Useful websites

Fun and educational websites to assist your child

From time to time I come across a range of websites that are very useful for students. I will try to organise them here to make it easier to access. Feel free to suggest any that you may come across.

Websites to assist your child with literacy

BBC KS2 Bitesize - English

Web address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/ 

Area: ENGLISH - general
Age group: lower and middle primary

Synopsis: This website provides games and activities in: reading, writing, spelling and grammar.

Read Write Think Parent Resources

Web address: http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/ 

Area: ENGLISH - reading and writing
Age group: Prep-12

Synopsis: Engaging ways to introduce children to reading or to encourage them to write. Provides age-appropriate book suggestions and rainy day activities. The site is fun, educational, and easy to use outside of school. Published by the International Reading Association.

BookHive: your guide to children's literature and books

Web address:http://www.cmlibrary.org/bookhive 

Area: ENGLISH
Age group: Years P-12

Synopsis: This guide to children's literature, from a public library in the USA, contains hundreds of reviews and recommended reads.

Database of award-winning children's literature

Web address:http://www.dawcl.com/ 

Area: ENGLISH
Age group: Years P-12

Synopsis: This database enables the generation of simply-annotated reading lists of award-winning books. Users can request lists by age, genre, historical period, year of publication, multicultural emphasis, language or gender. Brief reviews are provided.

Rosie and Wallace story books

Web address:http://education.qld.gov.au/library/eresources/vbook/rosie-wallace.html

Area: ENGLISH
Age group: Years 1-3

Synopsis: This series of 30 virtual books contains many frequently used sight words and is sequenced from simple text and repetitive sentence patterns to longer stories with more complex sentence structures. The books contain recounts and stories of Rosie the rosella and her best friend Wallace the wallaby. The books have been written to encourage and support students' use of picture and context clues and letter-sound knowledge.

Websites to assit your child with numeracy

BBC Skillwise - Numbers

Web address:http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers 

Area: MATHS
Age group: middle to upper primary and lower secondary

Synopsis: This site was developed to help adults improve their numeracy; however, it is also useful for middle to upper primary and lower secondary students. It includes fact sheets, worksheets, quizzes and games in the areas of: whole numbers, measures, shape and space, fractions, decimals and percentages and handling data.

BBC KS2 Bitesize - Maths

Web address:http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/ 

Area: MATHS - general
Age group: lower and middle primary

Synopsis: This website provides games and activities in: numbers, shape, space and measures and handling data.

Woodlands Junior School - UK

Web address:http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html 

Area: MATHS - general
Age group: Primary

Synopsis: This site provides activities and games in: numbers, space and shape, data and probability, measure skills and maths investigations.

Arcademic Skill builders

Web address:http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ 

Area: MATHS - general
Age group: primary

Synopsis: Arcademic offers free educational maths and language arts games to engage, motivate, and help teach students. Children can play free multi-player and single-player games covering: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, integers and fractions and ratios.

XP Maths

Web address:http://www.xpmath.com/ 

Area: MATHS - general
Age group: primary

Synopsis: XP Math is a good place to find maths games, maths videos, maths worksheets, and maths e-books. The games section of XP Math offers games for basic arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and probability. Create an account on XP Math and you can keep track of your scores.

Smart Kiddies

Web address:http://www.smartkiddies.com.au/ 

Area: MATHS - general
Age group: lower and middle primary

Synopsis: This site is free for teachers and students, however parents pay a subscription fee. There is a free trial period of 30 days on registration. Smart Kiddies is based on the Australian Curriculum, aiming to make maths fun and challenging.

Websites to assist your child with science concepts

Woodlands Junior School - UK

Web address:http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/Science/index.html 

Area: SCIENCE - general
Age group: primary

Synopsis: This site provides activities and games in: living and life processes, physical processes, materials, earth and space and water.

BBC KS2 Bitesize - Science

Web address:http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/ 

Area: SCIENCE - general
Age group:lower and middle primary

Synopsis: This website provides games and activities about: living things, materials and physical processes.

Queensland Museum Sciencentre at South Bank

Web address:http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/sciencentre/ 

Area: SCIENCE
Age group: Years 4-8

Synopsis: This self-funding branch of the Queensland Museum offers interactive science and technology programs for children 'of all ages'. The website provides an overview of the activities that participants (there are no 'visitors' at the Sciencentre - everyone is a 'participant') can enjoy. Divided into Body Zone, Earth Space and Action Stations, the Sciencentre provides activities for people to explore anatomy, forces, electricity, air and other aspects of scientific enquiry. Information is provided on the activities available, but no online activities are presented.

The British Museum: home educators

Web address:http://www.britishmuseum.org/learning/schools_and_teachers/resources/home_educators.aspx 

Area: SCIENCE
Age group: Years 4-12

Synopsis: The British Museum has a wealth of resources to assist with home learning.

Natural History Museum. Kids only

Web address:http://www.nhm.ac.uk/kids-only/ 

Area: SCIENCE
Age group: Years 1-3

Synopsis: For younger children, this site has games, quizzes and explorations on dinosaurs, animal adaptations and insect life.

Natural History Museum. Nature online - explore the natural world

Web address:http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/index.html 

Area: SCIENCE
Age group: Years 8-12

Synopsis: This is a gateway to the Museum's vast wealth of natural history resources, providing information, videos and activities based on its collections of specimens and research. Topics range from evolution and geology to biodiversity and Antarctica.

Websites to assist your child with Social Studies concepts

BTN - Behind The News

Web address:http://www.abc.net.au/btn/stories.htm 

Area: SOSE - Current affairs
Age group: Grades 4-9

Synopsis: ABC News videos based on current affair issues and events happening around the world. Watch online videos of weekly TV episodes on the ABC channel. Introduces young people to the world of news.

National Geographic Education - Mapping

Web address:http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/kd/?ar_a=3 

Area: SOSE - mapping
Age group:middle and upper primary

Synopsis:A great site about mapping. It includes games and easy-to-understand explanations.

ABC Catchment Detox Game

Web address:http://www.catchmentdetox.net.au/ 

Area: SOSE
Age group: middle and upper primary

Synopsis: Play Catchment Detox to see if you can successfully manage a river catchment and create a sustainable and thriving economy. It's an online game where you're in charge of the whole catchment. You get to decide what activities you undertake - whether to plant crops, log forests, build factories or set up national parks. The aim is to avoid environmental problems and provide food and wealth for the population.

United Nations - global teaching and learning project CYBERSCHOOLBUS

Web address:http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/ 

Area: SOSE
Age group: Years 5-12

Synopsis: This United Nations resource is available in several languages and contains a large number of links to information on the work of the United Nations, plus activities and projects to teach students about world issues in an interactive and engaging way. 'Curriculum' includes information and support material for teachers and students on twenty current world issues such as: world hunger, human rights and racial discrimination.

The British Museum: home educators

Web address:http://www.britishmuseum.org/learning/schools_and_teachers/home_educators.aspx 

Area: SOSE
Age group: Years 4-10

Synopsis: The British Museum has a wealth of resources to assist with home learning.

The British Museum: web resources

Web address:http://www.britishmuseum.org/learning/schools_and_teachers/web_resources.aspx 

Area: SOSE
Age group: Years 4-10

Synopsis: This site of the British Museum contains links to their websites, for students and teachers, that deal particularly with ancient civilisations.

Websites to assist your child with general concepts

QCursive: a Queensland handwriting resource

Web address:http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=49758

Area: Handwriting
Age group: Years 1-3

Synopsis: This site contains QCursive fonts, editor software (to process unjoined to joined characters) and style and joining rules. Handwriting and spelling activity resources for Years 1 to 3 students are also included.

ABC for Kids

Web address:http://www.abc.net.au/abcforkids/ 

Area: Multiple Areas
Age group: lower primary

Synopsis: The ABC for Kids website primarily appeals to pre-school children. It provides a gateway to online content relating to ABC for Kids TV programming, as well as providing other games and activities that will appeal to this age group.

Khan Academy

Web address:http://www.khanacademy.org/ 

Area: MATHS, SCIENCE, HUMANITIES
Age group: middle, upper primary and secondary

Synopsis: The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit site with the mission of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Browse 1800+ videos which present You Tube video clips to explain topics and concepts.

How Stuff Works

Web address:http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

Area: GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
Age group: upper primary and secondary

Synopsis: HowStuffWorks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Communications, is the award-winning source of credible, unbiased, and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world actually works. Founded by North Carolina State University Professor Marshall Brain in 1998, the site is now an online resource for millions of people of all ages. Helpful graphics and informative videos walk you through topics clearly, simply and objectively.

Puzzle Maker

Web address:http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/ 

Area: ENGLISH AND MATHS
Age group: primary

Synopsis: Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool useful for creating and printing customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles and more, using your own word lists.

Fun Brain

Web address:http://www.funbrain.com/kidscenter.html 

Area: MATHS AND ENGLISH
Age group: primary

Synopsis: Provides a selection of interactive, fun games covering maths and English.

Discovery School Education

Web address:http://school.discoveryeducation.com/homeworkhelp/ 

Area: GENERAL
Age group: Primary

Synopsis: Resources to help students in maths, science, English, SOSE, and others.