The Internet — a worldwide classroom. A classroom that seems unruly and out of control. To bring some order, Quick Hits Online provides lists of web sites for learners and teachers. Parents, teachers, and learners can also find helpful tips to navigate the ever changing highway of information.

Based on the popular column “Quick Hits,” published in the California Parent Educator Magazine for over ten years. Quick Hits Online expands the published lists to be more comprehensive and provide updates when websites change or disappear.

Whether you teach your children at home, in a co-op class, or traditional classroom, you’ll find useful information to help in the worldwide classroom.

Do you have a favorite website to share? Send it.

Did you find a broken link or out-dated URL? Send it.

For information about using the print version of Quick Hits in your magazine or newsletter, ask.

Knowing how to search on the Internet is as important as where to search. This week’s list is a few websites that have guides and tutorials to help you and your student learn effective and efficient Internet searching.

Noodle Tools
www.noodletools.com
Choose the Best Search
Here you’ll find a comprehensive list of ways to search the Internet. It is comprehensive, but not overwhelming. The list is very neatly laid out by search needs.
The Ethical Researcher
Noodle Tools also offers articles about plagiarism and how to teach study tools such as note taking.

Southern Oregon University
Internet Searching Tools
http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/
The Lenn and Dixie Hannon Library at SOU has a list of various search sites and directory services. “How to Search the Internet” is a list of articles to learn more about detailed searching.

GCF Learnfree.org
Internet 101
www.gcflearnfree.org/internet101
Click on “Search Engines and Strategies” for a short tutorial on Internet searching. It is very basic.

Windweaver Search Guide
www.windweaver.com/searchguide.htm
This is a a one-page quick guide to improving your search results and the most commonly used search engines.

While it’s too cold to go outside, take time to learn about the weather and weather forecasting. Can you and your children forecast next week’s weather in your hometown?

The Weather Channel Kids
www.theweatherchannelkids.com
This site is a companion to the Weather Channel’s website. It includes activities for children and sections for parents and teachers. Click on Weather Central, go to “Build Your Own Forecast” for a lesson on weather forecasting.

Weather Underground
www.wunderground.com
Not the radical group of the 1960s, the Weather Underground website is another weather forecasting website. You will find “Education” under Resources. After scrolling past the climate change links, you will find information about events that are affected by the weather. This month it is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. You and your children can also start a weather blog at Wunder Blogs at the bottom of the home page.

National Weather Service
www.weather.gov
This is the agency that issues severe weather warnings. There is so much information on this website it might take you days to decide what is useful for your lessons. But try it. Educational links are at the bottom of the home page.

Discovery Education
www.discoveryeducation.com
Discovery Education, part of the Discovery Communications group, has lessons by grade level and topic. Scroll down the home page for instruction to build a weather station.

The Weather: A Study in the Scriptures
www.dianedew.com/weather.htm
A list of Bible references related to the weather.

Weather Proverbs
www.wxdude.com/proverb.html
Here you will find a list of common proverbial sayings about the weather, and the fact or fiction behind the saying.

The Science Spot
http://sciencespot.net
This web page has a list of weather related lesson plans.

The Teacher’s Guide
www.theteachersguide.com/Weather.html
This web page has a long list of lesson plans and web links. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a look at scanning electron microscope images of snow.

Last night President Obama gave the annual State of the Union message to Congress. (Read the text.) Do you and your children know why we have this annual event? Who gave the first State of the Union speech? If not, it’s time to take a look at civics and American government. If you do, it’s time to learn more.

National Constitution Center
www.constitutioncenter.org
Read or print a copy of the Constitution. Lesson plans for all grade levels. This is not a Christian web site so may reflect a different world view in the lesson plans.

Government Printing Office
www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html
At this site, you can look at the Congressional Record, Congressional bills, and other documents. Check out “Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government” in the left menu sidebar.

Federal Government
www.whitehouse.gov/government
The White House site leads to all branches of the federal government.

State and Local Governments on the Net
www.statelocalgov.net
You can find a link to your state government, then from your state page go to your local county and city government.

iCivics: The Democracy Lab
www.icivics.org
A website primarily written by teachers with lesson plans and games for teaching various aspects of the government.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
http://free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=173&toplvl=178
The entire website has over 1500 topics from various agencies of the federal government. Click on “The Constitution” to find original documents including The Federalist Papers (you may need to click on “See All Resources).

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who love and understand math, and those who struggle with the subject. No matter which kind of person you are, you’ll find some interesting and helpful math information at these websites.

Web Math
www.webmath.com
Pick a category tab from the top menu. Each category has sub-topics. By selecting the sub-topic, students can find instructions for nearly every type of math problem they may encounter.

Living Math
www.livingmath.net
This site is filled with the math never found in a textbook. Articles, lessons plans, and website links are just some of the information available.

Mrs. Glosser’s Math Goodies
www.mathgoodies.com
Mrs. Glosser was a classroom teacher before starting to build websites. Math Goodies has been on the Internet since 1998. It includes free resources, games, puzzles, and forums where you can ask questions. Be sure to check the poll question results at the bottom of the home page.

Illuminations
http://illuminations.nctm.org
Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, this website has online activities, searchable lessons for Pre-K – 12th grade, and the home page features Highlighted Lessons.

Cool Math 4 Kids
www.coolmath4kids.com
A brightly colored site for elementary students. Math games, puzzles, and art are all a part of Cool Math.

AAA Math
www.aaamath.com
Sorted by grade (K–8) or by subject. A Spanish version of this website is a click away.

Funmaths Game Station
www.funmaths.com
For high school math, includes printable worksheets. You can also download and try the Game Stations math games software. (PC)

Math for America
www.mathforamerica.org
A nonprofit organization with a mission to improve math education in secondary public schools. Click on Teacher Resources to find everything from skill practice worksheets to virtual manipulatives.

Numb3rs Math Activities
www.math.cornell.edu/~numb3rs/
This website has lessons plans for advanced math based on the television show Numb3ers. It isn’t necessary to watch the episodes to use the activities.

Math Forum
http://mathforum.org/
Sponsored by Drexel, a collection of tools and resources for Pre-K through college level math. Includes teacher’s forums.

Many students begin to learn the art of researching at about ten years old. While the Internet may be considered the ultimate research tool, it can be overwhelming, even for a veteran researcher. Here are some tools to help you guide your learner through the research process, writing about the research topic, and encourage an inquiring mind.

A Research Guide
www.aresearchguide.com
A guide to tools for research and writing a report or term paper. It also includes a guide for oral presentation.

Infoplease
www.infoplease.com
Based on the the familiar Info Please Almanac, this website has information, guides, and puzzles.

iTools
www.itools.com
iTools is a one-stop website for dictionary, encyclopedia, maps, and translator.

The Library of Congress Research Tools
www.loc.gov/rr/tools.html
The Library of Congress provides a wide-variety databases and Internet resources, including sound, art, and photography.

The National Archives
www.archives.gov/research/tools/
Tools are provided for researching the National Archives records.

Internet Public Library
www.ipl.org
The Internet Public Library has resources for students of all ages. The “Teen” section has a step-by-step guide for researching a topic.

For parents and teachers:  Sometimes research is just fun. Help your students learn to investigate topics just for the satisfaction of knowing. Read various articles about Inquiry Learning.