WebQuest

1. Kids Click.

 www.kidsclick.org

KidsClick is a search engine for children in grades K through 7. KidsClick began. The site was originated, in 1997 by a group of librarians from the Catskill Library System, 619 Rt. 17m, Middletown, NY 10940. Currently, the site is maintained by Colorado State University/ACIN, 201 E. Colfax, Rm. 309, Denver, CO 80203. E-mail comments may be sent tokclick@sunsite.berkely.edu. Librarians or library school students recommend all the contributions included in KidsClick. The following materials are not included: sites that include violence, promote illegal activities, encourage discrimination or celebrate evil.

Commercial sites, those that charge a fee or require users to supply personal information

Are also excluded.

The KidsClick home page offers a directory to a wide variety of topics, including babysitting, sports, children's literature and nature. Each site indexed in KidsClick includes a brief description of the topic, target grade level and a notation about whether illustrations are included. The web sites listed in KidsClick are recommended by librarians and library school students and are from reputable sponsors such as the Public Broadcasting System, the Natural Park Service and several university sources.

The KidsClick site (www.kidsclick.org/selection.html)states that websites offering objective views of controversial subjects are included (i.e. AIDS, abortion). The goal is to present a balanced view of sometimes difficult topics. Some sites may include a "very limited amount of profanity".

I looked at several sites linked from KidsClick. A few contained older material which may need updating; there were several dead links. KidsClick presents a combination of educational and government sites, as well as personal sites. While the site is attractive and appealing to children, librarians who offer a link to the site are advised to provide instruction that will give patrons the necessary skills to evaluate a sites appropriateness to the question being researched.

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/index.html

The Internet School Library Media Center (ISLMC) homepage states that "from this site one may visit sites of possible interest to librarians and teachers in the electronic library." Library Hi Tech includes ISLMC in its list of Best Library Related Sites on the Internet with good reason. The site includes pages and links to sites addressing many school subjects. Interestingly, many of the pages provide resources for students and teachers in all grades, K-12. For example the science page links to professional sites, periodicals, lesson plans and subject resources. One unit, designed for use with fourth graders, includes lessons in early research skills, using an online catalog, geography, and occupations. This integrated approach allows the teacher to cover research, library skills and two subject areas in one unit. ISLMC can be searched by using the index or by keyword.

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/yalit.htm

This site is "of possible interest to librarians and teachers in the electronic library." The goal of Young Adult Literature: Middle and Secondary English Language is to support language curriculum in grades K through 12. This is a great resource for the Block Island Virtual library due to Block Island's remote location and limited print resources. Having a single site that provides materials for all grades is a great asset. Furthermore, Young Adult Literature…includes links to AskERIC, the Department of Education, ISLMC's ESL Resources website and ISLMC's Directory of Online Periodicals. Also included are links to book reviews and lesson plans.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/

The National Center for History in Schools (NCHS) in cooperation with San Diego State University has created a web-based model history curriculum, with resources for teachers in K through 12 classrooms. Unit objectives that address national history education standards, lesson plans, and reproducible worksheets are available. K-12 grade teachers contributed to the content of the site. A link to National history education standards is included, as is a link to the Social Studies School Service. The Social Studies School Service offers instructional units on a variety of social studies topics (Formats include e-books and reproducible units of study.

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/childlit.htm

Teachers and librarians use the Internet School Library Media Center Children's Literature and Language Arts Resources site to find numerous resources for educational and recreational purposes. Author and illustrator biographies and bibliographies are available on this website. The site includes a page on children's literature awards. Awards listed include those given by School Library Journal, the Boston Globe/Horn book Award, Caldecott, Newberry and the Michael Printz award. Pages describing audiovisual awards, historical fiction awards, multicultural book awards and mystery awards are also included. It should be noted that some of these awards include adult books, as well as children's literature.

The site includes links to book review sources such as Amozon.com, Carol Hurst's Children's Literature site, Booklist, Booklink, the ALAN Review. Another useful feature of the site is a page listing storytelling events, arranged by state.

It is also worth noting that the Children's Literature and Language Arts Resources is part of the larger Internet School Library Media Center with sections devoted to science, social studies, vocational education, etc. Teachers will appreciate the lesson plans and other materials.  A section of the site is devoted to young adult literature ( http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyill/yalit.htm ).While the resource may be considered most appropriate for schools, small libraries, especially those that work closely with local schools will find this an invaluable resource.

Teacher Universe provides e-learning, classroom-based instructional and online professional development resources for teachers of K through 12 students. Interactive learning products and a K-12 science curriculum are available. Teacher Universe includes a link to several sites with biographical materials. These include The Biographical Dictionary and PBS Teacher's guide to Charles Lindbergh. Teacher Universe also offers resources for early childhood education, distance education, graduate education products and web-based learning products. In 2001, Teacher Universe joined into partnership with Riverdeep Interactive Learning Group. Riverdeep provides Internet and CD-ROM learning resources for teachers of K-12 students

In addition to the classroom resources, TeacherUniverse offers a link to RightGrant Online, a searchable database of educational grants from a variety of sources including government, foundations and corporations. A link to professional development courses is available. California State University, Monterey Bay offers college credit for some of these courses.

http://www.eduplace.com/index.html

Education Place, produced by the Houghton-Mifflin School Division, provides teaching resources for Kindergarten through 8^th grades. In addition to teaching resources, the site includes educational games, discussion forums and more. The site links to 18,000 pages allowing teachers to find in depth materials on a variety of subjects.

Education Place includes Parents Place which offers homework help and a home activity center. A link to a list of home schooling resources is also included. Subjects include, science, social studies math and reading/language arts. The language arts page includes "Author spotlight" with book summaries, bibliographies of articles about the author, interviews with the author, classroom connections and Internet links to additional sources of information about the author.

TeachersViews is a contest offered by Education Place. Teachers, librarians, library students or parents who home-school their children review a children's or young adult book and create an activity to go with the book that can be used with the age group the book is written for. Examples for September activities include exploring the history of Labor Day on the Internet, a career awareness day for which students research a career of their choice a or a lesson introducing the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

http://www.yahooligans.com

Yahooligans calls itself "the web guide for kids" Like its parent company Yahoo, Yahooligans offers access to a wide variety of resources on the World Wide Web. However, the resources selected for Yahooligans are geared to the interests and information needs of children in grade school. The homepage of the site offers the student six categories to choose from: Arts & Entertainment, Around the World, Computers, School Bell, Science and Nature, and Sports and recreation. These categories are further subdivided. For instance, "School Bell" includes Language arts, math and other school subjects, as well as homework help and a link to a list of school websites arranged by country.

Some of the sites linked from Yahooligan are created by children (and their parents). For example, one of the sites I looked at was http://www.themusicmanonline.com/ This site was created by Christina Souza and her father. Many websites such as this one are created out of a personal interest, not necessarily by people with expertise on the subject. Patrons may need to learn the importance of evaluating the credentials of the creator as well as the validity and accuracy of the information presented.

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln.html

The Abraham Lincoln Online website was first available in 1995. The current copyright date is 2001, with Rhoda Snellor, MSJ as editor and Lowell Snellor, PhD as publisher. The site’s homepage is divided into three sections: ‘This week in history;’ news highlights; and a welcome section. From the homepage there are several links to specific types of material. These include News, books, speeches, resources and students, as well as an index and a search page. Many people will want to start at the welcome section where you will find recent Lincoln news, a site index, frequently asked questions and education links. The site's index is divided into 10 lists of documents and resources.

While the library may benefit by having a link to the site as a whole, my primary intent is to offer resources for teachers and students. Therefore, I have decided to put a link directly to the education page in the library’s OPAC, with a notation encouraging patrons to explore the entire site. The URL for the education page is: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/educate.htm).

The Education page of Abraham Lincoln Online includes five sections for teachers and students in grades 6 to 12. Five sections are included for research and study:

• Lincoln's own words
• Writings about Lincoln
• Images and Places
• Biography
• Resources for teachers and students

Detailed lesson plans with procedures, class activities and student assignments are available. One of the units included an assignment called "Back in the old days" which requires students to interview a member of the older generation about the roles and status of different members of the family. Another assignment involved analyzing a Lincoln document. The site offers units that can be used with different grades, thus providing a curriculum that can be used and adapted to many grade levels. The site as a whole will be of interest to history fans, teachers and students.

http://daniel.calpoly.edu/~dfrc/Robin/

Math Activities for K-12 Teaches was developed by Dan Biezad, professor of Aerospace Engineering and Robin Ward, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at California Polytechnic State University. The site is funded by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The creators’ purpose was to create lessons that would be inviting to students, encouraging them to see beyond thinking of math as only a necessary task, but to consider instead the real life applications of mathematics. An additional goal is to encourage students’ interest in the NASA program. They do this by incorporating activities that are fun and exciting. The homepage includes links to pages of lesson plans divided by grade level: K-4, 5-8, 9-12, and algebra. Among the activities available are ‘Airborne Science Program Activity’ and ‘Plan a flight around the world’ and ‘Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology.’