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                               INNOVATIVE

                                TEACHING

                              presented by

            Walter McKenzie - Creative Classroom Consulting

                     Innovative staff development:

            Technology Applications, Multiple Intelligences,

             Curriculum Integration and Creative Education.

                Let's see what we can do for your staff!

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April 22, 2000

 

Finding worthwhile early childhood resources online can be a dicey

proposition. Say all you want about the latest visual web technologies,

95% of websites still rely heavily on text to function. This puts

non-readers and emergent readers at a distinct disadvantage. Here is a

collection of sites perfect for the youngest students and their

teachers. Thanks to Carol Dufault, Carol Vaage and Joyce Melton Pages

for recommending some great choices for this week's edition! Happy

Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Earth Day!

 

A to Z Kid's Stuff - http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/

Lots of very basic approaches to instruction for Pre-School and

Kindergarten, categorized by headings that will surely make sense to any

primary teacher.  While this site doesn't necessarily offer lots of

interactivity, the storehouse of ready to use ideas is a big selling

point.

 

CIERA - http://www.ciera.org/

The Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement houses lots

of free material on appropriate practices for promoting literacy in the

primary grades. The Ideas@Work forum and the links to other literacy

resources provide depth to this first rate effort.

 

DLTK's Crafts for Kids - http://www.dltk-kids.com/index.htm

Exhaustive collection of all kinds of printable craft ideas fro kids

aged 2 and up! You have to see it to believe it. Stop in and have a new

printer cartridge handy!

 

Early Childhood Educators - http://users.sgi.net/~cokids/

A nice centralized location for all things to do with Early Childhood,

ECE provides links to a plethora of resources for teachers and parents

working with primary children. Fast loading and easy to use, all

teachers of young children should know about this site!

 

Early Childhood Technology Literacy Project -

http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/littlekids/

The forward thinking Montgomery County, Maryland School system has put

together this progressive program to promote literacy of technology in

the earliest grades. This website offers the background and materials to

teachers around the world interested in making use of this fabulous

program.

 

Early Elementary Lessons -

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/mathscience/funexperiments/agesubject/earlyelementary.html

Looking to beef up your primary Science classroom? Here's a nice

collection of Science activities for young students covering Biology,

Chemistry, Earth Science, Physical Science and Technology. Each activity

is teacher tested and explained in clear, simple terms for quick

reference.

 

Early Literacy Project - http://www.ecs.edmonton.ab.ca/tlc/earlylit/

An excellent source of all kinds of activities and materials to promote

early language acquisition and literacy, from the Telus Learning

Connection Project Centre.

 

First Grade Back Pack -

http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Tower/1217/grade1.html

A great Internet stop for kids and parents, FGBP offers all kinds of

interactive stories, virtual field trips, math games, animal activities,

and much, much more. Kept current and always being modified, FGBP is

sure to be a crowd pleaser.

 

Funschool - http://www.funschool.com/

Original activities designed for the K-2 crowd, Funschool is a great

place to have safe fun for young children. There's lots of familiar game

formats here, and great use of JAVA applets for such fascinating uses of

technology as the US Map puzzle for First Graders!

 

Idea Box - http://www.theideabox.com/

All kinds of timely lessons and activities designed for the primary

grades, including message boards where teachers can get together and

offer support and ideas for one another. The free monthly newsletter

rounds out this exceptionally designed site!

 

Jim Speir's Cooking Page -

http://www.melborponsti.com/speirs/kids/index.htm

A nice little collection of crafty recipes you can implement in your

classroom. Choose such attention getting titles as the Jello Aquarium,

Paint Brush Cookies and Snake Hot Dogs!

 

KinderKorner - http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hollow/1213/

"Kinder Korner is a Resource Website for teachers and others interested

in early childhood education,

Pre-K through 2nd Grade.  KinderKorner is also an Internet mailing list

and a great place to share ideas, ask questions, and talk about what

works in your classroom."

 

Marcia's Kreative Kids - http://members.aol.com/mrciajones/activity.html

This site is by no means exhaustive, but it offers such nice art and

craft activities while keeping is mindful of upcoming thematic planning

opportunities, it may be just what you're looking for! Did you know June

is National Fresh Fruit/Vegetable Month, Dairy Month and Zoo & Aquarium

Month?!

 

Morris Farm Alphabet Book -

http://lincoln.midcoast.com/~wps/jackson/alphabet.htm

Created by First Graders, this is a very rudimentary use of the Internet

to promote letter and sound awareness for little ones. Simply click on

any letter of the alphabet and view an original image from Morris Farm -

simple and fun!

 

Mrs. Gaine's Kindergarten Links -

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2221/gainesgang.html

This is what a truly early childhood collection of links should look

like. If you visit no other site from this edition, be sure to visit

this one if you're looking for interactive educational games for

non-readers. This is what we need more of online for the youngest

learners!

 

Mrs. Griffin's Kindergarten Page -

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/5059/index.html

Amy Griffin is a primary teacher in Crewe, Virginia, and the slew of

thematic units she has housed here truly shows everything early

childhood educators have to show the rest of us! Each unit is chocked

full of literature, activities and extensions to help bolster any

primary classroom.

 

Music Mania - http://www.ecs.edmonton.ab.ca/tlc/musicmania/

Dedicated to bringing together a huge cache of original songs from

around the world which are appropriate for use in primary classrooms.

Find what you need and share your own original compositions with your

cyber-colleagues!

 

PBS Kids - http://www.pbs.org/kids/

Connections to content and interactive learning for much of the popular

PBS programming. Currently touted is the new series. 'Between the Lions'

in which a trio of lions run a library and enjoy all kinds of adventures

with books in the process!

 

Playdough Recipes -

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7875/recip3.html

Just what the title says: a nice variety of different playdough recipes.

 

Primary Units -

http://www.sped.ukans.edu/spedprojects/theme/primary.html

Twenty-one units to save and make immediate use of in your classroom,

covering such well-worn topics as the Little Red Hen, Myself, Native

Americans, Oceans, Plants, Rocks, The Three Bears and much, much more.

Uses Adobe Acrobat to view units.

 

Preschool Teacher - http://www.bv.net/~stormie/index.html

Know a preschool teacher? Want to make him/her happy? Give them the URL

for this site. All kinds of materials, ideas, suggestions and activities

expressly for children below the age of Kindergarten. A must visit!

 

Resources for Early Childhood Educators -

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/8787/preschool.html

Joni puts together this lengthy but succinct collection of short lists

of Internet resources for early childhood teachers. Very handy and

nicely organized.

 

Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers - http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/

Out of England, this site is of rather sophisticated design. It serves

as a clearinghouse and idea exchange for primary teachers from around

the world. If you have the time, this site should be explored. It can be

very rewarding.

 

Variations on Cinderella -

http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/cinderella.html

Web resources and book citations that cover the length and breadth of

this famous fairy tale, from the Children's Literature Web Guide.

 

The Whole Child - http://pbs.org/wholechild/

This companion to the PBS series offers a wealth of online resources for

parents, educators and anyone interested in learning more about human

development. Tips for parenting and preschoolers are especially

worthwhile.

 

A World of Kindergartens - http://www.iup.edu/~njyost/KHI/KHI.htmlx

Excellent listing of early childhood resources gathered from around the

globe and covering such popular areas of interest as the 100th day of

school, computers in the primary grades, bookmark collections and an

Early Childhood Educator's Technology Talk.

 

http://www.ri.net/schools/Central_Falls/ch/heazak/welcome.html

Visit this award winning classroom web site of a kindergarten class!

 

Next week's topic: "Early Childhood Sites"

Please send in URL's of high quality sites which may be

of interest to our readers to walter@surfaquarium.com!

Also, I'm always looking for new topic ideas and input!

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                                                  -©1999-2001 Walter

McKenzie

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