Holidays Around The World

Are you looking for information on how to celebrate a holiday in another country? These websites will teach you about culture and traditions around the world.

http://www.nativeamericans.com/Thanksgiving.htm
Find out the real story of Thanksgiving from the Native American viewpoint.

http://www.caslt.org/research/christmas4.htm
A website that provides links to Christmas time holiday traditions around the world. Link to sites that tell about Poland, Mexico, Sweden, and more. (Beware: one or two sites contain too many ads.)

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearcelebrations.html
A good summary of New Year’s traditions that also links to the history of the holiday. (Watch out for annoying ads.)

http://kids.yahoo.com/directory/Around-the-World/Holidays
Log on to this great site that lists 400 links to holidays around the world. Find one alphabetically, by month, or just browse interesting postings.

http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=53343
The History of the Holidays. Part of the History Channel site, this page offers facts, figures, maps, history, and a video for Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo, Mardi Gras, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Labor Day, Passover, and more.

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
Chanukkah. Tells the story of Hanukkah, the traditions, the music, and some simple recipes.

http://www.history.com/minisites/kwanzaa/
One holiday sponsored by the History Channel, this site explains the history of Kwanzaa, along with details about the seven principles and symbols. Watch a video that illustrates the symbolism.

http://www.tike.com/celeb-kw.htm
Everything About Kwanza. This site provides a pronunciation guide for symbols, and details about decorating for and celebrating the holiday.

http://www.whyeaster.com/
This site allows you to link on the flags of other countries to discover what their Easter traditions are.

http://library.thinkquest.org/15384/
The Science Behind Fireworks. Learn the history, construction, physics, and chemistry behind those rockets we love on the holiday.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fireworks/
The Anatomy of a Fireworks Display. See the science behind each piece of the rocket.
Then learn the names of each display.

MATH HELP FOR ALL AGES

Do you need some practice on something you went over in school today? Did you forget one step in that algebra problem? Do you wish you had someone to "check" your work? How about a crash course in beginning banking or a place to calculate just about everything? Check these sites out -- and return to them often for practice. (Some are game -- honest it could be fun!)



Need help now? Check out Park Forest Public Library's Live Homework Help.
It's "open" daily from 3:00pm to 8:00pm. You must have your library card ready to access the helpline.


A Plus Math @ http://www.aplusmath.com/
An interactive web site that helps students with math skills. Math games and online math word finders. Online flash cards, work sheets, and homework checker. Printable tools also available. Features addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals, fractions, basic algebra, and money.

CoolMath @ http://www.coolmath.com/home.htm
Advertised as an “amusement park of math designed for fun” and targeted towards ages 13-100, however kid, parent, and teacher sections feature math helps for kindergarten and up! Many math games including simulated lemonade stand. Math puzzles, flash cards, and practice problems. Online graphing and arithmetic calculators and more calculation tables.

Create A Graph @ http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx
Want to make your reports look like an A+? Kids 7 & up can quickly learn to make bar graphs, pie and line graphs.

Fun Math Lessons @ http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/Lessons/
For grades 4-8, this site uses fun everyday samples to give math help. Cut up a pizza to practice fractions, rent a car on vacation to practice using math tables, figure out chili recipes while practicing ratios.

Finance Freak @ http://www.financefreak.com/
For students who are starting to make or spend money, this site covers different options in banking, lessons in opening a checking account or acquiring debit and credit cards, investing basics, facts about credit scores, and loan calculators. Written in no-nonsense language for teens. (Disclaimer –Beware the many ads.)

Mathematics in Movies @
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/mathmovies/index.html
Just for fun! This site shows you movie clips where math plays an important role in the plot! Includes Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the Simpsons.

Evaluating Web Sites/Is This For Real?

Anyone can write or post on the Internet. So how do you know if what you are reading is true? Check out these websites for tips on deciding if what you are looking at is written by someone who knows what they are talking about, is current information, and is not just trying to change your mind or sell you something! Don't be fooled by bad information!

http://www.bpl.org/kids/Evaluate.htm
For middle-schoolers. Sponsored by the Boston Public Library, this site tells you what to look for if you are trying to decide if you can use the web for school reports.

http://www.kidsclick.org/
Play it safe! Use a search engine that has librarian -approved sites. 100’s of topics to choose from that link to sites that are appropriate for elementary school searchers. Older teens may find some useful information as well.

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html
ICYouSee: T is for Thinking
“A Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web”
A quick check list for teens that distinguishes “web pages” from “pages on the web”, and teaches students how to determine the “intent” of the site. Also includes a brief reference on “citing the site”.

http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/research/evaluating_web.html
This site is not colorful or fun – but it will provide older teens with all the tools and criteria for evaluating web sites. Examples of sites are given with tips for judging authenticity, purpose, objectivity, and more.

http://www.factchecked.org/StraightFromTheSource.aspx
Older teens. Writing about political or government issues? Read this to help you decide if your sources are unbiased or “slanted”.

http://freefulltext.com/"provides direct links to over 7000 scholarly periodicals which allow some or all of their online content to be viewed by ANYONE with Internet access for free (though some may require free registration)." Use this to check and see if those annotated articles you found with no text might be available for free reading here!

Google Shared Stuff http://www.google.com/s2/sharing/resources/static/html/help.htmlGoogle's answer to del.icio.us allows you to create a Shared Stuff page, email the page, with a custom message, or post the page to other social bookmarking sites.

My Science Fair Project Is Due When?

Tired of seeing the same old boring experiments every year at the school fair? Or do you have an idea -- but no clue about how to do the research and write up? Check out these sites for inspiration and guidance. Then -- go to the MATH HELP posting to find cool way to do grafts and charts to go along with your presentation.

Science Fair Central from Discovery Education @ http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/elmers/250projectideas.html
250 Science Project Ideas sponsored by Elmer’s Glue.
Also check out http://www.cdli.ca/sciencefairs/ for hundreds more ideas. Both of these sites feature lists of usable ideas. You will have to do the research yourself once you are inspired.

The Science Club @ http://scienceclub.org/
This site offers science project ideas for all levels. In addition, direct links are provided to “Ask a Scientist” sites. Samples of these links include those sponsored by Argonne National Laboratory and Scientific Americans. Check out the “Fun Science Sites”.
Special Note: Here is a direct link to a page at the Science Club site that gives you an easy explanation of how to think about a project, including forming a hypothesis and dreaming up experiments. http://scienceclub.org/~sciclub/cgi-bin/scifair/hint.html
Authored by a non-profit educational corporation.

The Free Science Fair Projects Network @
http://www.free-science-fair-projects.com/science-project-basics.aspx
Another direct link to great explanations of how to start and lay out your science project. Questions answered include: what is the research question, what is a hypothesis, how to gather materials, how to write up the procedure, how to read results, and how to write a conclusion.

More Sites to Inspire Your Science Fair Project:

CyberFair @ http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/
A directory of virtual online science fair exhibits.

Exploratorium Science Snacks @ http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/
Miniature versions of some of the most popular exhibits at the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco. Directions for creating your own exhibits and experiments at home. Experiment with polarized sunglasses, create laser Jell-O, and find out why milk makes you sick!

HOWTOONS @ http://www.howtoons.com/
Howtoons are cartoons that show kids of all ages "How To" build things. Each illustrated episode is a stand-alone fun adventure accessible to all. Saul Griffith and Joost Bonsen started and incubated the Howtoons Project while graduate students at MIT. At this site you will see a blog featuring unusual inventions and cool links to science sites. Graphic comic-type illustrations guide you to articles and links about space, bubbles, nature, drawing, and more!

Resources for Librarians, Parents, and Teachers looking for additional fun science activities that are interactive. Possible uses: After-school science club, virtual science club, or science tournaments.

Kinetic City @ http://www.kineticcity.com/
Kinetic City, Mission to Vearth: provides an interesting and coherent set of science activities structured within the framework of an adventure game. Students learn fundamental science concepts through online and hands-on 'missions,' which utilize a variety of teaching strategies, cleverly adapting real-world issues (pollution, energy consumption) to a virtual setting. For Grades 3-5

OLOGY @ http://www.ology.amnh.org/
Presented by the American Museum of Natural History for kids ages seven through twelve, is based on the premise that "everyone wants to know something," and is designed as a place for kids to explore, ask questions, get answers, meet Ologists, play games, and see what other kids are interested in. With age-appropriate content in archaeology, astronomy, biodiversity, genetics, marine biology, paleontology, and physical science.

Urban Bird Studies @ http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/urbanbirds/index.html
As they learn about birds, students can collect data for research projects, becoming members of an international community of scientists. Games and activities. Good for answering questions about how do I collect data for experiments or to supplement nature programs.