Parent Resources: An Internet Pathfinder

EDUCATION

GENERAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

America Goes Back To School
http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts/
     AGBTS is a U.S. Department of Education initiative to encourage greater family and community involvement in education. The site has information on best practices and model programs as well as many public awareness materials.

Children, Youth and Family Consortium's Electronic Clearinghouse
http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/
     The Families and Learning pages contain links for parents, kids, and teachers interested in family involvement in education. They also provide links to research materials and critical issues such as using new technologies for learning.

Early Childhood Education On Line
http://www.umaine.edu/eceol/
     This site provides on-line resources on early childhood development and education. They also have a section with links to helpful Internet information such as on-line tutorials for using the Internet, learning Net etiquette, and web page creation.

Family Education Network
http://www.familyeducation.com/home
     An informative, interactive site that is nicely organized according to children's age groups, FEN provides news, on-line polls and quizzes, advice and more for parents.

Parents as Teachers National Center
http://www.patnc.org/
     Parents as Teachers is an family education and support program for parents with children from birth to age five. It emphasizes early childhood learning as crucial to a child's later development and stresses the role of parents as primary teachers.

U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/
     The U.S. Department of Education's web site offers many resources for educators, parents, and others interested in quality education for all children with emphasis on preschoolers. Topics covered include early childhood, family involvement (also presented in Spanish), and school readiness. The Early Reading First national initiative is featured under the reading and language arts section.

ACTIVITIES FOR PARENTS AND CHILDREN

Browser plug-ins are needed to fully access many of the games and activities below. The following plug-ins can be downloaded free from the sites listed:

Shockwave--Enables and enhances animation.

RealAudio's RealPlayer--An audio program that allows several types of sound files to be played on computers and tunes in Internet radio and TV stations. Also known as a "streaming" technology.

QuickTime-A popular multimedia plug-in that allows users to play video, sound and music.

700+ Great Sites – Sites for Children
http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/arts.html#d
     Compiled by the Association for Library Services to Children division of the American Library Association, this Arts and Entertainment section contains a special segment of recommended “Fun for Younger Children” web sites. Sites to sample include Build-a-Monster, Little Explorers, Tiny Planets, Up to 10, and more.

Chateau Meddybemps Uncommon Amusements for Grown-Ups & Children
http://www.meddybemps.com/
     Interactive educational activities, stories, and a section on early learning resources are some of the highlights of this whimsical site.

Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
http://www.childrensmuseum.org
     Access to the virtual world of the Indianapolis Children’s Museum is educational and fun for children and adults alike. Extraordinary learning can be experienced at this web site as participants enter the world of Richard Scarry’s Busytown, Mysteries in History, and the developing Dinosphere through gallery collections and changing exhibits. Fun games are presented for kids, home activities are suggested for parents, and study units are prepared for teachers.

Crayola Parents
http://www.crayola.com/parents/index.cfm
     Crayola has a web site for parents, educators, and kids. It offers tons of creative project ideas and publishes original works by children.

Dr. Seuss's Seussville
http://www.seussville.com/seussville/
     This colorful site features well-known Dr. Seuss characters in interactive games, allows parents and children to ask the Cat in the Hat questions, and showcases books and CD-ROMs by Dr. Seuss. Most of the games require the Shockwave plug-in.

Education Place
http://www.eduplace.com
     This site brings K-8 materials on-line; access centers for Reading/Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and projects; games for kids; project materials for teachers; annotated resources for parents; and more. Activity Search lets you find curriculum materials by topic and grade level. Check out the Fun Stuff, just for kids pages. From the publisher Houghton Mifflin. Most of the games require the Shockwave plug-in.

Enchanted Learning Software's On-Line Activities
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/
     This educational software company offers many on-line educational resources on their web site. Among those featured are an interactive picture dictionary available in several languages; dinosaur, whale and shark learning activities; stories and nursery rhymes; and many craft ideas.

Exploratorium: ExploraNet
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
     A great educational science museum in San Francisco. Focused on the K-12 student, but plenty of learning fun for all ages. Offers on-line exhibits, experiments, and links to cool sites.

Fact Monster
http://www.factmonster.com
     This searchable site, from Information Please, includes an on-line dictionary and encyclopedia and lots of homework help for science, math, social studies, history, English, and sports. There are also games, quizzes, and daily features..

Funschool.com
http://www.funschool.com/
     This site provides interactive, educational games for parents to share with children from preschool through second grade. The site requires Netscape 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explore 3.0 (or higher) to view, and games may take some time to load, but there are activities to keep users occupied while they wait.

Hop Pop Town
http://www.kids-space.org/HPT/
     Welcome Rabbit and Help Raccoon guide viewers through creative, musical adventures and interactive activities. Most of the activities require Shockwave and/or LiveAudio plug-ins and are well worth the time spent downloading.

Idea Box: Early Childhood Education & Activity Resources
http://www.theideabox.com/
     An on-line magazine-style site with lots of ideas for parents and educators organized by topic or type of activity. They also offer a free monthly newsletter through e-mail.

International Kids' Space
http://www.kids-space.org/
     These pages feature games and other activities and include an art gallery and storybook pages where children can contribute their own work.

Kids Domain
http://www.kidsdomain.com/kids.html
     On-line games are neatly organized by what plug-ins or other capabilities are needed to run them and then by appropriate age groups. This site also has clip art, crafts and other activities for the changing seasons and holidays, and features pages specifically for parents in Grownups Place. Links to shareware and freeware for kids are included.

Kids Net
http://www.kids.net.au
     For plenty of fun and educational web links of interest to preschoolers, adolescents, parents, and educators, browse the Australian mega search engine, Kids Net. Over 20,000 sites determined to be "kid safe" are organized under such broad categories as Arts, Health, Pre-School, School Time, and Your Family. An International section contains links to resources in several languages. Parent involvement is recommended.

Linkasaurus
http://linkasaurus.com/
     Directory of links to Web sites for kids “authorized, created or operated by the organization, company or entity.” Categories include Celebrities, Toys and Games, Books and Reading, Science, Computers and Video Games, Internet Fun and Searching, Places to Visit, TV Shows, Foods and Drinks, Comics, and more.

OH! Kids
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/products/oks/
     This directory of annotated resources for kids is arranged both by age group and subject. WebTots-ages 3 to 5; WebKids-ages 6 to 9; WebTweens-ages 10 to 13; WebTeens-ages 14 to 17; Nifty Places -- for exploring the Internet; Stuff to Do -- fun places for homework breaks; and the heart of the site-- the Subject Index -- categorized by school assignment area (the Arts, Current Events, Homework Help, Language Arts, Mathematics, Ohio Government, Science, Social Studies). In addition, Resources contains recommended sites for Families, Home Schoolers, Librarians, Parents, and Teachers. From the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN).

PBS Kids
http://pbskids.org
     This interactive web site encourages children to select from a menu of PBS Kids television programs and other fun activities, explore their world, make choices, and learn about themselves and others.

PBS Parents
http://www.pbs.org/parents/
     Together Time activities and Parent Time issues and advise are emphasized on this PBS educational site for parents.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
http://www.ringling.com/
     The home page of the "Greatest Show on Earth" has wonderful animation and many interactive, educational activities for parents and children.

Schoolhouse Rock
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/7303/
     This is the series that brought Saturday TV viewers Multiplication Rock, Grammar Rock, America Rock, Science Rock, and Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips. This graphics-intensive site catalogs the original songs and gives the full lyrics accompanied by sound and video files. Fun and educational but very slow to load depending on your computer's speed.

ADULT EDUCATION

Adult Learning: Resources for Learners and Educators (PBS)
http://www.pbs.org/als/
     PBS offers distance learning classes for educators and adult students. Their site has class schedules and enrollment information.

American Council on Education
http://www.acenet.edu/
     ACE has many resources for adult learners in their Center for Adult Learning and Educational Credentials pages. They produce the Pocket Guide to College Credit and Degrees: Valuable Information for Adult Learners Seeking College Degrees which can be ordered for $9.95. They also have resources for individuals with disabilities in the HEATH Resource Center.

FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence)
http://www.ed.gov/free/what.html
     This U.S. Department of Education site offers hundreds of web-based federally supported educational resources organized by topic areas and searchable by keywords.

Free-ed.net: Free Education on the Internet
http://www.free-ed.net/
     This site offers free on-line courses, tutorials, and study guides. They have a browsable subject directory and a drop down menu organized by topic to locate course information. Displayed topic areas include available courses with outlines, interactive textbooks, quizzes and tests, related web resources, and mailing lists.

BILINGUAL EDUCATION RESOURCES

California Department of Education – English Learners
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/
     California’s Department of Education English Learners web site is geared for students with a primary language other than English and whose English proficiency is limited. It provides information on assistance programs like bilingual teacher training, community-based English tutoring, emergency immigrant education, and refugee student assistance. Program contacts and the status of current issues and legislation are given.


National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Education Programs
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu
     A great source for information on bilingual education, this site has an on-line library, searchable databases, and extensive links to additional resources on the web. They also have a page for educators that features a foreign language database where users can search for how to say phrases in different languages.

LITERACY

700+ Great Sites – Sites for Children – Literature and Language
http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/lit.html
     An American Library Association site of recommended children’s literature and language links, helpful resources, and writings by children. Preschoolers and their caregivers can benefit from this nicely organized web site.

Just Add Kids: A Resource Directory of Learning Partners, Reading Sites, and Other Literacy Organizations that Serve Children and Their Families
http://www.ed.gov/Family/JustAddKids/
     Part of the U.S. Department of Education's READ*WRITE*NOW! program, this directory lists learning partners, reading sites, and other resources for families and communities interested in improving children's reading and writing skills.

Literacy On-line
http://www.literacyonline.org/
     Part of the National Center for Adult Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania, this is a very helpful and comprehensive site on literacy with research papers, information on the latest technologies, and an easy to use drop-down menu for selecting resources by topic and geographic areas.

LiteracyLink (PBS)
http://www.pbs.org/literacy/
     Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, LiteracyLink is a program using instructional video and on-line computer resources to help adults advance their reading, GED, and workplace skills. Their web site offers many resources for educators and adult learners including information on literacy and learning disabilities.