COMMUNITY SERVICE

1-800-Volunteer.org
"1-800-Volunteer.org connects you to volunteer opportunities in your community, helps you track your volunteer service, and sends you automatic e-mail notifications - enabling you to respond when you're needed most."

Children for Children
"Promoting hand-on volunteering and giving programs which teach the value of community involvement at a young age."

Learning to Give
Resources for parents include "Raising Kids Who Give, Share and Care."

National Service Learning Clearinghouse
Combining learning experiences with "hand on" work in the community.

Pennies for Peace  NEW!
Co-founded by author Greg Mortenson, this service learning program aims to broaden students' cultural horizons and teach them about their capacities as philanthropists.

Points of Light Foundation
The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network engages and mobilizes millions of volunteers who are helping to solve serious social problems in thousands of communities."

Service Learning Web Resources
"Links to sources of information about service learning and organizations that provide opportunities for young people to become involved in service activities."

ZOOM Into Action: Families in Action
This is a great guide to volunteering as a family from PBS Kids: "Volunteering gives your family a unique way to spend time together; teaches kids values like kindness, empathy, and the importance of community service; and introduces everyone in the family to new skills and experiences. You'll get to know each other in new ways, while helping your community and having fun."

HELPING CHILDREN SUCCEED IN SCHOOL   

(D): All of the Above: Test Taking Tips
Helpful test-taking tips from students and teachers.

Frontline: Inside the Teenage Brain: From Zzzz's to A's
"A summary of what researchers know about teenagers' need for sleep and how sleep affects memory and learning."

Helping Your Child With Homework
An online handbook from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement including discussions on the concept of homework and tips on helping students with assignments.

Tools for Student Success: Selected Publications for Parents and Teachers
Selected publications from the U.S. Department of Education.

GENERAL RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES

700+ Amazing, Spectacular, Mysterious, Wonderful Web Sites for Kids and the Adults Who Care About Them
The title of this site just about says it all. Explore the many categories including arts and entertainment, people past and present, science, technology, language arts, and more.

ALA-School Libraries & You: Parents & Community
This site developed by the American Library Association offers families the opportunity to learn about the Internet and use it together.


All Kinds of Minds
The institute established by Dr. Mel Levine researches different styles of learning, including those classed as learning disabilities. Provides suggestions and ideas for parents and teachers.

Born to Read: How to Raise a Reader
Share the joy of books! This is a list of easy-to-do tips developed by The Association for Library Service to Children.

Coping in Unsettling Times
From the National Association of School Psychologists, here is some valuable advice for helping students cope with the uncertainty of war and terrorism.

Code Red Rover
Learn all about safety in the home at this entertaining and educational site from Lowe's Home Centers.

Crafts for Kids--Enchanted Learning
Find craft ideas and instructions for just about any occasion, holiday or season.

FamilyFun
Here you will find ideas for family oriented activities, parenting links, family travel planners, links to experts on a variety of family related subjects, and much more.

Internet Movie Database
Check out movie reviews, read plot summaries, and understand the reasons for MPAA movie ratings on current and past movies.

Internet Safety: Information for Parents
"What do we do when our eight-year-old knows more than we do about cyberspace? How do we guide our children safely through this new world?"

KidsHealth: Recipes for Kids
At this kid-friendly site, you'll find lots of recipes including recipes for those with special diets.

National Center for Education Statistics
The NCES Kids' Zone provides information to help you learn about schools; decide on a college; find a public library; engage in several games, quizzes and skill building about math, probability, graphing, and mathematicians; and to learn many interesting facts about education.

On-Lion for Kids
This is the New York Public Libraries kids' portal where you will find hundreds of pre-screened links in the categories of : holidays; reading and books; science and technology; people and places; sports; arts and games; New York, New York; parents and teachers and more.

PBS Parents
"PBS Parents combines the significant resources of PBS and local public television stations across the country to offer features, advice, and thousands of educational activities dedicated to helping both parents and caregivers raise children who are ready to learn."

Reading Rockets
"Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project that looks at how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help them." This site is updated daily.

Ready Kids
Students and their families can prepare for natural disaster and fire emergencies with the information provided here from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Brainbashers
Created by a high school math teacher, this site has math and word puzzles, illusions, logic games and more.

Brainboosters
At this site, which is part of Discovery School, you'll find load of challenging games and activities to boost your brain power!

Cool Math 4 Kids

Cyberchase-PBS Kids 
Here are lots of fun online activities, and hands-on learning experiences that help make Math fun.

Curious George-PBS Kids
"A new online learning tool from PBS that helps kids prepare for school by playing interactive games."

Dance Mat Typing
This is a fun introduction to touch typing for children aged 7 - 11 years.

Funbrain.com
Loads of free online educational games for all subjects including math, science, language arts, history, and more.
***Now included, the comic Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Fact Monster Games and Quizzes
Loads of games and quizzes including Harry Potter quizzes.

Fuel Our Future Now  NEW!
Here are some cool activities that will help you explore the world of alternative fuels & exciting advanced vehicle design.

Harry Potter Official Web Site (from Warner Brothers Movies)
Learn all about the movies that have brought the magic to life.

Hooda Math-Math Games, Math Worksheets, Math Movies & Tutorials

How Stuff Works--Learn How Everything Works!
Did you ever wonder...?

Kids Games @ Games Kids Play
"Looking for kids games? How about rules for playground games, verses for jump-rope rhymes, and much more??? You have come to right place!"

Know It All 
"Created by ETV for K-12 students, teachers, and parents, Knowitall.org is a free online collection of resources designed for classroom use. This educational web portal contains interactive sites, simulations, image collections, virtual field trips and streaming video that support and provide quality inquiry-based experiences for students on the Internet."

Make Belief Comix! 
This is a great free online site that lets you create and e-mail you own comic strip. Easy to use tools let you select characters, speech/thought bubbles, and background colors. Have fun using this creative tool!

NASA Kids' Club
Lots of fun, educational games from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NIEH Kids ' Pages
This is a collection of activities from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and includes sories, sing-alongs, brainteasers, coloring books, and other cool links and resources.

Order in the Library
Here's a great animated game with different level that tests your ability to sort things correctly in the library.

Panwapa 
From the creators of Sesame Street, "Panwapa, which means 'here on this earth' in the Tshiluba language, aims to foster the foundation for global citizenship and community activism in young children, ages 4 to 7."

Paper Toys
This is a great collection of free paper models that can be printed, cut out and assembled. Models include famous buildings (such as the Empire State Building, the White House), vehicles (such as Volkswagon Beetle, Stealth Aircraft), and much more.

Professor Garfield  NEW!!
At this fun interactive site, children can safely create, interact, read, and express themselves through a variety of innovative online tools including an e-book reader and comics lab.
 
Sandlot Science
If you like optical illusions, you will love this site with over 100 original exhibits.
 

The Scrub Club
Be a "soaperhero!"  This site has fun games and videos on hand washing and staying healty.

Skateboard Science
Explore the physics of skateboarding tricks!

The Underground Railroad @ National Geographic
During Black History Month, learn more about the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, and others who helped free slaves in the mid to late 1800s. Are you brave enough to go on the journey?

VA Kids, K-5th
This is an interesting site honoring veterans from the Department of Veteran Affairs. There is information about Veteran's Day, the American flag, and interactive games and activities.

Wacky Web Tales  NEW!
If you like Mad Libs, you'll love this online version. Review parts of speech, while you put together some funny stories.

Webucation  NEW!
This site was created by a technology teacher at the International School of Belgrade (Serbia) and has many educational review games arranged by grade.

Why Milk?
Check out the milk mustache hall of fame or create your own milk mustache picture.

Winter Holiday Games & Puzzles


The World of Brian P. Cleary
From the mind that created the Words Are Categorical Series, here is a great site with lots of fun activities.


Zoom Activities and Games
Turn off the computer and play! There are more than 100 games organized into categories for fun indoors and outside.