Best Web Reference Sites for Students and Google Reference Tips

Mastering effective web research skills certainly takes time and practice.  Learning to "think" like a search engine or playing the keyword game is similar to learning a foreign language, which can leave a teacher or student overwhelmed.  We have all been there more than once.  Luckily there are some wonderful tools to help.

Below are a list of reference links categorized by resource and grade levels making it easy for everyone.  Do you have elementary students researching rainforest animals?  Scroll down to National Geographic's Creature Feature.  How about high school students gathering current event stories?  Look for the links from the daily political cartoons or CNN Student News.  Also in the list are bibliography generators, conversion tools, biography databases, encyclopedias, weather data links, and more.  

You will also see Google tips in purple explaining how many of these reference tools can be used in a simple Google search.  They are easy to implement and only require one stop to Google.

I would highly recommend teachers to pull some of these links and place them on their classroom webpages.  As students conduct research, providing them with direct links will give them the scaffold they need to research effectively and efficiently.

Almanac

• The Original Farmer’s Almanac for Kids - (Grades 2-6) provides great information without the distraction of ads.  The text is short, which is excellent for beginning researchers.
• The World Almanac for Kids – (Grades 3-6) is not a complete resource but does offer good information on animals, geography, holidays, and more.
• This Day in History – (Grades 6-12) is multimedia driven and provides a daily video clip.

Atlas

• Gapminder (Grades 9-12) is a remarkable interactive tool.  Not specifically a physical atlas, but one that allows students to see data over time.  Be sure to watch the two minute tutorial.
• Geology World (Grades 7-12) offers excellent physical and political maps
• National Atlas of the United States – (Grades 3-12) is not the easiest to navigate, but it does provide excellent layers to data such as climate, population, transportation, and more.  You will need to redraw the map for each layer you add.
• National Geographic World Atlas – (Grades 3-12) is a basic atlas that provides images for copying into presentations or printing. 
• Worldmapper - (Grades 7-12) is an interesting atlas that resizes the countries based on the subject.  For example, the population map enlarges the countries of China and India.

 Google Tip – (Grades 4-12) Type in the name of a major city, state, and/or country into Google. Many of the cities now feature images of major attractions along with the street views.  You might even find user created maps of bicycle routes, recommended attractions, and more.

Animal Information

• BBC Nature – (Grades 7-12) offers basic animal facts along with photos
• Enchanted Learning Animal Fact Sheets and Printouts – (Grades K-3) is a rather extensive collection of animal data text readability for beginning researchers.
• National Geographic Animals – (Grades 6-12) provides detailed information and many with multimedia support.
• National Geographic Creature Feature – (Grades 2-5) is one of the best sites on the web.  The animals are categorized by classification and habitat making it easy to navigate.  Each animal profile does feature multimedia resources.
• San Diego Zoo Animal Bytes – (Grades 4-8) is an excellent resource for multimedia and easy to read text.  You will not find every animal, but what you do find is worth it.  Look for animal sound bytes on the left of your search results.

Bibliography & Citation Generators

• Citation Center – (Grades 7-12) is an easy tool for generating a citation for a variety of resources including 8 track tapes.  As you add new citations, a bibliography will be created.
• EasyBib (MLA format only) – (Grades 7-12) does provide citation generators for blogs, podcasts, federal papers, and more
• Knight Cite (Grades 7-12) is one of the most extensive generators on the web.  Using the resource types on the left, students can easily choose the correct field form for nearly every resource.

Biography Sources

• Black History Month Biographies from Gale Group – (Grades 6-12) is an excellent resource for extensive biographical information.
• Biography.com (Grades 7-12) is an extensive collection of biographies, but the amount of content is varied from person to person. 

 Google Tip – (Grades 6-12) Type “biography:” with the colon and the person you are researching to find results quickly.  Example “biography: Amelia Earhart”.  This trick also works for inventors.  Type in “inventor: Eli Whitney”.

Conversion Tools

• eCalc – (Grades 4-12) is a little tricky to figure out at first, but truly remarkable.  Using the right side of the screen, select the unit of conversion you need.  Type in a number and everything on the list provides the conversion.
• Online Conversion  - (Grades 4-12) converts virtually anything.  Excellent resource.

 Google Tip: - (Grades 3-12) Google has a free internal conversion tool.  Simply type your desired conversion in the search engine and press search.  For example 55 km in miles or 123 cm in inches.  Google will do the rest.  It recognizes common standard and metric measurements for cooking, mass, distance, energy, temperature, time, and currency.  For currency conversions, you will not type the $ sign.  Instead type 1 USD in Canadian dollars or 1 pound in Australian dollars.

Current Events

• CNN Student News – (Grades 7-12) updates daily along with multimedia and news quizzes.
• Daryl Cagle’s Daily Political Cartoon Index – (Grades 9-12) offers the best of political cartoons daily.  This is an excellent Social Studies resource.
• History in the News from ClassPress.net – (Grades 6-12) links current events with historical references going as far back as the year 1500. 
• New York Times Student News Summaries – (Grades 6-12) provides daily US, international, and educational stories.  The sidebar also provides links to a daily news quiz test preparation question of the day.
• Science in the News from ClassPress.net – (Grades 9-12) now high school science classrooms can discuss current events relating to physics, chemistry, and biology.
• The Week in Rap – (Grades 5-12) covers the top US headlines with video and music.  A new video is uploaded every Friday.
• Time for Kids – (Grades K-6) is an excellent elementary current events resource.  Many of the articles that are featured in the weekly magazine are provided on the site along with graphic organizers and quizzes.

 Google Tip – (Grades 9-12) Google News links all the major news outlets in one location including your local newspapers.  It updates hourly so your class always up to speed.

Dictionary-Thesaurus

• Visual Dictionary from Merriam Webster – (Grades 4-12) is truly a remarkable resource and the perfect companion for ELL students.  I also recommend this for music teachers.
• Wordsmyth  - (Grades 3-12) is by far my favorite educational dictionary-thesaurus tool on the web.  The site hosts a wonderful children’s dictionary that provides sentences for each word, which is valuable for primary students.  If you register advanced multimedia features are available.  Using the older student dictionary is an excellent option, as well.
• Word Central - (Grades 5-12) is another excellent resource, but my favorite feature is the rhyming dictionary.

 Google Tip (Grades 7-12) Type “define:” with the colon and your search term.  For example define: innovation.  The results will be listed with green links.

Encyclopedia

• Encarta – (Grades 4-12) does have a rather extensive encyclopedia available for free.  The articles are brief, but for a quick reference it is very good.  Included in this basic encyclopedia are images, physical maps, and country national anthems.  The premium version offers more multimedia, but I do recommend the free version
• Encyclopedia Smithsonian – (Grades 7-12) offers the portal to everything Smithsonian.  It does take some patience to navigate, but true gems of information can be found including some with multimedia.
• World Book Encyclopedia – (Grades K-12) has had a major facelift this past fall.  Now divided into four products of elementary, middle grades, high school, and a Spanish encyclopedia World Book has something for everyone.  As an added bonus, this resource is free to all Kansas students.

 Google Tip – (Grades 6-12) Google does have a wildcard option by using the asterisk key (*).  The way it works is to not type in questions, but rather answers.  For example: “* was the 18^th president of the United States” or “the major causes of

the civil war were *”.  The Google results will feature bolded words with your answer. 

Time and Date

• Time and Date – (Grades 3-12) has yearly calendars and a few bonus items including a countdown clock, a timezone conversion tool, and the current time anywhere on earth.

 Google Tip – (Grades K-12) can give you the current time anywhere.  Type the word “time” and the city, state/country for a quick result. 

Weather Data

• NASA Satellite Weather Images – (Grades 3-12) updates regularly with information all around the globe
• National Weather Service – (Grades 3-12) offers animated maps on all current weather conditions including severe weather and fire hazards.
• Weather Underground – (Grades 5-12) provides extensive weather data with maps, almanacs reference, and hourly weather forecasting.

 Google Tip – (Grades K-12) simply type in the word “weather” and a zip code or a city and state/country to see the current weather and the 3 day forecast. 

 

I Believe in Teacher Field Trips – Do You? Plus Summer Teacher Stipends Opps - Get Paid to Visit National Attractions

Do you get excited for professional development days?  I'll let you reflect on that a moment....what meetings do you attend?  What opportunities do you get to grow as a professional?  What technology training do you receive?  What conversations do you have?

Can you recall a great professional development day?  Was it hands-on?  Engaging? Fun?

Now imagine a Teacher Field Trip Day. The Science department spends a day at a museum doing hands-on experiments and research.  The K-2 teachers visit a local children’s museum to learn about a new exhibit on frogs.  The Language Arts teachers spend the day with the educational department at the Art Museum discovering how to incorporate art and poetry.  The health teachers visit a hospital to meet with nutritionists and psychologists on teen health.  The elementary PE teachers travel to a dance studio to learn folk dances for a spring unit.  The social studies teachers visit three historical landmarks and mark them with GPS for a student project. 

The power of teachers being able to receive professional development from local resources is amazing, but where would you start putting a day like this together?

• Start with investigating what resources are within an hour?  Zoos? Museums? Universities? Health Clubs? Major Industries?  Many of these have community outreaches and some specifically for teachers that few know exist.  Call them to see what opportunities are available.  You might be surprised to find they are very willing to partner with you for classroom projects.  Even if your student field trip budgets have been reduced, these contacts might be able to Skype or UStream into your classroom for free.
• Take a look at your curriculum standards.  How would you improve your classroom instruction by participating in a teacher field trip?
• Brainstorm what you need to learn.  You might need to learn a specific skill (a dance, how to use a new piece of equipment, how the GIS society uses GPS) or need to discover how the professional world is using new technologies (forensic scientists, robotics, Auto CAD, graphic design, banking systems).
• Consider forming a partnership with the resource.  Would that person be an expert in the field for a student project?  Could your students gather data for that resource (we had 5th graders gather data on bagworms at a local nature center for an entire year)?  Does that resource sponsor a charity your students could support through a community service project?
• Build a plan to use the new information in your classroom while your enthusiasm is high.  Teacher field trips are rare opportunities, so take advantage of the knowledge as much as possible.

Now consider if you were paid to take an in depth Teacher Field Trip to one of America's landmarks.  Would you volunteer to take a workshop at Ellis Island?  The Constitution Center?  Pearl Harbor?  The National Gallery of Art?  On a sailboat at sea?  Believe it or not, these opportunities do exist!  

Here are a few:

NOTE: Many of these applications to attend are due in mid-March 2009 and a couple in mid February, so jump on these opportunities straight away.

A Revolution in Government: Philadelphia, American Independence, and the Constitution, 1765-1791 – July 2009 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A Rising People: Benjamin Franklin and the Americans – July 2009 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Abraham Lincoln and the Forging of Modern America – July 2009 Edwardsville, Illinois

Aiming for Pensacola: Riding the Underground Railroad in the Deep South – July 2009 Pensacola, Florida

America’s Industrial Revolution at the Henry Ford – June and July 2009 Dearborn, Michigan

Changing the Constitution: Politics and Law in American Constitutional Development– July 2009 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Crossroads of Empire: Cultural Contact and Imperial Rivalry at Old Fort Niagara – July 2009 Niagara University, New York

Ellis Island: Public Health, and the American Workforce, 1891–1924 – July 2009 Budd Lake, New Jersey (download application here)

Emily Dickinson: Person, Poetry, and Place – July 2009 Amherst, Massachusetts

Gilder Lehman Institute of American History –Many Offerings July-August 2009 New York, New York.  Deadline to apply is February 17, 2009

Huckleberry Finn in Post-Reconstruction America: Mark Twain’s Hartford Years, 1871-1891 – July 2009 Hartford, Connecticut

Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution – August 2009 Lowell, Massachusetts

Jump at the Sun: Zora Neale Hurston and Her Eatonville Roots – June 2009 St. Petersburg, Florida

Library of Congress Summer Institutes – 4 Different Opportunities July-August 2009 Washington, D.C.

Maritime America in the Age of Winslow Homer – This is a 4 week institute covering maritime studies running from July-August 2009. Dartmouth, Massachusetts.  Application information can be found at: http://www.umassd.edu/specialprograms/mawh/

National Gallery of Art Crosscurrents of American Art: 18th and 19th Centuries – July 2009 Washington, D.C.

Partisans and Redcoats: The American Revolution in the Southern Backcountry – July and August 2009 Spartanburg, South Carolina

Pearl Harbor: History, Memory, Memorial – July and August 2009 Honolulu, Hawaii

Remembering the Alamo: Landmark of American History and Culture – June and July 2009 San Antonio, Texas (Scroll down to the left)

Shaping the Constitution: A View from Mount Vernon, 1783-1789 – June and August 2009 Arlington, Virginia

Smithsonian Science Education Academies for Teachers – 4 Different Opportunities July 2009 – Washington, D.C.

Stony the Road We Trod: Alabama’s Role in the Modern Civil Rights Movement – June and July 2009 North Birmingham, Alabama

Teacher Institute in Early American History – July 2009 Colonial Williamsburg.   This opportunity costs a pretty penny, but I think it would be a phenomenal experience.  I’m telling you. someday I’m going to attend this workshop.

Teacher to Ranger to Teacher – 8-10 Weeks during Summer 2009 – Various National Parks across the USA.  Teachers would work in the National Park during the summer.  Housing is provided at some locations, plus a $300/week stipend.

The American Skyscraper: Transforming Chicago and the Nation – June and July 2009 Chicago, Illinois

The Constitution, Today and Tomorrow – June 209 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, Culture, and History in the Mississippi Delta – June and July 2009 Cleveland, Mississippi

War of Invasion—War of Liberation: Occupied Nashville and the Civil War and Emancipation in the Upper South – June 2009 Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Women's Suffrage on the Western Frontier – July 2009 Laramie, Wyoming

If anyone does take me up on this idea of a teacher field trip I would love to hear of your adventures.  I'm hoping this sparks some creative opportunities and collaborations for everyone. 

Educational Blogs You Should Be Investigating

Today’s topic again focuses on another valuable teacher freebie, and free is in my price range.  How about you? Today’s post gives each of us a rare professional development opportunity – learning from other teachers who teach the same curriculum as you.  Think about it.  Wouldn’t the idea of having just a first grade teacher conference be phenomenal?  How about a drama teacher conference?  Or one for middle school English teachers?  What sort of conversations would you have?  What resources would you share?

Now think about the possibility of peering inside another teacher’s classroom to see what wonderful projects and activities were happening.  Could you take an idea or two back to your room?  Absolutely!  That’s the power of following educational blogs.

What I’ve pulled for you today are blogs divided by subject and grade level for you to quickly reference, but I do encourage you to explore blogs outside of your curriculum, as well.  Some are classroom blogs.  Others are teacher reflections.  A few are teaching strategies with classroom resources, and there are even some from outside education, but relate to your curriculum. 

I cannot guarantee you will be able to reference all of these blogs while at school, as I am aware many school filters limit access to blogs.  Please, do not let that discourage you from investigating, however.  Take the time to check these out.  Hopefully you will find inspiration and wonderful ideas.

If you own a blog or know of another one that would fall under this list, please consider adding it to the comments. The better the list, the better we all will benefit.

Technology Integration

• A Whole New Dianne – A Tech Link Sharing Blog
• Cliotech

• Cool Cat Teacher

• Farr-Out Links to Learning

• Free Tech for Teachers
• Future Education Tech
• iSuffers – Students Ready for the Future
• Jane’s eLearning Pick of the Day

• Kathy Schrock Kaffeeklatsch

• Langwitches
• Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day
• Lunch Time Leaders
• Resources for Teachers
• Sharon’s Share
• Successful Teaching
• Tammy Worcester’s Tech Tip of the Week
• Teach 42
• Teacher’s Love SMARTboards
• Technology for the Adult Educator - Great tech integration ideas for any level
• Technology Fridge
• The Teacher List – Mastering the Web One Site at a Time

Administration (Principal/Superintendent/Tech Director)

• Monarch Grove Principal’s Page
• NAESP’s Principal’s Office
• Principal’s Sciarretta’s Principal’s Corner
• Superintendent Bob Lewandowski’s Blog
• Tech Tools
• The Elementary Principal Blog
• The High School Principal’s Corner
• The Platt County Superintendent’s Blog
• The Principal’s Office
• The Principal’s Page
• The Royal Treatment
• The School Superintendent Blog

Elementary General

• Bill Z’s Treasure Chest –Writing Prompts
• Fascinate-Educate
• National Geographic Kids News Bites
• Science Notebooking
• Teacher Created Tips  - Covers student motivation, parent-teacher conference tips, and more
• The Mailbox Magazine Blog

Pre-K/Preschool

• Elbows, Knees, and Dreams
• Likely Classroom
• The Write Start
• The Early Years
• 2-4-6-8 Meet Me at the Garden Gate

Kindergarten

• Inside Naomi and Alexandra’s Kindergarten Classroom
• Kindey Garden
• Kindergarten Tales
• Manaia Kindergarten from New Zealand
• The KinderKids Classroom

1^st Grade

• 1^st Grade Activities
• A Day in the Life of 1^st Grade
• Blogging with Mrs. Feinman’s 1^st Grade

2^nd Grade

• 2^nd Grade Teacher
• Mrs. Kuieck’s 2^nd Grade
• Saul’s 2^nd Grade

3^rd Grade

• 3^rd Grade Activities
• 3^rd Grade Worksheets and Printables
• Totally 3^rd Grade

4^th Grade

• 4^th Grade Worksheets and Printables
• Freeman’s 4^th Grade
• Mr. O’Brien’s 4^th Grade Blog
• Ms. Lenahan’s 4^th Grade Class
• Shirley Hills 4^th Grade
• Terry Smith’s 4^th Grade

5^th Grade

• 5^th Grade Worksheets and Printables
• Mister Teacher
• Mr. Feustel’s Classroom
• Mrs. Bunch’s 5^th Grade
• Mrs. Trefz’s 5^th Grade Blog

Art

• Art Projects for Kids
• Elementary Art Lessons
• Oodles of Art Projects
• The Art Teacher’s Guide to the Internet
• The Teaching Palette

Librarians

• A Library by Any Other Name
• Books and Bytes
• Kid Lit Kit
• National Geographic DogEared Book Blog
• Northside Elementary Library
• Picture Book of the Day
• Recorded Books
• School Library Journal Blog List
• School Library Media Activities
• The Kidlitosphere
• Young Adult and Kids Books Central

Business Education/Photojournalism/Graphic Design

• Business Studies
• Dawn’s Brain – The Adventures of a High School Web Design and Graphic Design Teacher
• Education Business Blog
• Steve Fox’s Multimedia Journalism Class

Drama/Theater

• A Drama Teacher’s Diary
• Dennis Baker LLC
• The Drama Teacher

English/Language Arts/Speech

• A Teacher Writes
• Communications Exchange: Speech
• Creating Life Long Learners – Digital Storytelling
• English-Blog
• Eric MacKnight English
• Grammar Gang
• Huff English – Issues, Ideas, and Discussion in English Education
• If Bees are Few
• Inside Patty’s High School Classroom
• Kevin’s Meandering Mind
• Kindel’s AP English Classroom
• Persuasions Blog on Public Speaking
• Public Speaking and Presentations
• SCC English
• Shakespeare Teacher
• Teaching Literature to Adolescents
• Teaching the Outsiders (and more)
• The English Teacher
• The Writing Teacher

ELL/ESL

• I Hope it Works
• Kenneth’s ESL Blog
• Teach ELT Blog
• The English Blog

FACS

• Economics Blog
• Family and Consumer Sciences of Green County
• FCCLA Advisors

Foreign Language

• Foreign Language Blog
• Foreign Language Fun
• I Heart France
• Laura’s French Language Blog
• Learn French Blog
• Spanish Pod 101
• Teaching and Learning Spanish
• The French Corner

Industrial Technology

• Advocating Technological Literacy
• Architectural Drafting
• CNC Machines
• Got Engines?
• International Technology Education Association (ITEA) – Be sure to click on the most recent date
• Shop Teacher Bob
• The Wood Whisperer

Math

• Ag Math Rules
• Divide by Zero
• Dy/Dan
• Good Math Bad Math
• Mathematics Learning
• Mr. Joseph Williams Math Blog
• Teaching College Math Blog
• The Exponential Curve

Music

• Choir Teachers
• Education in Music
• Elementary Music Technology Blog
• It’s a Band Director’s Life
• Music Ed Magic
• Music Teacher’s Helper – Vocal Health for the Voice Teacher
• MusTech – A Symphony of Music Education and Technology
• Tech Tempo

Physical Education/Health

• Fairview Physical Education
• Free Kids Games at Playnormous
• Georgetown Elementary Physical Education
• Middle School Fitness Frenzy
• Mr. Kieronski’s Physical Education Page
• PE Talk – podcasts included
• Peaceful Playgrounds
• Physical Education Update
• Pudong Middle School Physical and Health Education
• SMS Health

Science

• Adventures in Science
• Atlanta Science
• Beach Hill School Science Class
• FYI Science
• High School Science Fair Projects
• Making Science Fun
• Miss Baker’s Biology Class
• Molecular Workbench
• Science Teacher – Breaking Out of the Classrooms and Into the World
• Think Anatomy
• Woodchurch Science

Social Studies/History

• EdTech Teacher
• History is Elementary
• History on Air – includes podcasts
• History Tech – Glenn Wiebe
• Speaking of History
• Teaching the Civil War through Technology

Special Education

• Free Resources from the Net for Special Education

• Gifted Exchange
• Linking Special Education and the Main Stream World
• Special Education Teaching Strategies from About.com
• Strategies for Gifted Learners
• Strategies for Special Education and Inclusion Classrooms
• Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs
• Teaching Students with Learning Difficulties

Study Skills

• Not Just Surviving
• Remember Anything
• Study Skills

Technology/Computer Apps

• Keyboarding Research and Resources
• The Candid Frame – Teaching Video Production
• The Computer Science Teacher