Hot Websites February 2006
By Linda Lindroth

Experimenting with these websites will be a sure thing – sure to get your students excited about learning. Use this rich supply of web resources for the shortest month of the year.

Science Explorations
www.scholastic.com/scienceexplorations
This cool website features in-depth investigations on six major science topics: Animals, Adaptations and the Galapagos Islands, Classify Insects, Journey into Space, Investigate Invertebrates, Beam Up with Bats and Research with Reptiles. All of these cool explorations are the result of a partnership between Scholastic and the American Museum of Natural History (www.amnh.org).

The Animals, Adaptations and the Galapagos Islands topic will take your students on an exploration of the Galapagos Islands to learn more about turtles. Each exploration has three levels of difficulty with an interactive research challenge at each level. In Level I, students collect clues from the island to identify the animal. Level II has students learning more about animal adaptations in order to successfully bring five tortoises back home. In Level III, students are asked to examine primary source materials and a tortoise shell to determine what it is and where it came from.

All three levels have an investigation with a pdf activity guide and a downloadable PowerPoint template for creating a presentation of results. The Teacher's Guide for each investigation provides additional web resources as well as discussion questions and suggestions for using the Field Journal for writing in the science curriculum. Teachers are even able to print the script for the interesting multimedia documentary that introduces each exploration.

Science for Kids
www.eurekalert.org/scienceforkids
Add science reporters to your weekly current events list to generate some excitement about the world of science. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) sponsors this science news site for kids. Each news feature addresses topics that help bring the curriculum into the real world. Breaking news from past weeks revealed bird fossils with dinosaur-like feet, butterfly wings that mimic man-made TV technology and tsunami protection from trees.

Be sure to visit AAAS Resources for links to excellent science content and interactive games and simulations. Two of my favorites are Science NetLinks and Kinetic City Mission to Vearth. Science NetLinks has hundreds of web resources in Lessons as well as interactive tools, resources matched to standards and benchmarks – all divided by K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. This one is truly outstanding.
Students will love the interactive challenge of the games at Kinetic City. Enter the Lab Car to find poisonous animals, reconstruct the systems of the human body or provide power for a giant city. The action will keep students coming back to your computer center.

Science News for Kids
www.sciencenewsforkids.org
Science News for Kids covers a wide range of science topics with news articles specifically written for kids. Each article is informative, with colorful diagrams and illustrations to assist students with understanding. Differentiated instruction is easy with the provided links at the end for discussion and further study. Every news story has a "Grade this Article" that students can submit. There is also a "Talk Back" for e-mail comments.

I find myself returning again and again to use the other well-done zones: PuzzleZone, GameZone, SciFiZone, SciFairZone, LabZone and TeacherZone. The TeacherZone has question guides for use with the news articles each week and recommended web resources.

Amazing Space
amazing-space.stsci.edu
Here's a science resource that is truly out of this world. The interactive lessons and experiments for grades 3-12 are set up to scaffold learning. Detailed information includes a hyperlinked glossary for terms and an extensive Teacher Guide for using the activities to explore science concepts. The Grab Bag even lets teachers use graphics from the interactives to create your own activity pages and worksheets. Online Explorations is an awesome learning tool in a game format for students to experiment with space.

Discovery Science Center Kids
www.discoverycube.org/kids
The tagline for this science resource is "The amusement park for your mind" – and it really manages to live up to this slogan. On this website you'll find Science Experiments, Fun Facts, Brain Teasers and additional Cool Sites. Each of the science experiments lists the materials, the procedure, and offers some discussion questions about the results.

The richest collection of science resources is in the Cool Sites. Several of the web links are NASA resources for kids including The Solar System Simulator, What On Earth and The Space Place. The games, simulations, projects and animations really help strengthen the science content areas.

There are worthy links too numerous to mention; Yahooligans' Science is an extensive database of science topics for kids, Ask Dr. Universe has a wealth of answers for science questions and related links. You also don't want to miss Biology4Kids, Chem4Kids and Geography4Kids. And, last but not least, kids will love The Yuckiest Site on the Internet, complete with worm world and roach world.

Fly Pentop Computer-- Tech Spotlight

The FLY Pentop is available from LeapFrog and is on the cutting edge of mobile, handheld computers. Just like a pen, this small computer allows middle schoolers to track their schedule, use it as a calculator, translate from English to Spanish and even record music! All with a simple letter code and circle on the special FLY paper. Need a calculator? Just write a letter C, circle it with your pen, and then draw a box for your letters and function keys. A simple tap calculates your answer. An S with a circle gives you an auditory scheduler. There are even FLY Ware cartridges for more functions: FLY Journal, FLY Ball and FLY Games Pad. Pentop comes with earbuds, a carrying case, 35 FLY Paper pages and 17 games.

Visit www.leapfrog.com for more information and a complete list of accessories, or call 866-334-LEAP (5327). $99.99

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.