Hot websites

Teaching Pre K-8, Nov/Dec 1999 by Lindroth, Linda

Want to create your own class web page? Looking for up-to-date curriculum for current events? Just want a great resource for middle school activities? You'll find them here!

Lightspan PageOne

www.lightspan.com

It's easy to create a class web page when you sign up for the free personalized web page sponsored by Lightspan and Yahoo. With userfriendly forms and templates, teachers can create a password-protected Lightspan PageOne web page with its own Internet address, that can be accessed by students at school or at home. Teachers use a secure login to create the page, then give students and parents a password I.D. to keep the page private.

The Lightspan Learning Search is a comprehensive search engine with more than 100,000 sites reviewed by educators. Each site includes ways to use it in the classroom. With Bookmark Organizer, teachers add their own bookmarks to a database of excellent classroom resources.

All bookmarks can be accessed from any computer on the web. A Curriculum Challenge gives interactive learning curriculum for K-- 12 in all content areas and aligns with state and national standards. Activities are rotated every two weeks.

There's also a References and Resources guide which can be customized with resources selected by the teacher. An Online Calendar lets teachers post assignments and school events for parents. You can view a sample Lightspan PageOne at www.PageOne.Lightspan.con/sam ple

CNN Newsroom

www.turnerlearning.com

CNN Newsroom is a comprehensive current events program by Turner Learning that airs daily at 4:30 a.m. (ET) on CNN. The 30-minute, commercial-free news program can be recorded and kept for educational purposes. A comprehensive online daily classroom guide provides questions for discussion, activities and related web links.

The segments include Today's News, with top news stories; Daily Desk, which features a different discipline in the news each day of the week (Environment, International, Business, Science and Editor); World View, with historical perspectives on the news; and Chronicle, which explores topics of interest to today's youth.

All guides are archived and searchable, making it easy to go back to news topics that relate to current class topics.

Middle School Partnership

www.middleschool.com

This is simply an outstanding collection of educational resources for the middle school educator!

There's a well-organized and extremely large database with specific starting points for teachers and for administrators. The categorized lesson plans are excellent and cover all curricular areas. The Student Behaviors section is particularly noteworthy with four resource units on Attitudes, Violence, School Climate and Gangs.

Each content area has links to national standards, organizations, web quests and detailed lessons. All materials can be printed for later use. Perfect for the middle school educator, this site is a must for teachers of all grade levels!

NTS Bookshelf

With the demand for computers in the classroom on the rise, technology budgets are seeking ways to maximize their investments in computer hardware. A new portable solution from NTS is the NTS Bookshelf. This portable "dock and charge" system is a mini-power station and storage dock for five Dreamwriter T-100 or T400/IR word processors, or six Dreamwriter IT laptops. The Bookshelf, functioning as a power station, will recharge the Dreamwriters in as little as four hours. A smaller version of the Rol-a-Lab, the NTS Bookshelf is convenient and will fit on almost any desk, shelf or cabinet. Its versatility is in its size and in the recharging capacity of the system, which keeps laptops ready to use in the classroom. Its weight is only 22 pounds with five laptops docked, making it easy to transport. For more information, visit the NTS Computer Systems website at www.nts.dreamwriter.com or call 800-663-7163. Cost for the NTS Bookshelf bundle is $980 for five Dreamwriter T-100 word processors; $5,500 for six Dreamwriter IT laptops.

Linda Lindroth is a former K-12 Area Technology Teacher, a Teaching Editor and Website Coordinator for Teaching K-8. E-mail: Linda@TeachingK8.Com