This is our ever
changing list
of recently added sites, plus the occasional oldie.
These are not in alphabetical order.
Generally, sites get added on the top and eventually get taken off the bottom.
This page is one small part of Good Sites for Kids!
Page last updated 2 June 2017
A Timeline of Earth's Average Temperature (This is the famous one from xkcd)
It's huge! Therefore you will need to click on the link to actually see its awesomeness.
"(This) illustration covers a huge swath of time from the last Ice Age in 20,000 BCE to current day and beyond... The drawings and captions depict significant earthly milestones, from humanity's spread across the continents to the extinction of the saber tooth tiger. A number of historical figures also make appearances, such as Gilgamesh, Buddha, Shakespeare, and even the last North American Pokémon ("that is not a real fact"). All the while, the temperature accelerates from cool-blue on the left side to red-hot, record-breaking heat on the right." Quotes are from EcoWatch. This graphic is 740 pixels wide by 14,957 pixels long (!) Going in Earth Science
Oklo, the Two Billion Year Old Nuclear Reactor In a uranium mine at Oklo, Gabon is "a uranium deposit in Africa where, eons ago, a unique set of conditions came together to form the world’s only known natural nuclear reactor." This reactor stopped running about 2 billion years ago. The narrator describes the reaction process in simple terms. Going in Earth Science
The full rotation of the Moon as seen by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
See the entire Moon as it spins. Graphic is from NASA via reddit.com
via imgur. Going in Astronomy
Ticks These
ticks have climbed up to the top of these young
lambs quarters (garden plants) waiting for some warm-blooded
animals to walk by. Then the ticks will stand up on their hind legs
and try to grab on to the animal's hair as they go by. Once they
are aboard the animal, they latch on, dig in, and start sucking
blood. When they are full of blood they look like a large white
bean.
Then they drop off of the animal, and crawl away to lay
their eggs (EEWWWWWW!) Any mammal will do: deer, rabbits,
dogs, cats - anything, even
YOU! Other ticks go after birds.
Ticks carry diseases
like spotted fever, Lyme disease, and
many others - including
tick-borne encephalitis in Europe.
Going in Animals
Vaccination: ‘I
Will File A CPS Report’: Pediatrician’s Blunt Message About Vaccines
Is Going Viral Vaccines work. Do not argue. Vaccination is NOT controversial.
Get your offspring vaccinated. Read Dr Ginsberg's post. Debating
vaccination is like debating gravity - science does not care if you believe
it or not! Watch the video. Why are old forgotten diseases such as measles,
mumps, rubella, polio, and whooping cough making a comeback? Because too many
young parents are not vaccinating their kids, due to hysteria or peer pressure.
This makes their innocent children a public health menace. People who don't
vaccinate should be forced to do so by court order.
Make sure you vaccinate on time, too. Those shot schedules were set by experts.
Please do not alter them just because YOU don't like watching your kid cry.
Your kids overreact because they learned that behavior from you! Be a good
parent. Be a responsible citizen of your country and the world. Be an adult
- get it done. Going in Health, Homeschool,
and Life Skills (because responsible parenting
is a life skill that you want your kids to learn).
Roadrunners
eat snakes, lizards, & insects. They are related
to cuckoos. They are omnivores. Yes, they can fly but they
don't like to. Watching them wade into a snake fight is
quite fascinating. Find out more about them here.
Find out about rattlesnakes here.
Going in Animal Cams
How
to Engage English Learners With Technology
Going in Literacy > ESL
Those little parakeets in bird cages? Welcome to their REAL
world!
Going in Animal Cams
Going in Animals
The next two sites are about a political practice called gerrymandering. Going in Geography, Maps, and Secondary Mathematics
What Is Gerrymandering? A short video explains what's wrong with this ugly political practice. Watching it gives learners the needed background to appreciate the importance of fighting gerrymandering with geometry!
Meet the Math Professor Who’s Fighting Gerrymandering With Geometry This link's from A Mighty Girl's Facebook site. The original article from The Chronicle of Higher Education explains it in a more academic. Basically, Professor Moon Duchin of Tufts University, "has helped create a program to train mathematicians to serve as expert witnesses in court cases over redrawn electoral districts." Since courts all the way up to the US Supreme Court have problems understanding gerrymandering, this is a good plan to overcome this evil practice. Read one or both articles, and learn.
Featured on MrNussbaum.com (If you still haven't been to MrNussbaum, go look it over!):
The Multiplication Zombies of the Brittany Graveyard This is a quick and dirty in your face game. You will either know your mulitiplication facts, or you'll learn them very quickly! Throw correct answer pumpkins at the zombies in 5 locations, 25 quick questions each to test your skills! Going in Math > Intermediate
Will and his Happy Hamstars is a K-1 math game. Save the Hamstars by solving easy math problems. PLEASE watch the How to Play Video before you try this out.
Going in Math > Primary
"Mr. N's Boardwalk Challenge is a super fun activity that requires students to order positive and negative decimals and whole numbers on a number line. Upon success, players will earn "tokens" to use on boardwalk games such as ski-ball, roll the ball, whack-a-pirate, and air hockey. Tickets from these games can be earned to print out boardwalk "prizes." This game is a perfect motivator for fifth and sixth graders who will play for hours if given the chance."
Going in Math > Intermediate
Battle
of the Coral Sea 75 years.
Early May, 1942. A scratch force of American and Australian surface warships (cruisers and destroyers) assembles northeast of Australia to block the Japanese invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea. Port Moresby is on the south shore of PG (Papua New Guinea) across the narrow Torres straits from Australia itself. It is the very last Allied air and naval base north of Australia itself. It must be held. The Japanese send a big troop convoy, escorted by warships and a small aircraft carrier, to land troops at Port Moresby. The Allied warships move to block the convoy's path.
This is heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, one of the Allied ships.
Another Japanese force of two big aircraft carriers ("fleet carriers") and more warships, are running interference to block any Allied warships and sink them if they can. The Americans have two big carriers of their own, out hunting for the Japanese. The battle lasts most of a week. The whole fight is between aircraft carriers. None of the ships ever sees an enemy ship. Both sides take heavy losses, but the Japanese retreat, and Port Moresby is never taken by them. Here is an excellent Australian account of the battle. Here is the very detailed Wikipedia article. "Port Moresby was important because any Allied attack north through New Guinea towards Rabaul required Port Moresby as a base. Similarly for any attack south towards Australia, the Japanese required Port Moresby".
Results: USN loses the carrier Lexington. Lexington
is on fire for three hours, but keeps flying off and recovering planes. Some
of Lexington's planes land on the Yorktown and are saved.
Carrier Yorktown is severely damaged, but limps home to Pearl Harbor.
Full repair will take six months, but the dockyard has three days
to patch her up before the next battle. The incredibly tough ship gets to
Midway in time to join the fight.
Japan loses the small
carrier Shoho. The large carrier Shokaku's
flight deck is smashed beyond repair. No planes can take off or land. The
other large carrier (Zuikaku) loses most of
its planes in the fight. Allied navies would have moved all remaining planes
to the one good carrier, but that is not the Japanese way; so neither carrier
will make it to Midway.
There's more! Sinking
Of US Aircraft Carrier Lexington (1942) Pathe newsreel.
Battle of the Coral Sea photo gallery from The Australian.
Battle
of the Coral Sea Royal Australian Navy Official Site "Lest
We Forget".
Battle of the Coral
Sea from the Australian Maritime Museum. This site has big! loud! pictures!
and a good running dialogue.
Battle
of the Coral Sea from SlideShare A 54-slide show in a Q&A format,
for learners.
Battle of the Coral
Sea from BTN This is for the kids, from ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
There's a 3:31 video to start, a Teacher section, Rookie Reporter, and more.
The best part is the kids' Comments section, no adults allowed! If only the
USA had something similar.
In History
“Black Death” – Henry Johnson – American’s First World War Hero and The 369th Infantry Regiment, the “Harlem Hellfighters”, was an all-black segregated outfit that went to France in WW I. The fanatically racist US Army deliberately and systematically abused and humiliated the men of the 369th because black. The French Army took them in and equipped them. They were given French rifles and helmets, and stationed in the trenches. One night, Privates Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were pulling guard duty. They were attacked at 2AM by 24 German trench raiders. The two Americans chased away the German survivors after a spectacular fight. Johnson and Roberts were badly hurt. Johnson was shot and stabbed 21 times!
"The whole French force in the region gathered to see Johnson and Roberts awarded the Croix du Guerre, the county’s highest military honor. They were the first U.S. soldiers ever to earn this distinction. Johnson’s medal was further adorned with the Gold Palm."
Almost 100 years later, President Obama awarded Johnson the well-deserved Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, and Purple Heart. You should read the whole article.
A 1946 biographical cartoon of Henry Johnson created by Charles Alston
Going in Civil Rights and WW I
Good Sites! Good sites for kids. Good sites for teachers. Good sites for parents. Good education sites for all.