Guidelines for Use of Resources
Grades Four through Six
The ideas are designed to get you started with Internet activities targeting
the theme "The 50 States of the United States." Not all of the
suggested Internet addresses listed in this Curriculum Center theme have
been used for the activities provided. Many of the suggested Internet sites,
however, will lead you to ideas that will enrich your curriculum and to
other useful sites, in addition.
Use these activities as models and change as you wish to fit your students
and your course of studies. We encourage you to create your own exciting
activities using our suggested sites and others linked to them. Within
the sites listed you'll find some lesson plans that you may be able to
put to use and modify for your classes. Some of the sites may only be useful
to if you download parts of them or integrate some of the content into
your lesson plans. There's a wealth of information in this theme, but in
order to benefit from much of it, students in Grades 4-6 may need guidance
from teachers and/or parents. Use the lesson ideas to motivate your students
and to get them involved with online connections related to your course
of studies.
Check for additional information in Web Addresses
& Descriptions. The descriptions will give you a head start on
learning what is on the suggested sites. When you link beyond these sites,
make sure to check the content before using with your students. Some sites
may include information that you might want to use with your students,
but other content that may be unacceptable.
Introduction to Lessons
Bookmarking & Motivation for Reading
How you begin use of this curricular theme will depend upon whether
your students are studying your home state, another state, or all of the
states in the United States. If you are focusing upon one state, you'll
probably start with general site information on that state. For focus upon
all of the states, it's a good idea to begin with the overviews of the
states, such as 50 states
of the United States which is an excellent database of state information.
You might, however, prefer to begin with one of the governor's tours.
Nevada's Tour of the Governor's
Mansion with the Spirit of Nevada might be a good place to begin. During
the tour, a ghost leads your students through the Governor's Mansion.
With Grades 4-6, you'll probably want to place the suggested sites for
this age group in your bookmarks. You might also want to capture some of
these sites for use on classroom and lab computers. This way traveling
to the sites will be quicker and easier. Here are a few of the sites you
may wish to bookmark:
A Brief Guide
to State Facts
Arizona's
KTVK TV Kids Club Crafts
Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum
California Guidebook
City Net
Color Landform
Atlas of the United States
50 states of the
United States
Florida Postcard
Collection
The Ghost Town
of the Month
Images of the States
Maps of the United
States
Massachusetts
Lobster Site
Play the
State Capitals Game
State Birds
State Flags
Game
State Knowledge
State Songs
The Public Internet
Library's Stately Knowledge Chart
State Pages for Children:
Delaware Kids'
Page
Florida Kids
Georgia Kids
Kansas Links for Kids
Maryland's Kid's Corner
Missouri's
Kids Zone
Montana Fish, Wildlife and
Parks Page for Kids
The TN Governor's
Links for Kids
The
Kids Page of the Texas Parks and Wildlife <>
Tour of the Governor's Mansion
with the Spirit of Nevada <>
Tour of the Nevada
Governor's Office for Kids
Utah's Page for
Kids to Learn More about Their State <>
Teacher Lessons:
The Library-in-the-Sky
Web Sites and Resources
for Teachers
Using, Saving, and Printing Text & Pictures
Talk with your students about the material they find using the computer
and telecommunications. Discuss how to avoid plagiarism when using information
they've found online and from other sources.
Show the students how to "save" and "print" and
information to their classroom or lab computers and printers. For a few
of these sites, students will need to be familiar with sound files.
Safety Note
Always check the sites for content that will be appropriate for your
students. Keep in mind that links and content change frequently.
