Learning: A Site Worth Seeing

Guidance for Parents
There's a terrific elementary school site, featuring a National School of Excellence. This site has four purposes: promotion (it keeps the school in the public eye in a very positive way); information (it provides students, parents, and teachers with information they need to know about school events and happenings); communication (it provides an easy way for the public to communicate with school staff via e-mail); and instruction (it provides numerous online instructional opportunities for students and an opportunity for them to showcase their work.)
Go to: www.yellow-springs.k12.oh.us/ys-mls

Don Nowak
Mills Lawn Elementary School
Yellow Springs, Ohio
dnowak@donet.com

Revolutionary Idea
It's easy to use your classroom Web site as an instructional tool through links, student polls, and online quizzes! For example, we are currently focusing on the Revolutionary War in our social studies curriculum. We dedicated part of our home page (myschoolonline.com/pa/murphy.html) to this topic by placing a picture of General Washing-ton's headquarters that links us directly to the Valley Forge National Park Web site (www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm).
Above the picture there is an online poll (free from alxnet.com) asking students what activities they would prefer to participate in during our Valley Forge National Park field trip. The fifth grade teachers will use the results to determine our field trip itinerary.
There's also an online quiz (also free, from funbrain.com) that each student will take. Sound good? Well, it gets even better! The quiz results are forwarded right to the teacher via E-mail!

Theresa Murphy
Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
TMURPHY@pgsd.org

Something for Everyone
My favorite site happens to be mine: Teaching is a work of heart, www. geocities.com/athens/thebes/9893. It's an online file cabinet for teachers that is filled with ideas for all subject areas, bulletin board ideas, units, links, leveled book lists, holiday activities, teacher humor, and so much more for the K-4 teacher. There is something for everyone here!

Colleen Gallagher
K-3 special education teacher
Silverdale, Washington
colleeng@cksd.wednet.edu

Virtual Canoe Trip
We would like to invite you and your students to go canoeing with our class. You would be joining us online, so you wouldn't have to worry about paddling in rain. This fall, we are beginning the school year by studying rivers. We will incorporate rivers into math, science, and computers.
Later in the year, my students will put me in a canoe. I will E-mail them the daily test data of our rivers health and my adventures. For more info, or to join us, visit: www.msdwc.k12.in.us/ses/rivindex.htm.

Richard Beamer
Southwood Elementary
Wabash, Indiana
rbeamer@msdwc.k12.in.us

I worked with two other teachers at my school to create a Web site that supports teachers with a set of on-line tools that we designed and programmed ourselves. We are trying to create a peer support network, among other things. Check our site out at http://teachwise.com.

Steve Gendreau
Rogers High School
Puyallup, Washington

Bytes for Beginners
What is the best tool for locating quality education resources on the Web? There's so much out there, and trying to sift through it all using Yahoo or Excite (or another search engine) just takes way too much time!
The capability of many popular Web search tools to consistently serve up quality education resources is limited, at best, and requires the use of at least a basic set of "cyber-sleuthing" skills. One of the best tools for finding useful, valuable resources on the Web is . . . NEA Today. Why? Because every Web site featured on this page comes from educators like you. What better source for an education resource recommendation than a colleague? Your contributions of resource URLs and descriptions to NEA Today through www.nea.org/technology/favorite.html are invaluable to colleagues who peruse this page every month for tips and ideas about where on the Web to find the very best in education resources.
There are two other sources for quality education resources that you should consider. Gateway to Educational Materials, or GEM, is a one-stop, any-stop access to high-quality lesson plans, curriculum units, and other education resources on the Internet. Check it out at www.thegateway.org.

TALK TO US
Have a nifty classroom tip or lesson plan that uses technology? E-mail a description (under 200 words, please!) to wiredclassroom@list.nea.org.
Is there a Web site, CD-ROM, or piece of software you can't live without? E-mail your favorites-and why you love them-to myfavoritetech@ list.nea.org.
Or send your responses by regular mail to NEA Today, or by Fax to 202/822-7206, or through the Web at www.nea.org/cet.
Those published here will receive a sparkling NEA Today mug!