Hot List

Hotlist

Math
1. www.aaamath.com
This website is a great resource for math practice in grades kindergarten through eighth. It includes a variety of math subjects organized be grade level and skill.

2. http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
This site offers a plethora of activities and on-line instruction for a variety of math concepts. One of the great things about this site is that it has a link that shows students the exact steps involved in lattice multiplication.

3. http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/index.shtml
On this page are several interactive math activities. The activities cover a broad range of topics and age levels.

4. http://www.mathgoodies.com/students.html
This website was originally designed to provide students with homework help. Now it not only offers math homework help, but also many activities for parents and students.

5. http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html
This is a very cool site where students can work with virtual manipulatives at several grade levels. Geoboards, base 10 blocks, pentominoes, graphing tools, and tangrams are just a few of the things that can be found here.

Learning Standards:
Standard 6 Demonstrate and apply knowledge and sense of numbers, including numeration
and operations, patterns, ratios, and proportions.
Standard 7 Estimate, make and use measurements of objects, quantities and relationships
and determine acceptable levels of accuracy.
Standard 8 Use algebraic and analytical methods to identify and describe patterns and
relationships in data, solve problems and predict results.
Standard 9 Use geometric methods to analyze, categorize, and draw conclusions about
points, lines, planes and space.
Standard 10 Collect, organize and analyze data using statistical methods; predict results;
and interpret uncertainty using concepts of probability.



Science
6. http://www.mackers.com/crayfish/
The Crayfish Corner is a site all about crayfish which my class studies as part of our Structures of Life science unit in the fall. It includes information about crayfish structures, habitats, behaviors, and other links about crayfish.

7. http://www.schoolsnet.com/educate/teacher_zone/classroom/science/5d_book/index.htm
Another one of our science units is Water. Here a story about Dropletta is told to help students learn about the water cycle.

8. http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/PhysicsofSound/index.html
Physics of Sound is another 4th grade unit. This page from FOSS science contains information, vocabulary, and activities that have to do with sound.

9. http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/Variables/index.html
Another FOSS site for another unit. This time the unit is on variables.


Learning Standards:
Standard 11 Understand the processes of scientific inquiry and technological design to
investigate questions, conduct experiments and solve problems.
Standard 12 Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the
life, physical and earth/space sciences.


Social Studies
10. http://www.teachtci.com/resources/ssa/socDefault.aspx
We use the Social Studies Alive program from TCI in my district. The 4th grade curriculum involves learning about the different regions of our country and about the five social studies strands. This website is a link for the TCI site and has links specific to each social studies lesson in the 4th grade curriculum.

11. http://www.infoplease.com/states.html
An informational site on all states including details about geographical features, history, economic activities, and government. The site also includes games that help students learn the location of states and state capitals.

12. http://www.50states.com/
Another site with information about all the states. Each state has its own page with several links to other sites for information on any given state.

13. http://www.eduplace.com/geonet/
Students can use this site to learn about geography. Options include games about the United States and the world.

14. http://www.online-springfield.com/sites/
Our grade level takes a field trip to Springfield every spring as the culminating event to the studies of Illinois we do throughout the school year. What better way to get the kids excited than giving them a sneak peak at the sites we will visit?

15. http://www.alplm.org/home.html
Obviously the study of Illinois is not complete without learning about Abraham Lincoln. The presidential museum in Springfield that opened a few years back is now the highlight of our annual Springfield trip. This site offers information on Lincoln, and also let’s students preview the exhibits.

16. http://www.state.il.us/kids/learn/default.htm
We study the five social science strands during the course of our Illinois unit. Here students can learn about everything from state government to state symbols.

17. http://www.alohafriendshawaii.com/keiki.html
As we “tour” the United States, we do activities in each region. One of our activities takes place in Hawaii. The students become travel agents and create travel itineraries for other students. This site is kid-friendly and offers information on different activities to do in Hawaii.


Learning Standards:
Standard 14 Understand political systems, with emphasis on the United States.
Standard 16 Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of
Illinois, the United States and other nations.
Standard 17 Understand world geography and the effects of geography on society, with
emphasis on the United States.


Language Arts
18. www.school-house-rock.com/GrammarRock.html
This is a fun website that offers all of the songs and lyrics to the Grammar Rock songs of the famed School House Rocks series. Music is a powerful tool in helping students recall important facts.

19. http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html
This is a site I recently discovered when preparing computer lab activities for our family reading night in April. It contains all kinds of information about children’s literature and resources for teachers and parents.

20. http://www.bookhive.org/
This was another site I had up and running at family reading night. This is another online resource for information about children’s literature and literacy in general.

21. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/pizzaz.html
A neat resource of poetry and other writing projects. There are also printable handouts and writing links for teachers.

22. http://page.bps101.net/web/t8165/Six%20Traits%20of%20Writing.htm
This page is actually a local one – it comes from a fellow teacher in my school district who developed it for a writing class. It has lots of good information about the 6+1 Traits of Writing including a great annotated bibliography.

23. http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/trophies/grade_4.html
We use Harcourt materials for reading in our district. This is a page from the Harcourt site that offers a lot of great language arts activities for 4th grade students.

24. http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/
This is a fun site where students can do everything from creating stories and poems, to playing reading games. The layout of the site is kid-friendly and will appeal to both primary and intermediate elementary school students.

Learning Standards:
Standard 1 Read with understanding and fluency
Standard 2 Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras, and
ideas.
Standard 3 Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.


Technology
25. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson285.shtml
A great resource of links, lesson plans, and activities to enhance teacher and student knowledge of technology in general.

26. http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html
Having reliable kid-friendly search engines is an important piece to using the Internet safely in the elementary schools. There are a dozen or so search engine choices linked to this website for students to use.

27. http://www.computerlab.kids.new.net/keyboarding.htm
Keyboarding is an essential skill that students need to start developing at a young age. As a 4th grade teacher where keyboarding is officially introduced, this website offers links to a variety of keyboarding practice sites.

28. http://www.techedlab.com/
This site contains all kinds of technology-related information for teachers. This includes grant information and grade-level specific resources.

29. http://www.netsmartz.org/resources/nsresources.htm
Internet safety is a top priority when taking kids online and this website is devoted to educating kids about Internet safety.


NETS Standards: all



Teacher resources
30. http://www.sitesforteachers.com/
This fabulous site has links and information on anything a teacher could possibly think of. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of sites listed that offer information and activities for elementary, middle, and high school teachers.

31. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
Enchanted Learning offers many activities and print-outs to teachers and students alike. Students can find information on a variety of topics that have to do with science, social studies, reading, and writing.

32. http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK
We get Time for Kids every week in my classroom. Not only does this website offer a glimpse of upcoming issues, it offers resources for teachers and students.

33. http://www.abcteach.com/
A great resource of printable worksheets and lesson ideas.

34. http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/
This site is so fun! It offers teachers many great ideas on how to help students in the classroom.

35. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_4th_original.htm
This site offers dozens of interactive sites for all content areas.

36. http://www.readinga-z.com/
Another great site for teachers that has multiple resources. The resources here all have to do with reading and reading instruction.

37. http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/kidstuff.html
Part of the Discovery website and Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators, this page has all kinds of different links for students. Some of it is directly related to curriculum and some of the links are just for fun.

38. http://www.brainpop.com/
TONS of resources are available here for a variety of subjects. When a subject is clicked, a new page comes up with many, many options for students to explore.

39. http://www.funbrain.com/index.html
A favorite amongst all elementary students is Funbrain! The games offered on this site are both educational and fun. I often allow students to go to Funbrain for the last 10 minutes of computer lab as a wind down activity before we head back to our classroom.

40. http://www.bestedsites.com/
A vast list of links and sites for every subject. Teachers can find great ideas here and online activities for students to do.

Standards: all