This link bibliography includes great websites for elementary school students. Based on my review of many websites, I’ve chosen great links for K-6 students in math, science, social studies, and language arts. Choose a topic that interests you, and browse these wonderful online resources!

Great Science Websites

NASA For Students - Presented by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), this page is informative and extremely entertaining. Stories, games, art, photographs, an array of activities, and e-clips will help students learn about space and what it’s like to be an astronaut. Click on “NASA Kids’ Club,” and additional engaging interactive games appear. The games span a variety of fun activities and are organized by skill/grade level. Games include preparing Buzz Lightyear for a space mission, and downloading your picture into an astronaut’s spacesuit for a dance mission in space. Date visited 6/8/09. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/ndex.html

National Geographic Kids –This website has amazing photographs and videos of animals and places on earth to explore. It’s visually bright and interesting, and kids can easily navigate the many cool sections of science and nature fun. Sections are Animals, Games, Stories, Activities, and People and Places. Don’t miss the informative Creature Features, which are complete with animals’ sound effects. Kids, especially nature lovers, will find this site irresistible! Date visited 6/8/09. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

Kids' Planet - Defenders of Wildlife - Presented by the nonprofit organization, Defenders of Wildlife, this site offers great information on protecting wildlife species and habitats. Learn about different species from beautiful pictures, reading fact sheets, watching videos, and listening to animal sounds. Includes stories, coloring sheets, and games to help educate kids on endangered species and things they can do to get involved with this important cause. This is another cool website for nature lovers! Date visited 6/9/09.http://www.kidsplanet.org/

OLogy - “Ology” means “the science of,” and this website includes information on different sciences from Archaeology to Zoology. This site is sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and it teaches about these sciences as you journey through space, seas, deserts, and other places of interest! Each field of science includes “more stuff” – fun stories, activities, and games. Other topics to search are At the Museum, Ask a Scientist, Advanced Science, and Highlights. Date visited 6/9/09. http://www.amnh.org/ology/

Science News for Kids – This site is dedicated to current science news for children ages 9 – 14. It offers interesting stories accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, and additional useful materials like books, articles, and Web sources. Kids have the opportunity to submit comments on the subject matter, experiment with mathematical puzzles, and get ideas for science projects. It’s divided into six appealing zones of interest: Puzzle Zone, SciFiZone, ScienceFairZone, GameZone, LabZone, and TeacherZone.

Funology.com – This weird science page is all about making science fun! Weird Science topics include Physics, Biology, Weather, Chemistry, and Holidays and Seasons. Find experiments to perform, recipes, crafts, magic tricks, jokes, and other fun ideas. The experiments (Chemistry) include over 50 projects that you can do using common household items. Examples are making a salt volcano, homemade silly putty, and a burping bottle. This site lives up to its promise as a guaranteed “boredom buster!” Date visited 6/10/09. http://www.funology.com/laboratory/

Weather Wiz Kids – A television meteorologist named Crystal Wicker, designed this website especially for kids to help them learn about the exciting news of weather. Topics include an array of weather events, conditions, experiments, safety, jokes, games, folklore, and more! Interesting pictures accompany the explanations and features. Kids can learn their local forecast and some interesting weather information. Date visited 6/6/8/09. http://www.weatherwizkids.com/index.htm

Games Planet Arcade – Presented by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this site focuses on ocean and air themes. The interactive arcade games and activities include fun and educational games called Water Life, Migration Game, and Scavenger Hunt. Kids will learn important environmental messages as they are entertained! Date visited 6/10/09. http://games.noaa.gov/

Great Math Websites

AplusMath – This website is simply designed, but is an easy way to help kids improve their math skills interactively. It’s divided into four main straightforward sections. Student’s skills can be tested performing different math operations in Flashcards section and your own flashcards can also be created here. The Game Room section includes a variety of games like Planet Blaster, and Matho. There is a Homework Helper where you can check if your answers to a problem are correct and the Worksheets area allows you to create and print additional problems to practice offline. Date visited 6/1/09. http://www.aplusmath.com/

AAA Math –This site features a wide range of interactive math lessons. The lessons are divided into different math topics and different grade levels (Kindergarten through Eighth grade). Students can practice each topic and receive immediate feedback as they master it’s concepts. There are hundreds of pages of arithmetic skills and interactive practice activities. Date visited 5/31/09. http://www.aaamath.com/

CoolMath4kids.com - This math site is designed for students pre-algebra and up (13-100)! It’s a fully interactive site that allows kids to sharpen their math skills through lots of activities, cool games, and animated demos. The site advertises itself as “an amusement park of math and more - especially designed for fun, fun, FUN!” Brain twisters, coloring book pages, and games for a variety of ages make this site an enjoyable way for kids to improve their math skills! Date visited 5/31/09. http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

Funbrain Math Arcade- This is an educational and entertaining website that combines math skills with arcade games. There are math games for grade levels 1 – 8. Fun, virtual games include Math Baseball, Mummy Hunt, and Bumble Numbers. Play games and advance your token on the Math Arcade board game. Games get harder as you progress and reaching the end can be a challenge! The good news is, you won’t have to start all over if you quit. You can use the assigned password and resume play where you left off. This site changes learning math concepts into a game!

http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html

Prongo.com – This is another educational math site for kids that features fun, interactive math games. Math games are organized by ages 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12. Math skills can be practiced in fun games like Batter’s Up Baseball and Lemonade Larry. There are also games like checkers, matching, connect the dots, and mazes. A stock market game uses real-time stock prices and teaches about the stock market! Date visited 6/9/90. http://www.prongo.com/

Math Playground – This site is packed with exciting math games for elementary and middle school students. It features categories for Math Games, Word Games, Logic Puzzles, and Math Videos. Games are fun and challenging and include names like Weigh the Wangdoodles, Alien Angles, Calculator Chaos, and Math at the Mall. Word problems are listed by recommended grade level. Hints and help are provided for students when the answers aren’t correct. The videos can also help stumped students by presenting clear definitions and explanations in a chalkboard type lesson. Date visited 6/9/09. http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html

BrainPOP Brain Pop is an educational and fun site for students and teachers from grades 3 through 12. The site is great for learning all about the world around you and provides animated movies in over 650 curricular topics within Science, Math, Technology, Health, Social Studies, and Arts & Music. Other features related to each topic include quizzes, activities, experiments, timelines, and Q and A. This site can be used easily by individual students or by teachers for a whole group. Although parts of the site are free, a yearly subscription is necessary to use all the site’s resources. Date visited 6/7/09. http://www.brainpop.com/

BrainPOP jr– This page contains more wonderful BrainPOP resources for younger students K through 3. Date visited 6/7/09. http://www.brainpopjr.com/

Great Social Studies Websites

Kids.Gov – This is the official U.S. Government site for kids. The Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) maintains this site and provides links to over 1,200 websites. The linked websites are from other government agencies and educational sites of interest for kids. It’s organized for children by grade level (Grades K-5, Grades 6-8) and is divided into government related topics of interest. The site’s popular links are Test-Taking Tips, Games and Activities, Alamosaurus, Constitution, Careers, State Websites, and Animals. Date visited 6/609. http://www.kids.gov/

Ben's Guide to Government – Choose a grade level range to explore, and let Ben Franklin teach you about our U.S. government. This site (and Ben) presents the information in clear understandable terms. Topics include explanations of history, documents, government organizations and processes, citizenship, symbols, and more! There are also puzzles and games to print out or play interactively. It’s a fun way to learn about our country! Date visited 6/8/09. http://bensguide.gpo.gov/index.html

White House 101 – This website is another informative site that provides kids with information about our country’s government. It features a large variety of information about the White House, U.S. government, and the President. There are slideshow photographs of the White House, the Presidents, the first family, trips, and events. This is a great site for kids to learn info on the histories of the White House as well as the pets who have resided there! http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/white_house_101/

Oregon Trail – This website was created by the teachers who also created the award winning documentary film, which aired on PBS. Like the film, this site contains fascinating information about the story of the Oregon Trail and the people who traveled it. Curious kids and history lovers will thoroughly enjoy tales of this adventure! Date visited 6/9/09. http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html

Afro-America Kids' Zone – This website is the Kids’ Zone area of the Afro American Newspaper. It’s a fun, informative site for kids to discover facts about Africa and Africa’s people. Information is organized across the topics Brain Teasers, Myths and Fables, All Fun and Games, and Discover Africa. The variety of activities and artistic design make this an appealing learning experience. Date visited 6/9/09. http://www.afro.com/children/children.html

America's Story – This kid friendly website takes a fun and educational look at America’s historical past. The Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, presents it! It’s a comprehensive collection of fascinating information, which tells the story of America’s history. The information is organized into the topics Meet Amazing Americans, Jump Back in Time, Explore the States, Join America at Play, and See Hear and Sing.

Date visited 6/10/09. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi

Lewis and Clark Expedition – This website provides an abundance of historical and biographical information about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Information includes interesting facts about the major and minor participants, the purpose, the timeline, maps, and more! Students can enter the journey along with Lewis and Clark by playing an interactive game where they become the expedition leader. They’ll make key decisions and learn all about the journey’s hardships as they lead the way! Date visited 6/10/09. http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/

New Perspectives on the West – As the website title indicates, this site explores the many aspects of our American West. This vast collection of information provides a journey back in time. It includes profiles of the men and women, timelines of events, and historical sites and natural features that all shaped Western history. This is a great way to explore the Old West and find information for research papers. Date visited 6/9/09. http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/

Amazon Interactive – This website allows you to journey down the Amazon River. Students can explore the geography of the Ecuadorian Amazon through online games and activities. The site teaches all about the rainforest and the Quichua people who call it home. As they play the Ecotourism Simulation Game, they’ll try their hand at running a community-based ecotourism project along the Río Napo. This is an entertaining way to discover the ways in which the Quichua live along the Amazon! Date visited 6/10/09. http://www.eduweb.com/amazon.html

Great Language Arts Websites

Kids Read – This is a wonderful website for kids to explore children’s literature. Information is provided about their favorite books and authors. There are interesting interviews with contemporary authors, reviews of cool new titles, and special features about great books to read! Kids can also enjoy plenty of “fun stuff” like literary games, polls, and contests. Date visited 6/10/09. http://kidsreads.com/

Giggle Poetry – This site contains so much poetry fun for kids! It features a Poetry Class where kids can learn how to create poetry, nursery rhymes, and limericks. It also features Fill-in-the-blank poems, Poetry Theater, and more! There are interviews with favorite poets, funny contests, and humorous poems. This is a fun and interesting way for kids to learn about poetry! Date visited 6/10/09. http://www.gigglepoetry.com/index.aspx

Grimm Fairy Tales – This site features folk and fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. These wonderful children’s literature classics are wonderful tales of magic, princesses, animals, and amazing creatures! Kids can hear and read a collection of narrated animated stories. There are also links to coloring downloads, games and other fun “kid stuff.” Date visited 6/10/09. http://www.grimmfairytales.com/en/main

Spelling City – This is a great site for kids to practice and learn their spelling words. Kids can enter their spelling lists and click, Test Me. A real voice will say each word and even put it in a sentence. After the words are entered, Check Me will grade the test. When tests are completed, students can print out a report, retake the entire test, or retest on spelling words that they missed the first time. Teach Me, is another feature that reinforces learning by speaking and displaying the correct word spelling. Kids can also play fun word games like Unscramble, Word Search, Which Word?, and Missing Letter. Date visited 6/11/09. http://www.spellingcity.com/

Highlights Kids.com – This site offers all the reading fun of Highlights Magazine online. There are magazine links for this month’s and next month’s magazine. Monthly magazine links include Fun Finder, Hidden Pictures, Games and Giggles, Story Soup, Express Yourself, and Science in Action. There is even additional fun online! It’s fun and educational and could occupy a kid for hours! Date visited 6/11/09. http://www.highlightskid.com/

HIghlightsKids.com

Storyline Online – This site is presented by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, and features online stories, which are wonderfully read by celebrities. Kids can choose from a selection of stories and watch as a familiar entertainer shares it with them. The celebrities do a great job of introducing themselves and their stories, and it’s a pleasure to sit back and enjoy as the read and pictures are shared. There are also follow-up activities provided for each story. I choose James Earl Jones and it was quite a treat! New celebrities and books are added to the story list, so kids shouldn’t get bored at this site! Date visited 6/11/09. http://www.storylineonline.net/

Time for Kids – This is Time Magazine’s site for kids and it provides a great resource of literary fun for children. It features articles in a variety of current topics including entertainment, science, animals, trends in school, the country, and the world. The site is packed with interesting research, pictures and photographs, online games, polls and homework help. Date visited 6/11/09. http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/