Back to School Sites
from Walter McKenzie at
Surfaquarium (September
2000)
Alfy
Presenting itself as a "Web portal for kids," Alfy aims to reach primary students not quite ready for Jeeves or Yahooligans
Back
to School Clip Art Cyberbee offers these links to elementary-aged, back-to-school digital clip art, perfect for Web pages, newsletters, Hyperstudio, PowerPoint -- you name it.
Edu-Hound
This education directory for K-12 teachers and students offers wonderful categories and a hotlist feature that has some real possibilities.
EducationMail
Want a really hip teaching e-mail address? Sign up for free here and choose from one of four domains: GreatTeacher.net, YourProfessor.net, YourTeacher.net, and (of course) EducationMail.net.
KIDS
Report This University of Wisconsin newsletter, written by K-12 students who recommend vital Web resources of interest to peers, comes out every other week.
MyGradeBook
This free online electronic grade book is password protected for security; the idea is to be able to share student progress online with parents who are online.
TeacherVision
back-to-school portion of the TeacherVision site offers all kinds of tips,
tricks and special offers for teachers as you gear up for another year
of learning
Virtual
High School Here is a great example of a nationwide virtual high school. Most portions of the site are open to the public.
Beginning
of School Packet Numerous items are listed on Sponge Activities at this site, but it's also full of strategies for parent conferences, lists of lifeskills, 50 opportunities to say you're terrific, and learning activities for the seven intelligences.
Breaking the Ice Grades K-12 -- several ice-breaking tips for the first day of school.
Bulletin
Boards for Fall -- from teachnet.com Lots of inspiration at this site for some fantastic bulletin boards, including several that would be great to kick off the school year.
For New Teachers
All new teachers invited -- whether you are brand-new, relatively new, or continually seeking new assignments, ideas, and experiences.
Helping
Your Students with Homework A Guide for Teachers: Establishing your expectations at the beginning of the year, varying your assignments (this simple suggestion will keep your students interested, not dreading a routine assignment), aligning your assignments with current work-in-progress, addressing problematic homework concerns. . . .this government publication offers several tips for getting that whole area of homework off on the right foot.
Icebreakers
First-day-of-school "icebreakers" help students and teachers warm up.
Survival
Kits This site is labeled Classroom Management, but it is really so much more. It offers a general guide for grading, a survival kit, welcome bags, supply lists, guidelines for classroom management, classroom set-up tips, parent-involvement discussion, ideas for new teachers, centers set-ups, a before-it-starts list, meeting-the-parents advice, the first-five-minutes ideas, and more extremely helpful suggestions.
Tips
& Strategies from First Year Teachers You may never feel you're entirely prepared for that first day in a classroom, but here are some tips from beginning teachers who have been there; they may help you with your own experiences and expectations.