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Teaching Pre K-8, Aug/Sep 2002 by Lindroth, Linda

As you search for new ways to address standards and meet the needs of a brand-new group of students, here are some great resources to jump-start your 2002-2003 school year!

Enlighten Me

http://superpages.com/enlightenme

Verizon has partnered with Fablevision to bring this robust resource to education. SuperThinkers has games, stories and activities; kids can make a book, write a book review, print SuperThinker posters, or play the Peetnik Mysteries, in which students use a phone book, a Who's Who and a map to help Penn Peetnik and his friends solve a mystery. As students make phone calls and find locations, they use mapping skills, research and real-life problem-solving to find clues that lead to a solution.

The Internet Learning Tutor section of Enlighten Me offers Lessons and Quizzes, Internet Adventures, Exercises and Resources. The Internet Adventures are great for content integration. Try the CyberDiet Activity Calculator to find the number of calories you bum for dozens of activities. Use the Parent Problem Solver to get an answer from Disney Online. Enter a date into the Interactive Historical Timeline to create a graphic timeline of events. The step-by-step exercises guide students through a "real-world" Internet task such as planning a trip.

Reading A-Z

www.readingatoz.com/

Here's a web resource with 264 online books (and more added each month) to download - whenever you need them, as many copies as you need! Reading A-Z is a balanced literacy resource with guided reading books and lessons, decodable books, read-aloud books and even books in Spanish. The curriculum materials include more than 160 lessons to support the downloadable books, as well as worksheets and flashcards to reinforce skills. Lessons contain before-, during-- and after-reading discussion and activities. There are lots of ideas for expanding reading in all the content areas.

Individual annual subscriptions are $49.95, with rates available for a school or district license.

1 EdWeb

www.1edweb.com/

Save paper and time with this site that allows SELPA and IEP forms to be kept online. School districts can get two of their forms converted free to help in determining the value of using 1EdWeb.

Once district forms are converted, they can be downloaded, edited and filled in (even during an IEP meeting), then saved and printed. IEP templates can be accessed from school or home. Many special education teachers travel between schools and the convenience of getting form templates from the Internet is very time-saving.

OmniForm Filler 5.0 for the PC ($46), and Acrobat Approval 5.0 for the Mac ($39) make it possible to create forms that can be filled out electronically. This makes 1EdWeb even more practical and easy to use. Try it with the forms you use frequently; it's only $25 per form to convert to an online template.

Teacher Web Tools

www.teacherwebtools.com/

Start the new school year with these five web tools powered by Education Planet.

TeacherSiteMaker. Create passwordprotected teacher and school sites in four easy steps: file, layout, edit and publish. Choose from online templates or import your own, add images and create links, all without using HTML.

NewsletterMaker. Use online templates to create an electronic "e-- newsletter" that helps keep students and their parents up-to-date on class news and homework assignments.

LearningLinks. Manage online assignments, add images and text and type in web links or use the Education Planet links to support your lessons.

LessonMaker. Create and update your lessons online and integrate state standards for dynamic lesson plans.

Online Storage. Upload or download up to five files at a time. Store up to 30 MB of personal files.

A single-user subscription is only $49.95 for one year. Call 866-899-4966 for pricing on school, district and multiuser licensing.

Ultimate Back-to-School Site for Teachers

www.teachingheart.net/ultimate.html

Teachers love to share! Here's a teacher-- created site that features a collection of free back-to-school ideas. Organizational ideas, read-aloud books, getting-- to-know-you activities and dozens of other categories can be found here. Printable activity sheets make organization easier during those first weeks of school.

Click Awesome Links for ideas for icebreakers, centers, parent-teacher conferences and classroom organization. This great site is a must-visit for new teachers and mentor teachers, too.

Start Something

http://startsomething.target.com

Target and the Tiger Woods Foundation have teamed up in a free online program that will help kids ages 8-17 to pursue their interests and reach their goals. Participation can be in groups or as individuals.

The curriculum offers 10 two-hour sessions. Students identify their interests and dreams, learn leadership skills, design a project and present their experiences to a group; they can even apply for a scholarship. Kids can also print forms at the Download Center, take the interest survey, explore the Start Dreaming career section and record their thoughts in the online Notebook.