Review: "Wise Geek"- where you can get answers of your common questions!

I try to include the links or site at this blog, where you can learn something. I love to search the web and where-ever I find any useful link, I write about that site/blog or link. My intention is to provide as many learning posts, which could be informative for teachers or students, as well as parents and kids.
Today's site is not exactly for kid but teens and adults can use the link to browse for general knowledge.

Wise Geek is one of the sites, which is created by a team of writers and editors (over 50 contributors) to provide clear and concise answers to common questions. Access to the web site is FREE.

Who is behind all this effort, you can check at this link: Who is Wise Geek

Check the FAQ section for more information.

There is a list of questions at the home page, but if you don't get the answers to your questions, then just write your question at a search box and click it. Right now they have more than 19,200 articles.

Link to the site: wiseGEEK: clear answers for common questions

Learn how to create a school web site- FREE at "Wiggle Bits"

Internet provides many free opportunities to build up your own web site or blog, but most of the time, tutorials are short and most of the time you need an easy way to create a web site or blog.

"Wanda Wigglebits" provides this opportunity for teachers and kids atWiggle Bits to learn how to create or build a web site.

It is a 'learn-as-you-go' project, because you are learning to do it yourself. So for teachers it is a must visit site, where you can allow your students to learn and take their assessment on the basis of what they learned from the site.

Acheienements: Site is featured at many places as an online resource in school, education and technology catagory.
More at Awards and comments link.

At many links provided by "Wanda", there are lessons to act. She says:
"If you can follow a recipe, you can build a Web site. And when you're done, you'll be on the Web not only as a surfer but as a CREATOR!"

Lessons are easy to follow, and you can not only use it to learn to create web site for school, but for yourself or small business purpose, this tutorial can help you a lot.
Get Started link

Links for teachers to start educational blogs

Today there is lot of scope for teachers to have their own blogs, and thus make better use of blogging platform. Teachers can stay connected to their students, their parents.

What you can do more with blogs, is explained byBlogger:

"With Blogs you can update parents about their children's progress and keep them posted on upcoming events; publish a class or school newsletter; share photos and student work; post course documents, projects and results; and easily assign collaborative group projects online with an easy way to track students’ progress.

Students can use Blogs to communicate ideas, photos and class notes, improve their writing skills, and even jump right into web publishing without having to learn HTML. Free blogs, accessible from any computer that’s connected to the Internet, can help students easily create hubs for collecting information for both long and short-term projects; store information as unpublished drafts; collect feedback on their work from classmates, teachers and parents; and take on collaborative projects where multiple students can work and comment.

Even school sports teams, dance clubs and other extracurricular school groups can use Blogger to communicate with parents about upcoming events; share group calendars; and offer event highlights and pictures. Blogs give students the opportunity to reflect, to vent and most of all to share their experiences."

1- My ecoach discusses about "Class room Blog and Wikis- How can classroom communication and collaboration be enhanced with the usage of internet blogs?"

Page link

How things work?

I would be reviewing here some sites which may be interesting and useful for children and teachers as well, about "How things work?".


1-This link is for computer lovers:

This site provides you with computer hardware, computer software, internet and lots of other related stuff information. You may get all the necessary information you may require to know how things work?
Site link: How stuff works
You may get explainations about these topics at the site.
. Auto
• Business & Money
• Communication
• Computer
• Electronics
• Entertainment
• Food & Recipes
• Health
• Home & Garden
• People
• Science
• Travel

It's a good idea to sign up for their weekly newsletter, which is an easiest way to keep up with all the stuff going on in the world. You may select the topic you like to know about from a given list.

* Get newsletter
* Reference link takes you to the page, where you can get informations about: Geography, History, Humanities, Industry & Technology, Life Science, Physical Science & Math, Recreation, Social Science.


2- The MadSci Network is a site, where people can ask questions and learn more about the world around them. It has evolved into an interactive science teaching and community outreach tool, staffed and maintained by volunteer scientists and engineers from around the world.

The MadSci Network made its debut in September of 1995 as part of Washington University's, Young Scientist Program, a student-run organization dedicating to improving science literacy among K-12 students in St. Louis.
The MadSci Network fields questions in 26 different subjects, covering topics in astronomy, the biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, engineering, and physics. In 1999 alone, more than 900 scientists volunteered their time to answer more than 25,000 questions from K-12 students and the general public.

Main focus has been their free Ask-An-Expert service, which receives 90-150 questions a day from visitors in the U.S. or as far away as Malaysia, Chile and even Antarctica. The people asking questions are as young as 4 years to as old as 88 years of age. Nearly 800 scientists, also globally distributed, provide answers to your questions. The interactions with K-12 students work advantageously, both for the purposes of science education, and for the purpose of increasing their computer literacy.
More about the site: Introduction
The MadSci site has received notoriety from organizations including the U.S. Department of Education, Science magazine, New Scientist, and the BBC.
If you have an email address, access to the WWW and an interest in telling others about the wonders of science, then join the team.
Information and an online sign-up form live at: Join here

3- Ask Dr. Universe is a site where Dr. Universe tackles all questions, experts in just about everything. From global warming to neural networks. From Jane Austen to soil nematodes. From cow belching to quasars. You can ask questions at any topic, and search the site for many facts of life.

Ask Dr. Universe is brought to you by University Relations at Washington State University and is made possible through generous support from Microsoft Corporation.

4- Stanford University presents "Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing"(AIM) is a continuous learning community of industrial professionals, academics, and students passionate about the making of real things that improve people's lives. It is a cooperative venture among Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, School of Engineering, and member industrial firms.

"(AIM) Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing"has developed an introductory website for kids and adults showing how various items are made. It covers over 40 different products and manufacturing processes, and includes almost 4 hours of manufacturing video. It is targeted towards non-engineers and engineers alike. Think of it as your own private online factory tour, or a virtual factory tour, if you wish."

Includes products like candy, cars, airplanes, or bottles - or if you've been interested in manufacturing processes, like forging, casting, or injection molding, then this is the place to search.

AIM site link

Sign up for AIM e-mail list at the site home page.

5- How products are made? explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, from daily household items to complicated electronic equipment and heavy machinery. The site provides step by step descriptions of the assembly and the manufacturing process (complemented with illustrations and diagrams) Each product also has related information such as the background, how the item works, who invented the product, raw materials that were used, product applications, by-products that are generated, possible future developments, quality control procedures, etc.

For example, you can find here descriptions of Air Bag, Air Conditioner, Artificial Snow, Automobile, Battery, Blue Jeans, Chewing Gum, Coin, Compact Disc, Credit Card, DVD Player, Fireworks, Hologram, Jet Engine, Laser Pointer, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Nuclear Submarine, Paint, Popcorn, Refrigerator, Telephone, Television, Temporary Tattoo, Vaccine, Vacuum Cleaner or Watch.

This searchable site is suited for a general audience and the descriptive language of this reference material is easy to understand and to follow. So go ahead we invite you to learn about How Products Are Made!
There is a list from A to Z catagory, but if you find it difficult to search for your product, there is a search box at the home page, where you can enter the product name and click "Go" to get the instant results. There are also some inventors biographies which might be interesting to read.

Site link: How products are made?

"About the kids"- A foundation helping nurture the lives of children!

"About The Kids Foundation" operates exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. The organization aims to help nurture the lives of children academically, as well as improve their home life, by providing children and their parents a useful one-stop information resource for:

* Homework Assistance
* Creative Entertainment
* Health Resources
* Family Law Resources
* Parenting Advice

Children and their parents have a safe place to find highly rated and relevant information about educational topics, homework assistance, how to improve parenting skills, family law, legal resources and much more. It is our hope that the website will provide some of the key tools to help children grow up to be happy and successful adults.

Established in January 2003, The Foundation’s website currently contains approximately 7,000 prescreened internet links that provide useful information for parents and kids.

"The Internet has become a tool for our everyday lives, but parents and kids need resources they can trust for quality information," said Joseph Ekman, founder of the Foundation. "Many websites give information on math, reading, science and other subjects, but which ones can parents and kids go to and trust for valuable information - not just slick promotions and pop-up ads? For parents and children that are serious about learning, we’ve done the research and developed a resource you can rely on."

About the Kids.org

* Kids resources pages provides links to many sites, which are safe and useful, covering many topics.

* Parenting sites
*

The world’s largest Internet Safety site “Wired Kids”

It is very difficult to search at the net for safe sites, because even parents and teachers need some guideline, to look for safe and entertaining, educational sites. "Wired Kids.org" can be a great help for parents, educators and children, because it provides links to safe and entertaining sites from all over the net.

Wired Kids, Inc is a U.S. charity dedicated to protecting all Internet users, especially children, from cybercrime and abuse. It operates several programs and Web sites designed to help everyone learn how to protect their privacy and security online and to teach responsible Internet use.

WiredKids: The Ultimate Online Safety Project Dedicated to Kids, Tweens & Teens

The Internet really is presenting parents with the opportunity for "quality time for the new millennium. The Internet is a wondrous tool. It exposes our children to new idea's, cultures and people. But, it also exposes them to dangers.In this section you will learn everything you need to now give your kids "Net Smarts".
Safety Information for Parents

There are six types of risks our children face online:
1. They can access information that might be inappropriate for them. This includes pornography, hate, intolerance, bigotry, gore, violence, hoaxes, and misinformation and hype.
2. They can access information, do things, and purchase products that might be dangerous to them. There are sites that offer bomb-building recipes, sites that sell guns, alcohol, poisons, tobacco products and drugs, and sites that offer gambling online.
3. They can be stalked and harassed by people (often other children) who are rude, insulting, and make threats, or may send them viruses or hack their computers.
4. They can give up important and private information by filling out forms and entering contests online, and, as a result, be targeted by irresponsible marketers using unfair marketing techniques.
5. They can be scammed or defrauded when they buy things online, and risk disclosing our important financial information to others, like credit card and pin numbers and passwords.
6. They can be lured by cyber predators who want to meet them face-to-face.

Parents need to deal with the fact that your children might be intentionally accessing inappropriate sites, doing dangerous things, and putting themselves at risk. That's the nature of children. (It's especially the nature of teenagers!)

To know more and download "parenting online guide book":
Click here

For Teachers:
Educators section

Search engines where you can search for childrens sites, suggested by "Wired KIds.org:
Search engines

Site link:
WiredKids: The Ultimate Online Safety Project Dedicated to Kids, Tweens & Teens

How to shape your child to an excellent character!

This is a free e-book for parents, and educators, who are concerned not only about their children's future, but about development of their young ones as a good human, a good muslim. This parenting book is a short manual, but it would be a very useful and informative for all.

This book is from "Islamic World.net and book is an effort from "Women's club, University Kebangsaan,Kuala Lumper, MALAYSIA"

In the introduction section it says:

"According to Imam Al-Ghazali, a child is like an uncut diamond. The parent's responsibility is to cut, shape, and polish their child's soul until it becomes a glitteringly beautiful jewel, pleasing to the eye of Allah. Clearly, it is the parents who determine whether their children will become of fine character or not.

Every parent wishes to raise their children to become noble souls, good in every way; but, many do not know how to achieve that goal in an effective manner.

There are two primary requirements:

1- Parents have to know how a child's character or personality is developed.

2- Parents must themselves possess right values that will act as the basis for shaping their children's character; these right values are the traditional values of Islamic Character, and children must be raised to understand their role as Representative of Allah in this world (Khalifah Allah).

By combining these two necessary aspects of character development, parents will be able to shape their children to be excellent individuals in this world and the next.

And summary of the book says:
* It is best to shape your children's good character from an early age, but it is still not too late to correct the character of children of any age group.

* Children should be encouraged to be well behaved through directed positive influence. Reward them immediately when they do good. Gently admonish them immediately when they do wrong. Explain to them what they have done wrong, and clarify why it should not be repeated.

* Children need to be educated to observe certain limits in their freedom of action, and these are the limits that have been clearly set out for us by Allah when he gave us Islam as our perfect plan for a right life.

* We need to be consistent in encouraging positive values at every time and in every place.

* The application of Islamic values in raising our children is the best way to encourage the development of positive character.


Start downloading from this page:
Shaping Excellent Character-A manual for parents e-book


(I have taken these images from the book.)
This book is also available for non-muslim parents:
Shaping excellent character- A manual for parents (For non-muslims)

Review: "Enchanted Mind"--helping you to be more creative!

I believe that God has given the gift of self improvement to every human. Creativity is one of the talent, which can be developed as well, but how to do it?

Enchanted Mind is designed to help anyone, from age 5 to 105, to develop your latent creativity and have fun in the process.
Creativity explained at the site:

"Creativity is an attitude that can be cultivated and expanded. Once you have learned how to maintain a creative attitude, you can apply it to anything you set your mind to. The way to develop a creative attitude is to stretch and stimulate the mind daily to keep it flexible and resilient."

In their own words:

"Everyone has latent creativity waiting to unfold. Add flexibility to your mind with these simple techniques.

Science has speculated that we are using 10% of our brain capacity. If you want to access and cultivate that other 90% of unrealized potential, read on.

Expanding your brain and mind will accelerate your creative potential. Everyone has natural creative talent. We can help you unfold and expand your creativity through simple fun techniques."

Enchanted Mind has a lot of informative and interesting articles. I have taken a part of an article which might be interesting for all:

"Life magazine ran an article in July of 1994 about a group of nuns that were in their 80's, 90's and centenarians. All of these women were alert, articulate and showed no signs of Alzheimer's disease or any other form of mental degeneration. Why? They said they loved to do puzzles every day. They exercised their minds daily. This article focused on the fact that we think by creating dendrite connections in the neural pathways of the brain. Neurologically this is called "use dependent plasticity." If we don't continue to create new neural connections, the brain will begin to atrophy."

Link to the article: Attributes

Enchanted learning has a lot of link pages but better to check the Site map link first.

The site provides link to other creativity related sites: Great creativity sites

Free access to information and books at "Bartleby.com"

Bartleby.com is the place, where you may read classics of literature, nonfiction, and reference free of charge. It is equally a free resource for teachers, students and reading lovers.

Bartleby.com began as a personal research experiment in 1993 and within one year published the first classic book on the Web (Whitman’s Leaves of Grass).

More about Bartleby.com:

According to .Wikipedia:

"Bartleby.com is an electronic text archive, headquartered in New York and named after Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener. It was founded under the name "Project Bartleby" in January 1993 by Steven H. van Leeuwen as a personal, non-profit collection of classic literature on the website of Columbia University. The original founder is now chairman and president of the privately held company. Its main source of revenue seems to be web advertising."

Since its incorporation in 1999 and the release of preeminent contemporary reference works, Bartleby.com becomes the most comprehensive reference publisher on the web, meeting the needs of students, educators, and the intellectually curious. Among its references works are the Columbia Encyclopedia, the American Heritage Dictionary, and guides to anatomy, etiquette and mythology.

Site has search boxes for easy navigation, so you can enter the word and it brings the related results within seconds.

You can narrow your search by searching through subject link.

Dictionary link would take you to "The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language" page where you can search for more information.

"Kids Konnect"- A safe internet gateway for kids!

This is a free to use edutainment site, which was first created to fulfill the requirements of a model technology school in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. But later when this site went upto the internet, it was decided to make this site available free worldwide.

Kids Konnect.com

An interactive and entertaining, educational site for kids from a retired teacher "Jan Belzer". She has an experience of 34 years in elementary school.
Kids Konnect.com was established in 1999.

Primary goal:
To find the best sites available and provide the students with the safest and most effective way of utilizing the Internet.

The main goal behind creating the site can be divided into 4 parts:

- Allowing children to safely and effectively utilize the Internet.
- Site covers the curriculm areas taught in school, so site is also helpful in studies.
- Lots of fun site links for kids to visit.
- Keeping the site free.

Target:

For teachers, students, and parents who utilize KidsKonnect at school and at home.

Achievement: Kids Konnect receives 280,000 unique visitors each month, with an average of 700,000 pages viewed monthly with 2 pages per visit. It has over 413 pages right now, adding more pages whenever needed.

A very impressive and informative report about internet safety from the Kids Konnect.com:

I have taken a part of the article which is about "important facts to think about"

1. In a study of 4 million children between the ages of 7 and 17 who use the Internet, 29% indicated they would give out their home address and 14% would give out their email address if asked (NOP Research Group, 2002).

2. 81% of parents of online teens say that teens aren’t careful enough when giving out information about themselves online and 79% of online teens agree with this (Pew Internet & American Life Project, March 17, 2005).

3. Approximately 89% of sexual solicitations of youth were made in either chat rooms or through Instant Messaging (Pew Study reported in JAMA, 2001).

4. 1 in 5 youth ages 10 to 17 received sexual solicitation or approach in last year (Online Victimization, NCMEC, June 2000).

5. “30% of teenage girls polled by the Girl Scout Research Institute said they had been sexually harassed in a chatroom. Only 7% told their parent because they were worried that their parents would ban them from going online” (Girl Scout Research Institute, 2002).

6. "86% of the girls polled said they could chat online without their parents’ knowledge, 57% could read their parents’ e-mail, and 54% could conduct a cyber relationship” (Girl Scout Research Institute, 2002).

7. Law enforcement officials estimate that as many as 50,000 sexual predators are online at any given moment (Dateline, 2006).

8. 42% of parents do not review the content of what their teenager(s) read and/or type in chat rooms or via instant messaging (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and NetSmartz, June 2005).

9. 95% of parents didn’t recognize common chat room lingo that teenagers use to let people they’re chatting with know that their parents are watching. Those phrases are POS (parent over shoulder), P911 (parent alert), BRB (be right back), LOL (laughing out loud) and A/S/L (age/sex/location) (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and NetSmartz, June 2005).

10. 30% of parents allow their teenagers to use the computer in private areas of the house such as a bedroom or a home office. Parents say they are more vigilant about where their teen(s) go online if the computer is in a public area of the household (NCMEC/ Cox5/24/05).

11. Nearly three out of 10 (28%) of parents don't know or are not sure if their teens talk to strangers online (NCMEC/ Cox5/24/05).

12. One-third of youth ages 8-18 have talked about meeting someone they have only met through the Internet (Polly Klaas Foundation, December 21, 2005).

To read full report:
Internet safety for kids and parents

Search at the site, taking time as there is a lot to discover. For example I searched for "stories online and the page came up with 68 site links.

I have searched through some links and providing the page link as well for easy browsing:

* Doorway to the internet providing you with very cool links to other kids sites.
* Online encyclopedia and reference guide
* Fun sites for kids
* Word games sites
* Primary Mathe sites
* Maths sites
* Phonics sites
* Quotables

Review: "Random acts of kindness"-inspiring you to practice kindness!

The Random Acts of Kindness provides free educational and community ideas, guidance, and other resources to kindness participants.

About the foundation: As people tap into their own generous human spirit and share kindness with one another, they discover for themselves the power of kindness to effect positive change. When kindness is expressed, healthy relationships are created, community connections are nourished, and people are inspired to pass kindness on.

Established in 1995 as a nonprofit organization, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a resource for people committed to spreading kindness. We provide a wide variety of materials on our website, including activity ideas, lesson plans, project plans, teacher's guide, project planning guide, publicity guide, and workplace resources on our website at http://www.actsofkindness.org/ all free of charge.

The Foundation has no religious or organizational affiliations; we encourage the practice of kindness in all sectors of society.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is the United States delegate to the World Kindness Movement, an organization that includes various nations. People in these countries promote kindness within their countries' borders and are creating a global network of kindness and compassion.

As people from different cultures and from all walks of life are joining to spread kindness, they are creating a powerful, synergistic action throughout the world.

Download link: FREE kindness stuff

Becoming a member is easy and FREE.

Another exciting service site offers free is that you can create your own kindness site. The purpose of the site would be to share your kindness activity or project with other people.

Link to start your own kindness site, but you have to register first to do it: Start your own web site

Read and download FREE e-books!

You would be surprise to know that internet has 1 million free electronic books. Reading lovers who enjoyed reading and downloading free e-books from "World eBook Fair", which was held from July to August4th-2007.

World eBook Fair grants you free access to a variety of 1/3 million free eBooks that you can download for personal use, for the month from July 4 - August 4, 2006.
In the following years, they plan free access to 1/2 million eBooks in 2007, 3/4 million in 2008, and ONE million in 2009.

Visit the World eBook Fair, World eBook Fair, July 4th to August 4th 2008 to download for FREE your sellection of One Million eBooks.

Project Gutenberg has been joined by The World Public Library and Digital Pulp Publishing, Internet Archive, along with Jim Baen [R.I.P.], in the creation
of The World eBook Fair, providing you million of e-books free. Let's have more information about Project Gutenberg where you can still download and read FREE e-books.

Project Gutenberg: It is the first producer of FREE electronic books(ebooks). It has the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks.
Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.

According to WikiPedia-free encyclopedia "As of October 2007, Project Gutenberg claimed over 22,000 items in its collection, with an average of over fifty new e-books being added each week.

These are primarily works of literature from the Western cultural tradition. In addition to literature such as novels, poetry, short stories and drama, Project Gutenberg also has cookbooks, reference works and issues of periodicals. The Project Gutenberg collection also has a few non-text items such as audio files and music notation files. Most releases are in English, but there are also significant numbers in many other languages."

According to The Wall St. Journal, 10/29/91 report:
" Today There Are 1 Million Free Electronic Books On The Internet. In large part, this is the result of efforts by Project Gutenberg, and their 50,000+ volunteers, who have been creating just such collections of electronic library materials starting two decades before their word "Internet" ever appeared on the front page or cover story of any major modern media outlet."

Project Gutenberg has over 100,000 electronic books available, and the target audience they have in mind is 1.5% of the world in this decade, and 15% of the world in the next decade.
Don't laugh, 15% of the world is already on the Internet now. . . .
However, even at only 1.5%, that is 100 million people.
Just 1/2 of the current United States population. . . .
If we get the average one of those 100,000 eBooks to those 100,000,000 people we are targeting. . .that is TEN TRILLION eBOOKS!!!

Project Gutenberg has never received even one million dollars in total donations over all these years yet has given away ONE TRILLION dollars worth of eBooks at just 10 cents a copy for 10 trillion eBooks.

Don't forget to "Visit the World eBook Fair, WorldeBookFair.com, July 4th to August 4th 2008 to download for FREE your sellection of One Million eBooks."

Link:
World eBook Fair

Review: "Dr.toy's Guide" --dealing in educational toys and products!

The Institute for Childhood Resources, a not-for-profit organization has created this award winning site.

"Dr.Toy's Guide" is called world's first website to provide information on the best in toys and educational products, offers year-round, award-winning toy and children's product information plus timely articles, useful resources, links and much more. These include toys, dolls, games, puzzles, books, software, CDs, audio and video discs and tapes, creative materials, construction toys etc.

Behind the scene: The person or expert behind the site is "Stevanne Auerbach, PhD"

More about Dr.Toy:
Dr. Auerbach, an established speaker, consultant, and author, is trained in child psychology, education, special education, and child development. Dr. Auerbach has a well-earned title, "Dr. Toy", dating to her first assignment with "Creative Playthings" (1968) where she developed its first education marketing program

Dr. Toy, Stevanne Auerbach, PhD, has been for many years one of the nation's and world’s leading experts on play, toys, and children's products. With 30 years of direct experience, Dr. Auerbach includes educationally oriented, developmental and skill building products from the best large and small companies in her four annual award programs. Many parents, teachers and toy buyers use Dr. Toy’s guidance in making selections.

Dr. Toy has written 15 books and many dozens of articles about play and toys for national and regional magazines and newspapers, has been featured as an expert in articles by others, and has been a featured guest on radio and television programs throughout the country and outside of the USA.

* Dr. Toy's Tips on Selecting Toys and Other Children's Products
* You can also ask any question relating kids toys at thisLink
* Enter your e-mail at provided box and get ready to receive their newsletter at your inbox. Click here

Some of the Dr. Toy's favourite sites

Edutainment sites for kids and parenets!

Edutainment is a term deriving from two words "Education" and "Entertainment" and it is well understood that the sites which are educational based but provide entertaining stuff are called "Edutainment" sites.

"Circle 1 Network" is an edutainment company, Combining learning with laughing and growing by sharing.
"Circle 1 Network" specializes in Web sites for parents and teachers looking for appropriate and educational online play to capture the interest of kids of all ages.
It was established in 1995. They have 3 sites,


1- KidsCom Jr., a Web site for kids and preschoolers. There are kids' games, educational and learning games, online coloring books, preschool activities and other games for preschoolers. (For kids 3-7 age)

Tips for internet safety from KIdscomjr.com

* Always have good manners and be polite when talking to someone else online.

* Ask your parents to spend time with you while online so that you can show them some of the neat things you can find online.

* Only use the Internet when your parents tell you it's OK, and only for as long as you are supposed to.

* Don't give out personal information like your address, telephone number or school name to anyone unless you have permission from your parents.

* Never meet with a cyberfriend or key pal unless your parents go with you or you have their permission to go alone.

* Don't break copyright rules by taking words, pictures or sound from someone else's Web site without their permission.

* Don't respond to any e-mail messages you get if they are strange, mean or upsetting to you, and tell your parents or teachers right away.

* Don't send pictures of yourself or your family to anyone unless you have permission from your parents.

* Stop right away if you see or read something on a Web site that upsets you and tell your parents or teachers about it.

* Don't put words, pictures or sounds on other people's Web sites without their permission.


2- "KidsCom" has kids games, chat rooms for kids, a virtual world, virtual pets and other child activities. kids' games focus on fun, learning and Internet safety. (For kids ages 8-15)
Link to the site: Kidscom.com

3- The third site is Parents talk which is a parenting magazine with parenting tips, family activities, crafts for children, help with a difficult child and other parenting information. Get parenting advice from parent experts. Share your stories and insights on the parent message boards.

If you want to ask any question go to the Link
- Register at their message board section to share your feelings on everything from parenting to health and well being.
Message board link

You may read articles about variety of topics like:

- Building self esteem, foundation for learning

"Make Stuff"- A site for hobbyist and crafters!

This is one of the site, where you can get a lot of "Do it yourself" ideas. People having interest in making crafts would like browsing these kind of sites, as there are a lot of projects, crafts to start working on. There is a lot of stuff at each page of the site, and it is distributed on topics basis, so its easy for you to search for your interest item.

Topics:

Crafts & Projects Great ideas for all kinds of crafts and projects for any season.

Cooking Recipes, and cooking tips.

Kid Stuff Easy art, crafts and cooking projects your kids can do.

Gardening For people who love to grow stuff!

Formulas & Remedies Homemade insect repellent, fertilizers, lotions, potions, bath salts.

Recycle It! Make something with it!

Sewing, Knitting, crochet, quilting and sewing projects.

Holidays Valentine, Easter, Mother Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas

I liked the page where there is a list of resources or ingredients used in different projects. And site has also guided where you can find those things.

* Resource list

* Link Pages takes you to the other craft or hobby sites.

Search at "Ask for KIDS" for educational stuff!

"Ask for Kids" (formerly known as Ask Jeeves for Kids) is an educational based search engine.

* Ask for Kids allows kids to ask questions and perform web searches, such as "When did Hawaii become a state?" or "What's it like to live in space?"or even "Convert 122 inches into feet" in the same way they would ask a parent, friend or teacher.

* The home page provide you with a picture of a pile of books with the names: Dictionary, Thesaurus,Almanac,Biography,Science,Clip art,Astronomy,World Atlas,Math help and history. So easily you can search for your subject.

* You can click on the link "Fun & Games", if you have finished searching and now want to relax, and play some online free games.

Why "Ask for Kids" was created?
In their own words:

"Kids have great imaginations and are curious by nature. That's why Ask for Kids has created a fast, easy, and safe way for kids to find information and answers online. Ask for Kids is primarily an educational Web site that kids can use for homework help and research for school projects.

Each Web site included in Ask for Kids is carefully selected by an editor. We include only "G-rated" pages and those written specifically for children. We select sites for the quality and depth of their content, and for safety. This criteria extends to the content of the pages presented on the Ask for Kids search results page, as well as the content of pages directly linked to on those results.

Ask for Kids focuses on modernizing its search engine technology, and giving kids tools that would make their searches experience better and more satisfying."

Create a free Islamic blog!

I have been blogging from few years, but could not get in touch with good Islamic blogs. But as blogs are getting popularity I could see many quality blogs which are created within year or so. And I like browsing blogs, due to a personal touch, but web sites providing same information don't attract my attention. The main reason of blog popularity is the freshness of content, recent news and thoughts, relevant to today's modern life.

I was really impressed to see My Minaret, which is a blogging network, providing free WordPress blog. If you have a little knowledge of WordPress or blogging, you can start blogging now at: My Minaret

Some features:

* There are 32 exciting Islamic themes, and you are free to choose any one for your blog.
* You can post content, images, video and audio links that can be played inside the blog.
* You can use this blog for Dawah purposes.





Manage content at your site: Guide to manage content

*** My blog at MyMinaret

Few Islamic blogs of note!

I usually check the Islamic sites, but as there is a professional touch, and most of the informations are alike, I rather prefer to read blogs. I am starting a new series of posts about Islamic blogs with some description. Here are few blogs of note:

1- Islam-Way for a perfect life:
Created by Yaasir Nazeerally, who is from a middle-class family from camp de masque pave. Currently employed in the Municipal Council of Beau Bassin Rose Hill - IT Section. Yaasir is a young active muslim, who have just started this blog in September. But being a youth, his articles are really very impressive.

* This is the article I liked at this blog Islam and youth a reality check

I hope that more posts would come, so keep checking the blog for updates.

Blog link: Islam-way for a perfect life


2- A glimpse into the life of a Muslimah: Created by "Umm Yusuf" . I am quoting the introduction of blogger and blog in her own words:

"I am an American convert to Islam, Alhamdullilah (all praise and thanks be to Allah. I was born and raised in the southern US. So, you can probably guess that I enjoy many outdoor activities. Such as: traveling, sight-seeing, and just generally spending time outdoors. I also enjoy learning how to cook (it’s a definite work in progress). Most of all, I like to learn and share my religion, Islam.
My goal for this blog is to share my thoughts and experiences as a muslim convert. If you are looking for debates then this is not the place for you as i will not indulge in debating or arguing my religion or way of life. However, if you are here to share your ideas and experiences in an intelligent way and with an open mind then welcome and enjoy!

I am not a writer. I do not profess or aspire to be one. My entries probably have plenty of gramatical errors and while I use spell check, I’m sure there are some misspelled words. But try to look beyond the writing to the core message of my posts. My mission is to get the ideas across as bumpy as the writing may be."

The posts I liked at the blogs are:
* 19 Things Sisters can do for Islam in America(or anywhere in the world really)

* Islamophobia Test- Will People React To Woman Being Abused While Wearing Hijab??

3- "For The Students, From The Students, By The Students." Yes this is the motto of an Indian school site Aymen's page, run by two MBHS Students - Aymen Mohammed and Aamer Ali,(now managed by Bestkids Web Solutions)

Aymen's Perception On Schooling:

"A school should not be a preparation for life. A school should be life."


Note: More sites would be added in future!

Sites and links providing help for safe internet use!

Whenever I log on to "internet explorer" and start browsing, as a parent often this question strikes my mind "how can we save our new generation from bad sides of internet?". Because the Internet offers kids many opportunities for learning, constructive entertainment, and personal growth. At the same time,there are risks, kids face online. Our duty as a parent or teacher is to educate themselves and our children about how to use the Internet safely.

My son is only 8 years old, but I am really worried about him, when he would start browsing the internet. And being a teacher I think this is my duty to spread the knowledge to everyone who want to learn "safe internet use" and want to safe their children from misuse of internet. So this post is part of my articles providing you links and resources where you can get information about this topic.

* Microsoft is also concerned about this fact that some guidance is essential at family level. So go to this link:
This post is about social networking sites, which have become a hot trend among teens. Guidelines from Microsoft

* Another detailed guide provides you information about:
- Age-based guidelines for kids' Internet use

- Kids and gaming: Help kids play it safe

- Help kids deal with hateful content

Get it here: Parental supervision and age-based guidance

* Get Net Wise.org is a public service brought to you by a wide range of Internet industry corporations and public interest organizations. This site provides you safety tips for kids, teens, and families. You also get information about "Risks relating internet use, technology risks, and privacy informations.

- Online Safety Guide where you
learn about the risks kids face online, based on age levels or types of activities. Concerns about privacy are addressed as well. Also: Quick tips for kids, teens, and families.
- At Tools for family you can search or browse for Internet safety products, including those that filter explicit or violent content, monitor a child's Internet access, or limit time online. See sample contracts for kids' Internet use.

- At Web sites for kids you can check out links to great sites families can visit together! Explore educational or entertaining Web sites for kids, teens, and families.

- Reporting trouble section is where you learn how to identify online trouble and get law enforcement contact information. Find national child advocacy groups that can help you recognize and report online trouble.

More useful links and sites:

* Great web sites for kids

* More internet safety sites

* A discussion board where you can get in touch with the like minded people who are also concerned about safe internet use.

- Connect Safely forum

* Few more links: Click here

Review: SafeKids.com helping you makes the internet safe for you!

Many days ago, a parent asked me that she wanted to have internet access at home, but feared that her teenage son might misuse it. At that time I was not sure about if there are sites to help parents helping the parents and teens for safe internet use. But I was happy to get link to many sites, which provide sufficient stuff for safe use of internet.

When creating this blog, this topic came first in my mind that I would be reviewing the site about “learning to use internet safely” ,SafeKids is the first site I am reviewing here. Where parents, teachers and teenagers can learn how to use internet safely.




SafeKids provides you information about the dangers of children using the internet. Rules, advice, and tips relating to child security and the web. This site can be considered family guide which helps us in making the internet and technology safe and productive.

* Tips and tools section contains the topics:
* Child Safety on the Information Highway
* Video & Audio Slide Shows
* Kids Rules for Online Safety
* Safe Blogging Tips for Teens
* Guidelines for Parents
* Family Contract for Online Safety
* Chat Room Safety
* Think Safety When Posting Online Video
* Privacy Issues

Every topic takes you to another article window where it is discussed in detail.
This part of the site provides you new articles update.
I want to write tips from one of the article. I have chosen this article, because I know a lot of teens are taking interest in having an online diary (blog) which is very easy to create.
Safe Blogging Tips for Teens:
• Be as anonymous as possible. Avoid postings that could enable a stranger to locate you. That includes your last name, the name of your school, sports teams, the town you live in, and where you hang out.
• Protect your info. Check to see if your service has a “friends” list that allows you to control who can visit your profile or blog. If so, allow only people you know and trust. If you don’t use privacy features, anyone can see your info, including people with bad intentions.
• Avoid in-person meetings. Don’t get together with someone you “meet” in a profile or blog unless you are certain of their actual identity. Although it’s still not risk-free, if you do meet the person, arrange the meeting in a public place and bring some friends along.
• Photos: Think before posting. What’s uploaded to the Net can be downloaded by anyone and passed around or posted online pretty much forever. Avoid posting photos that allow people to identify you (for example, when they’re searching for your high school), especially sexually suggestive images. Before uploading a photo, think about how you’d feel if it were seen by a parent/grandparent, college admissions counselor, or future employer.
• Check comments regularly. If you allow them on your profile or blog, check them often. Don’t respond to mean or embarrassing comments. Delete them and, if possible, block offensive people from commenting further.
• Be honest about your age. Membership rules are there to protect people. If you are too young to sign up, do not attempt to lie about your age. Talk with your parents about alternative sites that may be appropriate for you.
Source link: Safe Blogging Tips for Teens

Get the answer of your questions at "WikiAnswers"

Everybody have some questions at some times, and people who have internet are lucky to get the answers by just writing their questions in the search box and clicking it. Within seconds you are taken to hundreds and evern thousands of relevant sites, where the topic is discussed.

I use the google search engine for the purpose and despite of the fact that it takes hours to check different links for proper answer of my inquiry, I get the answer of my inquiry. But there are some helping sites at the net where you can save your time by just submitting your question and getting specific result within seconds.

WikiAnswers is one of the site, where people from all walks of life share their knowledge. This site is equally helpful for teachers, and students.

Some facts about the site:
* 346,772 free members are now working on 1,001,250 questions.
* According to analysis using ComScore data, WikiAnswers is second-fastest growing domain of the top 1,500 Web domains. For the first nine months of this year, WikiAnswers unique monthly visitor count in the U.S. has grown 317%, to over four million.

* According to a very recent report, WikiAnswers, has reached one million questions.
* To date, WikiAnswers currently contains over 2,100 categories of questions.

Mission of the site:

"Their mission is to grow a collaborative answers resource. In WikiAnswers, anyone, anywhere, is encouraged to ask a question on any topic and get a cooperatively written human-generated answer. We believe that two heads truly are better than one, and together we can provide fuller, richer answers.

Everyone has knowledge to share, whether it's about health insurance, digital cameras or the meaning of life. Everyone should have the opportunity to contribute their expertise with the world, and on WikiAnswers that opportunity is free and available for the curious to explore."

* Speciality of WikiAnswers is about creating a collaborative directory of questions and answers. They encourage everyone to add to and improve each other's answers instead of asking and answering the same questions over and over again.

* Anybody can contribute, any knowledge, to help answer other people's questions

To start:

1. Sign up and be recognized for your expertise. Sign up link

2. Ask a question on anything you're curious about. Ask a question link

3. Answer a question with your relevant, accurate knowledge of the topic. Answer a question link

4. Improve others' answers if you have relevant, accurate information to add. Improve others answers

Ask a question right now via this search box!

Ask a question:

Free resources and links to learn glass painting!

Glass painting is a popular, pleasurable art and craft. And internet provides lot of basic information and guidelines for this hobby as well. I have searched at the web to make this post useful for you. I have checked these all links and then enlisted them, but I would be updating my post, as I get more useful and free resouces.

This hobby is an amazing creative art. If you could learn basics of this art, then you can create "master pieces!".
Yes, if you love drawing and know how to create/ make innovative projects then you are going to create real professional touch pieces of art.

I could find many free resources where you can not only learn basics of "glass painting" but get ideas from free patterns. At some sites, you can download the black& white pattern and print it.

It is also called "stained glass painting", or "Reverse glass painting". Stained glass is often used in the making of windows and lampshades, but is also useful for boxes, clocks, cabinet doors, picture frames and other 3-dimensional projects.

1- Hobby craft Here at this site, you can learn the basics of glass painting, so for beginners it is a good start link.

2- A tutorial with pictures: Stain on glass and How to apply It

3- Art of stained glass This site is dedicated to providing step by step video and photo instructions, on a variety of techniques. step by step video and photo illustrations will include both original color photographs and short videoclips that are easily downloaded.
The site not only give you some guidelines for beginners but for professionals or mature artists it provides information on:
• How to cut glass - from large sheets to small pieces.
• Perfect tube hinges for stained glass boxes.
• Designing your own lampshades - panel and on mold.
• Assembling an Odyssey shade without tacky wax.
• How to build a bird feeder.
• Foiling heavily textured glass.
• Lampshade photography.
• Pricing your work.

Beginners can start from here:
Art of stained glass-begginers

4- Free and easy stain glass patterns
Lot of free patterns

5- FREE patterns at this site: Stain glass free patterns This site features only stained glass patterns for windows and panels. All patterns are absolutely and completely free.
Each stained glass pattern page features both a black and white and a colored version to give you color ideas. Just below the series of black and white versions, you will see a small, but complete, black and white version of the pattern. It looks small on your screen, but if you right-click on it, as save to your computer, you will be saving a full size stained glass pattern which you can use to resize as you please.

6- Warner-Criv.com This is a commercial site, but you can get a lot of ideas and patterns for your stained glass projects free from this site. They are offering 173 free patterns.

7- Harmoney glass
These patterns are for sale, but you can just copy the pattern.

8- Forums are a good place to discuss about the topic and get advice or tips. This forum is free to participate. And it is only for "Stain glass" topic discussion. So you can get in touch with other persons having the same hobby and interest.
Link: Stain Glass Square

9- Chickadee dee dee offers free stain glass patterns.

Learn drawing from free to offer sites!- Part 1

From my student age I love art, crafts and drawing. Now I am an art teacher for reception year class, and love working with kids, especially teaching them drawing or crafts.
I was really astonished to see that internet has a rich source of really free and quality stuff about art/crafts and drawing.
Before creating this blog, I had many sites links saved at my hard disk and often read those lessons or articles about drawing. Now this blog is providing me an opportunity to share all that stuff with the parents, teachers and of course children.

My readers would be happy to know that there are number of sites, offering free drawing lessons. So hold a pencil and paper and get ready to DRAW:

1- Artists helping children
Artists Helping Children is a Children's site dedicated to comforting children by empowering artists and others to donate artwork, donated murals, donated art supplies, donated toys and a lot of love to sick and needy children. Artists Helping Children also helps artists by giving them information on how they can help the sick and poor children by volunteering to paint murals and other art for hospitals, shelters, clinics, etc.
We also have filled this site with free coloring pages & coloring printouts for children to color with as well as 1000s of free arts and crafts projects for kids to use when they need some crafts ideas.
Link: Artists helping children

2- Learn how to draw and improve your skill in no time with the help of an online coach. Whether you're an art teacher, art student, or just a hobbyist artist you will find the step by step education that will give you the ability to bring those images in your mind into paper reality.
monthly newsletter, Just Draw It. It's delivered at the end of each month and will inform you about new info that has been added to the site. It's a great way to keep up with the latest an greatest drawing tutorials from the coach.

*Drawing techniques
*Drawing blog
subscribe to Blog to get updates.

3- free drawing lessons at Fine art education

4- KinderArt® was developed in 1997, because they think art should be an important part of any home or school curriculum, and if there are easy-to-follow lessons with readily available materials, it makes the lives of artists, teachers and parents much easier.
The goal of KinderArt® has been, to make art lessons and educational information accessible to people around the world.
In addition to the thousands of free art lesson plans, they offer printable activity pages, the art kitchen, educational links and articles, early childhood education resources and much more.
Everyone who visits KinderArt® is encouraged to share their experiences, questions, comments and ideas. The result? A wonderful variety of lesson plans and educational tips complete with an online children's art gallery.

* lot of resources at Kinder Art

* Bulletin board ideas at Kinder Art

* Art from recycled materials

5- For art teachers a must check site: Every day Art
Art Curriculum for Classroom Teachers and Homeschoolers:
On this page classroom teachers and homeschoolers can find resources for teaching art, including classroom art projects for kids and guidelines for class discussion. These children's art lessons are open ended to stimulate creativity, and are flexible enough to work with a wide range of ages and abilities.
Page link: Art Curriculum for Classroom Teachers and Homeschoolers

* What is Art?

I liked the sentence at the bottom of the page, saying "Art makes kids smart" and I took the picture of it.

Few useful resources for primary teachers!

These are few links where you can get a lot of resources for your primary level subjects. All the information, work sheets or teaching material are FREE to use.

1-Primary Resources

Primary Resources offers free worksheets, lesson plans and teaching ideas for primary and elementary teachers.
Subjects covered: Maths, English, Science, History, Religious Education, Geography, Art, ICT

It has loads of brilliant information, worksheets, and homework ideas on each National Curriculum subject, appropriate for both key stages.
The files are downloadable as Adobe Acrobat PDF files and can be printed off for FREE!
For Numeracy or Literacy syllabus and work sheeets it is must see site.




2- Top Marks is aimed specifically at pupils, teachers and parents.

Although they bias their resources to UK curriculum requirements, but they are appreciated globally as well. All sites featuring on Topmarks are carefully reviewed by teachers.
This is a free to use site, with the aim to provide:

* Easy access to the best educational web sites.
* For Teachers to use the web in the classroom.
* For Parents to support the education of their children.
Launched in September 1998, and was conceived by Sue Spolton, a primary school teacher and Chris Spolton who designs the site.

*At parents resource section, you can find articles written by practising teachers designed to help with the education of your child. Topics are:
Sand & Water Play, Learning Numbers, Learning Words, Homework Help, Learning to Read, Starting Secondary School.

*Primary Classroom Resources section includes: Maths, English, Science, Other Subjects, Maths Games, Victorian Toys.

3- Teach it
Launched in 1999,by English teacher Siobhain Archer, Teachit is a trusted education resource, a free online library of learning resources,used by thousands of teachers nationwide.

Specialising in English, Drama and Media Studies from primary to post-16, the online Teachit library offers 9,565 pages of classroom materials, schemes of work, lesson plans and teaching tools, all created by working teachers

Link: Teach it

*Teaching Ideas section
gives you teaching tips from the experts, essential news, and resources.

4- Crick Web provides Free interactive resources and activities for Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Subjects including:
Maths, English, Science, History, Geography, R.E., D.T., I.C.T.
(Three education stages in the U.K. covering the following ages;
Early Years/Foundation Stage for 4 to 5 year olds.
Key Stage 1 for 6 to 7 year olds.
Key Stage 2 for 8 to 11 year olds.)

What they are offering:
* 142 free to use educational interactive resources for Primary Schools.

* 12 free to use fun games for children aged 4 - 11.

* 70 web links to other free interactive, image and software resources.
(Highest number of daily visitors : 17,060 on 16th October)

Note: More sites and resources would be added as I get them.

Get Prayer time, calendar, and other useful information

Take advantage of these tools, which are very handy.

1- Prayer Times For 6 Million Cities Worldwide:

Prayer Times For 6 Million Cities Worldwide

Country: Select a country Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ashmore Cartier Islands Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Bassas De India Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Ter.. British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman_Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo Democratic Republic Cook Islands Coral Sea Islands Costa Rica Cote Dlvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech_republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Europa Island Falkland Islands Malvinas Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French S. Antarctic Lands Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Glorioso Islands Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala guernsey Guinea Guinea Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Is. Mcdonald Is. Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle Of Man Italy Jamaica Jan Mayen Japan jersey Jordan Juan De Nova Island Kazakstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao Peoples Dem. Rep. Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue No Mans Land Norfolk Island North Korea Norway Oceans Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paracel Islands Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre Miquelon Saint Vincent Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon_islands Somalia South Africa S. Georgia S. Sandwitch Is. South Korea Spain Spratly Islands Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard & Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad Tobago Tromelin Island Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine Under Sea Features United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay US Virgin Islands USA Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Viet Nam Wallis Futuna West Bank Yemen Yugoslavia Zambia Zimbabwe

2- Gregorian/Hijri calendar service



3- Date conversion from Gregorian to Hijri or Hijri to Gregorian

Date Conversion

Gregorian to Hijri Hijri to Gregorian Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Month: January February March April May June July August September October November December Year