Carroll County Public Schools

This is the school system where I am currently employed.  They have a very extensive site including information on curriculum, calendar events, as well as resources for parents and teachers.  The math portion of the site is fantastic and definitely worth checking out. 

Scholastic

A wonderful site for educators!  There are so many resources for teachers, parents, and children on this site.   I rely on it for lesson ideas, supplements to Scholastic News Magazine, managing book orders, and much more.   There is something for instructing all age levels K-12 on this site.  In addition, Scholastic also offers a special librarian section.

Starfall

This site offers primary teachers a fun child friendly site with reading activities.  There are several holiday reading tasks that are interactive and give the option to print additional activities that extend by encouraging writing about the same topic.  In addition, Starfall has many phonics based games and stories for students to enjoy.  The site is easy for children to navigate and the activities are short and sweet, so many students can have a turn.  This is a great site for a computer center!

National Geographic: Wildcam Africa

This is a great site for observing African animals in the wild.   A web cam is set up at a watering hole called Pete's Pond.  During the day you can observe wildebeest, elephants, crocodiles, birds, zebras, hyenas, and many more animals come and go.  I have used this with my students to get them excited about research and exploring other countries.  We found the best viewing time is around 9:00 am due to the time differences.

Kids Click

This is a "safer" web search area for children.  It was created by librarians and allows children to search by topic, alphabetically, and using a search engine.  The site is easy to use and most articles and sites are child friendly.

Math Songs

My creativity also comes out at school when planning lessons.  A few years ago I was having trouble getting my students to remember all the parts of a fact family.  So, I wrote a song.  That led to more songs to help the students, and before you know it they had video cameras in our classrooms to tape the children singing.  Now both my fact family song and another I wrote about the 4 steps to problem solving can be found on the CCPS math website where they are shared with all teachers. Check them out!

McGraw Hill

This is the supplemental site to our text we use to support our math curriculum.  It has many ideas, activities, and printout to add to what we already use.  It is a great resource to pass out to parents.  In addition, it has one of my favorite basic fact practice games on it called "Fact Dash".

Calendar Generator

Need a calendar?  If you are like me you might make volunteer or class calendars.   Here is a quick and easy way to do it.   All you do is enter in the month and year and WALA! your calendar is created.  Print it out, mark it up, and your done!  The generator also has a neat option to include or exclude weekends.

Mem Fox Website

A wonderful author!  Mem Fox wrote books such as Koala Lou, Wilfred Gordan McDonald Partridge, Possum Magic, and many more.   Her writing is warm and you will fall in love with the characters.  I was first introduced to her books when my children were studying Australia, as this is her homeland.  Her website offers tons of personal information, the stories behind her books, advice for those that desire to be writers, and teacher resources as well.  

Jan Brett Website

Another excellent role model for young writers!   Jan Brett has written titles such as The Hat, The Mitten, Hedgie's Surprise, and one of her latest The Umbrella.  These are beautifully written and illustrated books.  Her site offers tons of areas for younger children to explore.  There are more print outs than you will ever have ink, and her characters appear on much of these activities.