Welcome to the start of the second year of the KIDS Report! Thanks to the work of kids and teachers from Madison, Wisconsin and Boulder and Nederland, Colorado, the KIDS Report will be coming to you again this year on a regular biweekly schedule.

A new feature of the project this Fall will be a searchable archive of all past KIDS Reports, making it easier for students and teachers to find sites on topics of interest to them. The searchable archive will be available in the next few weeks -- we'll let you know in an upcoming KIDS Report when it is ready for your use. We'll also be adding a participants page on the Web site so that the kids and teachers can post information about themselves and their school and how to contact them with comments and kudos.

Have a great year!

Best regards,

Susan Calcari
Project Director
Internet Scout Project

The KIDS Report is published with the support of the Internet Scout Project and the National Science Foundation.

This issue of KIDS, dated May 29, 1997, was written and produced by third and fourth grade students at Nederland Elementary School in the Boulder Valley School District in Nederland, Colorado.

The Great Globe Gallery Reviewed by Kether

I like the Great Globe Gallery because it has a lot of good connections to graphics of globes and maps such as an antique global projection and a new satellite image of the earth. There are 3D images, cross-sections of the earth, digital elevation models and illustrations of plate tectonics. This is a great site to learn about map projections and globes. For ages 7 to adult.
URL: http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/glob/glob1.htm

An Ongoing Voyage Reviewed by Dylan

You can learn about Columbus--or would you prefer the Caribbean? In "What Came to be Called America," you can learn about who really discovered America and all about the Caribbean and its people! There are great links to all kinds of information. You can see the Mexican Calendar, learn about life in the Andes or in the South Atlantic! There are long-ago maps showing what people thought the world looked like in 1492. There are suggested readings that allow you to learn more about the topic. One of the neatest parts of this site is that you can actually visit the exhibit which is at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
URL: http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo/1492.exhibit/Intro.html

Eye on the World--Violent Planet Page Reviewed by Brendan

This is a great site because it has a lot of links to things all over the world. My favorite part is the links to the world records. These include earthquakes, weather, volcanos, and fires. It is a really neat site. I like this site because it has information I want to know about.
URL: http://www.iwaynet.net/~kwroejr/violent.html

Volcano World Reviewed by Jesse

I like Volcano World because it gives information on current news and events on volcanos. You can search and send comments to Volcano World. There is a kids' version. You can ask a volcanologist, enter contests, and learn about the volcano parks and monuments. If you want to learn about the volcanos of the world, you can find it all at this site.
URL: http://volcano.nodak.edu/vw.html

Mapquest Reviewed by Mike

Mapquest is a group of sites that you can use to find the very street you live on, but you can't see your house! You start out with a picture of the world. To begin the search for the place you are looking for, click on the continent that the place you want to go to is on. Just keep clicking on the closest icon to get to your destination. Only in the United States can actually get to the street level. In other countries you get the highway level. The only thing I don't like about Mapquest is that sometimes it can be really slow. I like Mapquest because it's fun to look around at different places all the world.
URL: http://www.mapquest.com

The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network Reviewed by Lesley and Tadgh

We like this site because we like animals. This site gives information on how to help animals that are dying from humans destroying their habitat. The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network helps 2,500 animals each year. By helping animals you learn love and respect for all living things on earth.

In this site, there are some really cool links to explore. "Pictures and Stories" is our favorite link. It shows pictures of loons, pelicans, egrets, ravens, and night herons. There are interesting facts and survival stories about these animals. "Oil and Wildlife" is really sad because it says dolphins and seals have been washed up dead in the tides because of oil pollution.

You can help by looking at this website and finding out what you can do for animals in trouble! "How You Can Help" is the link that has this information.
URL: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sbwcn/

USA Today Weather Reviewed by Hestia and Samantha

You can find out anything you want to know about weather from this site. The first thing you see is the "Weather Front Page."It has a great weather map that is color-coded to show today's temperatures, and a menu with a lot of good links. You can find out what the weather is in any major city in the world, what the weather is going to be like if you're driving or flying, and about floods, hurricanes, tornados, and thunderstorms. You can even find out what the water temperature is when you go to the beach from the "Marine Weather" link and how much sunscreen to bring from the "UV Forecast"! Our favorite links are "Ask Jack" and "Tornados." We liked "Tornados" because when we grow up we want to be tornado chasers. We need to learn all about tornados and this site teaches what we'll need to know. It includes information on the path and length of different types of tornados, how a tornado is formed and other stuff--like the fact that large hail often precedes tornados. At this site you can see close-up pictures of real tornados. In "Ask Jack" you can ask any weather question and get an answer from a weather expert. We recommend this site for anyone who likes or wants to learn about weather.
URL: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wfront.htm

EQE Earthquake and Natural Hazards Site Reviewed by Adam

The EQE is a place to find information on natural hazards. Click on "Natural Hazards Information" and here you will find the information you are looking for. Each category has its own symbol and contains complete information on that topic. I like this site because it is easy to get around in except that you have to use EQE to get back where you were. The back button on Netscape doesn't work.
URL: http://www.eqe.com/

The US Geological Survey Reviewed by Adam

This site is more difficult than EQE to navigate in. I was going in circles when I thought I was going someplace. The good part about this site is "Ask a Geologist" where you can get answers to geology questions answered by geology experts. If you can put in your e-mail address, your questions will be answered sooner. The other part of this site that I liked is "Latest Earthquake Information." This place posts all the earthquakes that happen on earth as they happen. If you chart all the earthquakes on a world map, you can see the major fault lines on earth.
URL: http://geology.usgs.gov/

These Internet resources were evaluated on the basis of the Site Selection Guidelines that the students developed. Questions and comments can be sent to teacher Randy Sachter, rsachter@bvsd.k12.co.us

Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-1998. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the KIDS Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The Internet Scout Project provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin - Madison or the National Science Foundation.