Using technology can either expand or limit your interaction with students. It all depends on how you want to use it. 

Interactive Activities

Cool Teaching Lessons and Units    http://www.coollessons.org/coolunits.htm
from coollessons.org  is a source of units and lesson plans, especially WebQuests.

Holocaust, Anne Frank & WW II Links and More Holocaust Links

Mr. Donn's U.S. History and Geography Lesson Plans & Activities and World History and Geography Lesson Plans & Activities (K-12) are extensive lists of units and lesson plans maintained by Lin and Don Donn.

Make the Link Learning Standards Benchmark Grid Help from the St. Clair County Regional Office of Education.

Research Modules are another way to look at the different levels of activities, all of which still challenge your students to think.

Integrating the 'Net into the Elementary Classroom is a nice summary of six levels of Internet use in the classroom with appropriate links for each from Sarah A. DiRuscio, Forefront Curriculum.

TIP Project Unit Frameworks are quality K-5 engaged learning units from teachers in District 23, Prospect Heights IL. Some of the links used in these projects are located in the second cell at the right here.

Dr. Labush Links to Learning has nice resources for K-6.

Puzzlemaker from allows you to make and print out word searches, crosswords, math squares and others.

Certificate Creator allows you to make and print certificates.

Good News Bears is a quality stock market simulation which includes lesson plans. 

Berit's Best Sites - This is a directory of safe, recommended Web sites for children up to age 12.

ProTeacher has resources and lessons plans for K-6.

Sharp Resources  from Dr. Vicki F. Sharp and Dr. Richard M. Sharp and Learning Page includes lesson plans, instructional materials, online activities and projects, and virtual trips to museums and countries around the world.

Kid Stuff from Kathy Schrock  has activities and resources for students K-8.

Brain Pop Movies are a cool way for 3-8 students to learn science facts.

Visual Organizer of Activity Formats from Filamentality has some examples of matching the type of web based activity to the goals you have for your students. To find a particular activity use the Search the Registry.  Just specify the grade level, etc. of the topic you're looking for and click on the "start search" button.

Exemplary Uses of Technology are winners of the Larry Stilgebauer Award presented by the Kane County (IL) Regional Office of Education.

Quick and Easy Science has experiments and demonstrations that teach
concepts and cost little using common everyday resources and equipment.

Investigate authentic assessment:

The following are sources of rubrics and checklists for evaluating your students' work:

• WebQuest Rubric Template and Rubric Collection can be found at this site produced by Education Service Center, Region 20, Texas and teachers in that region. 
• Assessment Rubrics from Kathy Schrock's web site. 
• Assessment from North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. 
• Rubrics from the Staff Room for Ontario's Teachers. 
• Project Based Learning Checklist from www4teachers and the South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium - This is a cool site where you can easily build a checklist for or with your kids before they write, do an oral or multimedia presentation or an experiment. They will know what to look for when they self-evaluate their work. 
• RUBISTAR is also from www4teachers. Using a similar format , teachers can easily build customizable rubrics for or with your students for a wide variety of project types. Please check these out! 

Copyright © 2002 Richard Levine and Cool Lessons 
          This page may be used for non-for-profit educational use only. This page was developed to be used by the staff of The Larkin Center School, Elgin, Illinois. The workshops will be given by Richard A. Levine, Illinois State Board of Education Certified Professional Development Provider #100201.  R. Levine's role is to act as facilitator, consultant, and co-learner/investigator in the Illinois Professional Teaching
          Standards of Learning Environment, Planning for Instruction, Instructional Delivery and the Core Technology Standards for All Teachers, Standards 1 through 9.  If you have any comments or questions about this page, contact Rich Levine  at coollessons.org