Suggested Sources for Kids and the Adults Who Care for Them - all on the Web: 

•   American Library Association's Great Websites for Kids - Chosen by children's librarians, this list also includes sites for parents and teachers.

·         Ask Jeeves for Kids - A plain-English search engine that can provide help on many topics.  Just type in your question and Jeeves will send back an answer.  More selective than most search engines.

·         Awesome Library - Awesome Library organizes the Web with 24,000 carefully reviewed resources,  including the top 5 percent in education.

·         Berit's Best Sites for Kids - This site helps parents enjoy fun and educational computing with their children.

·         B. J. Pinchbeck's Homework Helper - A delightful collection of over 700 useful sites for elementary and middle school kids, compiled by a 14-year old and his dad.  Sometimes slow to load, contains lots of ads.

·         Dictionary.com - Need to look up some vocabulary words?  This is the place to go!  Add this site to your favorites!

·         Thesaurus.com - A great site to use when looking for just the right word for your writing!  This is another keeper!  Add it to your favorites!

·        RhymeZone.com - Type in a word to find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more.Great to use when writing poetry!

·        WordCentral - Looking for an place to look up your vocabulary words?  Try Word Central for straightforward, easy to understand definitions.

·         Firstgov for Kids - Guide to federal government sources for children, includes a homework resource section; fun to look at too!

·         Four to Explore - Has a wide variety of topics and four quality websites on a each topic.  A great place to start your research!

·         InfoPlease Online Almanac - A little bit of everything.  Easy to use, includes an almanac, encyclopedia, calendars, dictionary, atlas, and biographies.  Has a homework center and "Fact Monster", a guide to frequently asked schoolwork questions.

·         KidsClick! - a searchable and browsable directory of more than 6,400 web resources for kids and those who work with them.  Indexed by grade level

·         RefDesk.com Ask the Expert Services - List of many similar services including some that are subject specific.

·         Reference.com - Comprehensive encyclopedia-type resource.  Very easy to use.  You'll want to add this one to your favorites!

Ask and Expert Sites

·         Ask a Question - Have a homework question?  Send your question in to a librarian and get an answer by email.

·         Ask Dr. Math - Have a math question?  This is a great place to ask it!

·         Refdesk.com - An "Ask the experts" website.

Science Sites

·         How Stuff Works - These authors know what they're talking about!  Loads of information written at a kid's level with referrals to other good sites on each topic.  Covers science, technology, and culture.

·         Animal Diversity Web - Concise info from the University of Michigan’s zoology department. Great pictures!

·         U.S. Naval Observatory's Astronomical Phenomena - For all you astronomy buffs, find information about eclipses, moon phases, star charts and more.

Math Help

·         AAA Math - Basic math skills, interactive practice, explanations of math topics on each page, and Challenge Games.

·         SparkNotes Math Guides - Created by Harvard students, well-written guides to math topics from pre-algebra through calculus. Requires free registration. Site also includes guides for the sciences.

·         Web Math - Very helpful problem solver for elementary through high school math.

Language Arts and Books

·         Spark Notes Literature guides - The online Cliff notes, created by Harvard students. Covers Shakespeare, poetry, drama, and classic fiction. Requires free registration.

·         Encyclopedia Mythica - An online encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend. The browse section is arranged according to world cultures. Includes a search engine for keyword searching.

History and Geography

·         Background Notes - The U. S. State Department’s guide to living and visiting in other countries. Good place to find cultural details: food, greetings, gift-giving, dating, dress, etc.

·         CIA World Factbook - Best source for general country information, statistics, maps. They’re the experts.

·         Constitution Online - Great for our 8th graders or anyone interested in learning more about the U. S. Constitution.  This site is a searchable electronic version of the U.S. Constitution, with history of each amendment

·         Library of Congress Country Studies - Complete text of handbooks on the history, culture and geography of many countries

·         Historylink 101 - The perfect website for all those "day in the life" classes, with photos, maps, artwork, statistics, biographies and narrative on ancient civilizations, Native American culture and history; the Middle Ages; and World War II.

·         SparkNotes History guides - Overviews of topics in American history through the Vietnam War, and European history through WWII. Requires free registration.

·         Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection - Best choice for high quality, printable maps from around the world.

Paper Writing, Academic Honesty

·         Copyright Kids - The Copyright Society of the U.S. wrote this excellent, jargon free explanation of copyright law, and the many misconceptions about its use.

·         Guide to Writing a Basic Essay - Simple steps to help write an essay.

·         EasyBib - Bibliography formatter for kids’ papers.

·         Noodletools Quick Cite - Another quick bibliography guide

·         Public Domain Image Sources - Avoid copyright problems; use these sources instead!

·         University of California Berkeley Library Guide to Internet Site Evaluation - The best guide out there on how to choose and evaluate Internet information.

Note to Parents:

Evaluating Homework Help Sites

Not all homework help sites are created equal.  Some are commercial, some run by volunteers.  Questions to ask before using:

·         Who is answering the questions and compiling the sources?  Is it teachers, librarians, or subject specialists?  How are they selected?  Are credentials given?

·         Who sponsors the site?  A corporation?  Volunteer educators?  Any possible ideological slants to the information presented, (i.e. religious, political, industry)?

·         What grade levels is the site geared towards?  Does it allow you to choose a grade level?

·         How are questions answered?  Does the site give guidance and hints, or does it actually answer questions?  What is the turnaround time for answers?

·         How is it organized?  Can children negotiate it easily?

·         How are concepts explained?  Does the pedagogical approach differ greatly from your child's teachers?  (If so, the child may become confused.)

·         Is it filled with ads?  The are distracting and may freeze your screen if there are software problems.  They can also distract children from the content.

Thanks to:
Lesley Williams
Head, Information Services
Evanston Public Library
 Who researched and compiled these sites.

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