Odds & Ends

Parent & Teacher's Page

Alpha List

Children's Literature
Audience: students and teachers K-4, parents
Access: http://www.worldreading.org/

Join Bookie, the net's only online hungry bookworm, as she takes you through the wonderful world of reading. As a part of the Internet Public Library, Byte into Books with Bookie encourages children not only to read books, but to reflect actively on what they have read. One section, Talk About Books, is an interactive forum where kids can share their thoughts about the book they are reading. In addition, there is a trivia question site where Bookie has selected some information from one of the books on her list. Another fun area is the book review section, written by kids for kids. This is a great place for kids who want to read and get involved on the Internet.

Story Telling In The Classroom

Access: http://www.storyarts.org/

Educators have long known that the arts can contribute to student academic success and emotional well being. The ancient art of storytelling is especially well-suited for student exploration. As a folk art, storytelling is accessible to all ages and abilities.

Children's Literature Web Guide
Audience: teachers, parents
Access: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html

This site gathers Internet resources related to books and related literary resources for children and young adults. Most of the material found here has been provided by individuals, schools, libraries, and commercial enterprises involved in the book world. This site features a tremendous amount of information-Children's literature conferences and events, a list of recommended books, online children's stories, movies and television shows based on children's books, journals, book reviews, discussion groups, and resources for parents, teachers, writers, and illustrators. One category chronicles the transition of children's literature into movies or television, while another area has links to publishers and booksellers. Users can even follow links to Children's Literature Associations on the Internet, children's writings and drawings, and more. In addition, this site includes a huge list of recommended books for very specific audiences such as junior high students or people looking for artistic protagonists.

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Web Site
One of the best sites yet for reviews, teaching ideas, and creative groupings (by theme, by curriculum area, by grade level) of children's books.

Cyber Seuss
Audience: kids of all ages
Access: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/drseuss.html

This page offers a wealth of information regarding the works of one of the most beloved authors of children's books. Included here are many of his popular stories, although none appear with the classic illustrations. There are also reviews, a list of all Dr. Seuss books in print, a history area, and a large amount of miscellaneous Seuss-related information.

Internet Public Library: Youth
Audience: kids of all ages
Access: http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/youth/

The Internet Public Library offers many familiar services for children, especially features such as "Story Hour." The youth section is hosted by J.J. the Librarian and his sidekick, Bookie the Bookworm. Contests are a big attraction for kids, and here they have a chance to win prizes such as hats and t-shirts, and learn at the same time. An exciting and innovative feature at this site is the Ask the Author area, where kids can submit questions to their favorite authors and illustrators, and the library tries to get the answer. A handful of popular authors such as Robert Cormier and Charlotte Zolotow are listed in this section. Each author page here has a biography and photograph, as well as the questions they have already received through this program, and of course, the answers.

Book Wire: 
Audience: teachers, parents
Access: 
http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/
As a part of the online version of the Boston Book Review, the children's book reviews section provides teachers, educators, and parents with a source for new texts aimed at the K-6 market. Users will find that this page has a host of reviews of children's texts written by industry leaders. Posts to the Internet version of the BBR are usually one month after print publication. Back issues are available by scanning the title or author alphabetical lists.

Easter Seals Online
Audience: kids interested in helping kids with physical disabilities
Access: http://www.easterseals.com/

Maintained and updated in Ontario, Canada, Easter Seals Online has resources and information about its battle to help children of all ages with physical disabilities. Kids visiting this site should check out "The Children We Serve" link which profiles youngsters with disabilities. Young visitors will learn what it is like to be disabled and hopefully come away from this site a bit more informed.

Hotlist: Kids Did This
Audience: kids of all ages, parents, teachers
Access: http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/hotlists/kids.html

Kids Did This is a collection of sites written by kids and moderated by adults. Divided into a variety of subject categories, or searchable via the online search engine, this site provides a useful starting point for children who want to see what other kids are doing on the Web. Especially interesting at this site is the School Newspapers section, which has more than a dozen student-written and produced papers from all over the United States.

Scotty, the Tyrannosaurus Rex
Audience: students and teachers grades K-12
Access: http://www.lights.com/scotty/

Scotty was recently unearthed in Saskatchewan, Canada. For children, this site will help teach them more about the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex. Visitors are treated to a series of photographs taken at the excavation site and of the surrounding landscape. Along with information regarding Scotty, there are links to many other dinosaur resources on the web.

Sea World
Audience: kids 3 years and over
Access: http://www.seaworld.com/

Founded in conjunction with Florida teachers and Busch Gardens, the Sea World Web site provides young minds with a variety of information about aquatic animals including their behavior, how to build and maintain your own aquarium, and an informative question-and-answer area. One of the more interesting categories to explore allows children to ask Shamu, Sea World's famous killer whale, questions about his own aquatic life, as well as the life of many of his oceanic friends. Included at this site are resources for teachers who wish to incorporate oceanography and other sea-related topics into their classroom discussions.

The Boys' Brigade
Audience: boys ages 6 to 12
Access: coming soon

The Boys' Brigade, formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1883, is one of the oldest, uniformed, all-boys Christian-oriented organizations in the world. Visitors to this site will find a number of resources about the organization and areas dedicated to the group's activities-games, crafts, sports, worship, and more. Included here are links to the Anchor Boys, a group for boys ages 6 to 8; the Junior Section, containing information for boys 8 to 11 years of age; and several other sections for young men of varying ages.