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Below you will find a complete list of NetWatch
reviewed web sites for teachers. All links were functional
at time of posting, however, some sites may become obsolete
over time.
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - ABC Teach is a simply
designed, well-organized site that offers math worksheets, sudoku puzzles,
shape books, clip art, fun activities, flash cards and more. You can customize
these by clicking the blue "abctools" apple at the top of the
page. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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The Hospital for Sick Children has a wonderful site filled with great information. Search through hundreds of child health articles, be sure to see the well-designed just-for-kids section and subscribe to the health newsletter. |
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Want to know about the functional divisions of the cerebral cortex or
compare the brains of nine different species? This is the site.
The graphics load quickly, providing detailed photos and illustrations.
The site also contains a wide array of resources and links to other science-related
web sites. Everything from astronomy tomicroscopy to ethical issues in
science can be found here.
It also hasa list of links to teachers' pages. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet: June 2008 |
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Activ8 program is a curriculum-based initiative designed to make physical
activity fun and rewarding for students of all athletic ability. |
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Simple but well designed, the Ontario School Counsellors' Association
site offers links under Student Resources to self-assessment tools, career
resources and labour-market information. Students can walk through the
steps needed to obtain employment. |
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Every section of the site is worth visiting – either to stimulate
children's creativity, help them acquire knowledge or just to entertain
them in a safe web environment. Spelling, math, history, science, you name
it,it's probably here. This is a site that is going to keep kids entertained
and interested while they learn – and they will learn a lot. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Searching for Canadian Educational Content on the Internet |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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This simple to navigate site is good for information on historic famines,
present circumstances and future options for dealing with hunger. It includes
a map showing where world famine is taking place, along with detailed statistics
for each highlighted country, and has a separate area featuring general
world hunger facts and statistics. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Sections include skills and aptitudes, essential high school courses,
an extensive list of trades, information on the Real Seal program, loan
sources for buying tools and lists of high school courses to take for particular
trades. |
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The AGO offers a dazzling interactive site. Some pages on this site require
the Flash plug-in, software required to experience certain web-based animation.
But it's free and easily installed, making your trip to the AGO a virtual
pleasure. |
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Designed completely for teachers, British-based Artroom provides all
the tools you need to teach students about animation, video and multimedia.
It covers interactive white boards, street and mobile-phone art and electronic
postcards. See the Boom Music Video Academy for materials you and your
students can use to make home-grown music videos. |
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A companion site to the regular Ask Jeeves web site, this one focuses
specifically on kids' questions. It's fun and educational and provides
a good start for school projects. All kids have to do is key in a question
and follow the links to the answers. The ability to peek at what kids are
asking right now is another neat feature. It allows you to see what kids
are asking and follow the links they are given to answer their questions. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - This handy reference tool
lists every country of the world, including population, area, climate,
religion, trading partners, currency and modern history. |
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There are more than 200 interactive maps available within a click – historical,
reference and economic, maps on the environment, people and society,
climate change, fresh water and health.
Visitors can see everything from distribution patterns (market share)
of large cars and small vans and ratios of family doctors to Canadian
residents to formations and ages of rocks. There are more than 40,000
place and physical feature names to search in the database.
Want to throw a pop quiz, including questions from categories such as
the Land, the People, the Ecology and the Economy? Click on the selections
and the questions shoot back. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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You wouldn’t know it from looking at the home page, but the teacher section of this site leads you to hundreds of links by topic, each with short, clearly written descriptions and site provenance. Another nice point is that you can find research, practice and theoretical information. See School Improvement / Collaboratives. |
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Reference Sites (June 2006) - A virtual treasure trove, Bartleby.com
is home to Roget's thesauruses, multiple encyclopedias, fact books, quotation
sources and style guides. Do a simple word search or browse alphabetically.
The drop-down search option provides approximately 60 sources; navigation
is at the top of the page. |
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Words and Pictures offers interactive games. Teaching materials are
geared to a British audience, but offer a number of helpful resources. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Resources are categorized by audiences: teachers, librarians and media
specialists, elementary school students, intermediate school students,
high school students and parents. |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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Developed by Bob Steele, a computer consultant in elementary and highs
chools in an English school board, this site has a large number of links
on a broad range of topics for teachers. A rippling flag signifies Canadian
sites. |
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This site contains thousands of puzzles, brainteasers, games and optical
illusions. New puzzles are posted weekly. Click on the Are You a Teacher?
button. Material is fun, motivating and offers a challenge to your students. |
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BrainPOP is a subscription-based web site that allows you to use a couple
of items on the site per day. It is exceptionally well designed with
kid friendly graphics and a wealth of solid, interactive information.Drop-down
menus provide access to terrific Flash movies related to technology.
BrainPOP is also supported by a number of leaders in education, including
the McGraw Hill Learning Network, National Geographic Kids, SchwabLearning.org
(for children with learning disabilities) and SciLinks (created by science
educators). |
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Tools to build a better planet: June 2008 |
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This site is wonderfully designed, with lots of kid-friendly colours
and images. There are separate sections with booklists for older and younger
kids. A Homework Help section, organized by topic, makes it easy to locate
information for a class project. The Fun and Games section provides links
to all kinds of interactive literature sites. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Maintained by Kevin Kearney and hosted by Cape Breton-Victoria Regional
School Board, Busy Bee provides a great list of back-to-school ideas, from
name review for remembering new students' names to a first-day kit. The
site also includes classroom management tips, games, general activities
and special education. |
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| Cambridge Dictionaries Online |
This site is simple to use with clear and concise definitions. Phonetics are neatly tucked under the Show Phonetics button. Spell a word incorrectly and you are given lots of options. Best alternate dictionary choices for quick lookups in the drop-down menu are Advanced Learners, Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. |
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Campsite24 encourages field trips complementing the Ontario Parks school
programs. Nature-interpretation programs for schools are offered by 38
parks. Information about lesser-known parks may elicit student curiosity
and help you plan a visit. |
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Campusaccess.com was designed to help Canadian students avoid the frustration
of not being able to find Canadian content on the web. It offers more
than 400 pages of information and resources compiled by Canadian students
for Canadian students.
The site includes a roster of experts who answer students' questions
and offer advice. The list includes former Olympic gold medallist Mark
Tewkesbury, Marco Di Buono, a nutritionist and researcher at the Hospital
for Sick Children in Toronto and Karen Schaffer, author of The Job of
Your Life and Hire Power. |
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The federal government's Can Learn site is chock full of excellent information
about educational opportunities after high school. The Student Planne helps
students identify skills, interests and goals, explore occupationsand fields
of study, choose a learning institution and research financing options.
Interactive tools compare colleges, universities and commercial institutions. |
| Canadian War Museum |
See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
Type “Remembrance Day kit” in the search field. The Collections section includes letters, journals, postcards, photographs and audio clips. Activities are organized by grade level. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) - Easy to navigate, this
site includes playground safety, field trips, water safety, scooters, skates
and bicycles, sports and sun safety. |
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The Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa helps the public understand
the relationships between science, technology and Canadian society. The
web site introduces the museum's exhibits. The School Zone section covers
various topics - magnets, liquids and solids, simple machines, structures
and shapes, objects and materials - with grade levels clearly indicated. |
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This federal web site showcases hundreds of other sites and provides
an extensive collection of online educational resources, including curriculum
units, classroom activities, quizzes and games.
Under Educational Resources, select a subject area, a province, grade
level, language (French or English) or any combination offered and receive
an extensive list of links to sites and materials for use in the classroom. |
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Health Canada's site provides a series of good activity guides for children
and youth. The Teacher's Guide to Physical Activity for Children includes
tips on how to motivate behaviour change, ideas for fun class activities,
plus stories of how other educators built physical activity into their
lesson plans.
Two interactive magazines - Gotta Move for children and Let's Get Active!
for youth - are filled with tips, tricks, quizzes and games, making them
excellent companion resources for the teacher guide. |
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Reference Sites (June 2006) - Where in Canada is Waldo? Track
him down with this atlas from Canadian Geographic. Go to Maps – tucked
away on the right side. This leads to a database of interactive atlases
and lesson plans (see Learning Centre). CG Kids Atlas, from the home page
is filled with fun information for younger kids. |
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A federal government initiative, this web-based project is designed by
students and teachers. It allows individual schools to create an atlas
of their community with physical, economic, human and historical geographic
themes. |
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Reference Sites (June 2006) - Find the Canadian Encyclopedia,
Junior Encyclopedia of Canada, articles, games and a timeline of Canadian
and world events. The search feature and subject index – top right
of the home page – are most useful, with front-page and left navigation
links to general information. |
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Teacher chat, distance learning, live meetings and free print materials
are just a few of the many materials offered for teachers on this site.
Under lesson plans, I entered the Ontario keyword search and received a
fair number of Ontario-based information pages. Subscribe to the Canadian
Teacher's mail ring, which allows you to receive e-mail from colleagues
across the country. |
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This quick information site offers links to activity cards, forms and
letters, weekly assignment and worksheet generators. |
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An extensive list of resources, this site has links to writing contests,
how-to info, book resources, tapes and CDs. |
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The Canadian Youth Business Foundation is a non-profit, private sector
initiative that mentors, supports and loans money to entrepreneurs aged
19 to 29 who are starting new businesses.
Well-designed and graphically rich, this site offers a range of services,
ideas and tips for young people. Audio clips provide advice on hiring,
attracting media attention and advertising from Canadian business owners. |
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CanTeach is a non-commercial site for teachers that focuses on lesson
plans, resources and links. |
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Worlds at their finger tips (June 2007) |
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Search engine for Canadian educational content on the Internet. |
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This site houses hundreds of sound clips and articles from CBC radio
and television. Click on any item for a brief synopsis of the topic or
to play clips from a choice of up to 10. Use the For Teachers link to find
an extensive list of assignments and projects for Grades 6 to 12. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) - UK-based Childnet International
offers award-winning web sites like Blog Safety, Chat Danger and Know It
All, where you'll find numerous teacher resources, strangely enough, under
Know It All for Parents. This section includes Flash videos and cartoons
and real people introducing you to applicable resources. |
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Created by The Learning Partnership, a non-profit organization, this
site helps students search for co-operative education opportunities that
provide them with real-world work experience. |
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Classroom Clipart has a huge selection of free images for Kindergarten
to Grade 12. (All images have a site-identifying watermark in the lower
right-hand side.) |
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To assist students who attend both university and college, the College
University Consortium Council has created a searchable database of collaborative
programs and transfer agreements among Ontario's colleges and universities. |
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For those who would like a site that focuses on design theory, Color,
Contrast and Dimension in News Design provides the answer. The site is
sophisticated and easy to navigate.
Exercises build on each other, change image colour to evoke different
moods, experiment with contrast or saturation at a click of the button
and create a sense of depth by altering colour percentages.
Sections of the site deal specifically with newspaper design. Overall,
the site gives a good introduction to basic design concepts. |
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This basic site offers children plans and knowledge to build structures,
mechanisms and computer programs that help them connect mathematical and
scientific ideas. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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The Cultural Profiles Project is part of Citizenship and Immigration
Canada's host program, which funds non-profit organizations to recruit
Canadian volunteer hosts and match them with new immigrants.
Because the site provides volunteers with information about the country
the new immigrant is coming from, it includes a wealth of cultural information
for approximately 104 countries. |
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Curriculum Services Canada works closely with the Ministry of Education to provide teachers with education resources. The site includes teacher webcasts, web conferences, web meetings and a number of classroom resources. Mini-sites like CultureSource, Leading and Learning, Leading Student Achievement and Coaching Institute also provide really good information. |
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Created by the Global Education and Learning Community, Curriki is dedicated to creating free, world-class educational materials. It is extraordinarily well designed with eye-catching graphics under Browse Subjects and has 16,000+ resources with subject area and grade clearly indicated. Easy-to-understand icons flag lesson plans, graphics, exercises and worksheets. Rollovers provide good, quick content overviews. Highly recommended. |
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Special Education (March 2006) - You must sign up to access the
lesson plans but it's worth it because there are hundreds of free ones
to choose from. I did a search for special needs and received a list
of 392 different lessons. Instructions are well organized and easy to follow
with lovely images of the finished project, plus they provide safety guidelines
for each one. An easy-to-understand chart indicates the appropriate grade
level. |
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ESL Tools for the Classroom
Approximately 215 puzzles cover nouns, verbs, opposites and so on. They are well designed and provide good visual feedback. See an image associated with the word you’re trying to solve, get one letter and check for errors. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) - cyberbullying.org gives
a basic introduction to bash boards and other media. Related Resources
offers lesson plans plus a glossary of web/instant messaging terms and
links to other cyberbullying sites. Some important links on the site don't
work. |
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Similar to Net Nanny and other web-filtering software products, CyberPatrol
prohibits access to sites determined by you. It can also limit the amount
of time spent online and features "ChatGard," which prevents
children from divulging real names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
Various versions are available, both for in-home and networked PCs.
A monthly update for subscribers notes sites thatare inappropriate for
children and those that are kid friendly. |
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Dairy Education Program provides educational support to elementary schools
in Ontario, including classroom presentations and resources for teachers
and students. |
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Under Teachers in the left navigation bar, you’ll find information on World School Milk Day, a list of free publications, posters and recipes – plus you can book five free presentations, including: Dairy Farming, Dairy Goodness and Careers in the Dairy Industry. Other links provide industry details that could be good for projects with older students. |
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For children 13 and older, the Diary Project is an international forum.
There are thousands of entries in 24 categories, including: body image,
ramblings, poetry and point of view. The site's privacy policy addresses
confidentiality issues and cautions against sharing personal information
online. |
| Dictionary of Canadian Biography |
For senior students or teachers, this U of T / Université Laval project provides a fully vetted, in-depth resource. Hosted by Library and Archives Canada, it’s easy to navigate and the search mechanism works well. It is limited to people who died before 1930. |
| Digital Archive |
See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
At the memory project site, click on Digital Archive to hear a poignant introduction by a Canadian veteran on the Flash version of the home page.
This site features the memories and memorabilia of more than 1,000 Canadian veterans. I particularly like the
pages with audio and transcripts. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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DiscoverTeenergy.com features a collection of links specifically for
Canadian teens in categories such as Leadership, Never Be Bored, PartyTime
and Volunteering. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - The Discovery School
home page includes a link to Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators with back-to-school
activity sheets, checklists, first-day activities, icebreakers and 101
things for the first three weeks. You'll also find links to numerous lesson
plans and other helpful information. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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Hosted by the University of Calgary's Doucette Library of Teaching Resources,
the Doucette Index is a searchable database of materials related to books
for children and young adults. The search works by title or author, not
by topic. Anne of Green Gables turned up eight resources, including two
fact sheets. |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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Tools to build a better planet (June 2008) |
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The Natural World (December 2006) - This information-packed fun
site includes an extensive list of radio broadcasts covering approximately
200 science topics. Read the transcript or listen to the interview. Click
Skywatching for each night's sky chart and links to interviews with respected
scientists. There are separate sections for teachers and kids. |
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The Natural World (December 2006) - Earth Science World Image
Bank is a perfect resource for students doing science projects. It has
more than 6,000 earth science images. |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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The Natural World (December 2006) - Teachers come first on this
well-designed site full of in-depth information. Select from primary through
grad school levels. Resource Type lets you choose lab, field, classroom
and computer options plus audio and video files. |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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This is one of my favourite sites because it’s easy to navigate, the graphics are great and it offers a lot of solid information. Games like Fishing Frenzy are fun and lead to additional detailed information, including curriculum connections for teachers and homework help for kids. |
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EdSelect offers teacher and student-selected links for web sites that
match Ontario's curriculum. It provides grade-level ratingsby subject and
web addresses. |
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Education Canada' Network is a one-stop teacher recruitment site. Columbus
Communications operates the B.C.-based site with the Canadian Association
of School Administrators as a partner. |
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The Education Network provides teachers with Internet access, e-mail
accounts, education projects and online conferences and newsgroups. A section
of the site is dedicated to professional development, while two other sections
offer curriculum support and discussion forums. |
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Based in Connecticut, Education World is the most comprehensive education
resource on the web.
The left-hand side of the home page changes theme daily while main sections
are broken into lesson planning (although American based, there are some
materials that could be adapted by Ontario teachers), an administrator's
area, technology integration and more.
A reference centre covers topics ranging from parents to fundraising. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - EduHound professes to
track it down so you don't have to. The back-to-school section includes
activities, bulletin-board ideas, clip art and worksheets.
Two things about the site, however, are extremely irritating: advertising
overshadows content and pages open with flashy special effects that slow
down access. |
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This site is geared specifically toward the Ontario curriculum and is
licensed by the Ministry of Education. It groups topics by learning categories – Language
Arts, Society and Culture, Math and Science and Technology – and
offers a range of links, as well as some specifically for teachers in
the Teachers Only section.
It also features Choice Awards, great web sites to visit -- including
school sites - and the Time Machine, providing information on important
events in the last 10,000 years. |
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The Elements of Style by William Strunk is now online courtesy of New
York's Columbia University. Arguments about "which" and "that," the
use of semicolons and how to avoid the passive voice are each addressed
here. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008)
Enviro Link provides comprehensive, international environmental information.It
covers 30 environmental topics and includes layers of information.Each
of the 30 topic categories includes a section dedicated to educational
resources.
For example, under Air Quality, you will find 194 air pollution and
28 educational links. Consisting mainly of a well-organized, easy-to-navigate
compilation of links, the site also contains a news section and discussion
forum. |
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Environment Canada's Green Lane is a basic site with a ton of information
on environmental issues. This is an excellent place to begin if you are
looking for Canadian-specific charts, facts or statistics on air pollution,
climate change, ecosystems, relevant legislation, nature and wildlife and
waste management. |
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Special Education (March 2006) - Special The US Department of
Education's Educational Resources Information Center database (ERIC) covers
all aspects of education-related issues through journal articles, conference
proceedings, papers, speeches, research reports, teaching guides, books
and curriculum. Type learning disabilities, gifted or any other Special
Education search parameter in the search field and you'll receive hundreds
of sources of information. |
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Evergreen’s Learning Grounds, in the left navigation bar, has support and resources for creating outdoor classrooms, while Resource – Project Registry lets you share information about community environmental projects. |
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ESL Tools for the Classroom
Created by 27-year veteran ESL teacher/author Judie Haynes, this site offers tips, lesson plans, discussion topics, answers to your ESL questions and an extensive list of web sites specifically for elementary students. |
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Best bets for field-trip fun are the links in the right-hand greenish-yellow
box. I even came across a slightly gross dissection of a cow's eye that
kids will either love or hate. (If you really want to see it, enter cow
eye dissection in the search box.) Lots and lots of cool information. |
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From looking outward into space to inward to DNA, this site is an excellent
resource for exploring the world of optics and microscopy.
It offers information on microscope basics, an explanation concerning
how digital imaging has changed the way information is gathered (a neon
image of mouse intestines effectively shows how digital photography works)
and an extensive gallery of photos taken through microscopes and telescopes. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Click education in the Attractions Ontario top navigation bar and you will find the best resource available for planning school trips to our province’s top attractions. The downloadable guide tells you which curriculum areas and grades are covered at each attraction and provides details and contact information for more than 60 organizations. A nice touch is the clickable attraction web address embedded in the PDF document. |
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ESL Tools for the Classroom
Nicely designed flash cards cover a broad range of topics and are available in three sizes. Choose the ESL Flashcards link at the top of the page, scroll down and click again to download and save the PDF file. Additional links lead to Google directories. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) - The New-York-based
Food Allergy Initiative offers a good introduction to food allergies.
Skip directly to Food Allergy Information and Living with Food Allergies
at the top of each page. I like the by-allergy, image-based navigation beneath
the top navigation. You'll also find downloadable posters and a comprehensive
links page on the site. |
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Tools to build a better planet (June 2008) |
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The Natural World (December 2006) - Create your own earthquake,
hurricane, tornado or volcanic eruption. Choose the variables that affect
the end result, then set the phenomena in play. Maps show hotspots, case
studies provide detail and supplementary info includes film footage of
natural disasters. Load times require patience. |
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Reference Sites (June 2006) - Access almost everything reference-based:
dictionaries, encyclopedias, a thesaurus, acronyms, idioms and a literature
reference library. Key a word into the search field for its definition,
along with literary and web references. |
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This site offers a one-stop source for free classroom materials. There
are more than 25 categories to choose from, including audio-video materials,
teacher guides, kits and worksheets. Click the By Province link for free
stuff in Ontario. |
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Need help pulling together an exam or quiz? Try the exam builders found
here. The site also offers calendars, grade books, a teacher template gallery
and more. |
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Discover Ontario has compiled a number of interesting web pages about
Underground Railroad tours, birding and butterfly tours, historical, theatrical
and agricultural tours. While the focus is mainly on family/individual
adult tours, the information is still relevant for setting up tours for
students. |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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The Natural World (December 2006) - This site is US-focused but
jam-packed with geological information. It includes tsunamis, plate tectonics,
satellite and topographical maps. The Teacher Resources section (lower
right) has useful classroom materials. |
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GetTech helps students plan for careers in technology, engineering, manufacturing
and science. Teacher lesson guides and career information is American but
may be useful. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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The kids' section is divided into two more sections: for children 12
and under or children 13 and older. These areas have activitiesto assist
children and a list of books and resources.
The adult section includes some good articles that may be helpful, such
as "A Dozen Lessons I've Learned from Grieving Children and Adolescents" and "How
to Help a Grieving Child/Teen".
Resources specifically for teachers include the book excerpts "Helping
the Grieving Student: A Guide for Teachers" and "When Death
Impacts Your School: A Guide for School Administrators". |
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Easy-to-access materials on this site include worksheets, songs and movies on topics including simile, volume (math) and respect (movies are a little syrupy) plus educational games like the Spider-Man Vocabulary Word Game and the Penguin Diner Money Game. |
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It's rare to find an online resource that provides so much useful information.
Created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Healthfinder
has an easy-to-use searchable database with comprehensive information on
asthma, allergies, deafness, diabetes, abuse and other health issues that
affect students. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
| Historica Minutes |
See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
Choose Historica Minutes – Military to see short re-enactments of Canadian war moments. You may recognize some of these from television. Viewed together they have a strong emotional impact. Lesson Plans, at the top of the page, leads to a searchable database. |
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The site features images which, when expanded, have well-researched
information about the historical location. The QuickTime movies offer
actual video of the locations. Four activity areas allow students to
meet curriculum expectations through a web-based approach.
Students can learn about the changes to flora and fauna through history,
how an archeological dig is carried out and how to keep a log bookof
their adventures – all without a textbook! |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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This information-packed site shows how things work and is a great resource
for teachers. Topics range from simple to complex. More interesting offerings
include: black boxes, GPS tracking systems, NASCAR racing safety, hybrid
cars, microprocessors, plasma cutters and ejection seats.
Scroll down the home page and, in the left-hand column, click on Big
List of Articles for a comprehensive list of topics. |
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John Gilson, a teacher at Pauline Johnson Collegiate in Brantford, has
developed this remarkable HTML primer for the web site beginner. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - Founded by two elementary
school teachers, this site is terrific if you are looking for teacher-supplied
ideas for your classroom. There are 20 different categories, including
First Day, Classroom Management, Substitutes and Learning Centers. You
can also submit your own ideas for other teachers to use. |
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Scitechmatics provides brief descriptions of IT and engineering career
options. Women who work in technology at IBM say how they ended up in their
professions, what they do at work, their hobbies, passions and dreams. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Of kids, by kids, for kids - budding young authors from around the world
can publish their work in the Storybook section of Kids Space. A area titled
class work features school projects, some of which have come from India,
Italy, Germany, Japan, the US and Korea. The one concern that I have with
the site is the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, which says that works
may be published in a variety of media styles (CDs, books) and that submissions
become the property of Kids Space. |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Reference Sites (June 2006) - At the Internet Public Library,
click on Ready Reference for almanacs, calculation and conversion tools,
census and demographic information, grammars, periodical directories, style
guides and much more. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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A dictionary, thesaurus, translator and currency converter. This nifty
amalgam of search engines will also pluck rhyming words (still nothing
for "orange"), pronunciations anagrams and acronyms.
It also provides biographical data on "notable citizens," Bartlett's
quotations and a host of geographical tools, including maps, facts and
telephone directories. |
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This site offers hundreds of colouring pages at the click of a button.
Just type a word (cat, house) into the search box to find a page that you
want and you have a printable page in seconds. |
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Proudly Canadian, KidKanuck offers a well-organized list of links to
resources for kids and devotes an area to special needs. This area includes
links to sites that focus on: AIDS, Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism,Cerebral
Palsy, Diabetes, Learning Disabilities, and Vision, Hearing and Speech.
As a bonus, KidKanuck's education section has information and links
organized under headings including: educational software, K-12, pre-school,
public schools and teaching resources. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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If you are looking for a quick, simple list of craft projects and clipart
for kids, you might want to visit Kids Domain. This Ontario-based web site
has crafts for Scouts, teens, gift-making and holidays plus lots more.
Projects range from simple to complex. Skill ratings come with instructions. |
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KidsHealth is a great site for both young children and teenagers and
includes information on complex and difficult topics, such as cheating,
parents fighting, running away, hazing, self-cutting, tattooing and plastic
surgery.
The site is beautifully designed and makes good use of age-specific,
kid-friendly colours and graphics. It also includes a number of interactive
features such as the Daily Brain Buzz, memory games and quizzes. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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This bare-bones site consists of links to language arts resources created
by teachers for teachers. |
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Special Education (March 2006) - A smiley face with arms raised
high provides a positive first image on this site, leading to a wide range
of information on learning disabilities. The Forums section lets you talk
to other teachers under a variety of categories. You'll also find links
to Canadian web sites. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008)
This site helps children and teens develop a sense of philanthropy globally and within their communities. Under “teachers,” you’ll find approximately 1,200 lesson plans listed by grade. Many references are to American states, but move deeper and you’ll discover fully developed, detailed lesson plans that are not geographically restricted. |
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This site offers an extensive list of lesson plans – many presented
from an unexpected musical/arts perspective. For example, geometry is taught
through dance. It also provides more traditional lesson plans, such as
landscape through the camera, pioneer poems and many native education resources.
Created by the Royal Conservatory of Music, you can search the database
by subject, grade, province and language. |
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Special Education (March 2006) - This site is nicely designed,
provides specific information on AD/HD and resources for other learning
disabilities. Spotting the Signs helps teachers to recognize symptom changes
as a child ages, plus there is a comprehensive section on assistive devices,
helpful books and links to related web sites. |
| Letters and Images |
See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
The Canadian Letters and Images Project is an online archive of the Canadian war experience. The Collections section lists soldiers by name, with the number and type of documents they created, and provides brief biographies. |
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Reference Sites (June 2006) - The Librarians' Internet Index contains
tens of thousands of vetted entries maintained by librarians and organized
into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related topics. You can subscribe to
a free weekly newsletter featuring dozens of high-quality web sites, carefully
selected by a team of librarians. |
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Little Five Star is a division of Five Star Publications, publishing
books exclusively for children. |
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Specific program information is found at this museum site. Students
from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 10 can participate in artist-run workshops
linked to the Ontario curriculum. Special programs can be created for Grades
11 and 12. Workshops include textiles and fibre arts, sculpture and ceramics,
printmaking and drawing, drama, dance and music. |
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This attractive, easy to navigate site honours the North American Indigenous
Games. Presented by Virtual Museum Canada, the site includes detailed
information on the Sacred Run, lacrosse, canoeing and kayaking, Métis
and Inuit games, archery, Coast Salish canoe racing and Woodland games
and sports. Flash quizzes and games test your knowledge and skills.
Teacher's Corner provides a complete listing of web and print resources
divided into elementary and secondary categories. Instructions for various
games such as Long Ball and wolf-or-hunter-tag are also provided, with
indications regarding the appropriate grade level. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
| Math Dictionary |
Penguins lead the way in this sweetly designed math dictionary for kids. It includes more than 600 math terms. Fun is provided by corresponding quizzes and animated examples, like a pelican’s beak that opens at different angles – depending on the value entered – to catch a fish. |
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Mathfrog is an excellent site where you can access many 45- to 60-minute
lessons for Grades 4 to 6. The lessons are intended for use as reinforcement
at the end of a unit, and each contains worksheets and either a math
game or a technological tool.
The Master List button leads to a well organized chart of activities
with notations regarding strand and expectation. From the cemc site,
follow the links English > Resources > mathfrog. |
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This promising new site from the University of Waterloo has been up
and running since August 2005. The site is intended for teachers to share
anything they think may be useful to colleagues. There are many resources
for Grades 9 to 12; just click on Search for Resources. |
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An amalgam of links to all aspects of media literacy, including film,TV,
news media and online research. Conferences related to media issues are
also noted. |
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A simple bulletin-board design highlights healthy eating lessons based on Canada’s Food Guide. Under healthy environments you’ll find a school nutrition checklist, healthy food choices for school events and guildelines for starting a school nutrition action committee. Also look for recipes, posters and newsletter templates. |
| Merriam-Webster |
Word games and an exceptionally nice visual dictionary can be accessed at the top of the home page. To build vocabulary, subscribe to the Word of the Day and let students solve the daily word game. A link to Word Central (www.wordcentral.com) offers word puzzles and a build-your-own-dictionary section. Daily Buzzword is good for vocabulary-building exercises. |
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ESL Tools for the Classroom
Designed particularly for kindergarten to Grade 6 students, but also good for beginning high school students, this site includes colouring sheets, stickers, flash cards, games, worksheets and a language-resource room. MES-Kids at the bottom of the page leads to a few simply designed vocabulary games. |
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As easy as one, two, three – the Ontario Museum Association's
database includes a search function for Ontario museums by name, type or
city. Or click on a map to locate museums in your area. Information includes
a brief description of each site plus maps, web sites and contact information. |
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This Flash site provides hundreds of Ontario university program options.
Students click their way to careers of interest. After they've chosen one,
they are given a list of universities offering related programs.They can
select a university and add it to their electronic backpack. |
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The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics promotes high-quality
math learning and is very active in supporting teachers. This site offers
over 150 lessons for pre-K to Grade 12. The lessons are sorted by grade
and strand. They include objectives, worksheets, follow-up, extensions
and related web sites. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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National Geographic's site is updated daily. It boasts pages related
to the society's television series, magazine, a children's section, photography
and online quizzes. Teachers can also subscribe to e-mail updates to assist
them with in-class projects. |
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The Natural World (December 2006) - An easy-to-navigate site with
topics broken into oceans, coasts, charting and navigation. Under the Education
link, you'll find discovery kits, case studies and lesson plans. See Data
Explorer for searchable information on a variety of topics. See the Web
Sites section for additional sites. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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A one-stop depot for Canadian earth science materials, this site is basic
in design with simple access to information. Topics include geological
resources, geography and Arctic tutorials, with links to EarthNet, a virtual
resource centre for educators. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008)
Suzuki’s site has many projects for kids. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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You’ll find a lot of good, solid information packed into this education web site. It provides an overview of Newfoundland and Labrador’s school health initiatives and includes comprehensive links and access to many provincial and national resources. |
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The New Teachers' Survival Guide offers easy-to-navigate information
on getting organized, classroom management, discipline, grading and tips
for the first day of school. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Bill Nye's web site uses the latest web technology to promote his television
show while providing a few projects for kids. Nye's web pages include home
science projects, a question of the week and e-cards that can be sent to
friends. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Reference Sites (June 2006) - This site has a link to Canadian
newspapers plus 16 drop-down menus broken into North America, United Kingdom,
Europe, South/Central America, Asia/Asia Pacific/South East Asia, Middle
East, West Indies and South Pacific. |
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This site's searchable database offers detailed information on all of
Ontario's career colleges. Students can choose a profession and a city
and receive a complete listing of all schools – with links to their
web sites – offering the program they wish to take. |
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Brent Philips of the Halton District School Board has created approximately
190 or so tracking templates for each subject area. The templates offer
an overall picture of which expectations specific students have achieved
and at what level of performance. Philips also offers Ontario elementary
curriculum links sorted by subject area, grade level and strand. |
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The Ontario Parent Council's bilingual web site acts as a gateway to
related online resources and provides commentary on education issues
in Ontario as well as news and other information pertinent to parents
and educators.
It features links to about 400 sites including parent organizations
inside and outside Ontario, the Ministry of Education, other governmental
and education organizations as well as school councils and school boards. |
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The well-known Ontario Science Centre has a section on its site called
SciZone. Here, you can slide along a timeline to follow the aging process
of a boy and girl from childhood to age 122, the age of the oldest known
person. It also provides a few responses to the question: "Why do
we age?" |
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A single piece of paper, some snips, folds and tucks and you've created
a masterpiece. Plus you've found a great way to help children develop creativity
and hand-eye co-ordination. Oriland provides lots of origami instructions
and some challenging opportunities for exploration. It's definitely a site
for older children and a great resource for teachers. |
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Oxfam Cool Planet for Teachers (there's also an Oxfam Cool Planet for
Children) provides a variety of teacher resources, including a curriculum
for global citizenship, suggestions for teaching students about distant
localities and a section called school linking and twinning. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Interactive Flash games make this site a lot of fun for children and
adults alike. Write a story by clicking on the words to fill in the blanks
- I created one about a cat with scaly wings with a striped hotdog. Words
are spoken out loud by the computer as you choose them and children can
e-mail their final story to a friend. Kids can also rhyme a story, create
a story or make a story for someone in their family. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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The provincial government's web site breaks student options into categories,
including: I want to go to university; I want to go to college; I want
to learn a trade; I need financial assistance for postsecondary studies.The
site offers a career planning guide and tips for finding work. |
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See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
This year’s International Day of Peace is September 21 and these two sites offer a significant
number of relevant printable materials and lesson plans, as well as many supplementary resources. |
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Make your own flash cards, game boards, quizzes, tracing sheets, word
search and word scrambles. Choose from scores of writing or reading categories
to create printable sheets. |
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Choose the links at the top of the page to get immediately to the heart
of the site where you have a front-row seat to a five-year dog-sledding
expedition to five Arctic destinations. You'll find trail reports, notes
and maps, supplementary materials for students and extensive teacher resources.
The fancy navigation is irritating. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - The ProTeacher Community
Archive is a growing collection of tens of thousands of ideas shared by
US and international teachers over the years. Type "back to school" in
the search field and you'll receive 61 different suggestions. The nice
thing about this site is that the tone is friendly and conversational. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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Reach the World takes students from severely underfunded schools on annual
field trips around the world, and invites other students to join them online
for the voyage. There's a daily log book plus journals, field notes and
itineraries on this very nicely designed site. |
| Reading and Remembrance |
See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
This year’s project launches in September and the theme is Letters Home.
Themes from previous years are still available on the site. |
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Based in Toronto, Readysetgo is a project of the Ontario Physical andHealth
Education Association. Geared more to parents, it also has excellent resources
for teachers. The kids' area includes interactive games and an invitation
to "Meet an Athlete." |
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This well-designed site introduces beginners to the world of rocks,
minerals, fossils, gemstones and Canadian geology. The junior rockhound
section includes student-friendly information on fossils, mining, rocks
and minerals, and geology. A field trips and trip safety section provides
good information on preparations, map-reading and safe rockhounding – plus
a code of conduct for collectors. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) - Here's a great federal
government site with national links to lots of safety information. See
School Safety, Teachers and Kids for the most relevant material. Topics
include: Chat/News Groups, Emergency Preparedness at School, Injury Prevention
and much more. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008)
Similar to Wikipedia, Squidoo is compiled by self-proclaimed experts. The good ones provide links to books and supplementary information. Lenses are ranked by users. Save the Planet offers information on wind turbines, green living and a new way to compost. Scroll down the page to RSS news feeds from environmental organizations around the world. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - While the back-to-school
materials are not extensive, they are well organized and separated by grade.
For especially useful items for teachers, click on any of the links at
the top of the page. Tools offers a number of teaching templates and classroom
management materials while Teacher Home provides teaching ideas by grade.
The site also includes a nicely designed home-page builder you can use
to create your own teacher web page. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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If you need an author to speak at your school, Arizona-based SchoolBookings.comprovides
a comprehensive searchable database of willing international authors.
The database is broken down according to grade and 40 categories, including
animals, art, technology and women's issues.
You can book the authors online and negotiate speaking and transportation
costs. Some authors will speak for free. Signing up for access to one
section of the site allows you to post requests for speakers and view
articles on education written by the authors. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) - Simple, colourful animation
makes the Ontario Safety League web site a good one for young children.
Elementary-school student Sam walks kids through safely boarding, riding
and dismounting the bus. |
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SchooFinder.com has information on more than 1,400 Canadian universities
and colleges. Students will find information on business, law and medical
schools plus graduate and undergraduate programs and so on. Sign up for
the member's only section of the site, which allows you to customize searches
and gives you access to ScholarshipsCanada.com. |
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While it may be a well-known standard among most teachers, SchoolNet
is still worth mentioning as one of the largest sources of teacher information
in Canada. With over 7,000 learning resources, the site is nicely designed
and has at least three areas for teachers: Curriculum, Teacher's Corne
and Federal Learning Resources. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008)
World Wildlife Fund Canada’s Schools for a Living Planet offers over 30 curriculum-linked, printable in-class activities for Grades 3 to 8. Each unit is school board approved and has a unique environmental theme designed to meet curriculum expectations in English, social studies and science. You’ll need to sign in to access the materials, but it’s worthwhile to do so. |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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Here’s a fun way to help kids fight germs. Webisodes and games bubble up, showing kids how to properly wash their hands. I like Big E’s Grossest Hits, The Five Finger Alert and the Villain Gallery. Sal Monella, a germ-toting cowboy, is particularly creative. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Students who wish to apprentice in a trade can discover everything they
need from the provincial government's Skills Connect site and the Waterloo
Region District School Board's Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, two
very comprehensive sources. |
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The Special Needs Opportunities Windows (SNOW) web site is a useful
tool for teachers who teach students with special needs, are interested
in special education or want to share information and experiences with
their colleagues.
The site is a clearinghouse of information that covers a wide range
of topics – from teaching methodologies and best practices to professional
development.
The curriculum section includes materials adapted by the Canadian National
Institute for the Blind, a teacher'sguide to teaching Braille to children
and electronic resources submitted by teachers to share with others. |
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Special Education (March 2006) - A partnership between the provincial
schools branch of the Ontario Ministry of Education and the University
of Toronto's Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, SNOW provides online
workshops (most are free), discussion forums and curriculum materials – plus
links to adaptive technologies, web tutorials and Ontario-specific information. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Stone Soup encourages young writers less than 13 years of age to submit
their work for publication. The web site supplements the magazine. It includes
hundreds of pieces of original published work, including some stories read
aloud by authors. Canadian children are regularly published in the magazine.
Submissions must be sent by mail and publication on the web site is based
on editorial choice. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) - stopcyberbullying.org offers
age-specific information. Choose the blue apple for teacher materials. |
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The American Screen Actors Guild Foundation has created a vibrant site
where well-known actors read streaming video books for children - complete
with illustrations. Each e-reading comes with a lesson plan and activity
guide. There are only about a dozen books available and you can choose
between three file size options for opening the story. Listening to the
stories is a lot of fun. |
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The Street Cents TV show and web site concentrate on debunking spurious
marketing claims, specifically those made by companies that market primarily
to young people. The TV show's forte is the Street Test in which teens
test products in real world situations then judge the products as representing
good value or not.
The value of the Street Cents site is that it archives these test results,
as well as other editorial content re-purposed from the show, including
some pretty funny commercial reviews, and presents them in an authentically
funky web format.
A black background, numerous video clips from the actual show and a
vaguely subversive design effectively convince anyone much over 20 that
they're not invited to this corporation-bashing party. |
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PBS's Struggling to Learn site may be geared to parents but it has well-written
information on learning disabilities. Sections are broken into reading,
writing, math and attention disabilities.
Content delves into the complexities of learning disabilities and how
they affect children and their ability to function. A frequently asked
questions section provides responses from doctors and education specialists
and a link to the Misunderstood Minds web site (www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds).
Here you will find testimonials about specific children with specific
learning disabilities.Both sites offer solid information for anyone working
with a child who has difficulty learning. |
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The site includes material specifically put together for Catholic schools
and public schools and covers Grade 1 to Grade 8 curriculum requirements.
It lists more than 2,500 links updated monthly related to specific grades
and Ontario Curriculum subjects.
A click on any one of them opens up a world of resources – all
of them appropriate and relevant to the grade, making it safe for students. |
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ESL Tools for the Classroom
This lovely web site – maintained by teacher volunteers – proudly announces free resources for teachers and no registration required. It’s the only site I’ve seen that offers socially conscious ESL materials, such as environmental education worksheets. You’re also invited to submit your own lesson ideas for posting. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) - The Teacher's Corner
is organized by: Primary, Intermediate, Teacher Resources and any grade.
Included are assembly themes, back-to-school reading lists, how to help
kids think before speaking, first-day activities, first-week homework,
ice breakers and kits. |
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Drexel University in Pennsylvania offers a teacher exchange for pre-Kindergarten
to Grade 12. All you need to do is click on Find a Lesson, and then select
your grade. Lessons are organized by strand. The site is well designed
and easy to navigate. Browse its Teacher Resources for your grade. |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Special Education (March 2006) |
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Many of the links are top notch. “A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust” (http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust)
explains the Holocaust, provides definitions and has pictures of artwork
from prisoners in Auschwitz and Birkenau. The site cautions teachers to
review the material carefully before using it and offers guidelines from
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. |
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Ontario’s registered dieticians have created this attractively designed site just for teachers. Big bold blue bars on the left sort content by grade. Other click-through features appear in boxes on the right, including research resources, a menu planner and age-specific Flash games. Be sure to check out the free teacher workshops and the Nutrition Innovation Award, which provides $100 prizes to kindergarten to Grade 8 teachers in recognition of innovative ideas for teaching nutrition. |
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Brampton-based Teacher's Planet has lesson plans, themed units, worksheets,
grade books and book lists. The Teacher Tools section offers puzzle makers,
teacher forms, flash cards, rubrics and access to demos of educational
software. For an Ontario-based site, however, it offers a lot of US resources. |
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See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
This year’s International Day of Peace is September 21 and these two sites offer a significant
number of relevant printable materials and lesson plans, as well as many supplementary resources. |
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While it is heavily subscription/membership driven, TeAchnology offers
thousands of free lesson plans, work sheets, organizers, rubrics and so
on. In each section, you'll have to scroll down the page past the subscription
info to get to the really good free stuff – but it's worth the effort. |
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I normally don’t review sites where the majority of services aren’t free, but this one is a worthy exception because it lets teachers quickly and easily create their own web site. Signing up takes minutes and content categories are already in place for you. Many Ontario schools are on the drop-down registration list. You can try it free for 30 days followed by a $39 annual fee. |
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The Tech Museum of Innovation, in the heart of Silicon Valley, has a
web site offering a range of tech information. Two particularly good
online exhibits are Robotics and Tech Topics. The Robotics section lets
you operate the controls for an exploratory rover.
Also included are audio discussions on robot ethics, a history of robotics
and activities to help students understand the potential and limits involved
in creating robots.
Tech Topics cover earthquakes, matter, genetics, electricityand the
cardio-vascular system. Each section includes a comprehensive vocabulary
list and extensive resource links, conveniently located at the top of
each page. |
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Teen Reads is a beautifully designed site with hundreds of book options
and descriptions. There are more than 1,000 book guides and links to
book clubs for teenagers. The Readers Say section provides teenagers
with a chance to comment on books they've read.
If a teenager is an avid reader, he/she will find lots of interesting
information to help them choose the next book to read. If he/she isn't
an avid reader, the colourful images and detailed information may be
just the thing needed to get started. |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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Safely back to school (September 2007) |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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Here's a quick site to check for books geared to children and anger management.
Choices are sorted into: Books for Helping Children Understand Anger, Games
for Helping Children Understand Anger, Other Tools for Helping Children
Cope with Anger. |
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An education portal for teachers, the Best on the Web for Teachers offers
more than 400 links to educational resources. This includes: language exercises,
free software, pre-school and kindergarten materials, science fair projects,
math games and online quizzes. |
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This gateway provides access to 450 web sites with up-to-date information
on more than 1,000 programs and services. Navigate by subject, organization
or keyword search.
Some features are geared toward educators. Under the Subject Categories
listing, for instance, teachers will find the Youth, Education and Canada
sections, which bring together topics of relevancefor both inside and
outside the classroom.
Students can quickly discover the influences of multiculturalism on
Canadian history and culture, thanks to a series of engaging sites from
Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Another example includes Human Resources Development Canada and its
sites related to career planning and job opportunitiesfor young Canadians.
The Canada Site also offers resources that facilitate exciting web-based
classroom activities. The About Canada page prompts users of all ages
to test their knowledge on Canada and its social and physical geography
with a series of multilevel, interactive quizzes.
Any school project that focuses on Canadian cultural development will
likely benefit from the information available on the Path of Heroes site
from Canadian Heritage. |
| The Free Dictionary |
Hear how a word sounds with this dictionary. A click of the mouse loads audio clips with no lag time. You can play electronic scrabble, hangman, spelling bee and word matchups. Home-page clutter and advertising are minor irritants. |
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Tools to build a better planet (June 2008) |
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This site has a wealth of information for teachers interested in student
field trips. Under Outdoor Adventures, you'll find arts & wonders,
nature viewing, water adventures, hiking, snow adventures and spring highlights.
Arts & wonders also takes you to history & heritage, which offers
detailed information about aboriginal educational programs across the province. |
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"Every 3.6 seconds, someone dies of hunger; 3/4 of the deaths are
children under 5. When a country dims on this map, it signifies a death
from hunger in that country."
This is the greeting that welcomes you to www.thehungersite.com, a web
site dedicated to bringing relief to the world's hungry. The site links
to the United Nations World Food Program. |
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The Journey Inside: The Computer provides easy-to-use materials for science,
math and computer teachers of Grades 5 to 9. The kit contains a teachers'
guide, introduction video, classroom video, poster, and hands-on computer
chip kit. |
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Designed to also work as a travelling kiosk, this web site provides
some terrific insights, sounds and images of William Grant Still, "the
dean of African-American composers" and the music he created. Still
is credited as the first black composer to have a symphony performed
by an American orchestra.
There are numerous links to sound files, as well as a complete biography.
Worth a look for any student interested in music, its history, its theory
and its legends. |
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This handsomely designed site has lesson plans on the rain forest for
Grades K-6. The site includes slide shows categorized by grade that can
be shown using a computer and projector. |
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The UN for Kids, Youth and Educators site offers a Teacher's Toolbox
and curriculum guides. Another section called What Kind of World? (created
by the Canadian International Development Agency) provides lesson plans
and handouts. |
| The Visual Dictionary |
Simple word searches lead to layer upon layer of meanings with large, clearly presented visuals. |
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Thinking Fountain's site is chock full of a variety of projects for children.
Instructions are clear and each section has a list of supplies a child
will need to make their creations. |
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While most teachers are likely aware of the TVO Career Matters site,
it's still well worth mentioning since it offers descriptions for more
than 500 careers, including videos of individuals talking about their work,
specific job duties and required high school courses. |
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"More than 121 million children are not in school today - 65 millionare
girls. What do you think needs to be done for every child to be ableto
go to school?"
So begins UNICEF: Voices of Youth, a site dedicated to the rights of
youth and children around the world. Here, you'll findinformation on
child protection, girls' education, HIV/AIDs, immunization and sustainable
development.
The teacher's resource section includes information that may be useful
to educators who teach children affectedby war. The strongest part of
the site is Children and Youth Speak Out where children around the world
comment on issues that affect them. |
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The Natural World (December 2006) |
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This well-stocked site has lots of ESL handouts, worksheets and other teaching tools. It includes a news feed, extensive glossaries, articles and resources. You can register for free access to more info and forums, but you do have to answer a lot of questions. You may want to skip the downloadable software – it doesn’t work properly when you try to install it. |
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These two sites are great for elementary students. Canadian-based Virtual
Farm Tours covers five or six different types of farms. The Virginia-based
4-H Virtual Farm is great for younger children. The horse-farm section
is colourful, with lots of videos and information. Both sites include
farmer interviews and interactive learning features like moveable magnifying
glasses and Horsing Around. |
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See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
This repository of Remembrance Day materials is one of the best places to start your resource search.
Choose Canada Remembers. Find learning modules, 50 ways to remember, quick facts and information booklets under
Youth & Educators – Teachers’ Resources. Be sure to check the 2004 section. You can also order free publications
and a DVD. |
| The Vigil Project |
See, Hear, Remember (September 2008)
Beginning November 4, from sunset until sunrise the next day, the names of fallen World War I soldiers will run on the National History Society site with the last appearing at sunrise November 11. The site will also offer live web casts and supplementary resources. |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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Worlds at their fingertips (June 2007) |
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With 193 interactive exhibits, 420,000 images and 150 interactive games,
this is one of the best-designed sites I've seen. Choose Fun and Games > All
Games and scroll down to Musical Compositions to see one example of just
how powerful the site is. Run your mouse along the harmonica and it plays
like it would if it were at your lips. The Teachers' Centre provides
numerous lesson plans and there is a directory of Canadian museums. |
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Searching for Words on your Desktop (March 2008)
Simple word searches lead to layer upon layer of meanings with large, clearly presented visuals. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet: June 2008
UNICEF’s beautifully designed site features powerful messages on child rights, children and disabilities, global warming, carbon footprints and many other issues. There’s a radio-drama competition and a video contest plus lots of discussion forums and sections like Young Voices from Conflict Zones and an extensive youth-created online art exhibit. |
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Safely back to school (September 2008) |
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Tools to build a better planet (June 2008) |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet (June 2008) |
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The Washington-based National Education Association offers more than
400 classroom tips. Plus you can receive weekly e-mail tips from other
teachers. Presented as filing cabinets, topics are broken into teaching
techniques, getting organized, relationships (family, professional, substitute
teacher) and using technology. Managing your classroom has great tips on
behaviour control, attendance and inclusion. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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This site offers an exhaustive list of countries, their capitals an territories,
with encyclopedic-like entries for quick and easy reference. Users encounter
an overview of the world on the main page, replete with population, land
mass, climate, elevation extremes and natural resources. |
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Back-to-school Sites (September 2006) |
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ESL Tools for the Classroom (December 2007)
Ontario teacher Magda Kalinowska has created a simply designed, easy to navigate site pointing to a number of ESL resources geared to the Ontario curriculum and broken into different learning levels. You’ll want to check out Canadiana and teacher links in particular. |
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Another well-designed portal to rainforest links, the World Rainforest
Information Portal includes a good library of map links and a section
devoted to data and research.
The "What can I do to help?" section contains information
on conscious consuming, green transportation and direct action. Information
is suited to older students and teachers.
One nice feature is the "Protect an Acre Program" where a
school could raise funds to protect an acre or more of rainforest. |
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Searching for Canadian Educational Content on the Internet |
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Links to starting a business, loan programs and a young entrepreneurs
program lead surfers through the labyrinth-like steps it takes to start
a business. If you can't find answers, the site lists phone numbers and
addresses of offices to help. |
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I wasn't able to locate an online Canadian dictionary, but yourdictionary.com
is a comprehensive option. It includes thesaurus, multiple language choices,
specialized glossaries, translation, style guides and word lists. Specialty
dictionaries - education, etymology, metallurgy and carpentry - are accessed
via the top navigation bar. |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet: June 2008 |
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Back-to-school Sites: September 2006 |
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Tools to Build a Better Planet: June 2008 |
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Safely back to school: September 2007 – British-based
kid-generated videos, art, content against bullying |
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