Library Resources

Recommended Web Resources for Kids, Families and Staff

Reliable Subject Guides

• KidsClick An Internet guide where you can browse topics or search. This site includes reading levels.
• Kidspace at Internet Public Library. The Internet Public Library is a public service organization and a learning/teaching environment founded at the University of Michigan School of Information and hosted by Drexel University's College of Information Science & Technology.
• OSLIS Oregon School Library Information System helps students learn to Do Research, Choose Resources, Find Information, Use Online Tools, Evaluate Information, Take Notes, Cite Sources and more.
• Spotlight on Kids & Families from The Library of Congress offers American History and American Memory collections, digital items, maps and facts, fun science facts, and more.

Reliable Web Resources by Topic

America Pre-Colonial - 1865

• America's Homepage gateway to information about Plymouth, Massachussetts. Useful for seeing what attracts people to an area.
• Colonial Williamsburg produced by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation offers educational resources, research material about colonial America, and multimedia experiences about the beginning of the American Revolution. Begin by clicking on Tour the Town Online.
• Early American Digital Library Here you will find a treasure trove of images, featuring the people, events and scenes important to early America's historic past.
• Exploring Maryland's Roots lets you explore colonial Maryland history through 12 interactive activities filled with text, narration, video, and sound effects.
• Westward Expansion Kidinfo offers a long page of resources including biographies of famous people (cowboys, cowgirls, outlaws, gunslingers); events; wagon trains, covered wagons and stagecoaches; famous trails (Chisholm, Mormon, Santa Fe, etc.); historic forts; pioneer life.
• Women of the West Biographies of famous and not-so-famous women who helped settle the West.

Biographies--Famous Washingtonians and Others

• HistoryLink.org The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
• MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) history of Seattle, the Puget Sound region and the nation
• Washington State History Museum Find stories and images and more while exploring the main site or link to COLUMBIAKids to explore time and place in the Pacific Northwest from a kids' point of view.
• Biographies and Famous People from King County Library System includes categories such as Explorers and Discovers and famous people in the state of Washington.
• Academy of Achievement Explore the lives of legendary achievers through this museum of living history from American Academy of Achievement.
• Presidents of the United States from the White House.
• Who2? An encyclopedia of famous people; includes links to other web sites about the person.

Biomes

• Biomes of the World from Missouri Botanical Garden. Includes Desert, Grasslands, Rainforest, Temperate, Tiaga, Tundra; Freshwater Ecosystems: Rivers and Streams; Ponds and Lakes, Wetlands; and, Marine Ecosystems: Shorelines, Temperate Oceans, Tropical Oceans
• The Big Zoo Visit this virtual zoo to find descriptions, foods, habitat, predators, social structures, birth and offspring, and senses.
• Cheetah Spot Check out one of the big cats from e-dzine.com.
• Ecology for Educators and Students from the state of Washington.
• Encyclopedia of Life A web site for every organism on earth is the goal of this site, which has over two dozen partners initially funded in 2007 by the MacArthur Foundation and the Sloan Foundation.
• National Geographic: Endangered Species Photo Map An interactive photo map of animals in the United States that are on the Endangered Species List.
• Wetlands The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created this site to inform the general public about their role in wetland preservation and restoration.

Global Studies: North America

• ALA Great Web Sites for Kids Look at World History under History & Biography and at Geography & Maps, Cultures of the World and more under Social Sciences.
• Cool Planet from Oxfam introduces you to kids and the countries they live in around the world.
• Food Timeline The Food Timeline was developed by a "reference librarian with a passion for food history." Near the bottom of the homepage, below the timeline, is a menu of choices that includes: "Teacher Resources"[including Nutrition], "Historic Menu Collections", "Digitized Cookbooks", and "Historic Food Prices".
• International Children’s Digital Library A deep resource of children's books for all ages providing collection of online digital children’s books from around the world available in multiple languages aimed at promoting tolerance, respect for diverse cultures and ideas.
• The National Parks: America's Best Idea American filmmaker Ken Burns documents the National Park System and takes a look at the evolution of the National Park idea from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day. The site includes an interactive history of the National Parks, along with profiles of people who transformed the Park Service over the years.
• United Nations Cyberschoolbus Click on InfoNation to compare country data, Country at a Glance for statistics of individual countries, or scroll down to go to Quizzes & Games.

Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery

• Corps of Discovery The journey of Lewis and Clark from the perspective of the United States Army.
• Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center from U.S. Forest Service.
• Lewis and Clark's Corp of Discovery A collection of interactive sites, including biography, botany, zoology and topography sources from Grain Valley RV School District.
• Lewis & Clark Journey of Discovery from the National Park Service.
• Go West Across America with Lewis & Clark! interactive site from National Geographic.
• Lewis & Clark PBS documentary produced by Ken Burns.

Native Americans

• Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Arrow down the page to get to Tribal Information, then click on Washington to find "...demographics of state and federally recognized tribes within the United States, population figures, tribal contact information, tribal home pages and more. "
• American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection University of Washington Digital Collection that "provides an extensive digital collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures, complemented by essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about both particular tribes and cross-cultural topics ".
• Tribes of Washington State a listing of links and contact information for state tribes provided by University of Washington's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Primary Resources

• Archiving Early America has a unique array of primary source material from 18th century America.
• Mayflower historical documents in full text.
• AMDOCS Virtual library of documents for the study of American History managed by George Laughead, Jr.

Space/Flight

• Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics or the study of forces and movement of objects through the air.
• NASA's Web Site for Students Stories, activities, even a picture dictionary.
• The Museum of Flight offers many air and space-related links.
• How Airplanes Work by Marshall Brain and Brian Adkins at How Stuff Works.
• Build the Best Paper Airplane in the World on Michael O'Reilly's Paper Airplanes Link Page.

Structures

• America's Favorite Architecture from the American Institute of Architects.
• Elements of Architecture an online exhibit created by the St. Louis Public Library.
• Building PBS companion site where you can explore construction by type of structure, try labs and challenges, read biographical sketches of people working in a variety of engineering careers, and even nominate local structures. Based on David Macaulay's BUILDING BIG.
• Digital Archive of American Architecture from Boston College. Includes a chronological timeline of architecture, architects, building types, materials, styles, and more.

Reliable Web Resources for Families and Staff

• Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics from NASA includes aerodynamics, propulsion, hypersonics, model rockets and kites.
• Dr. Seuss Books Ray Hamel (a special collections librarian having nothing to do with kids materials) has indexed all 50 Dr. Seuss books and cross-referenced them with character names and creatures.
• Bill Nye the Science Guy Nye applies his entertaining approach to science to the Web, with a Demo of the Day, highlights from the day ’s television episode, and a chance to e-mail your own question.
• The Biography Maker from Bellingham Public Schools takes students through the process of creating exciting biographies.
• Exploring the Environment The ETE online series, which features an integrated approach to environmental earth science through modules and activities, is developed at the NASA Classroom of the Future™; at Wheeling Jesuit University.
• NASA Web Site for Educators Find a variety of teaching materials, activities, lessons plans and more.
• Citation Maker An easy-to-use resource from Oregon Public Education Network (OPEN)
• Great Source iWRITE a collection of writing resources and support for educators, students in grades 5-12, and parents for use in the classroom and at home.
• ReadWriteThink provides educators and students with access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction through free, Internet-based content. Includes lesson plans, web resources, standards, student materials and a calendar of literary events.
• Responsive Classroom Resources from Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District and Edina Public Schools.
• Teaching with Historical Places from U.S. National Park Service.
• Woodland Park Zoo Animal Facts Learn about mammals, birds, reptiles/amphibians, invertebrates and plants/trees.