A Computer: The Perfect Holiday Gift

'Tis the holiday season and there are decisions, decisions, decisions. The choices are limitless--teddy bears, game systems, bicycles, books, educational toys, toiletries, gift cards, travel and the list goes on. At the top of my list is a computer--preferably a laptop. If you have a computer and an internet connection, then with the click of a finger you can do just about anything at the fraction of the cost. And then, you can explore what to do next.

I am a lover of zoos, and mind you there is nothing like the real thing. But the next best thing is an hour at the online San Diego Zoo. I can actually watch Yun Zi and Gao Gao, the great pandas, live on the Panda Cam. Another favorite is the Honolu Zoo featuring an entire page of exciting zoo video shorts.

Online museums are another example of the ability of a computer to bring excitement, history, and relevence into our lives daily and at our convenience. My personal favorite is the online Smithsonian Institute--there is just so much at this site.

Looking for fun and games--there is plenty of that as well. I have a special liking for sites that combine fun with learning. Sites such as GameGoo, Who Wants to Win $1,000,000, and Puzzle Pixies provide hours of learning and fun. Nixing the educational slant and going fullblast fun, sites such as GameSloop.com and Yahoo Games provide plenty of entertainment. Another favorite place is You Tube--I have sat at my computer for hours watching old videos of Nat King Cole, Elvis, Sam Cook and others who died before I was talking. There are also the old Saturday Night Live clips. Of course, young folks will enjoy the likes of Justin Bieber and Beyonce.

Let us not forget the world of shopping. Its a great place to get deals and research items that you are thinking about purchasing in a brick and mortor establishment. I'm an avid Amazon.com and eBay Shopper, but the traditional retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target , Bloomingdales, FAO Schwarz and many more have an online presence as well.

The one thing the computer doesn't do is get you out in the fresh air and moving those body parts so by all means buy those bicycles and visit some of the places discussed but a computer certainly worth considering as a holiday purchase.

Lastly, if you're going to be online then do it safely. The FBI's "A Parent Guide to Interent Safety" provides tips on keeping you and all your loved ones safe with this wonderful toy.

Educational Gifting

A birthday is looming, the holidays are coming, just got my bonus and I need to shop--there are so many reasons we find ourselves searching for that perfect gift for the young people in our lives. Consider a gift that will challenge their minds and expand their cognitive toolkit while providing hours of enjoyment. A search of the web will produce hundreds of marketing websites but if you comb through there are a few sites that offer some helpful ideas for that perfect educational gift:
Top 10 Educational Toys 2011--While likely not actually the best 10, there are some great choices on this list for all ages.
Family 5: Our Best Educational Toys for First Graders (Ages 4-7) --Good explanations of why these are good toys.
The Best Board Games for Every Age (Education.com) -- This one has to be our favorite!
Top 20 Educational Video Games -- Love this one too! Playstation and Nintendo can be educational too.
TeacherFirst: 100 Best Books -- It doesn't so matter if its on a savvy eReader or just plain old paper, nothing brightens the eyes like a wonderful book. Scholastic's article "How to Choose the Best Multi-Cultural Books" provides an essential facet to creating a comprehensive children's reading list.

Well, w think you get the gist. There are lots of educational gifts and learning does not have to be boring. Hopefully, we've primed you to the possibilities.

University of Idaho: Information Literacy

Regardless of age, all students need help navigating and evaluating the vast information available on the web. This University of Idaho literacy primer will quickly transform any novice or random searcher into a savvy Internet guru. The site guides visitors through a series of modules that teach them how to distinguish different kinds of information on the Internet, search databases and other collections, search for and select research topics, locate and cite sources, and evaluate the sources they find.

Grades 5th thru 12+

Shakespeare Online

You will not find Gwyneth Paltrow on this website, but you will find plenty of William Shakespeare—young and old. On this aptly named site, visitors can read every play or sonnet from the world's most celebrated writer and, more importantly, make some sense of his works with study guides and essays, Old English language translations, quizzes and famous quotes.

Grades 8th thru 12

New York Times: 1-in-8 Million

1-in-8 Million is a look into the lives of 54 not-so-ordinary New Yorkers, telling their own stories. It is an opportunity to go far outside of the conventional classroom without moving from one’s desk, an opportunity to hear, feel, touch, almost smell the people of New York. I found it to be a trip not just to New York—and I’ve traveled there many times—but a trip inside this city. I’d never seen it like this.

Grades 6 thru 12+

Thinkfinity.org

Although at first glance not the most inviting site, once you start digging in Thinkfinity you will find all kinds of nuggets. The site features lessons plans for educators and parents. It partners with several of the best educational resources on the web. Some are web powerhouses such as EDSITEment, the Smithsonian Institute and National Geographic. But there are also partnerships with smaller but very effective educational resources such as Wonderopolis, Illuminations, and the Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge. And if you keep digging, there is more and more and more.

All Levels

BBC Nature

The photos! The videos! The wildlife! Even dinosaurs! Breathtaking! This is a walk on the wild side at your fingertips. There is absolutely no excuse for not being exposed to the world of nature--even if you live in the center of New York City. Its right here. The BBC is the largest broadcasting agency in the world and a public broadcasting service to boot. BBC Nature is definitely one of its finest microsites.

1rst Grade - 12+

Mapping Your Future

Mapping Your Future is a one stop for students and families providing information on financial strategies, career options and college planning. Features step-by-step interactive tools for middle and high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, prospective students and parents. The site is chock full of activities such as Show Me the Future, an exciting financial literacy and life skills game to help prepare for the future, and CareerShip an online career exploration adventure. In addition to information on loans, the site also provides access to several search resources for scholarships and grants.
8th Grade-12+

FreeRice

FreeRice is a wonderful way to increase your knowledge while having fun and extending a helping hand. FreeRice has two goals:
--Provide education to everyone for free.
--Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

Perhaps even greater than the educational experience of this site is the investment your donated rice makes to fellow human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide.

FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program. A partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Apple4theTeacher.com

Its not everyday that we find something wonderful and free for the little ones, but Apple4theTeacher is just that. The site features interactive learning games, quizzes, and worksheet generator tools by subject (creative arts, foreign languages, language arts, math, science, social studies), articles, literacy coloring pages and more.

Pre-K thru 6th Grade

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art has developed four websites designed to tickle the artistic side:
Art Safari--An adventure in looking. Explore animals and art. (For Children and Adults)
Destination Modern Art:An Intergalactic Journey to MOMA and P.S.1--invites you to travel to MoMA and P.S.1 with an alien creature! Listen to a painting or create an online collage. Explore paintings, sculptures, and installations together through online activities and hands-on projects.(For children ages five to eight.)
Red Studio--Developed by MoMA in collaboration with high school students, explores issues and questions raised by teens about modern art, today's working artists, and what goes on behind the scenes at a museum. Modern Teachers Online --Connects educators with MoMA's resources and collection. Download PDFs of educators guides, browse images, or search lessons by subject, theme, medium, or text. Text and images can be printed, projected, or saved into a presentation.

PBS: American Masters

This American Masters PBS site supports an ongoing series of award-winning primetime specials examining the lives, works, and creative processes of America’s most outstanding cultural artists. The site allows us to sit and absorb in our own time the thoughts of those from our past and how they looked upon the events of their time. A comparison of the thoughts written by author Zora Neale Hurston in 1943 and the posture of the contemporary Rev. Al Sharpton in one illustration of the historical significance for this website. The sight features the likes of James Baldwin, Lucille Ball, Pearl Bailey, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin, Marvin Gaye and many more renowned artists. This a wonderful walk into the minds of some of the great cultural artists of our time.

Who Wants to Win $1,000,000?

The Who Wants to Win $1,000,000? educational game is just plain old fun. You can spend hours in front of your computer with your kids playing this game. Test your knowledge of math and science as you work your way to the million dollar level! The questions you will answer are real. Unfortunately, the money, is not. Again, the money is not real! Curious of how other players are doing? Wondering if your high score is still a high score? Take a look at the list of previous winners and high scores. Grades 5 thru 12+

GeoGebra

GeoGebra is a dynamic mathematics software for schools that joins geometry, algebra and calculus. And, its free! GeoGebra is an interactive geometry system. You can do constructions with points, vectors, segments, lines, conic sections as well as functions and change them dynamically afterwards. Equations and coordinates can be entered directly. Thus, GeoGebra has the ability to deal with variables for numbers, vectors and points, finds derivatives and integrals of functions.
Sound far out; we think it worth taking a look.

Thinkfinity

Thinkfinity boasts free top-line educational resources to strengthen problem-solving, creativity and critical thinking skills for the 21st century. The site offers lesson plans, educational games, activities and more. The gateway page asks if you are a parent, educator or student and the resources are wonderful. Being that its summer, the Afterschool Resources section caught our eye and it is full of of great activities--the selected resources and activities are a must see.

Thinkfinity is a big, bold site. Don't go play if you have an old, slow computer. But if you have the technology, this a site you don't want to miss.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) makes it easier to find teaching and learning resources from the federal government. The site features more than 1,500 federally supported teaching and learning resources in the areas of science, math, history and language arts from dozens of federal agencies. New sites are added regularly. The website was originally conceived in 1997 by a federal working group and launched a year later. It was redesigned and relaunched in November 2006. FREE is among the most popular K-12 websites maintained by the U.S. Department of Education because of the many great resources being offered by participating federal agencies.

Amazing Space

What a ride! Amazing Space provides a fun, interactive way to explore galaxies, black holes, comets, and other fascinating objects. Get to know our vast universe by exploring its planets, galaxies, comets, black holes, and more. Come and immerse yourself in the majestic beauty of the universe while gaining an education on the world's greatest discoveries. Get the hottest space news and homework help too.

Grades K thru 12

CNN Student News

We love student news. CNN Student News provides students a quick look into current affairs. In the Spotlight features daily headlines. The Most Popular section points to the what news is generating the most interest or search activity. Questions and Newsquiz allows students to test the knowledge they have gleaned from the news. Hone your abilities in the Learning Activities section and if that's not enough, search for our other "student news" blogs to expand your knowledge.

Congress.org

Do you ever think about telling your congressman just what's on you mind? Congess.org can help you contact your elected officials. If you can tolerate the political slant of this site, its a good resource for information and expressing your thoughts regarding the politics of the day.

A Bow of the Head: Religions of the World

A Bow of the Head is designed to provide a general introduction to each of the five world religions with the largest following and to define some of their major concepts. It is a selection from the ThinkQuest Library and therefore an opportunity to see world religion through the eyes of the three young people who developed the website. The site is not intended to convert anyone to another way of belief or to another religion. It is an opportunity to gain some basic knowlege regarding the religions we are hearing about in the news. It is a concise and insightful approach to an often controversial subject.