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Suggested Sites for Students and for Homework Help
There are wonderful sites popping up everyday on the web, a Google search on any topic will confirm that. The problem is helping students choose between all the options. That is where these suggested general and public library sites come in handy. These collections of websites have been chosen by librarians for the quality of their content and the age appropriateness of the presentation.
To help your student become a better judge of websites, you might suggest that they consider the source of the information for a start. Here’s a good explanation.
How to Tell if You Are Looking at a Great Web Site
(ALA)
The Web is a lot like a flea market: there’s a vast selection of sites to choose from but not a lot of order to it. Some sites are offered by reputable “dealers” and some from individuals who want to show off their personal favorite items. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s a hidden treasure, what’s worth taking a look at, and what’s a waste of time.
It’s not hard to find sites if you use a search engine like Google, or a subject directory like Yahoo or Yahooligans for kids. But how can you tell if a site you find is worthwhile?
Sometimes what is in a Web site’s address can indicate the nature of the site. Sites from commercial businesses usually include “.com”; federal government sites end in “.gov,” K-12 school sites often include “k12” in the address, and college and university sites often include “.edu.” Sites from non-profit organizations often include “.org.” A site with a tilde (~) in the address usually indicates that this page is maintained or created by an individual, rather than representing an organization, a business, or a school
Recommended Criteria for Judging websites
Authorship/Sponsorship: Who Put up the Site?
Purpose: Every Site Has a Reason for Being There
Design and Stability: A Great Site Has Personality and Strength of Character
Content: A Great Site Shares Meaningful and Useful Content that Educates, Informs, or Entertains.
Every site does not need to meet every one of these criteria to be a great site, but the more of them a site does meet, the more likely it is to be a worthwhile place to spend time.
Further Explanations of these criteria are available at the ALA website above.
GENERAL SITES FOR STUDENTS
Internet Public Library is a public service organization and a learning /teaching environment of the University of Michigan, School of Information.
TeenSpace links to topics of interest to teens (health, jobs, writing) as well as homework links to age appropriate websites by subject categories
Kidspace links to sites for parents & teachers, homework sites for grade schoolers as well as fun sites with crafts hobbies and gamesAmerican Library Association “Great Websites for Kid” allows you to search by a
subject and by a age level, including pre-K and by parent/teacher/caregiver.
Great Web Sites for Kids for children to age 14
"Librarians’ Internet Index: Websites You Can Trust” is a California program publicly-funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services Act under the provisions of the LSTA.
Search by keyword or browse the best sites on the web. Tens of thousands of entries have been organized into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related sub-topics. The site is constantly maintained by librarians.
Virtual Reference Desk: This site arranges selected links into 17 categories including Reference, which includes an extensive list of sites and FAQ’s. It has a the capability of doing a search by keyword. Not the easiest site for students to use, so you may want to help them get started or locate a specific site with them.Busy Teachers’ Website K-12 : Intended for teachers, this collection of websites uses ‘H’, ‘M’ and ‘E’ to designate appropriate grade levels for each site.
There are16 basic subject categories plus 4 special categories for teacher like Teacher Reference, Interactive Web Projects, Technology Integration and Guidance. A For Families link is great for home schooling families.BJ Pinchbeck’s Homework Helper: Started in 1996 by a student and updated regularly.
This site divides into 12 subject categories including health and physical education, computer science and recess. Awesome Library: Started in 1995 by the Education and Development Institute. Over 35,000 carefully reviewed web resources organized by grade level and by topic including links for educators and families.
Cybrarian: Desiged by a librarian for kids in grades 3-8
Links are broken down by topics and include links to reference titles, news and magazines as well as fun links for kidsPUBLIC LIBRARY SITES FOR STUDENTS Boston Public Library
Using the Internet for School Reports
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Reference Help
Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn,NY
InfoZone: Links arranged into ten major categories with subdivisions plus a great “Study Break” link to popular youth pastimes (games, fashion, cooking, jokes, music etc). Try the “Start Your Research Here” link, go to “Search engines” and then check out the subsection on the “Invisible Internet”. This site is not arranged by grade level.
Multnomah County Library , Portland,OR
Provides a list of over 50 subject categories with a number of links
under each, but sites are not arranged by grade level.
Worcester Public Library, Worcester, MA
Sites recommended for children and elementary students
Sites recommended by teens themselves
Recommended sites for patrons in general but useful to students as well. Divided into 35 alphabetical subject categories
COMMERCIAL SITES FOR STUDENTS
Yahoo Kids Study Zone
The key word search function is often better than the subject category break down which may take more knowledge than a young student has. The Reference category offers some useful traditional resources
By the NoodleBib (Internet bibliography software tool) people
Noodlequest helps students to find age appropriate information
using a “Search Strategy Wizard” to located sites to fit their
homework requirements
MULTI-LEVEL SITES
Ben’s Guide to US Government, is divided into five levels from K-2, 3-5, 6-8,
9-12 and also has a level for parents and teachers
Kids.gov, the Official Kid Portal for the U.S. Government up to grade 8
Free federal resources for educational excellence, includes teaching and learning resources from the federal government, this site is particularly strong in the area of U.S. history
KidsClick!, is a great site assembled by librarians with reading levels listed for
each site. It has some especially good suggestions for science experiments among its other resources
How Stuff Works, describes how processes, inventions, technologies and human
bodies operate. Audio descriptions are often included with printed descriptions. Categories are displayed across the top of the page, all articles are signed, and the illustrations are particularly good. Younger students may need assistance using this site
MA Department of Education’s release of the spring 2007 MCAS (Mass.
Comprehensive Assessment System) test Items includes instructions, questions and answer keys. Arranged by grade level, this is an opportunity for students to understand these tests better and to practice as well
Cybersleuth Kids is for K-12: This is an online search engine and guide for the K-
12 student created by teachers and volunteers . The goal is to provide a safe educational online database of links to help the student sift through the maze of information. There are 21 categories, some with grade-level breakouts
Figure This! This site from National Council of Teachers of Mathemathics,
focuses on strengthening math skills by using fun math problems for the whole family. Concepts are presented is in a gradual step by step method which makes it particularly good for kids and parents trying to help kids. It has a Spanish language version as well
Fact Monster and Fact Monsters Homework Center breaks information into six
basic categories and includes timelines, statistics and biographies under those categories. The reading level is fairly easy but it takes a number of clicks to get to the information. Most of the information is prepared by Fact Monster which also Information Please and not web links. Educational games and quizzes and even flash cards for math practice are added features
Encyclopedia Smithsonian links to Smithsonian resources on subjects from art to
zoology, but is particularly strong in the sciences and history. Smiithsonian staff also provide booklists for most topics
National Science Digital Library, funded the National Science Foundation, contains links to outstanding web pages on the sciences for K-12 teachers and students. This source covers math, science and technology
SITES FOR OLDER STUDENTS AND PARENTS
ShakeSphere: links students and teachers to information on
Shakespeare and his works, life, theatre, plus additional sites to check
Spark Notes are online study guides in a variety of different subjects
Literature guides can be found at
Math guides can be found at
Background Notes, written by the U.S. Dept.of State contains information on
countries that is updated every other year
Country Profiles, produced by the BBC, provides similar information
American Fact Finder, includes statistical and census information on both national and local government levels
Core Documents of U.S. Democracy, from the Government Printing Office, gives
the text of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence etc. as well as Statistical Abstracts, Congressional Directory, the text of current Bills before Congress and Federal Laws, etc
Refdesk.com , a free, family-friendly website that indexes and reviews quality web resources, including quick information and in-depth research resources
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