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help students easily create hubs for collecting information for both long and short-term projects; store information as unpublished drafts; collect feedback on their work from classmates, teachers and parents; and take on collaborative projects where multiple students can work and comment.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