Internet Exercise #6
Web Sites for K-12 Use
LS 564
Fall 1999
Melise Graham
Amazon.com was one of the first online bookstores available on the web. It provides one with the ability to purchase books, music, toys, etc. on the Internet. It also is a great resource to use for reviews on software, music and books. One can even contribute one’s own review!
I
have found this a very useful resource for myself, in both my classes at Sam
(review sources), and in my leisure reading.
It could be used in a school setting by the librarian or administrator
to support justification for purchases.
It could be used by any member of the school community who has a credit
card for personal purchases.
This web site provides many different services to the browser. For one thing, it highlights the evening’s programming on the Discovery Channel. Tonight’s show is “Riddle of the Desert Mummies” and an overview of the program is provided. Activities to go along with the mummy program are offered as well, such as “Unwrap a Virtual Mummy”, “Explore a Mummy Tomb” and a trivia game on the subject. Links to other sites on the same project are provided.
Feature
stories, news items, live camera shots are also available on this web
site. There are numerous links to
science, geography & history, and health sites. An “Ask the expert” link provides an online discussion on a
variety of topics. This week’s is on
the flamingo.
Of
course, there is a link for shopping also provided. It is inevitable, I guess.
This
web site would be extremely interesting to visit with students from the
elementary level. They would really get
a kick out of the virtual unwrapping of a mummy. I do not feel that the shopping or advertising of the Discovery
Channel interferes with the educational value of the web site.
I
received an error message stating “You are unauthorized to view this page,” on
October 25, 1999.
This
site is an online recipe file, filled with cookbook reviews, cooking tips, and
a nice wine site. It has links to
culinary wonders such as Bon Appetit
and Gourmet online magazines and Epicurious TV. This week’s recipes highlight Hallowe’en.
Although
a fun site to visit, it would be unnecessary for an elementary school such as
mine. I’ll have to browse it in my
leisure time.
One can check out the showtimes of movies in the community by typing in one’s zipcode. Movie reviews, complete with a starred ratings system are available for new releases. Information given includes the full cast and crew, an overview of the plot, comments and professional reviews. The site visitor can become a film critic by voting and rating the films he has seen. A link is available to amazon.com for purchasing the soundtrack and any related books. The site also maintains message boards and discussion groups, games, contests and trivia.
Although imdb.com is not particularly a useful site for my elementary school library, it has potential for journalism or theatre arts departments at the high school level.
My
Virtual Reference Desk
This site contains the basic reference tools found in every library: atlas and maps, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and a thesaurus; it also provides the more unusual, such as postal information and resources with searchable zip codes world wide, biographies, etc. There are databases for the curricular areas of History, Science and Grammar. These all could be utilized by the elementary school library, although other sites exist which cater to the younger student.
Less common databases that would be appropriate for the high school library include one on World Religions, a reference list of over 100 web sites of religious denominations from B’hai Faith to Zen. The databases on Law, Population, Who’s Who, and Government Statistics also would be of interest to the high school, not the elementary school.
New
York Public Library Digital Collection
The web site for New York Public Library provides one with the online catalog to the library’s holdings, photographs, access to different collections, archives, and cooperative projects with other organizations. The NYPL homepage links one to the library branches, electronic resources, research links, upcoming events and exhibitions.
This site would not be of much use to my elementary school library in Texas.
The
Palace of Versailles
This site officiale de Versaille is available in both French and English. It provides highlights of the furnishings, paintings, gardens and history of the palace. One can access pages for students learning French; these are available in six different ability levels, from primary through to college level French. A calendar of events, listing of recent acquisitions, touring exhibitions, information on how to plan your visit, and how to celebrate the millenium are also provided.
This rich site is wonderful for the student of French language or history, or the traveler making plans. It would be appropriate in a middle or high school library setting, but I doubt it would be accessed much in the elementary level.
Permutations:
An Interactive Story Project
www.fa.indiana.edu/~jestone/story/
Permutations
was not available on October 27, 1999.
I received an error message stating, “The link you followed is either
outdated or inaccurate.”
This
politically oriented online magazine has a very distracting online store
advertisement flashing across the top of the web site. This week’s edition features articles on the
presidential candidates’ web pages and online parodies of them. It also has a “gay-themed subversion” of the
widely popular Harry Potter books.
The user has the ability to search archived articles. Links are available to airline tickets,
movies, TV programs and seemingly unlimited shopping.
I
feel there is no place for this overly commercialized entity in the elementary
school library. It could be used in
moderation at the high school level, but there are plenty of less-biased and
less-advertisement heavy sources available.
This web site belongs to Time Warner, one of the largest news organizations in the world. It provides online news from a variety of print magazines, in digital format: TIME , TIME for Kids, and Life Magazine. CNN’s latest news stories and weather are also provided. Links to TIME Asia and TIME International are available. The non-intrusive advertisements are acceptable.
This
site would be very useful in the elementary library, especially for current
events and breaking news. I was very
pleased with the easy interface of TIME for Kids. This is one I will bookmark for frequent use.
This site proclaims itself, “Your home for the best general knowledge trivia questions on the World Wide Web.” It provides a question-of-the-day and questions-of-the-week; the answers are only a mouse click away. It also lists upcoming trivia events.
This is a fun site which could be used in any library.
This
is the online news source for USA Today newspaper. It provides current news stories, weather, sports, stocks,
etc. It includes graphics. Links to USA Marketplace for online
shopping, brokerage services, book stores, business opportunities and services,
software and hardware reviews, a career center, long distance carriers,
coupons, etc. It seems to provide
anything and everything for the everyday consumer.
It
would be usable in a middle or high school library, but less so in the
elementary level.
This
is an online source for searching weather conditions around the world. By typing in a zip code in the U.S., or the
name of a city, state/province and country, one can get up-to-date weather
information from reputable sources. One
can also access these sources by clicking on the maps or regions listed. Doppler Radar and satellite images are
available in the United States.
This
would be a fun site to visit with elementary social studies classes studying
geography and other countries, as well as science classes studying weather
patterns.
This rather bizarre web site claims that I was an olive in Latin America in the year 000 in my past life. The site would not let me back out of it.
This
is not a site I would use in an educational setting. I’m not sure what I would use it for.
http://dove.mtx.net.au/~punky/World.html
This web site provides live camera shots from the entire globe, including the South Pole. North America and Europe have dozens. With just the click of a mouse, one can take a virtual journey to see the sights around the world, from Big Ben in London to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, to St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. One can also see the traffic snarl in Perth, Australia or in Houston, Texas. Links to the local weather and news are provided at most sites I visited, as are attractions like the Tiny Town Railroad Museum (with live camera shots) in Denver, Colorado.
This
site was tremendous fun to visit, and well worth bookmarking for the elementary
school library computer. Students
studying other countries or regions of their own country could benefit from the
constantly changing photographs provided.