Web Resources For Literacy Teachers
Many thanks to Dr. Michael McKenna, CFBISD Library Media Specialists and NRC friends, among others, for contributing to this ongoing list! Send your contribution nominations to: resources@guidedteaching.com
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) sites for Families and Children
Just updated with even more resources, be sure to look under "Great websites for Kids" while looking at this rich resource!
http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/alscresources/forchildren/childrenfamilies.cfm
The Blueberry Story
A great true story explaining how schools can not be run like a business! Enjoy!
http://www.jamievollmer.com/blue_story.html
LazyReaders.com
A great source of book ideas--book recommendations that are quick and easy to read for personal pleasure. The author tries not to include any books over 250 pages, and always includes books written for a variety of ages--Adults/Young Adults/ Children!
YALSA Internet Tips for Teens
Young Adult Library Services Association's Technology Committee has put together two great resources for back to school. The first document is a compilation of resources to help teachers and librarians work with teens to help them build critical information literacy skills when using the Internet. The second document is a tip sheet for teens to help them become safe and savvy web surfers.
www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/yalsamemonly/savvysurfers.pdf
www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/yalsamemonly/findgoodsites.pdf
Graphic Novels
No flying, No tights -- http://www.noflyingnotights.com/ the graphic novel review site for teens.
Sidekicks--http://www.noflyingnotights.com/sidekicks/index.html a site devoted to all those kids graphic novels out there.
The Lair -- http://www.noflyingnotights.com/lair/index.html a site featuring graphic novels for older teens and adults.
Children’s Book Awards
American Library Association Links to all the major national book awards are listed in one place with criteria and links to previous years' award winners. www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists
Caldecott Medal. Operated by the American Library Association. Extensive information on current and past winners, honor books, history of the award, selection process. http://www.ala.org/alsc/caldecott.html
Coretta Scott King Award. This award “honors African American authors and illustrators for outstanding contributions to children's and young adult literature that promote understanding and appreciation of the culture and contribution of all people to the realization of the American Dream.” Offers information on the history of the award, criteria and selection, its present and past winners. Operated by the American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/...cskawardwinners.htm
Newbery Medal. Operated by the American Library Association. Extensive information on current and past winners, honor books, history of the award, selection process. http://www.ala.org/alsc/newbery.html
Michael L. Printz Award. The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/Printz,_Michael_L__Award.htm
Choices. Lists books having received one of the following distinctions: Children's Choice, Young Adults' Choice, or Teachers' Choices. Deep-link within the IRA site:http://www.reading.org/resources/tools/choices.html
University of Calgary’s Awards Links. Links to most major children’s book awards, including many of the specific links that follow in this section. Canadian, British,
Author Sites
IPL Author Page. This site allows you to read Biographies of other authors or check out Author Links with links to some of your favorite Authors/Illustrators. http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/youth/AskAuthor
The following list of author sites combines "official" sites (not all authors have them) with other useful ones. If your favorite author is not listed below, simply go to Google.com and type in your author's name. Chances are, you'll be overwhelmed.
Mitch Albom http://www.albom.com/
Laurie Halse Anderson-- http://www.writerlady.com/
blog-- http://halseanderson.livejournal.com/
Avi http://www.avi-writer.com/
T. A. Barron http://www.tabarron.com/
L. Frank Baum http://www.literarytraveler.com/spring/west/baum.htm
Judy Blume http://www.judyblume.com/
Rick Bragg http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/bragg/
Joseph Bruchac http://www.josephbruchac.com/
Lewis Carrollhttp://www.lewiscarroll.org/carroll.html
Gennifer Choldenko http://www.choldenko.com/
Beverly Cleary http://www.beverlycleary.com
Robert Cormier http://www.carr.org/mae/cormier/cormier.htm
Sharon Creech http://www.sharoncreech.com/
Christopher Paul Curtis http://www.randomhouse.com/features/christopherpaulcurtis/
Karen Cushman http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/author/cushman/
Roald Dahl http://www.roalddahl.com/index2.htm
Tomie DePaola http://www.tomie.com/
Sylvia Engdahl http://www.sylviaengdahl.com/
Sharon Flake http://sharongflake.com/
Sid Fleischman http://www.carr.org/authco/fleischman.htm
Russell Freedman http://www.childrenslit.com/f_freedman.html
Jack Gantos http://www.jackgantos.com/
Patricia Reilly Giff http://www.randomhouse.com/features/patriciareillygiff/
Karen Hesse http://www.childrenslit.com/f_hesse.html
Carl Hiassen http://www.carlhiaasen.com/
Will Hobbs http://www.willhobbsauthor.com/
Brian Jacques http://www.redwall.org/dave/jacques.html
Angela Johnson http://aalbc.com/authors/angela.htm
Marcia Thornton Jones http://www.baileykids.com/authors.htm
Lois Lowry http://www.loislowry.com/
Adeline Yen Mah http://www.adelineyenmah.com/index2.html
Ruben Martinez http://www.uh.edu/cwp/faculty/martinez.htm
Walter Dean Myers http://scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/myers.html
Robert Munsch http://www.robertmunsch.com/
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/naylor.html
Garth Nix http://www.garthnix.co.uk/
Naomi Shihab Nye http://www.barclayagency.com/nye.html
Scott O'Dell http://www.scottodell.com/
Linda Sue Park http://www.lindasuepark.com/
Katherine Patterson http://www.terabithia.com/
Christopher Paolini http://www.alagaesia.com/index.php
Gary Paulsen http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/
Richard Peck http://www.richardpeck.smartwriters.com/
Tamora Pierce http://www.sff.net/people/Tamora.Pierce/
Philip Pullman http://www.philip-pullman.com/about_the_author.asp
J.K. Rowling http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/
Pam Munoz Ryan http://www.pammunozryan.com/
Louis Sachar http://www.louissachar.com/
Neal Shusterman http://www.storyman.com/
Jerry Spinelli http://www.jerryspinelli.com/newbery_001.htm
R.L. Stine http://www.scholastic.com/goosebumps/books/stine/
Nikki Tate http://www.stablemates.net/
J. R. R. Tolkien http://www.tolkien.co.uk/frame.asp
Chris Van Allsburg http://www.eduplace.com/author/vanallsburg/
David Wiesner http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/wiesner/
Chris Wooding http://www.chriswooding.com/
Jacqueline Woodson http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/
Laurence Yep http://scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/yep.html
Markus Zusak http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/
Children's Literature
Jim Trelease. Though a bit commercial, this site, by the read-aloud master, offers some unusual links (e.g., parenting, publishers, author sites, "kid-safe" sites) and other features. Worth a visit. http://www.trelease-on-reading.com
Vandergrift's Children's Literature Page. Great site for children's literature, created by Kay E. Vandergrift of Rutgers University. http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/ChildrenLit/index.html
SmartWriters.com. Variety of resources for writers and educators alike: searchable book review database and author/illustrator school visits directory. http://www.SmartWriters.com
Writing Resources
Kim's Korner--Great resources for transitions and organizational approaches for developing ideas. http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/organization/transitions.html http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/menu.html
Purdue University's Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_pgrph2.html http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_sentvar.html
National Archives: A wealth of public documents for teachers and students to peruse: http://www.archives.gov/ including the three drafts of Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" Speech--even president's have to revise! http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/day-of-infamy/
Six Trait Writing -- Madison, WI school district writing curriculum includes many pages of the NWEL Six Traits training binder. A great resource for activities, literature, and writing samples. http://danenet.wicip.org/mmsd-it/lang_arts/sixtrtcrsmtrl.htm
Internet4Classrooms is a collaborative effort by Susan Brooks and Bill Byles. An exhaustive list of Language Arts related online resources,, including the Power Proofreader game! http://www.internet4classrooms.com/lang.htm
Books and E-Books
Project Gutenberg. Online text of thousands of famous works in public domain. “Fine literature digitally re-published.” http://promo.net/pg/
Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents. Contains a searchable database of "more than 6,000 in print books that deserve to be read by Spanish-speaking children and adolescents (or those who wish to learn Spanish)." Headings and descriptions are bilingual. Updated weekly. Sponsored by California State University, San Marcos. http://www.csusm.edu/csb/intro_eng.html
Internet Public Library ( IPL Youth Division). The "teen" space and "kid" space sections are full of information for the kids, teachers, and parents of these students. The IPL offers a vast amount of information on Graphic Novels (teenspace). Children's literature, mostly in the public domain, is also included. Operated by the Internet Public Library. http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/youth/youth.out.pl?sub=rzn0000
Aesop's Fables. Collection of online texts, including not only Aesop's fables but some from other sources as well. Some have audio versions available. Life of Aesop and information about the fable genre. http://www.aesopfables.com/The
Real Mother Goose. Complete online texts of the rhymes. Introduction by May Hill Arbuthnot. Beautifully illustrated. http://trmg.designwest.com/
Miscellaneous Teacher Resources
Internet4Classrooms. A collaborative project developed by Susan Brooks and Bill Byles, this site contains a multitude of resources for educators at all grade levels. Includes online texts. http://www.internet4classrooms.com
ABC Teach. This colorful and easy-to-browse website is one of my favorites. It offers month-to-month teaching themes, a rain forest unit, printable Dolch lists, literature materials (e.g., Charlotte's Web), portfolio resources, book report forms, graphic organizers, and many, many more. http://www.abcteach.com
School Express. Contains free worksheets, free units, free math online activities, free stories online, award maker, spell maker, funtime, and many other activities. http://www.schoolexpress.com
Public Broadcasting System. Many kid activities related to characters they are familiar with, such as The Big Red Dog, Bert, Ernie etc. There are also many interactive writing activities. Included are links to other PBS sites. http://www.pbs.org/http://www.pbs.org/
Georgia Learning Connections. A great site for lesson plans, regular and special education information, and teaching strategies across the curriculum. http://www.georgiastandards.org/
Apple Learning Interchange. A great site for lesson plans, regular and special education information, and teaching strategies across the curriculum. http://www.ali.apple.com
Preschool by Stormie. Provides preschool teachers with monthly thematic activities. Stormie suggests a shape, colors, number, letters, gross motor focus, fine motor focus, nursery rhyme, water table activity, and mini-geographic/multicultural idea per month. http://www.preschoolbystormie.com
The Perpetual Preschool. Offers teachers month-by-month ideas for various activities, plus teaching tips (e.g., about behavior management, home visits, etc.), seasonal themes, "Teacher 2 Teacher" (where teachers correspond online), and learning center ideas. http://www.perpetualpreschool.com
California Reading and Language Arts Resources. Although focused on the needs of California teachers, this site contains many useful links of interest to all literacy educators, including research, resources, standards, and associations. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/reading.html
Enchanted Learning. Offers background information and free printable materials and pictures on a variety of common topics (e.g., butterflies, dinosaurs, states, Antarctica, rainforests). http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/Home.html
Early Reading-Technology Project. Offers free downloadable, leveled e-books (with audio) at four levels. Sponsored by the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP). http://www.ertp.santacruz.k12.ca.us/stories/download.htm
Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE!). Offers hundreds of educational resources supported by U.S. Federal government agencies in various subjects including the arts, educational technology, foreign languages, health and safety, language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, etc. http://www.ed.gov/free
Between the Lions. This site is tied to the PBS series of the same name. It features over 200 games and stories based on the series, divided into 30 web sites, one for each episode. Each site follows the same phonics/whole language curriculum as the series. http://www.pbskids.org/lions
CyberGuides. These are activities and lesson plans centered around popular children’s literature, grades K-12. Prepared through S.C.O.R.E. (Schools of California Online Resources in Education) http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html
Kathy Schrock. Kathy Shrock’s Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites on the Internet found useful for enhancing curriculum and teachers' professional growth. A branch of DiscoverySchool.com. http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/index.html
Library in the Sky. Contains over 10,000 links to some of the best educational resources on the Internet, "The Library in the Sky" guides teachers, students, parents, librarians, and members of the community on their journeys through cyberspace. http://www.nwrel.org/sky
The Muppets. Lyrics of Muppet songs, puppetry home page. Also includes a link to Sesame Street Lyrics Archive. http://home.nc.rr.com/muppetsongs/
Song Lyrics.com. Check out the lyrics to those songs your teens are listening to! (Plus many others). Linked to Google as a search engine. http://www.songlyrics.com/songlyrics/
Campfire sing-along page. Contains an alphabetical listing of campfire song lyrics. http://www.achilles.net/~cco/dir-cam.htm
Education World. This site claims a searchable database of 500,000 resources. Links include: Lesson Planning, News/Eye on School, Curriculum, Books in Education, Administrators, Education Site Reviews, Financial Planning. Sponsored by American Fidelity Assurance Company. http://www.education-world.com/
Alphabet Superhighway. The Alphabet Superhighway is a resource for teachers to find materials and ideas for teaching almost any part of the elementary or secondary curriculum; it is a place for students to browse for ideas and materials for reports and for in depth information on topics of interest, for classes to build exhibits on problem based projects, for challenges, and for fun. http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash/index.html
KnowNet. A collection of lesson ideas for Spelling, Writing, English, Reading, and Vocabulary, especially for grades 5 and 6. http://www.knownet.net/users/Ackley/lessons.html
Classroom Connect. Online form of a publication designed as “the K-12 educators’ practical guide to using the Internet in the classroom.” Loads of resources. http://www.classroom.com
New York Times. Presents a daily article from the New York Times, complete with classroom activities, plus this date in history, a crossword puzzle, and a current events quiz. Also offers online software and e-mail access to reporters. http://www.nytimes.com/learning
Teaching with Folklore. Resources page for teaching folklore (myths, legends, tales, fables, religious lore). Developed by Gary Holzgang, a teacher at Hemmingford Elementary School, New Frontiers School Board, Quebec. Offers lesson plans, resources, search function, contact information, more. http://www.qesn.meq.gouv.qc.ca/folklore/index.htm
Aaron Shepard’s Home Page. Devoted to reader’s theater. Includes advice on creating classroom scripts from children’s literature and also a number of downloadable scripts ready to use. Also offers contact information and a means of sharing scripts. http://www.aaronshep.com/rt
KinderKorner. Great site for early childhood teachers! It is packed with resources, plus the author shows pictures of how she gets her classroom ready for the beginning of school. www.kinderkorner.com
Reading Rockets. Gives lots of information for both parents and teachers. Operated by WETA, a PBS station in Maryland. www.readingrockets.org
Nancy Keane's Booktalks. Good site for ideas and tips about giving booktalks. www.nancykeane.com/booktalks
Florida Literacy and Reading Excellence (FlaRE). Professional development site focusing on best practice. Excellent online resources and background information. Connected with Florida's federal Reading Excellence and Reading First initiatives and operated by the University of Central Florida. http://ucfed.ucf.edu/flare/indexhome.htm
TeacherFiles.com. Offers free clip art, plus " innovative lessons and resources for teachers." A creative site operated by Virginia teacher Shayni Tokarczyk. http://www.teacherfiles.com/index.html
Reading Rainbow. There are two key sites associated with this popular series. Both offer descriptions and suggested activities by title. http://www.canlearn.com/READINGR/rr-alt.html and http://gpn.unl.edu/rainbow/
Cinco de Mayo Study Guide http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/guides/cincodemayoSG.pdf
And for younger students: www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/cinco-de-mayo
Copyright for educators:
A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright : Modeling Honesty and Resourcefulness http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Teachers%20and%20Fair%20Use
Crash Course in Copyright: http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm#top
A Visit to Copyright Bay: http://www.stfrancis.edu/cid/copyrightbay/
How to teach students to use the Internet--
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/...Guides/Internet/ http://www.yahooligans.com/tg/litintro.html http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/surf/lessons.htm Evaluating web sites--http://library.albany.edu/internet/evaluate.html http://www.bcpl.net/~dcurtis/psd/handouts/s3-67/ http://www.anovember.com/articles/zack.html Student Evidence Analysis Form-http://www.yahooligans.com/tg/studentform.html Guide to citing the Internet--http://www.teachervision.com/...lesson-6396.html Sample lesson plan--establishing the research question--http://www.teachervision.com/...ILP_research_plan.html Sample lesson--students learning to use search engines--http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-4496.html
Struggling Readers and Exceptional Students
International Dyslexia Association (IDA). The "oldest learning disabilities organization in the nation, founded in 1949." Offers resources, information, and research for educators, parents, and others. Useful links. http://www.interdys.org/index.jsp
AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation. Offers resources and commercial products. Somewhat out of the mainstream. A related site is http://www.spelling.org and http://www.avko.org
Council for Exceptional Children. Homepage for the CEC, this Internet site provides teachers with a valuable resources for their exceptional students. http://www.cec.sped.org/
LD OnLine. Provides information and suggestions for parents, teachers, and students. Useful links and activity section. A great site for lesson plans, regular and special education information, and teaching strategies across the curriculum. http://www.ldonline.org
Reading Processes and Strategies
SEDL. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's site, organized by area of reading (e.g., decoding, comprehension, letter knowledge, etc.). Contains a great deal of background on each area. http://www.sedl.org/reading/framework/
Reading/Literacy Resources for Present and Future Teachers. This marvelous site, constructed by David Lund at the Southern Utah University, offers useful links to nearly every dimension of literacy (e.g., fluency, content literacy, diversity, comprehension, assessment). Links to articles, printable materials, and key sites. Frequently updated. http://www.suu.edu/faculty/lundd/...readingresources/
ReadingQuest. Raymond Jones' site containing explanations of key strategies for teaching vocabulary and comprehension. The strategies are universal and well validated but the examples here have a social studies context. Included are semantic feature analysis, graphic organizers, reciprocal teaching questioning the author, question-answer relationships (QARs), KWL, comparison-contrast charts, story maps, and many more. http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest/
The Literacy Web. Don Leu's excellent site at Uconn; great links to many resources in all major areas of literacy. In Don's words, "The Literacy Web is an extensive collection of the very best resources we have found on the Internet to support teachers with limited time. Julie [Coiro] has organized The Literacy Web so that you may quickly explore these resources by your grade level or by a specific topic area to find the resources you need. http://www.literacy.uconn.edu
Interactive Sites for Kids
WordPlays. Interactive word games of all kinds and at many levels, such as Boggler, Crossword Challenge, Words In Word, Jumble, Anagram, Word Morph and Crossword Helper. Contains online dictionary. Created and maintained by one dedicated individual, Richard DeSimine. http://www.wordplays.com/
Wacky Web Tales. Children can write their own funny tales by picking a title and filling in the blanks with nouns and verbs. (Based on Mad-Libs.) The tales geared for grade 3+. http://www.eduplace.com/tales
Fun Brain. Full of games for children of all ages and tends to be especially fun for school-age children. There are also teacher and parent resources available on this site. http://www.funbrain.com
Giggle Poetry. http://www.gigglepoetry.com This website encompasses a whole realm of poetry and activities to do with poetry. The website was created by Bruce Lansky, and he gives students opportunities to rate poems, submit poems, ask a poet questions, read interviews, andlearn how to write poetry. The site also includes links to poetryteachers.com and fictionteachers.com.
Discovery School. For parents, students and teachers. Support for quizzes, worksheets, puzzlemaker, and lesson plans. http://www.discoveryschool.com
KidsReads.com. An excellent site for hands-on use by kids. It is easy to navigate and there is little advertising. This site features: video interviews with authors, sneak previews of new books, opportunities to write to authors, a question of the week, student responses to questions about literature, online trivia quizzes about books, word scrambles with book ties, a bookshelf featuring entire books online, information about many authors, and links to other literature sites. http://www.kidsreads.com
The Write Site. This Ohio site offers tips to middle schoolers on writing well. It has a journalistic focus and provides plenty of background on newspaper publishing and related topics. http://www.writesite.org
Kid's Search Tools. An Internet search tool for children. Search sites are screened for children’s safety. http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm
Little Explorers. Children’s Online English Dictionary containing over 1,200 entries. Also contains English-French, English-German, English-Portuguese, or the English-Spanish version. There is a list of classroom activities that use the Little Explorers site. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/dictionary.html
Kidspicks. American Library Association’s top 10 web sites, according to children. http://www.ala.org/kidspick
Bibliomania. Lots of online public domain books. http://www.bibliomania.com
Jolly Roger. Lots of teen classics online, chat room available for students to chat about books they have read. http://www.jollyroger.com/treasureisland.html
State Information. Gives information about all 50 states, including a bio and picture of the governor, the state flower, capital, links, etc. Just replace “ga” in this address with the two-letter postal abbreviation of the state you wish to research. http://www.state.ga.us
CyberPuppy Software. Offers a way to construct a journal for those who may not be motivated to do so. Provides email prompts and a student’s responses to them are housed in the form of an electronic journal that can be viewed on a customized web page. A password is assigned and it’s all free. http://www.CyberPuppy.com
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL). Offers advice to secondary and college students on grammar, writing in various disciplines, Internet research, more. Good resource for ESL writers. http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Search Engines
Google Images. A relatively new feature of this excellent search engine is the "Images" option. By entering your request and then clicking on the Images link, you retrieve only pictures. Excellent tool for struggling readers with imaging difficulties or others who find the Internet's labyrinth of hypertext a little daunting. http://www.google.com
Metasearch Engines. Ever think your search engine may have missed a few sites? You're right. Google, for instance, captures only 42% of indexed web pages. Try one of the new super engines that combine regular search engines and give you a single list.http://www.ixquick.com http://www.vivisimo.com http://www.profusion.com
Ask Jeeves. Pose any factual question and let “Jeeves,” a virtual manservant, look up the answer. This site is linked to several major search engines. It provides not only the answer but also lots of related information. Results can be a bit complex, but upper elementary students should be able to sift through them. http://www.askjeeves.com
Yahooligans. Page full of links for kids – some educational, others just for fun. Excellent kid-friendly search engine. http://www.yahooligans.com/
Educational Projects: While there many search engines on the Internet, the following are especially good for research and school projects:
· Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/
· Ithaki for Kids: http://www.ithaki.net/kids/
· Scirus: www.scirus.com (just for science-related information)
· Ask: http://www.ask.com/
· Vivisimo: http://vivisimo.com/
Links to Teachers and Kids
Children’s Stomping Ground. Contains links to several sites for people interested in starting pen pal correspondence, either by email or snail mail. Operated by the Blackett Family in the
Teaching.com. Intercultural email classroom connections; allows you to link up with other teachers so that your students can exchange email.http://www.iecc.org/
Web66. Links schools that have their own web sites. Web66 goals are: (1) to help K-12 educators learn how to set up their own Internet servers; (2) to link K-12 web servers and the educators and students at those schools; and (3) to help K-12 educators find and use K-12 appropriate resources on the web. http://web66.coled.umn.edu/schools.html
American School Directory. Links to over 70,000 schools with web sites. Contains a search engine "School Reports" options. The “Education Connection” provides links to other web sites of interest to teachers, parents, and students. Students can also take virtual field trips to NSF, NASA, IBM, and more.http://www.asd.com
Africa Online. Information about Africa, posted writings of African children, interactive games and activities, and keypal links.http://lagos.africaonline.com/site/africa/kids.jsp
Selected Commercial Sources
Barnes and Noble. Billed as the world’s largest online bookstore.http://www.barnesandnoble.com
Amazon.com. A totally virtual store with no physical counterpart outside of cyberspace; offers online comments from readers and authors. You can add your own book reviews.http://www.amazon.com
Scholastic. Excellent source of children’s books and practical teacher resources.http://www.scholastic.com
Education Place. Houghton Mifflin's site, offering esources and support for major textbook programs, plus general resources for all K-8 content areas. Contains numerous related Internet links.http://www.eduplace.com/
Troll Instructional Resources. Includes Teacher Tips, presented by grade levels (K-2 and 3-6). Also offers Kid's Zone, an interactive feature for kids.http://www.troll.com
The Wright Group. Teacher information about ordering books, attending workshops. Also contains a section called TeacherHelp.http://www.wrightgroup.com
Don Johnston. One of the best producers of research-based reading software. Especially oriented toward struggling readers. (Don't leave out the t in "Johnson" or you get the actor!)http://www.donjohnston.com
Pennington Publishing. Offers resources for teaching spelling and writing "without tearing your hair out." Site also contains useful teacher links and free resources.http://www.penningtonpublishing.com/
Literacy-Related Organizations
International Reading Association. The principal organization for literacy educators. Offers literacy links, bookstore, listservs, research, "Choices" booklists (Children's, Young Adults', and Teachers'), grants, and conferences. Also accessible at www.reading.org http://www.ira.org
National Reading Conference. Information about the organization, which consists mainly of reading researchers, its annual meeting, and listserv. An excellent section on “Literacy Links” is guest-edited contains both current and archived links.http://www.nrconline.org
National Council of Teachers of English. Site contains ideas for teaching English, Literacy, and Language Arts for P-16 teachers. Also contains information on books, journals and NCTE news. http://www.ncte.org/
American Library Association. Contains links to many author sites and book awards, such as those listed in a preceding section.http://www.ala.org/
Children’s Book Council. CBC online contains links for teacher, parents, and authors in their quest to encourage children to read. Ideas for Children's Book Week. http://www.cbcbooks.org/
College Reading Association. Primarily for teacher educators in reading. Contains links to related web sites. (Publishers of Reading Research and Instruction.)http://explorers.tsuniv.edu/cra/
American Educational Research Association. Foremost organization of educational researchers in U. S. (Not limited to reading.) "Net Resources" link offers powerful search options.http://aera.net/
National Association for the Education of Young Children. Contains information on NAEYC’s membership, conferences, professional development, position papers, and their journal, Young Children. http://www.naeyc.org/
Online Journals
Reading Online. IRA’s new online journal. Treats all aspects of literacy and is by no means limited to technology applications. Still free to all!http://www.readingonline.org/
Education Week. Current issue plus archives. You can register for e-mail updates. Also contains a link to Teacher Magazine.http://www.edweek.org/
Teacher Magazine. Contains current issue and links to grants and fellowship opportunities for you and contests and scholarship opportunities for your students. http://www.edweek.org/tm/tm.htm
Teaching K-8. Intended to supplement the print magazine, not duplicate it. Contains teaching ideas, loads of links.http://www.teachingk-8.com/
iT’s Magazine. This publication is for teachers and students of English (ESL) around the world and provides materials for both. It offers pen pal/keypal opportunities for the exchange of ideas. There is an archive of teacher materials from back issues with notes for the teacher and steps in using the materials.http://www.its-online.com
Government Sites
U. S. Department of Education. Lots of links to agencies, documents, research, grants.http://www.ed.gov/
USDE’s National Center for Education Statistics. Lots of online research summaries, especially those involving demographics. http://nces.ed.gov/
USDE’s Office of Educational Research and Instruction. Contains a variety of sources offering research findings in literacy and other areas.http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/SAI/
Thomas. Allows you to locate and track legislation on literacy (and other matters) in the U.S. House and Senate. Search capability by bill number and by key word/s. Also contains links to Congressional Record, Committee activity, roll call votes. Full text of key historical documents available, including U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Federalist Papers. (Named for Thomas Jefferson.)http://thomas.loc.gov/
Reading Report Card. Report of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, with access to long-term trend results.http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nrelease.html
Selected Research Centers
Research Reports from the National Research and Development Centers. Makes available over 600 reports from the 12 federal research and development centers. Reports are in full text and/or PDF format.http://research.cse.ucla.edu/
Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). Database, research summaries, “10 Principles,” “Hot Lists,” more.http://www.umich.edu/~ciera/
Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA). CELA is “dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and language arts.CELA's research seeks to learn what elements of curriculum, instruction, and assessment are essential to developing high literacy and how schools can best help students achieve success.”http://cela.albany.edu
Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). CAST is "an educational, not-for-profit organization that uses technology to expand opportunities for all people, including those with disabilities." Conducts research and develops software (e.g., Bailey's Book House, Scholastic's WiggleWorks). Good source of brain research linked to reading problems.http://www.cast.org
National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL). Based at the University of Pennsylvania, NCAL offers a strong collection of resources in the area of literacy research. Also includes information on publications and software.http://litserver.literacy.upenn.edu/
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Now part of the University of Toronto, OISE maintains a site that offers an extensive network of resources, programs, and workshops.http://www.oise.on.ca/
Selected UK and Commonwealth Sites
Australian Literacy Educators' Association. Information on literacy education in
British Dyslexia Association. This organization has occasioned much interaction. The BDA "offers advice, information and help to families, professionals and dyslexic individuals."http://www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk/
Basic Skills Agency. Strong on family/adult literacy. This is the "national agency for basic skills in
National Literacy Trust. Sponsored by the Basic Skills Agency. Purpose is to further literacy generally. Extensive database.http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. This is the national organization for educational technology in
Learning and Teaching in
Online References
iTools. Online dictionary (Webster’s), rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, maps, phone directories. etc.http://www.itools.com/research-it/research-it.html
WordNet. Princeton University’s online thesaurus that groups nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in related categories.http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/~wn/
Onelook. Online dictionary, impressive in scope. Contains almost 3 million words.http://www.onelook.com
RhymeZone. A rhyming dictionary online and a whole lot more. Type in a word and receive virtually very rhyming word in English. Very extensive listings, however, including arcane words. Subdivides results by number of syllables. Also provides (on request) definitions, synonyms, and antonyms. It will even locate the word in Shakespeare and other sources.http://rhyme.lycos.com/
WriteExpress Online Rhyming Dictionary. Lets you choose the type of rhyme you want (end rhymes, last syllable rhymes, double rhymes, beginning rhymes, even first-syllable rhymes).http://www.Rhymer.com/cgi-bin/rhymer.cgi
Readability Sites. Just in case you lost your print copies, two readability formulas are online: the Fry and the SMOG – directions, tables, graphs, everything you need. Just to keep such formulas in proper perspective, however, remember that SMOG stands for "Some Measure of Gobbledygook"!http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/fry/fry.html http://www.cdc.gov/od/ads/smog.htm
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Offers quick look-ups plus a thesaurus, word games, word of the day, more.http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm
Encyclopedia Britannica. The entire contents online with a convenient search engine and many related links. http://www.britannica.com/
Library of Congress. Home page of the most extensive information system in the world (except for the Internet!). Sections for parents and kids. Maps available. http://www.loc.gov/
ERIC Sites
ERIC Clearinghouse. Question-and-answer service through ERIC, related to the language arts. Maintained by Indiana University. Easy to use. http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec
AskERIC. This site, operated by Syracuse University, offers lesson plans arranged by topic, an ERIC search site, together with article digests. http://ericir.syr.edu
ERIC Digests. Extensive ERIC digest system, operated by U.S. Department of Education. Searchable by topic. Good for quick research overviews. http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/
Help for Parents
Tips for Parents. American Library Association’s tip page. Provides tips for parents about how to raise a reader and provides a list of over 700 web sites for children and the adults who care about them. The web sites are organized by subject http://www.ala.org/parentspage
iVillage. Broadly based parenting site. Children’s literature newsletter, oriented toward parents. Provides a list of recommended books for your preschool aged child.http://www.parentsoup.com/preschool/
Helping Your Child Learn to Read. Site operated by the U.S. Department of Education. This online book focuses primarily on what you can do to help children up to 10 years of age learn to read and enjoy reading.http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Reading/index.html
Helping Your Child Use the Library. Site operated by the U.S. Department of Education. This online book will give you a short rundown on facts, as well as many simple, fun activities for you and your child to do together. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Library/index.html
Parents’ Guide Book. Contains a complete guide to how to protect your children on the Internet. Also offers information to teachers, teacher educators, law enforcement, etc.http://www.familyguidebook.com
Preschool Zone. This website contains ideas and links to ideas to fun and educational things to do "keep your child busy."http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village/6727
National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). A " nonprofit organization supporting family literacy services for families across the United States through training, programming, research, advocacy and dissemination." Located in Louisville. Good links.http://www.famlit.org
Sites for ESL and Adult Literacy
Literacy.org. Links the International Literacy Institute (ILI), UNESCO, and the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) housed at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. It provides links to international literacy sites especially useful to developing countries. The aim is to provide leadership in research and training in the field of international literacy and development. http://ncal.literacy.upenn.edu/
Internet TESL Journal. This well-designed forum offers materials that one can download as well as articles, teaching techniques, lesson plans, and links to issues of interest to ESL teachers. It includes electronic discussion lists and news groups. http://iteslj.org/
Teacher Information Network. This site houses a teacher chat room with focus on ESL issues. Identifies and reviews teacher sites. Links to USDOE and state DOEs. http://www.teacher.com
Literacy Assistance Center. The LAC provides information on resources and links to literacy on the Net. It is useful to teachers and students alike. Its web site links and e-mail contacts can connect teachers and students around the world. http://www.lacnyc.org
J. Roby Kidd Resource Centre, International Council for Adult Education. This site contains titles of journals, magazines, and newsletters from all over the world. It offers responses to queries received by e-mail, fax, or telephone. Subject bibliographies are available. French, Spanish, and English versions are offered. http://www.web.net./icae/english/resocntr.htm
English-to-Go. Classroom-ready ESL activities, based on articles that have appeared in Reuters; new lessons posted weekly, with complete lesson plans. http://www.english-to-go.com
Hoax Sites
Hoax Busters. A good source of information regarding Internet hoaxes is the
Urban Legends Reference Pages. Allows the identification of Internet hoaxes and other misinformation. Use the search engine or select categories. Fascinating browsing! http://www.snopes2.com/
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