The KIDS Report is published with a generous grant from John and Tashia Morgridge and with the support of the Internet Scout Project and the National Science Foundation.
The KIDS Report is a biweekly publication produced by K-12 students as a resource to other K-12 students. It is an ongoing, cooperative effort of 15 classrooms from around the world. Teachers assist and provide support; however, students select, evaluate and annotate all resources included in every issue of the KIDS Report.
This issue of KIDS, dated October 12, 1999, was written and produced by Ms. Morden's class in the Altoona Area School District in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
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Newbery Medal Home Page http://www.ala.org/alsc/newbery.html Caldecott Medal Home Page http://www.ala.org/alsc/caldecott.html There are many reasons that we chose these two sites, "Newbery Medal Home Page" and "Caldecott Medal Home Page" to be a part of our KIDS Report. One reason that we like them is because there is a variety of information included in the sites. First, each site tells about what the Medal is and how it came to be an award. Next, each site gives a complete list of winners. It tells the book, the author, and the year it won. Along with telling the winner it tells the honor books too. Brief summaries of the books are given so you can decide if you'd like to read it. These awards pages were created and compiled for the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a Division of the American Library Association, by several librarians. |
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Internet Public Library Youth Division http://www.ipl.org/youth/HomePage.html The Reading Zone http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/youth/youth.out.pl?sub=rzn0000 The Internet Public Library Youth Division is a wonderful website that is updated regularly and is Kristen's favorite. The site contains loads of information presented in a creative way. It is fun, interesting, educational, and extremely worthwhile. There are so many topics to pick from here, that there is definitely something for everyone! You can visit the reference section, where you are given access to dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographies, and homework help. The Reading Zone section of this website is exceptional for this KIDS Report topic. It is loaded with links and references where you can learn more about favorite books and authors. It is extremely easy to navigate throughout the site, and it is very colorful with a lot of graphics. We would definitely recommend this site for the KIDS Report and promise you that if you visit this site it will be well worth your time! |
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Two from Mr. Brown at the Doucette Library of Teaching Resources: Children's Literature Web Guide http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html Authors and Illustrators on the Web http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/authors.html The Children's Literature Web Guide is an excellent collection of information and links geared towards children's literature. Although the site may lack crucial visual criteria for keeping the attention of a younger audience, it excels in its "quick references." This site is a great resource for learning about numerous international award-winning books and authors. There are endless links to where books have been reviewed and summarized. Such examples include the year's best books, children's top sellers, and even several message boards. The site would be very helpful for any life long learner interested in finding a good book to read, doing a book report, or even searching for an answer to a children's literature related question. With the new message boards, a viewer can submit or read a question, answer, or summary. One of the links on the web guide is to "Authors and Illustrators on the Web" (http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/authors.html) which is a great site for information on various children's literature authors. It does not have splashy design features, but it does seem to have a lot of individual author links. The links go to author sites that are interesting and enjoyable; many of the sites are created and/or maintained by the authors themselves. This guide to children's resources has something for everyone! In addition, Mr. Brown, creator of the web site and director of the Doucette Library of Teaching Resources can be reached at dkbrown@ucalgary.ca, if you have any comments or questions. |
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Bookworm at www.kidsreads.com
http://www.kidsreads.com/ Are you in elementary school and can't seem to find a good book site? This place is just for you. It is very organized and easy to find what you need what with a mini search engine and pull-down menus. The pull-down menus are divided into three categories: books by reading level, meet the authors and cool stuff. The cool stuff category has books about Furbies, Pokémons, multiple series and tons of other topics including award-winning books. There is a reading club and a wish list that you can create by finding books you'd like and then sending that list to people who might want to buy them for your birthday or some other reason. There seems to be interesting information as well as fun things to do. This is a very good site for students ages 6-12. |
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Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature compiled and indexed by Lisa R. Bartle, Librarian
http://www2.wcoil.com/~ellerbee/childlit.html This site has probably the most interesting set-up I have ever seen. It has a survey which you fill in on what kind of book you are looking for. You can choose the geographical setting of the book and the historical period that you'd like to read about. You can also select the genre and whether you'd like the protagonist to be male, female or it doesn't matter. The site then finds the best match of books. Because of this, the site is very interesting and will appeal to a huge audience! I used about 3 different forms, and each of the book lists that turned up matched the form I turned in. Overall, a pretty cool site that will keep me coming back again and again! |
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Just for Kids Who Love Books http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/1333/kids.htm This is a site full of links which give information about a very wide variety of children's authors. It has an extensive list categorized by author names and titles of books and series. Each author name is a link to another web site with information. And from these pages you can go to others. This site would be a very good resource for writing a report on an author. It has a ton of links on authors including Shel Silverstein, R.L. Stine, and my favorite author, J.R.R. Tolkien. Just for Kids Who Love Books also includes how a book is made, how you can write to an author, information about Newbery and Caldecott Award winning books and links to Amazon.com where you can buy a book. |
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The Reading Corner
http://204.255.213.26/read/index.htm This site has anything you could possibly want to know about books and then some. The information is very well organized and is not heaped together like so many sites. It is well spread-out and not at all tiring to read. One of the links is to the Author's Corner, an excellent source of information on authors and their books. It is very up-to-date on the latest books as well as older books. The site also has links to other, similar sites. Links to Caldecott, Newbery, MAE and state award winning books are included as well. The site is sponsored by Carroll County Public Library in Westminster, Maryland, and seems to be updated regularly. Overall, a very nice site! |
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World of Reading Site
http://www.worldreading.org I strongly recommend this site for anyone who is interested in finding a good book to read or do a report on. The site is well laid out and simple to use. Not only does the site provide you with a quick search method, great links, an understandable introduction for users of all ages, but it also contains reviews done by other children! I think this is a worthwhile feature because it allows other readers to gain an understanding of the book before they read it-like a preview. They can also read about someone else's perspective, and perhaps notice things they otherwise wouldn't have taken into account before. Other available features include an email address to contact the director of the World of Reading Site. Last, but surely not least, "wired reading" has recently been added. Why go to the library and check books out when you can read them for free online without ever leaving your desk?!?! If you'd like to do all of this in a quick, simple fashion, this site is a MUST-SEE for you! |
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ISLMC Children's Literature and Language Arts Resources http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/childlit.htm This site, while visually uninteresting, has a huge library of links to all sorts of resources for children's literature. When I say huge, I mean huge! Links include the following topics: General Children's Literature Sites, Want to Talk?, Book Awards, Book & Media Reviews, Authors & Illustrators, The Genres, Bibliotherapy, The "isms", Curriculum Resources, Literary Enrichment Activities, Book Fairs & Literary Festivals. The Book Awards section (http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/awards.htm) includes a list of links to awards which is endless. The site itself would probably not capture a student's attention, but given the chance and a little bit of exploring, students will find more than enough information to keep them reading for a long time! |
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Ask Jeeves for Kids
http://www.ajkids.com/ This site is both visually interesting, with a definite theme, and educational. Here you can seek answers to questions about award-winning books/authors, ask which authors have been awarded for their writing (for children's literature), or you could even ask where you could find more information or the name/location of a certain book! All you do is type in a question! Ask Jeeves gives you the answer in the form of links to other resources. This site would be very useful for someone doing anything from a school project to just trying to keep themselves busy during the summer! |
The KIDS Report is produced twice monthly by students from one of the fifteen participating classrooms with support from John and Tashia Morgridge, the Internet Scout Project and the National Science Foundation. The students involved are responsible for all aspects of the report, including its title and the site evaluation criteria.
These Internet resources were evaluated on the basis of the Site Selection Guidelines that the students developed. These guidelines are available on the Internet Scout Project Web site at: http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/detectives/kids/selection.html.
To subscribe to the KIDS Report, send email to: listserv@cs.wisc.edu with the following message: subscribe kids Yourfirstname Yourlastname
Questions and comments can be sent to the facilitating teacher at the Altoona Area School District, Ms. Morden, at dmorden@aasdcat.com
spitz@macc.wisc.edu1999 Copyright by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire KIDS Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, is preserved on all copies.
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, the Internet Scout Project, the National Science Foundation, or Tashia and John Morgridge.
A Publication of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries