Why Keypals?
· Writing forces us to relay important information more clearly and in a more concise manner.
· E-mail presents the writer with a quicker response. With children, time is of the essence!
· Students are often more comfortable talking to their peers rather than adults, even if their peers are thousands of miles away.
· Typing is easier than writing for many children. Students can now concentrate on their ideas rather than on penmanship. Spell checkers make it easier for the language deficient child.
Good Sites for Making Connections
with Keypals
E-mail Classroom
Exchange
Meet international classroom keypals. Correspond with other K-12 students, teachers, pen pals, and schools through ECE. Educational and FUN!
Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections (IECC)
Hundreds of classrooms now use the Gaggle Network to provide safe, teacher-controlled e-mail accounts for students.
Specific Social Studies Sites
National Geographic
Xpeditions
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions is a mammoth site based on the 18 U.S. geography standards established in 1994. Exhibit Hall contains 26 different exhibits and the Atlas contains 1800 National Geographic maps that can be printed and reproduced for educational projects. Also explore the National Geographic pages at http://www.nationalgeographic.com
EconEdLink
http://www.econedlink.org/ EconEdLink is a program of the National Council on Economic Education and member of the MarcoPolo consortium. Centered on curriculum standards and essential principles of economics, EconEdLink provides a premier source of classroom tested Internet Based economic lesson materials for K-12 teachers and their students.
The History Place
http://www.historyplace.com is a must bookmark site for all history and social studies teachers. There is a range of featured exhibits from Abraham Lincoln to the Irish Potato Famine. All students will benefit from the Homework Help section.
National Council for
the Social Studies
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Social studies educators teach
students the content knowledge, intellectual skills, and civic values
necessary for fulfilling the duties of citizenship in a participatory
democracy. The mission of National Council for the Social Studies is to
provide leadership, service, and support for all social studies educators. Cultural Connections http://library.thinkquest.org/50055 Cultural Connections is an interactive, educational program that was designed by teachers to be a resource for learning about countries and cultures. The website and accompanying materials have been designed for the elementary classroom, but can be adapted for use with other ages and abilities. |
Maryland Kids’ Page
Contains information
on each county, famous Marylanders, state symbols and much more.
http://www.sos.state.md.us/sos/kids/html/kidhome.html
Lesson Plans and
Resources for Social Studies Teachers
Instructional Technology Specialist, Kathy Schrock, maintains an excellent list of Internet resources for teachers. This link leads directly to the social studies portion of her list:
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/history/histg.html
Current Events
There are many online sources for current events. Here are just a few places to begin:
http://www.fredericknewspost.com
When you just don’t know where to begin looking, head for the New York Times Navigator. This site was created for N.Y. Times reporters as a resource for locating Internet information. There are special sections created for students, parents and teachers at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/navigator/index.html
WebQuests
WebQuests are online projects that contain links to other sites. A matrix of Webquests is housed at SDSU, including a whole section of social studies Webquests. http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/matrix.html