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.

The KIDS Report is published with a generous grant from John and Tashia Morgridge and with the support of the General Library System of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This issue of KIDS, dated November 23, 1999, was written and produced by Mark Waggoner's class at Elmore Elementary School in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In This Issue

• Diamonds in the Rough
• Neill's Geology for Kids
• Rock Hound
• Ruby Falls


• Savage Earth
• Virtual Cave

Diamonds in the Rough http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5008/ This site is awesome! It is organized into seven different categories. One of my favorite parts is All About Diamonds. In it, you can choose from five different subtopics. The first one tells about diamonds and how they are formed. The second one is about the four C's of diamonds: carat, cut, clarity, and color. The third is about the different uses of diamonds, including making jewelry. The fourth tells what cities and countries have diamond mines. Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas is one example. The last subtopic is about different famous diamonds such as The Hope Diamond. In Activities You Can Do you can learn how to make rock candy. I recommend this web site for people who like to read about diamonds and are at least nine years of age. Reviewed by Matthew D.

Neill's Geology for Kids http://www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/8991/ I think this is a good site for kids because it tells about six different kinds of geologists: gemmologists, glaciologists, marine geologists, paleontologists, seismologists, and volcanologists. I like the cool stuff like gemstones, earthquakes, and volcanoes. In the volcano section, you can look at different volcanoes from all over the world. There are pictures and words that tell how a volcano forms. There is a part where you can take a quick spelling test. When you click on paleontologists, there are pictures of people digging for fossils and a fossil record game to play. Reviewed by Josh M.

Rock Hound http://www.fi.edu/fellows/payton/rocks/index2.html Rock Hound is a fun site, and it is organized into six categories. The first one talks about rock collecting safety. In Rock Creations, you learn about how sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks are formed. Digging for Information has a link to a geology web activity made by kids called Journey to the Center of the Earth. See different rocks in Discover Earth's Treasures, or do crossword puzzles, a word find, or a jigsaw puzzle in Pebbling Puzzles. Rock Hound Quiz lets you take a rock-naming test. There were lots of things I didn't know about that I learned at this great site. Reviewed by Nick J.

Ruby Falls http://www.rubyfalls.com/ Ruby Falls is America's highest underground waterfall. It's located in a cave in Chattanooga, Tennessee. When you first visit the official Ruby Falls web site, you will find lots of things to do. The Kids section has information on caves and how they form. For the part that we thought was the best, you have to go to Kids, and then click on Fun. It shows you what the castle elevator down to Ruby Falls looks like. There are also six fun activities to do. Our favorite one was Color Spunky (the Ruby Falls mascot). This web site has some colorful pictures and many different categories. We really enjoyed it. Reviewed by Suzanne J. and Leeann H.

Savage Earth http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/ This PBS web site has a lot of interesting places to explore. Hell's Crust: Our Everchanging Planet shows the most geologically active regions on earth. The Restless Planet: Earthquakes tells how they form and has a movie that shows an earthquake happening. Out of the Inferno: Volcanoes has a movie of a volcano erupting with a helicopter at the scene. It looks like the lava hits the helicopter. Waves of Destruction: Tsunamis is the Japanese word for giant ocean waves. A woman who survived one tells us what happened. She says, "It was 100 feet high." This site has a lot of information. I would recommend it for ages nine and up. Reviewed by Sam L.

Virtual Cave http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave.html This web site is filled with information and photographs of minerals that can only be found in caves. There are more than thirty types of minerals to choose from. When you click on the names, you will see rare and beautiful rocks like pearls, moonmilk, and stegmites. The virtual cave part lets you tour an actual cave through colorful pictures. You can learn how these rocks are found, and you can see how professionals find and dig out cave rocks. I recommend that people check this site out. Reviewed by Michael C.

To Top of Page

These Internet resources were evaluated on the basis of Site Selection Guidelines that the students developed. Questions and comments can be sent to the facilitating teacher at Elmore Elementary School, Mark Waggoner, at mwaggoner@gbonline.com

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.