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What types of literacy resources are on the Internet for
Upper Elementary Teachers and Their Students?


Lesson Plans
Internet Projects
Collaborative Projects
Classroom Webpages
Background Resources
Listservs/Chats
Student 
Writing
Interactive 
Websites 
Professional Organizations
Design Tools 
for Teachers
Search Engines 
for Teachers
Search Engines 
for Kids
Lesson Plans (Online and Offline)
Usually sorted by grade level or subject, these can have links to online resources, templates, worksheets to print out, coorelations to content standards, rubrics, and extension ideas.

Online Internet Project Plans
These online projects were created for students to enhance higher level thinking skills and often involve students "visiting" links to find the answers to questions or engage in problem solving activities.

  • Webquest
  • SCORE Cyberguides
  • San Diego City School Triton Projects
  • Collaborative Websites
    These often come in the form of projects that schools collaborate on together; each class compiles different parts of data, uploads it to the website, and then the other classes can compare/contrast/respond to the data.  Another example is Thinkquest Projects which are created by students from different schools (even states or countries) and their work is compiled into an informative website for others.

  • Susan Silverman's Webfolio
  • NickNack's Telecollaborative Projects
  • Judi Harris' Designs for Collaboration
  • Index of Telecollaborative Projects from University of Northern Iowa
  • Classroom Created Webpages
    Many upper elementary grade classes are creating webpages to exhibit their writing, artwork, or overviews of what they are studying in their class.  Other classes have students that create webpages as part of a final project and the pages are online for other students to access so that they can find text appropriate for their grade level.

    Background Resources: Information and Graphics
    There are tons of websites dedicated to topics, themes, and units relevant to teachers.  You can use these information sites to build your own background knowledge, answer student questions, and locate graphics and photographs that may enhance your unit.

    Listservs / Discussion Lists / Newsgroups / Chats (for students and teachers)
    You can "subscribe" to these mailing lists that focus on certain topics.  A listserv is typically published regularly and compiles participant's comments in one threaded file.  A newsgroup often published individual comments in a list; you can read and resond to comments and then your comments become part of the archives.  Chats are often interactive and real-time.

    Student Writing Exhibit Sites
    Students can respond to topics and prompts and then upload their response onto a webpage to be exhibited with other similar pieces of writing.  This can be the result of an online project, answers to survey questions, etc.

    Interactive Websites Designed for Students
    These pages can take the form of interactive quizzes that report scores back, sites that "change" children's data that is input, sites that allow students to move through by following a path of their choice, or sites that contain small java applets or games that kids can play while online.

    Professional Organizations / Topic Experts
    Almost all of the professional teaching organizations have a web page online.  You can access membership information, links to related resources, a portion of published journal articles, and usually a listserv.  Experts on certain subjects can also be reached to ask questions that you can not find the answers to anywhere else.

    Interactive Design Tools for Teacher
    These websites provide electronic tools to help teacher create online and offline classroom activities more efficiently using hypertext functions, webpage makers, template creators and much more.

    Search Engines
    Online search engines are kind of like efficient librarians who search certain locations for information that you are seeking.  Different librarians bring back different things at different rates and at different levels.  There are many search engines that are designed for adults and many others that are designed for children.

    Link to SERC Training Sessions for 2000-2001 and 2001-2002
    Link to other Literacy and Technology Training Sessions