SmartLinks for Students

Add these interesting and free educational Web sites to your list of favorites. They’re especially fun on a rainy day! Turn off the television and take an Internet voyage of discovery. (Remember always to get permission from your teacher or technology instructor to visit Web sites from school.)

Math and Science

Ask Dr. Math
This site helps you find the answer to the question you meant to ask before the bell rang but forgot. Browse through the question archive, or ask your own unique question and receive an e-mail answer!

The Exploratorium
Animations and optical illusions make this site fun for the whole family. San Francisco’s Exploratorium has put its most popular exhibits online. Learn about optical illusions, listen to a human voice “morph” into a duck’s quack, and experience lots of other exciting and educational demonstrations. Note: This site requires Shockwave to view.

Figure This!
Free math resources and activities that challenge middle school students and encourage creative problem solving. Each challenge offers hints, answers, a complete explanation, follow-up facts, resources, and additional questions to think about.

Ocean Explorer
Follow along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expeditions and learn about oceanographic exploration technologies. Explore the ocean floor, learn about creatures that make their home in the sea, and go back in time to understand how technology and oceanic exploration have changed throughout the years.

OLogy
Excuse our slang, but this is a “way cool” Web site for learning all about different “ologies,” from biology to paleontology to archeology. Sponsored in part by the American Museum of Natural History, this lively site will keep you clicking “just one more” link. The "Meet the OLogists" page contains profiles of professional and student scientists, giving kids an opportunity to explore career choices and share other people’s experiences.

Science Knows No Boundaries
Explore the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Web site about how it uses science in countries around the world. Look for bugs in Australia, research ecology efforts in France, and drop in on many other projects currently underway around the globe. The site includes interactive slide shows designed to explain how scientists make their findings. Quiz yourself on what you know and research different scientific careers.

PBS for Kids
Spend hours exploring this interactive site for young people. This is an excellent site for a middle school student to share with younger brothers and sisters. Stories, trivia, music, science—it’s all here.

How Stuff Works
If finding out how stuff works is your thing, this Web site is for you! Find “QuickStuff” answers and explore in more detail how stuff works in the areas of computers, cars, electronics, home, science, entertainment, money, travel, and people. Easy to navigate and a favorite with children of all ages.

Social Studies and Language Arts

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids
Easy-to-digest content, games, and activities on the following topics in United States government: historical documents, branches of government, how laws are made, national versus state governments, the election process, and citizenship. Also includes links to other Web sites.

American Memory
American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials archived by the Library of Congress relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections. It may take a little effort to learn how to navigate the site, but your time will be well spent.

Book Adventure
Book Adventure is a free reading motivation program for children in grades K–8. You can create your own book lists from over 6,000 recommended titles, take multiple-choice quizzes on the books you've read, and earn points and prizes for your literary successes. Book Adventure was created by the Sylvan Learning Foundation and is a non-profit organization.

The Young Writers Club
This site for aspiring young writers has become so popular that it is currently not accepting more submissions until it publishes everything in the backlog. But this site still offers a lot, including the chance to see what other young people are reading and writing.

Little Planet Times Kids Network
Subscribe to a newspaper written by and for young people. Contribute articles and editorials. Or, write about your school for a chance to read about it on the “School Spotlight” page.

Digital Classroom
According to their mission statement, the “National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is not a dusty hoard (collection) of ancient history. It is a public trust on which our democracy depends. It enables people to inspect for themselves the record of what government has done. It enables officials and agencies to review their actions and helps citizens hold them accountable.” The site includes original source documents, recordings of famous speeches, and a “What’s New” section that makes it easy to see updates when revisiting the site.

FirstGov for Kids
Let this site speak for itself: “Welcome to the U.S. government interagency Kids' Portal. This site was developed and is maintained by the Federal Citizen Information Center. It provides links to Federal kids' sites along with some of the best kids' sites from other organizations all grouped by subject. Explore, learn, have fun, and don't forget to bookmark us!”

This site is a real interest-grabber! It has been divided into subjects you study in school, including arts, careers, computers, environment, fighting crime, fun stuff, global village, geography, homework, history, plants and animals, recreation, money, science, safety, space, and transportation. Within each subject, Kids.gov has divided sites into four categories: government, organizations, education, and commercial. The government sites may be federal, state, or military sites and generally do not sell anything.

CNN Student News
Every day you will find top stories written by CNN journalists, working in collaboration with teachers, that are appropriate in vocabulary and content for middle and high school students.

The New York Times Learning Network
This Web site from the New York Times brings news into the classroom in engaging ways. A daily feature story from the Times is accompanied by lesson plans developed in conjunction with New York's Bank Street College of Education. Vocabulary words from the stories are linked to definitions from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and other terms are linked to maps and geographic information from Microsoft® Encarta. A feature called "On This Day" reveals the headlines from the front page of the Times a year ago, and an "Ask the Reporter" feature lets students e-mail questions to a Times reporter.

Interdisciplinary Sites

Kids Hub
Kids Hub is a fun, interactive learning center for elementary and middle school students. It includes educational games, puzzles, quizzes, spelling activities, and subject guides. Kids Hub is free, requires no registration, and contains no advertisements. You may use any of the graphics on this page to link to KidsHub.org. Note: Many of the online learning activities require Flash Player.

The JASON Project
The JASON Project™ offers students and teachers in grades 4–9 a comprehensive, multimedia approach to enhance teaching and learning in science, technology, math, geography, and associated disciplines. The project delivers educational content through a print curriculum, videos, fully interactive Internet programming, and live satellite "telepresence" broadcasts.

PBS NewsHour Extra
News on this site is geared specifically toward a youthful audience. Links are easy to navigate and the typeface is large, making the site suitable for learners of most ages. On "Student Buzz," kids can catch up on important issues, including finding employment, the state of terrorism, and peace in the Middle East.

Fun Brain
A product of the Family Entertainment Network, this visually appealing site caters to a wide range of interests. Try it—you’ll like it!

Dictionary References
This online dictionary and thesaurus site has helpful hints for students who speak English as a second language and for generally increasing your vocabulary. It also provides links to foreign language dictionaries.

InfoPlease
Full of fun facts, this site offers a student-friendly atlas, encyclopedia, almanac, and dictionary. Search in categories such as countries, biographies, businesses, sports, society and culture, health and science, arts and entertainment, and history and government.

Discovery School
In their own words, “DiscoverySchool.com has changed, but it still has tools to help you study, games to challenge your mind, and tons of great clip art to use. In addition, there are nearly a dozen learning adventures that let you explore everything from Ancient Egypt to the Space Station.” All-time favorites include Brain Boosters, the Clip Art Gallery, Puzzlemaker, and Science Fair Central. Don’t miss the Homework Helper link.

United Nations Cyberschoolbus
The goal of this Web site is to provide information needed by students growing up in a global environment. It is an excellent example of using the Internet as a tool for learning. A number of activities and projects teach students about global issues in an interactive, engaging, and fun way.