Welcome!

July/August Learning Links: Hot Games & Teaching Tools
Plus, Presidential Campaigning links — See below!

Learning Links

Parent/Teacher Resources

About the Learning Objectives Site Map Home

Our site features exceptional links to some of the best free educational resources available on the Web, to particularly help homeschooling families and other students find quality, supplementary educational materials. While we try to stick with primarily non-commercial websites, we do include a few commercial sites that offer some great free resources with relatively few advertisements.

Our Learning Links are updated semi-monthly, so make sure to bookmark us and visit frequently!

Disclaimer: WW IDEA is not responsible for the content of any linked, third-party site and their content does not necessarily represent the views of WW IDEA. In linking to those sites, we provide educational opportunities for our visitors, but we do not otherwise endorse those organizations or businesses. Please report any broken links or suggestions to the .

Hot Games

Long, hot days can draw kids indoors and looking for something to keep them entertained. For an educational diversion, point them to these fun sites.

Academic Skill Builders (Beginner to intermediate)

Covering Math and Language Arts skills, these single player & multi-player games offer an innovative mix of arcade games and basic academic skills.

Smithsonian Kids (Beginner to intermediate)

The Smithsonian has gathered several fun online games from museums across the country. For example, learn how to make a light bulb at the Lemelson Center or see a skeleton walk at the Natural History Museum.

PBS Kids (Beginner)

PBS has fun games and ideas for children and parents from topics ranging from birthday parties to math, reading, language and child development.

PestWorld for Kids Learning Games (Beginner to intermediate)

Mysterious and exciting, the world of pests challenges us to understand what attracts these animals to our homes and yards. Tackle the pest challenge with these learning games! For kids of all ages, and especially for those in third through fifth grade.

Sheppard Software Games (Beginning to adult)

This site is a bit "commercial", but we are including it here because the wealth of great games far outweighs the advertisements at the site (enable your browser's ad blocker, if it has one, and only the less obtrusive Google text ads will display). Plenty to do for early learners and high school levels.

Hot Teaching Tools

Here are two great resources we have just added to our Cool Tools collection.

FreeReading

An open-source (free) instructional program that helps educators teach early literacy using a wide community of teachers and researchers. FreeReading contains a 40-week scope and sequence of phonological awareness and phonics activities that can support and supplement a typical kindergarten or first grade core or basal program.

Independent Lens Classroom

You may already know about the PBS Teachers portal, but this related PBS site offers some additional excellent lesson plans and online video clips to help students explore a number of Social Studies topics and issues.

Presidential Campaigning

The race for the presidency is in full force, as candidates market themselves to the American public. This provides a great opportunity for students to critically examine marketing strategies and the media. For example, deconstructing campaign materials, such as TV advertisements, and reviewing historical events can help students better understand how media can influence political outcomes.

The :30 Second Candidate
(middle school through adult)
This site produced by The Democracy Project provides a historical timeline, plus it explains how persuasive advertisements are created and implemented.

The Living Room Candidate
(middle school through adult)
This site at the Museum of the Moving Image provides many examples of television advertisements during presidential races from 1952 through 2004. Ads are categorized by year, but also by Type of Commercial and Issue. Students can also reflect on the major change in marketing strategies that occurred during the 2004 race, when George W. Bush and John Kerry became Desktop Candidates.

Encourage students to follow the 2008 race to compare and contrast marketing tactics, including the candidates' strong presence on the Web. Also, examine and discuss media coverage and potential influence on campaigns and on the voting public. What do students think about CNN using YouTube submissions to allow the public to ask questions for some of the debates?

U.S. Elections — Guide to the 2008 Election
(middle through adult)
This comprehensive section at America.gov is outstanding for outlining the fundamentals of the presidential election process. The Voting page, for example, shows each state's Primary voting date and it explains the Electoral College. It also provides an overview of the Candidates, and the Issues. The State & Local page illustrates the social and economic diversity of America's voting districts.

Copernicus Election Watch — Path to the White House
(middle through high school)
Follow the path from who can run for president to learning about Primaries and Caucuses to the National Conventions and, finally to the Formal the Inauguration. Click points on the path to find additional resources and lesson plans.