Technology in Your Classroom : Hot Websites :

Hot Websites August-September
By Linda Lindroth

Start your school year with these games and research topics for kids of all ages

These websites make a great addition to your back-to-school packet for parents. Whether you send home the URLs for these websites on the first day of school or wait for a parents night, these are sure to be a big hit with students and parents alike.

HighlightsKids.com
www.highlightskids.com

screen shot of Highlights website

Some highlights from the fun-filled interactive website, HighlightsKids.com

It's a Highlights website, so this review has to start with Hidden Pictures®! This interactive game, based on the popular Highlights magazine feature, has three levels: Level 1 gives the names and pictures of the hidden objects; Level 2 provides words only; Level 3 is without clues. As pictures are found, objects are animated and the item is colored in until the entire picture is in color. Ask for a Hint and the general vicinity of the hidden object is indicated. Choose from the dozens of Hidden Pictures titles on the index to play online or print to play anywhere. Highlights magazine subscribers can also get answers to the Hidden Pictures feature in the magazine.

Games and Giggles. There are a variety of puzzles and games in this section. Play Picture Twisters by selecting a type of puzzle pattern and a picture category, then select two pieces to flip places until the pattern forms a picture. In Mystery Messages, use different codes (navigation flags, sign-language hand signals, and more) to solve different messages from Highlights Messages and Kids' Messages. There's even a Make a Message component, complete with backgrounds and sounds for correct, incorrect and solved puzzles. Also try the Game of the Month, or check your luck with Maze Maker.

Express Yourself. This section contains creativity tools for children. Use Picture Maker to invent your own creature, build and color a robot using click, drag and drop elements. Or, "draw" a picture with dozens of backgrounds and picture stamps to choose from in each art program. Use the e-Card Creator to send an electronic card to a friend for a special occasion. Help Highlights celebrate their 60th birthday by sending your best memory of a birthday.

Story Soup. Here kids can listen to stories, write their own captions for a Timbertoes® story and interact with Rebus Roundup stories, some even in Spanish. Don't miss the Story of the Week and the Story Adventure, where kids can choose their own ending.

Science in Action. Some of the features here are Try This! (experiments kids can do on their own, with parents or in class), Science Question of the Week and Guess the Mystery Sound. Science Stories offers a new story each week and the archives are divided by science topics. The informational stories are excellent for a science center or use in a short research project.

Fun Finder. Use this site map index of the archives to be sure that students don't miss any of the creative, educational games and activities on Highlights Kids.com

KidsKonnect.com
www.kidskonnect.com
KidsKonnect.com, another great site to inform parents about, can also be used to find curriculum information, activities and research by Subject Index or by Alphabetized List. The subject categories are consistent with classroom topics and the Alphabetized List makes specific topics easy to find.

Homework helper. All the materials on this website are reviewed and tested for being safe three levels from the main homepage. The lists contains more than 300 topics of interest to elementary students. Highlighted categories include States, Harry Potter, Museums, Search Engines, Reference, Today Hooray (current news), Games, Science Sites and Math Sites. This is a great "homework helper" to give to students and parents for after-school projects.

Also be sure to check out the "Sites 4 Teachers" section, with links to hundreds of educational websites. And, don't miss www.educatorskonnect.com for even more excellent links for the PreK-8 curriculum.

NCLB and TECH INTEGRATION-- Tech Spotlight

As computers in labs and classrooms across the country are started up for back-to-school, a key focus will be on meeting technology standards. According to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the goal is to certify the technology literacy of all students by eighth grade. Title II, Part D, Goal 2(a) of NCLB does not require assessment of eighth grade students, but more states are asking districts for proof that tech standards are being met. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has an online formative assessment aligned to the NETS for Students (www.iste.org). For guides and help to meet this goal:

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.

August/September 2006, Vol.37, No.1