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The sites are labeled by grade level to help guide you to those that best suit your students. In addition, I've added ratings to give teachers and students an idea of how much interactivity is available at each site. Some allow students to create from beginning to end, while others simply generate the final product with minimal effort. What you will not find here are basic virtual coloring sheets. I tried to find sites that would give students a chance to generate their own original works of art. What could be better? I will warn you that some of these sites will drag you in to create for long periods of time. Don't worry, you'll just be channeling your inner artist. Have fun!

National Geographic Maps: Tools for Adventure is the best everything-map site I have seen. The site was created by the Children's museum of Indianapolis. Maps are presented as the keys to adventure. Students learn to use maps to find their way, share information, look at patterns, and solve problems. There are six excellent interactive games for students to practice putting their math skills to use. Students can explore a pyramid by guiding a robot to hieroglyphs, find sunken treasure, explore Mars, go on an adventure, see GIS in action, and visit Adventure Island. I love the realistic feel of these games, as students explore and guide robots, they get a "live" video feed of where they are navigating. On the National Geographic Maps: Tools for Adventures site, you will find information about the Indianapolis exhibit, how to use maps, related map links, and lesson plans. This is one of those websites that my description just won't do justice to, be sure to check it out!

"I wanted to post a list that talked about how to "use" technology in the classroom, but I found myself revising that word "use" to the more general word, "model." The reason I did this is because so many teachers believe that if students aren't actively sitting in front of the computer screen themselves, then clearly technology is not being used in the classroom. This myth can be a gatekeeper of sorts for many teachers, and I wanted to create a list that both gives advice on how to "use" but also acknowledges that in simply modeling the use the of technology, the students are also learning to use it in an indirect way."

"I wanted to post a list that talked about how to "use" technology in the classroom, but I found myself revising that word "use" to the more general word, "model." The reason I did this is because so many teachers believe that if students aren't actively sitting in front of the computer screen themselves, then clearly technology is not being used in the classroom. This myth can be a gatekeeper of sorts for many teachers, and I wanted to create a list that both gives advice on how to "use" but also acknowledges that in simply modeling the use the of technology, the students are also learning to use it in an indirect way."

"Kidblog.org is designed for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each student with their own, unique blog. Kidblog's simple, yet powerful tools allow students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs. "

Think U Know Cyber Cafe is a virtual environment where students can practice their online safety smarts. In the cafe, students will help virtual kids make good choices when using email, texting, instant messaging, web browsing, creating an online personal space, and chatting in a chat room. Students are guided through a variety of scenarios where they must help the virtual kids make the right decisions about using the Internet.

"FREE printable certificates, recognition awards, and blank certificates, certificates of appreciation, honor, and merit from 123certificates.com Use this certificate maker to print rewards for students, friends, family, party guests, anybody. Reward the student of the week, the player of the game, the spelling bee winner, teacher of the month, employee of the year, a student that has worked hard, you can even reward yourself! It's as easy as 1, 2, 3! Reward somebody today!"

"The most dreaded word in school reading for students: book reports. Teachers assign them, viewing them as a necessary component of assessing reading comprehension. Book reports can be a contributing factor to 'readicide'. "Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools." http://stenhouse.com/html/readicide.htm. So, how can we as teachers continue to monitor our students understanding of reading material without killing the love of reading? Enter technology. Technology can help bring some excitement and creativity to the traditional book report while still displaying students understanding of reading."

"More-so than ever, content is available in abundance via YouTube. We, including our students, can consume content constantly from any device with an internet connection. Have you ever stopped to think about what it means when you upload your own original content to YouTube? Things like: How do I upload something? What settings are crucial to know about? How is this applicable to my classroom and students?"

Teachers create an online community of your classroom. Students log in with a code developed by you. share inspiration, ideas, reading, thoughts, post discussions, deadlines, homework, instantly create surveys for students, keep parents informed of daily projects.

"Friends play many important roles in our lives. The characteristics we value in a friend vary from one person to the next. This project uses the classic story, Charlotte's Web, to engage students in critical thinking about what makes a good friend. The Visual Ranking Tool offers students a non-threatening way to make decisions about key qualities of friendship, while also supporting literacy activities that build comprehension. "

"Most materials are easy to categorize, but not Oobleck. This substance has unique properties that take on the characteristics of more than one type of matter. Students learn the three states of matter and study the properties of each.Through investigation and research, students make a claim about the type of matter Oobleck represents and then use the Showing Evidence Tool to come up with proof to support their claim."

"Communication skills are critical for today's students. Reading, writing and the ability to tell a story set the stage for success. The Hub, a new TV destination dedicated to bringing kids and families together, is partnering with Discovery Education to support teachers in this important endeavor. Here you'll find inspiration to engage and inspire your budding writers. Meet the artists, editors and writers that bring good stories to life-and watch your students' communication skills soar!"

The basic principle of The Flat Stanley Project is to connect your child, student or classroom with other children or classrooms participating in the Project by sending out "flat" visitors, created by the children, through the mail (or digitally, with The Flat Stanley app). Kids then talk about, track, and write about their flat character's journey and adventures. Although similar to a pen-pal activity, Flat Stanley is actually much more enriching-students don't have to wonder where to begin or what to write about. The sender and the recipient already have a mutual friend, Flat Stanley. Writing and learning becomes easier, flows naturally, and tends to be more creative. This is what teachers call an "authentic" literacy project, in that kids are inspired to write of their own passion and excitement about the project, and given the freedom to write about many things through the rubric of the Flat Stanley character.

Lesson Plans for Parts of Speech

"Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Try the online interactive activities, or click below to find out how to get our engaging 15-minute video programs. Behind the Lesson provides information and teaching resources for each strategy. Watch our 10-minute professional development videos and explore the Web site for lesson plans, video and audio clips, downloads, and more."

Super cute and quick student describing how they use QR codes in their classroom to access favorite websites.

"QuizStar is a Web-based quiz maker that enables you to create, administer and automatically grade your quizzes online! With QuizStar you can - Manage classes and quizzes - Attach multimedia files to questions - Make quizzes in multiple languages - Access from any Internet-connected computer - Allow students to complete and review "

"This site is dedicated to the students and teachers who want to learn Scratch. To download all the video-tutorials and materials in this website, please submit your name and the mailing address of your school or institution through the 'Contact Us' link. You will receive a user name and password that will allow you to login and download these materials. You will also find instructions on how to use these resources."

Stories that have audio feature so students can be read to.