(Chicago) The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, has added Web sites this fall to Great Web Sites for Kids (www.ala.org/greatsites), its online resource containing hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for children.
Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to valuable Web sites of interest to children, organized by subject headings such as animals; literature and languages; mathematics and computers; the arts; and history and biography. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers, plus an area devoted to sites in Spanish. The ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee maintains and updates the site.
“Not all Web sites for kids are created equal,” said Karen Lemmons, co-chair of the committee and a library media specialist at Howe Elementary School in Detroit. “To make the cut and appear on the Great Web sites for Kids, a site must demonstrate commendable qualityand reflect and encourage young people’s interests in exemplary ways. Sites must stand up to an evaluation and voting process by the committee before being deemed ‘great’ and added to the GWS page.”
- ALSC’s GWS Committee voted to add the following sites in fall 2008:
- Adolescent Literacy - www.adlit.org
- Bob the Builder - www.bobthebuilder.com/usa/intro.html
- Career Information for Kids - http://www.bls.gov/k12/
- The Children’s Book Review - www.thechildrensbookreview.com
- Exploring Nature Educational Resource - www.exploringnature.org
- The Federal Communications Commission Kids Zone – www.fcc.gov/cgb/kidszone
- GoGooligans - www.gogooligans.com
- The Harry Potter Lexicon - www.hp-lexicon.org
- Leading to Reading - www.rif.org/leadingtoreading/en/
- Nutrition Explorations: Kids - www.nutritionexplorations.com/kids/main.asp
- The Road to the Capitol/National Mock Election - www.nationalmockelection.org/game/
- Vicki Cobb’s Science Page - www.vickicobb.com
- We Shall Overcome Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement National Register Travel Itinerary - www.nps.gov/history/NR/travel/civilrights
- Ziggity Zoom - www.ziggityzoom.com
- ZOOM by Kids, for Kids! - http://pbskids.org/zoom/help/contact/general.html
Members of the 2008 Great Web Sites for Kids Committee are: Karen Lemmons, co-chair, Howe Elementary School, Detroit; Becki Bishop, co-chair, Campbell Court Elementary School, Bassett, Va.; Amy Brown, Worthington Libraries, Columbus, Ohio; Robin Gibson, Granville, Ohio; Diana McFarland, Brunswick, Maine; Carla Morris, Provo City (Utah) Library; Marilyn Sobotincic, Medina County (Ohio) District Library; Terrell Young, Washington State University, Richland.
The complete listing of great sites with annotations and selection criteria can be found at www.ala.org/greatsites
