SCORE Cyberguides at http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html is the best site available on the Internet for immediate classroom integration of literature experiences with Internet resources. Pay a visit and see the wonderful work being directed by Don Mayfield and Linda Taggart-Fregoso from the San Diego schools in California, USA. The genius of this site is that any teacher may contribute an envisionment for books and activities with Internet resources that have worked in his or her classroom. All units contain objectives, activity procedures, teacher-selected websites, and a rubric for evaluation. Each unit is aligned with California's Academic Content Standards. It's a wonderful resource!
The Read In! at http://www.readin.org is a daylong celebration of reading and literature that takes place each year during April. First initiated by Jan Brown's third-grade class in Turlock, California, and Delores Willoughby's third-grade class in Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA, it has grown to include over 250,000 children, teachers, and children's authors around the world. Children discuss books they are reading and participate in classroom activities and live chat sessions with children's authors. Pay a visit and prepare your students for this year's special day when The Read In! takes place.
Research at http://www.nueva.pvt.k12.ca.us/~debbie/library/research/research.html was developed by Debbie Abilock and Marilyn Kimura at the Nueva School in Hillsborough, California, USA, and is an exceptional resource to assist students and teachers doing research on the Internet. Especially useful is their table showing which search engines are most useful for finding different types of information. If you wish to help your students learn how to search the Internet more effectively, pay a visit.
The Looney Lobsters at http://bps.boston.K12.ma.us/rc328sb/D4.html is the site of a travel buddy project organized by teacher Marjorie Duby and her fifth-grade students at the Joseph Lee School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Marjorie is one of the most accomplished developers of travel buddy projects, collaborative Internet projects based on stuffed animals that travel from classroom to classroom sparking Internet communication and collaboration. Children in the visiting classroom share regional literature experiences, the activities of their travel buddies, and other information with participating classrooms. Read about Marjorie's many exciting Internet projects with other classrooms. If you are lucky, you will be able to join one!
Book Rap at http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-teachernet/projects/book-rap/ is managed by Cherrol McGhee, a teacher at the Hillview State Primary School in Queensland, Australia. Book raps are literature discussion groups that take place between classrooms around the world via e-mail. Visit this outstanding location and join a scheduled discussion about a book your class is reading. Better yet, sign up to coordinate a discussion for a book your class will read, so your students can exchange responses with students around the globe.
Loogootee Elementary West Home Page at http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west was created by Tammy Payton, a first-grade teacher and web editor at Loogootee Elementary West in Loogootee, Indiana, USA. This award-winning site is a wonderful model for all elementary schools. It consists of a variety of resources such as educational links, instructions for creating a web page, lesson plans, Internet projects, student work, and tips on how to evaluate other websites and chat rooms. The site also includes several Power Point slide shows, which offer step-by-step instructions on how to integrate technology in the elementary classroom. This is the perfect resource for new Internet users!
Mrs. Silverman's Second Grade Class at http://kids-learn.org/ is a colorful website that provides a glimpse into Susan Silverman's second-grade classroom. The site is divided into a number of sections including pages about the teacher, the students, their classroom projects, their school, and their favorite educational links. Susan also gives a detailed description of the Internet projects her class completed during previous years. One project, Stellaluna's Friends, gave students around the world the opportunity to conduct research on bats and share their new knowledge with others via the Internet.
Room 100, Buckman Elementary School at http://buckman.pps.k12.or.us/room100/room100.html was developed by Tim Lauer and Beth Rohloff, K-2 teachers in Portland, Oregon, USA. Work by their students provides an exceptional resource for other young children around the world. Listen to children read their Space Alphabet Book, listen to Beth and her students being interviewed about their work studying monarch butterflies, view images in the classroom microscope cam, study the time line children created of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and accomplishments, enjoy poems children have written about the wind, learn from children's research about famous women, or study the bus safety rules this class has developed. Besides being an exceptional model for a classroom homepage, these curriculum resources are being used by primary classrooms around the world.
Journey Exchange at http://www.win4edu.com/minds-eye/journey was developed by a former third-grade teacher in New York. This project location provides a wonderful way to integrate the language arts and social studies. Students research and develop a five-city journey around the world. Then they exchange clues to the locations with their Internet partners. Each student attempts to discover the cities and the travel itinerary of the other.