Educational+Resources

Education.com at []
Education.com is a site designed to help provide educational resources to parents by providing a “one-stop source of information for all parents’ educational, developmental, and parenting questions.” Although this site was created for parents, there are great things for educators as well. Through the Education.com blog, parents and educators have the opportunity to discuss issues in education and share ideas that “make learning together more fun for everyone.” For a complete list of the creators, panelist, and partners, including the NEA, please visit this link: [].

Education.com provides many resources, including kid’s games and activities, worksheets for practicing vital core subject area skills, and articles by leading experts in the field discussing issues in education today. The blog provides a forum for discussion and the SchoolFinder tool allows parents to research schools. There are also academic services available.

With so many resources, Education.com is an extremely useful educational tool. Both teachers and parents have much to gain by looking to this site for help and guidance in and out of the classroom.

Mrs. Thorp's Third Grade Blog []
This blog is run by a retired teacher, who has taught for 16 years in third grade. I have found a lot of helpful information I can use in the classroom. It is not for everyone, but a good resource.


 ==**This is a forum used by teachers, future teachers, and substitutes. It is invaluable to me as a new teacher. There are complaints, stories, recipes, but best of all ideas and resources. I have spent many hours reading this forum.**== Rating: 4 Resource contributed by: Kelly Rudy

===This is a site I found through freetech4teachers.com which is a site that gathers links to free sites and resources it was created by Richard Byrne. The Game classroom site was created by hundreds of contributors and it has educational games for grades K-6 which is what my school serves. ===

Rating: 5
 ===This is a site that I use and recommend for primary and English Language Learners. It starts out very basic and progresses through the levels of reading ability. The students love that it helps them sound out the words and the animations are a hoot. ===

http://www.starfall.com



===Ideas to Inspire is another site created and hosted by Mark Warner that I found through freetech4teachers.com and it allows you not only access to the ideas but you can add yours too. ===

Resources contributed by John Kuszynski

 * Educational Technology in the Elementary Classroom** at []

This was set up by Hilary M. to discuss the work atmosphere difference between elementary teachers and middle/high school teachers. I thought this blog gave valid points and it was interesting for me to see that an elementary teacher was so forward with her beliefs and the topics that she discussed. The following quote is on difference that Hilary mentioned in her blog:

"When asked why they went into teaching, elementary teachers responses often revolve around themes of loving teaching, children, learning. Secondary teachers often revolve around a love of whatever subject they are teaching."

**Rating: 4** Not many contributors, I would have liked to see more opinions.

Resources contributed by Michelle Mellis

EDUCATORS RESOURCES Typepad at [] is a community blog providing resources for educators. It has various links that provides further more resources such as articles. The articles provided here are very informative as to what is happening in the profession of education. I have gained much information that enhanced my repertoire of knowledge from reading their articles and researching their links.
 * Rating: 5 **by Fayette Long

Edutopia at [] is a resource link for educators. It was created by George Lucas, founder and chairman of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. This link shares invaluable information about ideal, interactive learning environments. There is an archive of updated sources from classroom tips to diverse and innovative resources. It gives hands on advice, real-world examples, and tips and tools for educators.


 * Rating: 5 **by Fayette Long

**Games for my students** The ruler game is a game that my students play while taking my woodshop class. This game helps them with being able to read a standard ruler. It is a timed game and you get three strikes. The students really love to play it and they don't realize that they are learning at the same time. I first saw this game on my husbands website who is a 7th grade math teacher, and ever since then I have been using the game. This game belongs to **RS Innovative and Ricky D. Spears.**

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The usefulness of this resource is mainly for my woodworking students. I wanted to put this resource here in case there were some other teachers interested in using a game as a tool for teaching students how to read a ruler. Evaluation: 2

**Websites for Woodworking Teachers** As a woodshop teacher I enjoy collaborating with my fellow colleagues. I great website that I found was created by WoodCraft, a reputable woodworking company. This website allows Industrial Technology teachers to talk to each other and basically pick their brains. Teachers ask for support, different project ideas, and even gather ideas for better classroom management in a non traditional classroom setting.

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The usefulness of this resource is mainly for any Industrial Technology teacher looking for a great place to share their ideas and in return leave with valuable resources to help move their classroom in new direction. Evaluation: 2

Contributed by Erika Sepanski

Resources for Physical Education/Health Teachers
The first link I would like to share for PE/Health Teachers is: []

This is a site I have used for many years, especially when I taught Physical Education. It has lesson plans, resources, worksheets, links to other resources and websites, assessment ideas, and provides collaboration among PE/Health Teachers. It also many great classroom management ideas and arranges everything from grade level to subjects, so it is really easy to navigate through the website.

The Executive Director to the PE Central Website is Mark Manross. Pe Central was created in 1996, and has been an invaluable resource to PE and Health teachers!

Rating: 2 Usefullness mainly intended for Health and Physical Education teachers to contribute and look for ideas and resources for their classrooms.

The second website for PE/Health Teachers I would like to share is: []

This website is also a great source for PE/Health Teachers. Teachers from all over the US can contribute ideas and lesson plans, equipment ideas, and classroom management strategies to this website for others to learn. It also advocates for Physical Education and Health in the curriculum, as well as state standards for each state. It is sponsored by many equipment stores, so many times you can receive a discount for your school by using and buying through this website. Steve Jefferies is the Publisher to this site, however, any certified PE/Health teacher can add information to this site as references.

Rating: 2 Usefullness mainly intended for Health and Physical Education teachers to contribute and look for ideas and resources for their classrooms.

=Webquests=

The third website is not only for Physical Education/Health Teachers. It is a website that has Webquests for students to use on a variety of subjects and grade levels. I use some of these for my Health classes during many units on Nutrition and Alcohol/Drug Abuse.

Webquests: []

WebQuests originated at the San Diego State University Department of Educational Technology. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District.

Rating: 5

Contributed by: Brianna Nelson

=A Kid's Guide to Etiquette on the Net=

http://www.kidsdomain.com/brain/computer/surfing/netiquette_kids.html
This webpage was created to inform children and parents of Internet etiquette (proper behavior on the Internet). There are widely accepted rules of behavior to follow when you're online, so it is important to learn and follow these rules. Sometimes the online world can feel "pretend" because you cannot see the person with whom you are communicating. It is a good idea to continuously remind children that they are dealing with "real" people online and that they should use their very best manners, just as they would at home or at school. Great resource to present to students and parents. Include it in a home newsletter or post in a classroom or computer lab. Rating: 5 Resource Contributed by Suzie Stambek