Monday, September 26, 2005

Reading: Fairy Tales

A fun website about a select few Hans Christian Andersersen's fairy tales can be found on www.AndersenFairyTales.com. You can read a fairy tale, and then do a fun game. I read about the Emperor's New Suit, and then I did the game where you get to pick out the clothing you want the king to wear. It was cute!

posted by Kristy Laurx

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Web Site: Hurricane Sites for Kids

http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/disasterquilt.html Miami Science Center "healing quilt:" I love that a science center remembered that storms, while intellectually interesting from far away, affect the real lives of children who live through them. On these pages, kids who have experienced natural disasters tell their stories.
http://www.wildwildweather.com/hurrican.htm Lots of good stuff, including hurricane names, learning activities, and the Safford-Simpson scale (Categories 1-5).
Not just for kids, but interesting, is http://hosted.ap.org/specials/neworleanssatellite/: Here you can view before-and-after maps and satellite images of New Orleans. If you click "View labeled map" you can see where the levees were breached and how much of the area was flooded.

Gas Math

Gasoline Prices
http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/
Get your child involved in scouting out cheap gasoline with this web site. They can type their zip code and the distance you're willing to travel ("radius" - use a map and a compass to explain how the term "radius" is the same one they've learned for the distance from the center of the circle to the outside) and get a list of stations with the lowest prices in your area. If there are savings a few miles away, have your child figure out how much you'd save on a whole tank by paying, say, five cents less per gallon. Figure out how much gas you'd use to drive to the far station, and whether or not you'd actually save enough to make it worth the trip.