Free Web Resources

There is certainly a plethora of resources in this amazing collection! My two favorites, however, are the following:

The Literacy Web

This incredible website offers everything from professional development for educators to practical hands-on lesson plans to current research in the field. My title is "Education Specialist," which means that I cover a lot of ground, from directing our before and after care program to doing "push in" support in second and third grade in the next several weeks as our students prepare for the CMTs. I could easily use many of these resources toward that end. I could also see using some of the prepared lesson plans during after care sessions.



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Project Gutenberg

Okay, I admit it, I'm a closet Steve Guttenberg fan (remember Cocoon and all those Police Academy movies?), so when I saw "Project Gutenberg," it got my attention because I thought it had something to do with the '80s actor. However, when I clicked on the link listed it didn't appear, I think because it came up as .net instead of .org. Although this site has nothing at all to do with Steve, it does offer free e-books for "humans users only," as it says on the bottom of the home page, presumably as a disclaimer against machines trying to infiltrate the site. I checked to see if they offer picture books, and they do--41. They're mostly poetry and nursery rhymes, but teachers could still use them with students. I could see this site being utilized by high school teachers and students, or by older elementary school students. My school will be adding fourth grade this fall and fifth grade in 2013; some of the listed titles would definitely be of use, especially in light of the new iPads teachers will be receiving soon.



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