Activate the Learning Environment Your lesson is already half-way done. You've identified your students' needs, listed specific outcomes, and generated a list of useful resources. Now it's time to create an exciting learning environment. Provide meaningful, information-rich experiences that will activate your students. Ask yourself: Are my students motivated and interested in learning? Does the activity make good use of the Internet information? Are students actively engaged in learning? Springboard & Motivation Collaboration & Communication Internet Enhanced Lesson Plans Information Exploration Culminating Projects & Closure Unit Development Active Involvement Learning Online Springboards & Motivation Identify Internet resources that will be motivating and interesting for students. How can you grab the attention of your children? Grandpa Tucker: start your unit with a silly poem Bats: dispel myths before studying creatures of the night Origami Page: begin your Japan unit with an art project SpaceDay: kick off a science project on a special day Information Exploration There are many information-rich sites that can go beyond the traditional classroom resources. The key to effective integration is guidance. Students need a specific problem to solve, question to answer, or mission to complete. Rather than providing an entire site, bookmark a particular page at the site. Time for Kids: write an article Human Anatomy Online: explore the function of the heart Government Information Sharing Project: create a graph Little Explorers Picture Dictionary: compare types of whales Documenting the American South: write a story Douglass: Archives of American Public Address: critique a speech New Deal Network: take action Plants: identify a plant in your class garden Voices from the Dust Bowl: compare with the book First Ladies: nominate a first lady for a special award Judy Blume: create your own list of writing tips Active Involvement Engage your students in meaningful activities. Remember that not all activities require students to be online. You may be able to download the project, print the resources, or simply replicate the project off-line. Be realistic when it comes to classroom management. Jan Brett: send an electronic post card EPatrol: try the energy conservation games FDA for Kids: explore food issues Shape Up American: create a meal and check out your body fat Weather Eye: conduct investigations and experiments Planet Earth: try an ecology activity Puzzlemaker: create a puzzle Mark Twain: send an electronic post card Fun Brain: try the money game Collaboration & Communication Get students actively involved with learning by reaching outside your classroom and working with other teachers, students, community members, and experts. Communication Projects Epals Africa Online Keypals Gaggle Monster Project Ask an Expert Virtual Reference Desk Ask A+ Locator Pitsco Ask An Expert WonderKorner Ask An Astronaut Science Whatzit? Electronic PostCard Sites Blue Mountain All 4 Kids Postcards from America Jan Brett Butterflies Yahooligans Links   Address Locator Sites Phone Numbers Any Who Big Foot Big Yellow Directory Assistance Switchboard Stuffed animals, books, science equipment and other materials can be shared among schools. Patty Reed's Doll Travel Buddy Project Eduplace Exchanges Looney Lobster Culminating Projects & Closure End the lesson on a high note. Ask students to transfer what they've learned to a new situation. Review the new skills students have learned. Cartoon Corner: create a political cartoon for a particular time period. Webquests are an excellent culminating project at the end of the unit. They bring everything together in a single project. They can also be used to kick off a new unit. K-3 WebQuest Links 3-6 WebQuest Links 7-12 WebQuest Links  Nuclear Power Vietnam Learning Online Some websites put all the elements of a lesson together and provide a rich environment for learning from start to finish.   Online Learning Experiences Air Travelers Globe Program Amazing Space The ph Factor Living Things The Great Plant Escape Chemistry 4 Kids At Home in the Heartland Online Textbooks and Tutorials ThinkQuest Computer Art The Physics Classroom IMO: Mathematics Site Fractals Internet Enhanced Lesson Plans You'll find many lesson plans on the Internet. Many of these lessons are rich with Internet resources. Just Say No SCORE Project Unit Development The key to an effective unit is matching outcomes with activities and assessments. Start building your unit by bringing together all of your resources and selecting those sites that will fit best at particular points in your unit. Underground Railroad Underground Railroad American Memories Sweet Clara /Freedom Quilt The North Star Student Slide Show Project Underground Railroad   Japan Kid's Web Japan Jump into Japan Japanese Online Kid's Window Japan Tailing the Samurai's Tale Spin the Web! Let's start our own web project. Review the website resources you've selected. Where in a lesson or unit would they be most effective? Think about a learning outcome related to your topic. If you're having trouble, try the Active Alternatives page for ideas. Brainstorm engaging activities. Come on. You can think of something more exciting that "writing a paragraph." Try the Engaging Embers page for possible activities. Open Claris Home Page and type a fun alliteration that matches your topic such as Math Mania, Animal Antics, or Historic Happenings. Write a short paragraph containing an overview of the topic. Create a short task for your students to complete. Also, create a short title and description for the web pages you want students to use. Go back to your web browser and copy the URL from one of the web pages you bookmarked. Create a link to the page in Claris Home Page.