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Off to the Races! (links on horseracing and the Derby) Video for Parent Conferences Summer Activities

Harlem Live Computer Animations of Physical Processes Medieval Woodcuts. How a Search Engine Finds Your Site.

Off to the Races!

In celebration of the Kentucky Derby, here's some links on it and horses in general which might be of service in the classroom!

• http://www.picadome.fcps.net/lab/currl/ky_derby/ - A site with a personal touch maintained by Melissa Moore at Picadome Elementary - lots of links and activities (many of the links below came from Melissa's site)!
• http://www.kta-ktob.com/ The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association official website. Go to the Kid's Corner for activities and games! 
• http://www.horses.co.uk/, http://horsefun.com/,  http://www.clixphoto.com/, http://www.clipclop.com/  - General horse information sites, with pictures and information on breeds.
• http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110848/, http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112556/ Think Quests on horses.
• http://www.montana.edu/webquest/health/grades6to12/kschultz/, http://teach.fcps.net/trt18/Kyderby.htm  Here's two scavenger hunts, (Use the "Saddle Up" Portion of the this page)

http://www.eschoolnews.org/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=3665

The link is an article in eSchoolNews' on-line e-zine on the use of simple videos in parent-teacher conferences. Videos can present a clear picture of student successes or problems - much better than a verbal or written description. From Greg Drake, Coordinator of Instructional Technology: "Earlier this year, I went to parent nights at Millcreek and Stonewall where they both featured technology-based student presentations for parents. I'm sure other schools have done the same. It seemed to make a favorable impression on parents . . . " 

[If you think this resource might be for you, contact your technology resource teacher, or jjones@fayette.k12.ky.us - the editor]

Summer Activities

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Recipes/ - arranged by age group.

Harlem Live

http://www.harlemlive.org/ 

Harlem Live is a student-run website containing photographs, poetry, prose, journalism, video clips, and other media offerings from the heart of Harlem in New York City.

Computer Animations of Physical Processes

http://www.infoline.ru/g23/5495/Physics/English/index.htm 

This site gives simulations of a wide range of physics phenomena, including sound waves and mechanical events. Included are the theories behind the phenomena including the mathematics associated with it.

http://www.godecookery.com/clipart/clart.htm 

Want to spice up your student documents about the Middle Ages? Try this Medieval Woodcuts clipart site. Clipart from this site is free for use in a non-commercial setting. There are also links to sites about medieval cookery, including recipes.

How a Search Engine Finds Your Site

Why does that student ThinkQuest from New Zealand pop up at the top of a Google search, but yours is 13 pages back? Here's some resources on how search engines do their stuff, and how you can improve your or your student's site's visibility on the World Wide Web.

http://searchenginewatch.com/ - A good general resource for dealing with search engines - mainly aimed at commercial visibility, but the section on "Optimizing for Crawlers" (under "Search Engine Submission Tips") is good for increasing visibility without submitting your site. 

http://www.netmechanic.com/ Another good general resource.

http://www.marketleap.com/ - This site polls the major search engines to determine if your site is listed, and will test your site against similar sites for popularity. Really good tool!