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December 2008

FREE, FUN AND INFORMATIVE WEBSITES FOR TEACHERS

The holidays are a time of giving, and so we like to give our readers a little something in our December newsletter. In years past, we’ve given recipes, crafts and holiday organizing tips. This year, we’ve compiled a list of Websites that have something free and interesting to offer. Be sure to bookmark them!

We’ve scoured the Web to find great sites that supplement your curriculum and others that are just plain fun. Enjoy!

http://www.elmersgluecrew.com/ The Elmer’s Glue Crew Recycling Program™ asks schools to collect empty Elmer’s glue bottles and glue sticks. The Website has projects and lesson plans to teach recycling hands-on, and includes chances to win prizes!

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/sweeps/ Every month, Scholastic offers chances to win prizes for the classroom.

http://contests.about.com/ This site is chock-full of links for all kinds of sweepstakes. Just check out the left-hand side of the page, under “Browse Topic.” It’s updated regularly.

www.fieldtripfactory.com Enter your zip code to find free field trips in your area. Also includes trip-specific activity sheets, permission slips and more!

http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/ The U.S. Mint’s h.i.p (History In Your Pocket) pocket change™ program has oodles of resources for both students and teachers. The site is updated monthly, with cross- curricular lesson plans, games, projects and more! Use in conjunction with our GIANT CLASSROOM MONEY KIT to provide hands-on learning!

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/ The Library of Congress has a site for primary teachers, with lots of helpful links. Also, visit the LOC home page for many more links for students of all ages, including Thomas, an index of current congressional legislation. http://thomas.loc.gov/

http://free.ed.gov/ has hundreds of free lesson plans, organized alphabetically by subject.

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/ The Smithsonian educators’ page includes free resources, state-aligned lesson plans and professional-development information that includes grant opportunities, programs and workshops. Visit their main page at http://www.si.edu/ for podcasts and virtual exhibitions at individual museums, including a virtual field trip through the National Zoo. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WorldTour/

http://www.amnh.org/ology/ The American Museum of Natural History has a website called Ology, which provides children with a wonderful, interactive place to explore the “ologies” of science, including archaeology, marine biology, astronomy and more. Supplement your science curriculum even further with our selection of SCIENCE READERS, which cover meteorology, biology chemistry, physics, earth science and more.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html NASA has a great site with resources for both students and teachers in all grades, including teaching materials, behind-the-scenes Webcasts and more.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/ The New York Times Learning Network is an “online current and special events news site for grades 3-12.” It’s updated weekdays throughout the school year. A great social studies supplement!

http://www.panoramas.dk/ This site has thousands of spectacular QuickTime VR (virtual reality) panoramas from all over the world. Although almost all of the images can be viewed by your students, there are a few that are not child-friendly, so please provide adult supervision. The site includes city tours, festivals, events... even Mars and the moon! New panoramas are posted every week. The site requires the current version of QuickTime for most VRs (free) and a browser that understands Java.

If you’re interested in live Webcams, visit http://www.atlanticava.org/WebandCamSites/WebcamTeachers.htm, which has complied an entire list of Webcams for teachers – from Antarctica to the Eiffel Tower!

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ has loads of free educational games and quizzes in loads of subjects.

http://www.incompetech.com/graphpaper/ Incompetech has dozens of paper templates, including graphs, grids, music staff lines, handwriting lines and more. Also view the right-hand side for links to royalty-free music, calendars, theater scripts and more.

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/ features more than 100 subject-specific professional-development courses, plus standards-based resources you can search for by subject and grade level.

http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/default.aspx This Microsoft® site for Educators includes lesson plans, grant opportunities, templates, tips and more, all for free.

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/survival/ Discover Education’s™ Classroom Resources page includes a free puzzle maker, Science Fair Central, New Teacher Survival Central, Lesson Plan Library, contests, grants and more.

HOT TIP: Keep your holidays healthy! Visit Clorox’s® Clean up the Classroom site at http://www.cloroxclassrooms.com/. It includes tips for a germ-free classroom, as well as a free “Clean Up the Classroom Kit” you can sign up for.

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