National Geographic Map Machine

National Geographic is known for bringing the world to its readers through pictures and stories. They've taken it one step further by providing an interactive world atlas.

Enter a country, continent, city or even US ZIP code. You'll find information on the area, population statistics, environmental information and more. You can zoom in to city level or all the way out to world level

http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/

National Museum of Science and Industry in London

Most of us will probably never get the chance to visit the National Museum of Science and Industry in London. However, you can visit its Web site.

Most museum Web sites contain pictures of the collections located in the museum. This site is much more interactive. It uses images to illustrate discussion and debate. You can read what others think on a variety of subjects. Or, contribute your own.

You can see a picture of the first television transmission. It's a little spooky looking!

http://www.ingenious.org.uk

Eyewitness to History

Okay, you may not want to throw out your history books, but here's an excellent supplement to traditional history.

Learn about the past from the people who actually lived it. There are accounts from 664 B.C. all the way to modern times.

There are some really fascinating first-person accounts of famous events. Read what it was like to see Rome burn in 64 A.D. You can also read diary excerpts of a Polish physician during World War II.

The information contained on these pages is more powerful than dates and statistics.

http://eyewitnesstohistory.com/

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Man has had a healthy fear of sharks over the years. Much of what we know about sharks is probably from the movies. Learn the truth about sharks through the Monterey Bay Aquarium's shark exhibit.

There are all kinds of species that live throughout the world, in both salt and fresh waters. Read about the different species and what you can do to save them. There are many activities for kids.

http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/sharks.asp

New York State Museum

This online exhibit from the New York State Museum uses drawings, text, and illustrations to show how the Mohawk built villages and dwellings. There are also firsthand accounts, plans for a model longhouse, annotated illustrations, and examples of artifacts. This could be a useful site for study of Native American tribes and cultures.

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/IroquoisVillage/

Musee

Virtual museum tours are some of the Internet's real gems. And Musee is your guide to the very best online museum experiences. Their directory includes art museums, science museums, history museums, zoos, archaeology, aquariums, and more.

Musee rates each museum site on a scale of one to six (six is the highest) and also marks each entry with icons to let you know whether a museum site includes travel info, educational materials, research areas, fun stuff, museum shop, or visual content.

Browse the Musee database by type of museum, region, score, or by name. Unlike their real-life counterparts, the admission fee for these virtual museums is free every day, the doors are open all the time, and you don't have to worry about crowded parking lots or long lines—what better way is there to spend a rainy day?

http://www.musee-online.org

DLTK's Printable Crafts For Kids

Not only can you keep the kids busy with this fun site, but you can also prepare for upcoming holidays, special events, etc. with more crafty ideas than you'll be able to use.

The DTLK's Printable Crafts For Kids site is not only easy to use, but it also makes crafting easy, with lists of necessary items, and bulleted steps for easy-to-follow directions.

I loved the Countries and Cultures pages, where I clicked on the Egyptian section to find a huge list of fun crafts, including coloring pages, bookmarks (the paper kind) and how to write my name in hieroglyphics.

http://www.dltk-kids.com/

Science Master

Science Master offers you a great resource to keep up with current advances in science and technology and learn more about the breakthroughs we now take for granted.

Designed to support education, the site contains a wealth of information to help explain the complexities of modern science. But regardless of your age or education, science is really cool. What could be more fun than downloading a movie of the sun's magnetosphere? There are learning galleries, numerous articles, a homework helper, and a free newsletter.

So if you're feeling ready for a daily dose of space news or want to visit the gallery of molecular artwork, this is your spot.

http://www.sciencemaster.com/

Exploratorium: Sport Science

When you think of sports, you might think of home runs, penalties, celebrities, stadiums, bruises, or umpires. But science? Aren't sports what you do to get your mind off science homework? Whether you realize it or not, science actually plays an important role in the games we play. The Science of Sports from The Exploratorium in San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, will open your eyes to the scientific principles behind baseball, hockey, cycling, skateboarding, and more. Discover what keeps a bicycle from tipping over, what makes ice slippery, and the physics of ollies, nollies, and kickflips. With video clips, animated demonstrations, and interviews, this site is a captivating way to look at sports in a whole new light.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/sports/index.html

Switch Zoo

Change the look of zoo animals. Make a biseephantig--the body of a bison, head of a cheetah, legs of an elephant and tail of a pig or any number of other fantastic animals.

http://www.switchzoo.com/

WebExhibits

Don't have time to go to a museum but want to expand your horizons? This cool site shows the link between science and art through different "exhibits." For example, you can find out how one famous painting was painted over by another artist. Discover how color is perceived and what it's like to be colorblind. Do you know why we have Daylight Savings Time? Would you like to learn about different calendars around the world?

This is great site to visit when you want to put on your thinking cap.

http://webexhibits.org/

Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing at Stanford University

Have you ever wondered how a common object or product is made? This site will explain it all to you.

Over 40 different products and manufacturing processes are explained in plain English. Airplanes, candy boxes, you name it! You must have the Macromedia Flash Player plug-in to view the content.

http://manufacturing.stanford.edu/

Discovery School

If you or your students are in the process of building a web site or making a PowerPoint presentation, you probably would like a supply of appropriate graphics. One place to find some nice Clip Art is the Discovery School site. They have Clip Art that can be used at home or for school projects.

http://school.discovery.com/clipart/

Fact Monster

This is one monster your students shouldn't be afraid of. In fact, it's a great resource for homework help and research. There's a search engine and categories including World and News, U.S., People, Word Wise, Math (really could have used this when I was a student), Science, Sports, Cool Stuff (pets, fashion, holidays, etc) and even Quizzes and Games--after all, a kid's gotta have a break every now and then.

Within each category are almanac, news, and special feature sections. And then there's what every school-ager needs right now, the Homework Center.

http://www.factmonster.com/

Microsoft Clip Art and Media

If you use a lot of graphic images in your work, you might want to take a look at Clip Gallery Live, a Microsoft site that offers over 100,000 graphic images and sounds, including clip art, photographs, and Web animations. You can use these clips in your Office documents or PowerPoint presentations, or in anything else you'd like.

http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us