Free Online Resources for Educators

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Free Online Resources for Educators

*Free Websites for Educators

Lists of Educational Websites

Kathy Schrock Guide for educators – a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/

Sites for teachers – hundreds of educational websites
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/index.html

Awesome Library - organizes the Web with 37,000 carefully reviewed resources
http://www.awesomelibrary.org

Education World
http://www.educationworld.com

Educational Hot Links for Middle School People
http://cie.kean.edu/~njcms/newTeacherResources/Home.html

Blogs

Blogs – Start a blog for free
http://www.blogger.com

Classroom blogs – designed specifically for classroom use
http://www.classblogmeister.com

Bookmarking/Organization/Social Tools

Library Thing – Find read-alikes and summaries of books, tag and organize book collections
http://www.librarything.com/

Delicious – bookmark the web. Search the large collection of bookmarked sites and add to yours.
http://www.delicious.com

Diigo – collect, highlight then remember. Bookmarking with more features
http:///www.diigo.com

Book Sites

Google Books
http://books.google.com/

Teen Reads
http://www.teenreads.com/

Suzy Red (Books Give Kids Wings)
http://suzyred.com

Guys Read
http://www.guysread.com/

Calendars

Calendars
http://www.google.com/calendar

Daily, Weekly, Monthly Celebrations
http://www.mydailyplan-it.com/holidays-mar.htm

Citations

Citation machine
http://www.citationmachine.net/

Free Automatic Bibliography and Citation Maker (MLA if free)
http://www.easybib.com/

Noodle Bibs – free citation machine

http://www.noodletools.com

Zotero - is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.
http://www.zotero.org

Citation Maker
http://www.openc.k12.or.us/citeintro/ctimeout.php

Character Education

Character Education
http://charactercounts.org/

Classroom Management

Classroom management
http://www.classdojo.com/

Course Management

Moodle - a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.
http://www.moodle.org/

Collaborative tools/Wikis

Google Docs – good for internal collaboration but also use forms for surveys
http://www.docs.google.com

Copyright/Fair Use

U.S. Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov/

Taking the mystery out of copyright (presentation for students)
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/#/steps/

Ten Myths About Copyright Explained
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

Teacher’s Guide to Fair Use and Copyright
http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm

Teacher’s Permission to Use Form
http://www.landmark-project.com/permission1.php

Student’s Permission to Use Form
http://www.landmark-project.com/permission_student.php

Free Copyright Presentations in Powerpoint format
http://languagearts.pppst.com/plagiarism.html

Curriculum

National Essential Skills (ELA, Math, Science and Soc St.)
http://www.leadered.com/nessresults.shtml

Cyberguide Ratings

Cyberguide ratings for content evaluation

http://www.cyberbee.com/content.pdf

Cyberguide ratings for web site design

http://www.cyberbee.com/design.pdf

English/Language Arts

Grammar and Writing

Grammar and Punctuation: The Blue Book

http://www.grammarbook.com/

Guide to Grammar and Writing

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

Strunks’s Elements of Style

http://www.bartleby.com/141/

Purdue Online Writing Lab

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Web English Teacher - Reading and Writing Non-Fiction

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/

The English Teacher – teaching resources

http://teacher2b.com/

Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations

http://www.bartleby.com/people/BartlettJon.html

Literature

Literature Lessons

http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/litera1.htm

American Literature Online (Ockerbloom) - Provides hundreds of works of American literature.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/subjectstart?PS

Harvard Classics - "The most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume '5-foot shelf of books' and the the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through the twentieth century." Provides books by title or author.

http://www.bartleby.com/hc/

Literature (in English) by Genre

http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2744

Mythology

Encyclopedia Mythica

http://www.pantheon.org

Greek Mythology

http://www.greekmythology.com/

Mythweb

http://www.mythweb.com

Sparknotes: Mythology

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mythology/

Theoi Greek Mythology

http://www.theoi.com

Poetry

Scholastic - Study the genre of poetry by taking part in step-by-step workshops with favorite authors

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/index.htm

Poetry Generator - Choose your poetry form and add words to make the poem your own.

http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm

Acrostic Poem Maker

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/

List of epics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry

http://www.educationworld.com/lang_lit/9_12_poetry.shtml

Glossary of Poetic Terms

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/poetic_glossary.html

Elements of Poetry – definitions, exercises, and examples in poems

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/metaphor_def.html

Reading

Book Adventure – Reading motivation

http://www.bookadventure.com

International Reading Association

http://www.readwritethink.org/

Lexile Framework for Reading – measures reading ability and text complexity

http://www.lexile.com/

Scholastic

http://www.scholastic.com/home/

Storyline Online – picture books are read with lessons and activities

http://www.storylineonline.net/

The Odyssey

http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/Eng9/homer.html

Reading Machine – 30 interactive reading games

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/archives/readingmachine.shtml

Book Report Rubric

http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/bk.rep.fic.htm

Book Report Templates

http://www.ldworldwide.org/pdf/bkreport_temp_sedita.pdf

Literary Terms

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/

Vocabulary

Dr. Goodword’s Word Wizard Club - Lots of teacher resources and word games to develop vocabulary and spelling

http://www.alphadictionary.com/ww/

Ebooks (free)

Project Gutenberg – offers over 36,000 free ebooks to download to your PC, Kindle, Android, iOS or other portable device. Choose between ePub, Kindle, HTML and simple text formats.

http://www.gutenberg.org/

Free book spot

http://www.freebookspot.es/

Many books.net

http://www.manybooks.net/

Get free ebooks

http://www.getfreeebooks.com/

Free e-books

http://www.free-ebooks.net

Free ebooks

http://www.howbooks.com/

Online Books Page – over 1 million free books online

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

Audio Books for free

http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/home

Free books

http://www.freebooksearch,net

Facts

Snopes – fact check

http://www.snopes.com

Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book - provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

Graphic Organizers

http://www.teachnology.com/themes/lang_arts/graphicorganizer/

Homework Help from textbooks

Class Zone

http://www.classzone.com

Holt Mathematics

http://go.hrw.com/gopages/ma/msm3_07.html

Keyboarding

PowerTyping

http://www.powertyping.com/

Dance mat Typing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing

Kids Stuff/Learning Games

Cybersleuth – an internet search guide for students K-12

http://cybersleuth-kids.com

Fun Brain – learning games

http://www.funbrain.com

Yucky Stuff

http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/

Brainpop

http://www.brainpop.com

GameQuarium-

http://www.gamequarium.com/

Kids Click – research a variety of topics

http://www.kidsclick.org/

Learning Projects

Think Quest- A learning platform where teachers and students create learning projects

http://www.thinkquest.org/

Libraries

Waco-McLennan County Library

http://www.waco-texas.com/cms-library/

Baylor University Library

http://bearcat.baylor.edu/

McLennan Community College Library

http://www.mclennan.edu/library/

Library Websites

Online tour of the Dewey Decimal System

http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/tour/default.htm

Resources for school libraries

http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/libplans.html

Mash up

Yahoo Pipes – aggregate and mashup content on the web.

http://www.pipes.yahoo.com

Math

Cool Math – http://www.coolmath.com

AAA Math- http://www.aaamath.com/

Free Math worksheets - http://www.math-drills.com/

Algebra - http://algebasics.co

Glencoe textbook – http://www.glencoe.com

Holt textbook online learning – http://go.hrw.com/gopages/ma-msm.html

NCTM’s Illuminations Math Site-resources for teaching math

http://illuminations.nctm.org

Math Goodies – free math help portal featuring interactive lessons, worksheets, and homework help

http://www.mathgoodies.com

Dr. Math – homework help

http://www.mathforum.com/dr.math/

Math Nook – games

http://www.mathnook.com/

Math Forum – website for Math teachers

http://www.mathforum.com

Math – world of math online

http://www.math.com/

Aplus Math – interactive math problems

http://www.aplusmath.com/

Frank Potter’s Science Gems – Mathematics – annotated list of math sites by topic and grade level

http://www.sciencegems.com/math.html

History of Mathematics Archive – biographies of over 10000 mathematicians

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history

Interactive Mathematics Online

http://library.thinkquest.org/2647

Johnnie’s Math Page – a collection of K-8 interactive math activities

http://jmathpage.com

Mathwire – activities an worksheets for teachers

http://www.mathwire.com/

Miscellaneous

ChannelOne – current events

http://www.channelone.com

Class Timer - timer

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/javatimer/javatimer.html

Retro Junk – old movies, TV shows, commercials. Hey! I remember that!

http://www.retrojunk.com/

Movies Online

http://www.hulu.com

http://www.youtube.com

http://www.teachertube.com

Online Note Cards

Templates for online notecards (open the template and make a copy on your desktop)

http://www.big6.com/2009/07/26/big6-notetaking-template/

Online Tools and Web Application Index

http://www.go2web20.net

Photos

Open Photo

http://openphoto.net/

Flickr Image Search

http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/

Wikipedia Commons - database of 10,970,893 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Stock.xchng – free stock photo site

http://www.sxc.hu/

Podcasts

My Podcast – start you own free podcasts

http://www.mypodcast.com/

Presentations

Prezi – Online presentation slideshow tool. Free for students and teachers

http://www.prezi.com

Presentation and meeting tools for feedback

TodaysMeet.com – set up a room to communicate with your audience

http://www.todaysmeet.com

Poll Everywhere – Poll your audience. Can be used on your phone, web or twitter. Data gathered is displayed in graph form in real time

http://www.polleverywhere.com

Quick video and image tools

Animoto – tool for quick videos, slideshows, displays and fun. Turn you videos, photos and music into a fun display. Features based on account type.

http://animoto.com

Jing – add visuals to your website or emails. Take a picture or make a short video of what you see on your computer monitor.

http://www.techsmith.com/jing

Research

Internet Public Library

http://www.ipl.org

Research Help

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/catalog/static/bsm/researchroom/

Google Scholar- Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research.

http://scholar.google.com/

Tek Mom – research tools on the web

http://www.tekmom.com/search

Cybersleuth for Kids – internet search guide for K-12 students

http://cybersleuth-kids.com/

Kids Click – web search site

http://www.kidsclick.org/

Big 6 – Research Skills

http://www.big6.com/

Rubrics

RubiStar – create rubrics for project-based activities

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Rubrics for Teachers

http://www.rubrics4teachers.com/

Science

Discovery Education

http://www.discoveryeducation.com

Science Fair ideas

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/Getting-Started.html

FOSSWeb - is the official site for the inquiry-based FOSS (FULL OPTION SCIENCE SYSTEM) science curriculum. A place for support, resources, and fun activities.

http://www.fossweb.com click on middle school username: librarian password: librarian

Science Presentations – K-12

http://jc-schools.net/PPTs-science.html

Weather.com

http://www.weather.com/

CELLS alive! - animated and interactive plant and animal cells

http://www.cellsalive.com

National Geographic

http://www.nationalgeographic.com

How Stuff Works

http://www.howstuffowrks.com/

Science Dictionary

http://www.sciencedictionary.org/

The Internet Encyclopedia of Science : free scientific encyclopedia

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/ETEmain.html

Extreme Science – world records in natural science, challenges, lessons, etc.

http://www.extremescience.com

Mad Science – answers to science questions

http://www.madsci.org/

Science Learning Network – news, museums, and resources

http://www.sln.org/

Scientific American- 60 sec. science podcasts, expert articles

http://www.scientificamerican.com/

National Geographic – articles, videos

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

New Scientist – articles and resources

http://animal.discovery.com/

Animals

Animal Planet – resources on pets, wildlife, animal causes, and more

http://animal.discovery.com/

Wonderful World of Insects

http://www.earthlife.net/insects/six01.html

Animal Fact Guide

http://www.animalfactguide.com/

Chemistry

*Pop-up Periodical Table

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/

WebElements : periodic table. Click on any element to get more information, or get more information on topics such as isotopes, bond enthalpies, and more.

http://www.webelements.com/

Chemistry Guide – tools for chemistry teachers, databases, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.

http://www.chemistryguide.org/

The Atoms Family - teaches chemistry to students with monsters. Mummies, vampires, and more teach about energy, light, atoms, and conservation

http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/

The Comic Book Periodic Table of Elements : Superheroes and cartoon characters are used to teach all about the periodic table

http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/

Human Body

Inner Body – guide to human anatomy

http://www.innerbody.com/

Neuroscience for Kids - how the brain works

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html

Atlas of the Human Body : This free tool is provided by the American Medical Association to help educate patients. However, science teachers can use it to show students various systems such as nervous or endocrine.

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/patient-education-materials/atlas-of-human-body.page

Space

NASA – images, videos, and podcasts, information on missions, solar system, the Earth and more

http://www.nasa.gov/

Astronomy

http://www.astronomy.com/

Sky and Telescope magazine – tools for science teachers

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/

Space.com

http://www.space.com

NASA TV : The eleventh most visited channel on YouTube, there are hundreds of historic videos to view. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Windows to the Universe : Get pictures and guides for all segments of space including the Earth, solar system, and beyond. There are also guides for life, geology, and physics.

http://www.windows2universe.org/

Earth Science

Earth History Resources : graphic images designed for use in the development of either an online internet or interactive multimedia project related to Earth History. These images consist of photographs of dioramas, fossils and models, and computer generated images and drawings.

http://www.carlwozniak.com/earth/

Exploring Earth : Eight units cover everything from the history of the Earth to space.

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/navigation/home.cfm

National Ocean Services : resources for science teachers from this site for students from grades three through twelve. There are charts, tutorials, and even a lesson plan library.

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/

Archaeological Adventure : Accompany scientists as they go on digs with the help of this science website. There is also information on past digs.

http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/indexge.htm

Voyage to the Deep : The Alvin explored hydrothermal vent sites in the Sea of Cortes and invites you to join along. You can also learn more about geology, sea creatures, and chemistry.

http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/deepsea/home/home.html

Hurricane: Storm Science: View a hurricane from the inside, learn about instruments, and get interviews with survivors.

http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/hurricane0.html

Earthquakes for Kids : Students can learn all about the science behind earthquakes on this site.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/

The Disaster Area : FEMA site to teaches kids all about disasters from floods to volcanoes and more.

http://www.ready.gov/kids/index.html

Machines

Animated Engines – Great site!

http://www.animatedengines.com/

Building Big (bridges, tunnels, domes, dams, and skyscrapers)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/

Simple Machines – several powerpoint presentations

http://science.pppst.com/simplemachines.html

Museums

Smithsonian Institute : a resource library for science, art, technology, history, and language.

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/

American Museum of Natural History : news. Podcasts, resources, exhibit information, and more.

http://www.amnh.org/

The Franklin Institute : Located in Philadelphia, they have resources for scientific learning.

http://www.fi.edu/learn/index.php

Museum of Science and Industry : current exhibits, videos, games, and how-to’s.

http://www.msichicago.org/

National Air and Space Museum : This top science website offers a variety of free educational programs for school groups and organized youth groups. There are also classroom activities, including electronic field trips.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/

The Museum of Unnatural Mystery : Not a traditional museum, there are still resources for science teachers here. Choose from the stranger topics such as cryptozoology or UFO mysteries.

http://www.unmuseum.org/unmain.htm

National Zoo : Part of the Smithsonian, live animal cams, photo galleries, and information on the animals.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

San Diego Zoo : live cams to view the animals, curriculum, classroom kits, and activities.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/zoo/index.php

Social Studies

History Sites

History Fair 2012

Theme : Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History
Fair Dates : February 9-10, 2012

http://www.baylor.edu/historyfair/

Primary Source Documents

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov

American Memory Project of the Library of Congress

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Our Documents

http://www.ourdocements.gov

National Park Service: Treasures of the Nation

http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/treasures

Avalon Project from Yale University Law School – primary source digital documents from ancient time to the present pertaining to law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy, and government

http://avalon.law.yale.edu

AMDOCS: Documents for the study of American History

http://www.vlib.us/amdocs

Famous Trials in History – UMKC School of Law

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/ftrials.htm

Internet Archive of Texts and Documents: United States

http://history.hanover.edu/etexts.html#17

American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank Database – index to 5000+ full text audio and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, and other recorded media events

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speechbank.htm

Battle Lines – letters from America’s Wars

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/battlelines/index-good.html

National Archives: Digital Classroom

http://www.archives.gov/education

Milestone Documents in American History (Salem Press)

http://www.history.salempress.com

Remote Access Login Password: umsindians

U.S. History Net - http://www.historynet.com

Secondary Source Documents

*Best History websites - Over 1200 history web sites as well as links to hundreds of quality K-12 history lesson plans, history teacher guides, history activities, history games, and more.

http://www.besthistorysites.net

History Channel

http://www.thehistorychannel.com

*World Wide Web Virtual Library - GREAT SITE! WWW-VL HISTORY CENTRAL CATALOGUE

European University Institute, Florence, Italy

http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html

The Census Bureau

http://www.census.gov

Central Intelligence Agency with facts about countries of the world 2002 Fact Book

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

*The History Net - Where History Lives on the Web

http://www.thehistorynet.com

The White House - historical info plus modern

http://www.whitehouse.gov

Smithsonian Institution

http://www.si.edu/

Teaching and Learning resources from federal agencies

World History information for kids

http://web.archive.org/web/20041111022456/http://www.lksd.org/kongiganak/kongiganak/ContinuousEdCarnagie/Carnagie/WorldHistory/WldHistoryMain.htm

http://www.free.ed.gov/?sid=9

Geography

Brad Bowerman's Geography World - tons of good stuff

http://geographyworldonline.com/

Geography Sites

http://www.frw.ruu.nl/nicegeo.html

Mapquest - world atlas with printable maps or map your trip

http://www.mapquest.com
http://www.mapquest.com/atlas/?region=world

National Geographic Society - Maps, searchable lesson plans interactive sites

http://www.nationalgeographic.com

US MAPS

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states.html

Central and South America - resources for language, history, and geography classes

http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/k-12/

Country Studies (Library of Congress)

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html

National Geographic Countries of the World

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/abc_world_fact_book.html

World Travel Guide

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/

Texas

Texas Ranger Hall of Fame Museum in Waco

http://www.texasranger.org/

Texas Ranger Law Enforcement Association

http://www.texasrangers.org/

Handbook of Texas Online

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online

Texas State Historical Association

http://www.tshaonline.org/

Texas History Online (great site – check out links)

http://www.texas-on-line.com/graphic/history.htm

Portal to Texas History (UNT)

http://texashistory.unt.edu/

Texas History (links to great websites and primary source documents)

http://www.lonestar.edu/library/kin_TexasHistory.htm

Texas Treasures – online exhibit of historical documents and artifacts

https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/index.html

Texas Music History Online

http://www.txstate.edu/ctmh/tmho/

Texas Military History Online

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/general/articles/earlytexasmilhistory.aspx

*7^th Grade Texas History – Georgetown ISD

http://www.georgetownisd.org/ccorner/socstudies/7th.asp

Statistics

Google Analytics

http://www.google.com/analytics

Statcounter - invisible web tracker, highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats.

http://statcounter.com

One Stat Free - free counter and the traffic statistics gathered from each web site we track

http://www.onestatfree.com/

Poll Daddy – survey software

http://polldaddy.com

Survey Monkey - conduct, manage and analyze research

http://www.zoomerang.com/

Zoomerang - software for surveys and polls

http://www.zoomerang.com

Teacher Tools

Free worksheets

http://www.a-z-worksheets.com

Thinkfinity - thousands of standards-based lesson plans from leading educational organizations.

http://www.thinkfinity.org/lesson-plans

Cyberbee – Rich internet resources, lessons and projects for educators. Lessons are created around national standards and tested by teachers. All content is free with proper attribution. Lessons can be found under Curriculum Ideas.

http://www.cyberbee.com

Internet 4 Classrooms – helping teachers to use the internet effectively

http://internet4classrooms.com/

Discovery School – free teaching resources

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/

Classsroom 2.0

http://www.classroom20.com

Personal Education Press

http://www.educationalpress.org

ABC Teach

http://www.abcteach.com

Education World Teacher Tools and Templates

http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templatesndex.shtml

Free teacher lesson plans

http://www.k12lessonplans.com/

Free teacher worksheets

http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/

Teacher Planet

http://www.teacherplanet.com/

Discovery School Puzzlemaker

http://www.puzzlemaker.com

Utah Education Network - provides free web tools and services, such as lesson plans, videos, curriculum resources, student interactives and professional development

http://www.uen.org/

Free printables for teachers

http://www.mes-english.com/coloring.php

Videos

UnitedStreaming

http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm

TeacherTube

http://www.teachertube.com

Tubechop – an easy way to chop pertinent sections from a YouTube video.

http://www.tubechop.com

Webcasts

Stream TV