Hot Websites February, 2004
By Linda Lindroth

For Reproducible of butterfly resources click here. PDF 130 KB

February might be the shortest month of the year, but it features a proliferation of themes. Not only do we celebrate Valentine's Day and Presidents Day, but also Heart Month, Black History Month and Dental Health Month. Add Teaching K-8's February emphasis on science, and you have an abundance of topics to brighten up any winter school day.

PBS Kids Democracy Project
www.pbs.org/democracy/kids/

This is a great website for Presidents Day and a time when many state legislatures are in session. The three main interactive areas of this site put students in a decision-making simulation that leads them to investigate our government, the presidency and voting.

How Does Government Affect Me lets students "click around the town" to see how government affects their everyday lives. Inside the Voting Booth is an opportunity to cast your vote and step into a voting time machine to see how one vote makes a difference. President for a Day lets students make decisions that will affect the country.

My students love the interactive simulations, and I appreciate the guide and detailed lessons for all three areas of the Democracy Project. I'm sure you will too.

The Science Spot
http://sciencespot.net/

What a great site, with everything you might need for the science curriculum! From lessons and project ideas to research, the materials on this site are all organized into science categories for easy browsing.

The Science Classroom has hundreds of lessons and activities categorized by topic for the intermediate grades and middle school. Two of my class's favorites are the Adopt an Insect unit and the Inventor's Challenge. Most lessons include student worksheets, background masters and directions for completing experiments.

The Science Club has dozens of projects and guidelines for science fairs. The Daily Science Trivia with question cards and answers is a favorite in my classroom. The Puzzle Corner has dozens of pdf puzzles for all science categories with ready-made word finds, crosswords and links to puzzle sites. Of particular interest for teachers is The Reference Desk with science resources, lesson plan links, elementary links and clip art links. Be sure to visit Power of Technology for workshops and tech tips to help integrate technology into your science studies.

Still want more? An engaging Kids Zone has dozens of topics to explore. The Kids Zone resources are chosen with student research, tutorials and interactive learning in mind. It truly is the "spot" for science education!

Cool Science for Curious Kids
http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/

Investigating science is easy with this interactive site from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Challenge your students to learn more about the microscopic world with The 1" Square Project, test their knowledge of plant parts as they Build a Salador take the colorful and informative quiz on Classified Critters. Students can even build an art model of the life cycle of the butterfly, just in time for spring.

Using Live Insects
http://insected.arizona.edu/uli.htm

Even if your students can't spell "entomology," they'll certainly be able to once they finish this comprehensive series of lessons and activities on the website Using Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms, from the University of Arizona.

There are 20 in-depth lesson plans complete with activity sheets, information sheets on the various insects' backgrounds and "Rearing" sheets that give details about caring for insects. Teachers will appreciate the list of sources for obtaining live specimens and the detailed bibliography categorized by organism. Everything from ants, butterflies and grasshoppers to spiders, true bugs and general insects is included. The website is even available in Spanish!

Teachers, I know you won't want to leave this site without browsing the list of Entomology Internet Resources. My favorite is the excellent Katerpillars (& Mystery Bugs), by the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology. This resource was created for teachers, 4-H clubs and others interested in entomology.

Click on Bugfood! for recipes, Mystery Bug for outstanding pictures that students can try to identify, Bug Fun for craft projects or Insects All Year, where you'll find activities based on insects for each month of the year. There's also a terrific list of resources including "Wee Beasties" newsletters, a three-module unit for 4-H Entomology and lessons in a section called For Teachers and Parents. Check out the site at www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/ythfacts/entyouth.htm

The Amazing Human Body
www.harcourtschool.com/activity/bodyintro_34/index.html

Not only is it American Heart Month, but it is also Dental Health Month. This website from Harcourtschool.com is a resource that will engage your students in scientific inquiry and enhance their knowledge of their body systems and their teeth – all while they're having fun, of course.

The informative, colorful animations in each of this website's interactive games give students an opportunity to become actively involved in learning about the human body systems. Brain Drain, which can be played in timed and untimed versions, features a head and neck diagram that students label based on where in the brain a certain function originates – cerebrum, cerebellum or brain stem.

Digestion challenges students to put the parts of the digestive system in the correct order, then lets students click on organs in the completed diagram to learn The Inside Story. Students can see the nutritional value of different foods, as well as their path through the digestive system in Food Path.

Skeleton Shakedown uses animation to let students rebuild a human skeleton. Nothing But the Tooth allows students to put the parts of the tooth together in Tooth Puzzle, learn about them in The Inside Story or color the parts of a tooth. Sense-sational is an animated study of the five senses.

For even more ideas that fit with your curriculum, click Home to go to Harcourt School Publishers Learning Site (www.harcourtschool.com for educational activities in all the content areas.

For Reproducible of butterfly resources click here. PDF 130 KB

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

February, 2004. Volume 34, Number 5.