
http://www.keo.org/uk/pages/default.html
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Know Play
A resource site to quickly access dictionary, atlas, almanac, encyclopedia,
rhyming words, quotation, facts, acronyms, and more.
http://www.kplay.cc/reference.html
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Language Arts WebQuest Projects
Dr. Bruce Lewis of Freed-Hardeman University has published his students'
projects from Computer Applications for Educators. Projects include reading
and literature, writing, grammar, with WebQuests for grades PreK through
12.
http://teach.fhu.edu/technology/EDU506/WebQuests/langarts.html
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The Living Internet
Internet Reference site with information about how the Internet works,
how to use it, explanations of newsgroups, Internet relay chat, mailing
lists, electronic mail, news sites, and more.
http://LivingInternet.com/
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Making Standards Matter
The American Federation of Teachers presents the results of their research
showing each state's commitment to standards, and whether tests are supported
by curriculum.
http://www.aft.org/edissues/standards/msm2001/
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MentorGirls
Provide girls with adult mentor role models to help educate and empower
girls in math, science, and computer technology. This site provides many
resources for girls and women.
http://www.mentorgirls.org/
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Our Ocean World
From the NOAA, this daily radio feature presents numerous resources to
learn more about the ocean, how we affect it, and how it affects us.
http://www.ouroceanworld.com/
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Overcoming Test Anxiety
Tips including sections entitled: Understanding How the Brain Works, Creating
Favorable Testing Conditions, and Teaching Students Calming Exercises.
http://www.inspiringteachers.com/tips/anxiety/index.html
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Pedro's Dictionaries
English, multilingual, and foreign language dictionaries for educational
use.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~pedro/dictionaries.html
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Pieces of Science
Explore all 16 pieces of science including the lightning rod, bicycle
heroes, glass armonica, coin press, daguerreotype cameras, lunar module,
genetics, penicillin, and more.
http://www.fi.edu/pieces/
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Reality Check 2002
Public Agenda has worked with Education Week since 1998 to determine whether
or not the standards movement is making a difference in the learning outcome
of today's students.
http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/rcheck2002/reality.htm
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Rubrics
Mr. K's Links 2 Learning 4 Educators contains many rubric sites to help
evaluate student performance in meeting assessment standards.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Column/9885/9_2_8_rubrics.htm
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School Renewal Web Center
The School Renewal WebCenter is designed to help teachers, principals,
parents or community members think about new designs for learning. One
teaching strategy is featured each month with a discussion forum open
for participation.
http://www.schoolrenewal.org/
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Today in Science History
Find out historical facts about scientists and scientific discoveries
made on this day.
http://www.todayinsci.com/
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WebAIM
Providing Web accessibility for people with disabilities including visual
impairments, deafness, immobility, cognitive and developmental disabilities,
and those with learning disabilities such as attention deficit disorders.
http://www.webaim.org/
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Why the Towers Fell
NOVA Online presents this companion website to the PBS broadcast of the
same name. Highlights of the site include Towers of Innovation, The Collapse:
an Engineer's Perspective, Above the Impact: a Survivor's Story, Outfitting
Firefighters, the Structure of Metal, as well as additional resources.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wtc/
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World Heritage Sites
Currently, there are over 700 cultural and natural sites that are protected
from development or damage worldwide. Preserving these sites and their
common heritage is a world-wide concern.
http://www.unesco.org/whc/nwhc/pages/kids/main.htm
Grades K-2
Anderson Tales
Animated versions of Hans Christen Anderson's fairy tales.
http://www.andersenfairytales.com/
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Butterfly House Teachers' Home Room
Take a field trip, learn about outreach programs, species identification,
booklists, and classroom activities.
http://www.butterflyschool.org/teacher/index.html
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Grimm Fairy Tales
Animated Fairy tales from the Grimm brothers.
http://www.grimmfairytales.com/
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Ladybugs
Find out about this fascinating insect through facts, anatomy, crafts,
links, photos, games, and stories.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/5924/schoolyardscience.htm
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The Learning Leap
Geared for the K-2 educator, there are many resources here including lesson
plans and teaching resources.
http://www.geocities.com/thelearningleap/index2.html
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Lemonade Stand
Teach students about running their own business.
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/lemonade/index.html
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Making Triangles
Use interactive computer geoboards to help students learn about triangles.
The activity further encourages discussion of triangles in the classroom.
http://standards.nctm.org/document/eexamples/chap4/4.2/index.htm
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Money Flashcards
Figure out how much money there is on each card.
http://www.aplusmath.com/cgi-bin/flashcards/money
Grades 3-5
Art Sparklers
Get the creative juices flowing with these art project ideas.
http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/sparkers.html
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Ask a Scientist
SCORE presents expert scientists who will help answer student questions
by leading them to discover the answers for themselves.
http://scorescience.humboldt.k12.ca.us/fast/ask.htm
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Come Swim in My River
This third grade WebQuest will help students think about keeping water
healthy by examining life for a salmon struggling to make it through Puget
Sound.
http://spidey.sfusd.edu/schwww/sch529/webquests/alex/riverquest.html
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Create a Graph
Select from an Area Graph, Bar Graph, Line Graph or Pie Chart, and create
your own graph. KidsSite also shows you how to use graphs in games and
in figuring probability.
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/index.asp
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The Curse of T-Rex
Explore the animals and plants that lived alongside the dinosaurs, and
find out how scientists know where to begin looking for fossils, and skeletal
remains.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/trex/
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Grammar Glamour
Learn about simple and compound subjects and predicates, then go on to
grammar glamour for practice.
http://library.thinkquest.org/2947/subjectsandpredicates.html
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Learning the Parts of Speech
Connie Usher helps us learn about the eight parts of speech, how where
and when to use them/
http://ellerbruch.nmu.edu/CS255/cusher/English.html
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Map Projections
How do you show a flat map of a spherical world? It cannot be done without
some distortion. The USGS presents a description of some popular projections.
http://mac.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/MapProjections/projections.html
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Microsoft Word Step-By-Step
CyberBee presents these lessons for using Word with students.
http://www.cyberbee.com/word/index.html
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Paragraph a Week
Designed for fifth and sixth grade students to practice single and multiple
paragraph writing.
http://www.knownet.net/~ackley/paragraph/par_week_program.html
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Mrs. Bogucki's Third Grade Class
This third grade teacher from Virginia has created a wonderful classroom
with many practice quizzes and teacher resources that will be of interest
to others.
http://hbogucki.staffnet.com/aemes/index.htm
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RhymeZone
Type in a word and find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions and more.
http://www.rhymezone.com/
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The Teacher's Desk Writing Plans
Impromptu writing, story starters, creative writing ideas and more.
http://www.knownet.net/~ackley/writing_plans.html
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The Teacher's Desk
Ideas for 5th and 6th graders in reading, spelling and vocabulary, English,
writing, and more.
http://www.knownet.net/~ackley/index.html
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WonderNet
Science site with experiments and activities including sound, chemistry,
volcanoes, matter, soil, gases, metals, polymer, and more.
http://chemistry.org/portal/Chemistry?PID=wondernetdisplay.html&DOC=wondernet\index.html
Grades 6-8
Ancient Egyptian Cats
Explore the role of cats in ancient Egypt, from their domestication to
creatures to be worshipped. Resource links include cats and their role
in ancient Egypt.
http://www.catsandkittens.com/articles/egypt.shtml
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Basic Arithmetic
Solve arithmetic problems using positive and negative numbers, investigate
numerical expressions, learn the properties of numbers, practice estimating,
and complete exercises using basic arithmetic.
http://cne.gmu.edu/modules/dau/algebra/basicarith/basicarith_frm.html
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BJ's Math Science Technology
Middle school teacher's website. Science resources are available for your
use.
http://camillasenior.homestead.com/mst.html
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The Brain's Inner Workings
The National Institute of Mental Health presents video of the physical,
chemical and electrical events that occur in a normal brain with explanations
of what happens during mental illness. Includes both a student and teacher
guide.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/braincd.cfm
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The Costume Gallery
Browse the extensive collections of costumes from all over the world.
http://www.costumegallery.com/
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Empty Oceans, Empty Nets
Discover the state of the ocean's fisheries, the most crucial problem
areas, case studies, and find out what you can do to improve the situation.
http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/
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Global Stock Game
Lesson plans to teach students how the stock market works, then let them
choose stocks and play the Global Stock Market Game. Students will gain
a first-hand knowledge of the stock market to see how investing holds
risks, but can create financial freedom.
http://stocksquest.thinkquest.org/C001759/lesson/lesson1.htm
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Interactive Grade 8 Math
Lessons are indexed according to math strands and contain illustrative
examples and additional practice.
http://cap.epsb.ca/math14_Jim/math8/index.htm
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Marie's Free Spelling Course
Designed for seventh grade students, this veteran teacher provides a list
of spelling rules, word lists, exercises, and dictation sentences for
each of thirty lessons.
http://www.splashesfromtheriver.com/spelling/courseoutline.htm
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The Oriental Silk Road
Take a modern-day journey with author, Masha Nordbye, along the Silk Road
route of Marco Polo. Discover that this network of trade routes connecting
the Mediterranean to East Asia is much the same as it has been for centuries.
http://www.worldandi.com/public/2002/april/silkroad.html
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Reading Poetry
What things must be considered when poetry is to be written or read? LitLinks
offers these questions to ask.
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/poetry/readpoet.htm
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Reading Weather Maps
How are weather forecasts made? Discover general methods of preparing
a forecast, learn to convert your local time to the standard used by meteorologists,
find out how to read surface maps and upper air observations.
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/maps/home.rxml
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Sequencing World/US History Quiz 1900- 2000
Quiz Hub brings you quizzes to see how well you know your World/US history.
Match the event with the year it happened, then try another quiz.
http://quizhub.com/quiz/f-history-1900.cfm
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Smile Program Mathematics Index
Over 200 math lessons indexed by standards.
http://www.iit.edu/~smile/mathinde.html
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Teen Hoopla
An Internet Guide for Teens with book reviews to read and write, participate
in discussion groups on relevant topics, and find links of interest just
for you.
http://www.ala.org/teenhoopla/
Grades 9-12
Albert Einstein Online
A large collection of resources compiled by Morgan covering Einstein's
life, his discoveries, his work with physics, quotes, pictures, and contributions.
http://www.westegg.com/einstein/
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An Atlas of the Universe
Nine main maps of the universe starting with the nearest stars to the
Sun out to the outer edge of the visible universe, approximately 15 billion
light years from the sun.
http://anzwers.org/free/universe/
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Bamdad's Math Comics Page
Lots to choose from- enjoy!!
http://www.csun.edu/~hcmth014/comics.html
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Calculus
Interactive calculus site from IES.
http://www.ies.co.jp/math/products/calc/menu.html
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College Drinking: Changing the Culture
Learn some strategies to help combat this major problem at many of today's
college campuses. Find out what you need to know in high school.
http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/
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Discover Our Earth
Explorations of earth processes for high school students are provided
by the Geoscience Information Project of Cornell University.
http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu/education/index.html
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Glenbrook South High School Mathematics
Learn more about the school math team, find out about the math department,
or browse through the Internet resources for curriculum and instruction.
http://gbs.glenbrook.k12.il.us/Academics/gbsmat/default.html
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The Learning Equation
Interactive animations to help students understand complex mathematical
concepts.
http://members.shaw.ca/ron.blond/TLE/index.html
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Lessons and Resources for Adolescent and Young Adult Literature
Lesson plans, activities and teaching resources for literature designed
for students in grades 7 through 12, including short stories, mysteries
and English literature, compiled by Edmund J. Sass, professor of education
at College of St. Benedict/ St. John's University.
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edadolescentlit.htm
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Life of Thomas Jefferson
The book by B. L. Rayner provides a detailed account of Jefferson's life.
Portraits of Jefferson are also linked to this location.
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/biog/
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Math Reference: Tables, Facts, and Formulas
Resources compiled by the Hoxie High School Math Department.
http://www.hoxie.org/Math/title.htm
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Physics Question of the Week
The University of Maryland Department of Physics presents problems involving
real experimental physics for students to talk about and try to solve.
http://www.physics.umd.edu/deptinfo/facilities/lecdem/QOTW/questions.html
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The Physics Zone
Learning resource for physics lessons, links, solutions, and more.
http://www.sciencejoywagon.com/physicszone/
CyberScoop Archive Page
TEAMS Support Page
Electronic Hallway