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Although there are many content-rich resource sites for elementary and middle school students on the World Wide Web, finding such sites can often be difficult. This Digest describes more than fifty K-8 curriculum related Web sites of special interest to students, teachers, parents and librarians. Readers should be aware that the resources and their Internet addresses below are subject to change. 

COLLECTIONS OF SITES:

* Berit's Best Sites for Children: One of the oldest and most reliable lists of sites for children in primary grades. Compiled by a librarian. 
http://www.cochran.com/theodore/beritsbest/ 

* BJ Pinchbeck's Homework Helper: Compiled by a middle school student who understands the reference needs of his fellow students. 

http://www.bjpinchbeck.com/ 

* Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Home Page--A popular site for teachers. Compiled by a school librarian who has also created a collection for students. 

http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/ 

* Kid Info/School Subjects: Another student-created site. Arranged by subject area, and linked to many of the best educational sites online. 

http://www.kidinfo.com/School_Subjects.html 

* PBS Teachersource: Sites selected for curriculum content, arranged by subject areas. 

http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/recommended/rec_links.sht m 

* 700+ Great Sites from ALA: Compiled by members of the American Library Association. For students, teachers, librarians, and parents. 

http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/ 

ART:

* Artchive: an impressive group of Web sites and book suggestions for artists and schools of art including Impressionism, Cubism, Photography, and Abstract Expressionism. Try one of the tours. 
http://artchive.com/core.html 

CURRENT EVENTS:

* CNN Interactive: Read the latest news. Search the archives for information about past events. Choose links to top stories, hot topics, sports, weather, and more. 
http://cnn.com/index.html 

HEALTH:

* Centers for Disease Control: Health and disease topics A to Z. 
http://www.cdc.gov/health/diseases.htm 

* Healthfinder: Gateway to U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, the hot topics are especially useful. 

http://www.healthfinder.gov/ 

* Healthweb: Provides links to specific, evaluated information resources on the Web selected by librarians and information professionals. 

http://healthweb.org/subjABC.html 

* Partnership for A Drug-Free America: Accurate, authoritative resources for information about illegal drugs and their consequences. 

http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/ 

HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES:

* American Civil War Homepage: A collection of online resources about the Civil War. Includes graphics, letters, information about specific battles, and much more. 
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html 

* American Memory from the Library of Congress: Browse or search for events, people, places, or time periods in American history. Includes rich visual resources. 

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html 

* Ancient World Web: Collection of links to sites about ancient civilizations including Aztec and Egyptian. Search by geographical area or subject. 

http://www.julen.net/aw/ 

* CIA World Factbook: This site, updated once a year, is one of the most authoritative sites about countries of the world. 

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html 

* Encyclopedia Mythica: Mythology and folklore collection. Contains over 4,000 definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings, and legendary creatures and monsters from all over the world. 

http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/ 

* POTUS (Presidents of the United States): The Internet Public Library's collection of information about United States presidents. Includes election results, cabinet members, and other presidential facts. 

http://www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/ 

* Today-in-History: Find out what happened on a particular day in history. 

http://www.scopesys.com/today/ 

* White House: Link to the White House for Kids. See biographies of U. S. presidents and first families, press releases, and hot topics. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Welcome.html 

* 50 States of the United States: Facts about all U.S. states including motto, flag, and song. 

http://www.50states.com/ 

LITERATURE:

* Children's Literature Web Guide: Information about book awards, authors, and illustrators. Resources for teachers and parents. 
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/ 

* Learning About the Author and Illustrator Pages: One-stop-shopping for information about authors and illustrators. 

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/author.html 

MATH:

* Math Forum: The best collection of online math-related materials. Check for math resources by subject for your special interest. Search the archives to see if your question has already been answered. Special sections for students and for teachers. 
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/ 

REFERENCE MATERIALS ONLINE:

* AskA+ Locator: Need to find an expert on a particular subject? The AskA+ Locator will allow you to search for experts by subject area and grade level. 
http://www.vrd.org/locator/subject.html 

* Atlapedia Online: Contains full-color physical and political maps as well as key facts and statistics about countries of the world. 

http://www.atlapedia.com/index.html 

* Biography: Search a database of biographies of over 20,000 notable people. Uses the Cambridge Encyclopedia Database and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography. 

http://www.biography.com/ 

* Britannica Online: Online encyclopedia information as well as links to selected Web sites. 

http://www.eb.com:180/ 

* "Do We" Really Know Dewey? This ThinkQuest winning site assists with learning the Dewey Decimal System, including quizzes. Made for kids, by kids. 

http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5002/ 

* Encarta Online: A concise version of Encarta's CD-ROM. Includes short encyclopedia articles and hot topics. 

http://encarta.msn.com/EncartaHome.asp 

* Kids InfoPlease: Ready reference combination. Includes Information Please Almanac, Columbia Encyclopedia, and Random House Webster's College Dictionary. 

http://kids.infoplease.com/ 

* Occupational Outlook Handbook: Find out about education requirements, job outlook, working conditions, and earnings for hundreds of careers. 

http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/ooh9899/1.htm 

* Research and Web Citations from Nueva School-Helps students with the research process, learn how to create bibliographies and how to use search engines effectively. 

http://www.nueva.pvt.k12.ca.us/~debbie/library/research/re search.html 

SCIENCE RELATED SOURCES:

* ASK-A-SCIENTIST Archive: The information found in these archives is outstanding. Covers many science topics including astronomy, biology, and chemistry. 
http://newton.dep.anl.gov/archive.htm 

* How Things Work: A physics professor's compilation of his students' frequently asked questions. A rich resource for students explaining why and how things work. 

http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/HTW/ 

* MAD Scientist Network--Great "library" collections. Search the archives for previously asked questions. Try the labs! 

http://www.madsci.org/ 

* NASA: Visit this site when you have a question or research topic about space. Link to pages about Mars, the space shuttle, and the MIR space station. Search NASA's hot topics. 

http://www.nasa.gov/ 

* Neuroscience for Kids-Resources about the brain and spinal cord. Written with kids in mind. 

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html 

* Nine Planets: Multimedia Tour of the Solar System: Images and information: about the solar system, planets and their moons, and other celestial systems. 

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ninepl anets.html 

* Periodic Table of the Elements: Los Alamos National Lab provides chemical information including uses, sources, and history of elements. 

http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/ 

* Smithsonian Institution Frequently Asked Questions: Provides the answers to students' questions about common research topics including science and social science. 

http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/start.htm 

* Science Fair Project Guide: A collection of sites, resources, and project ideas for science fairs. From The Internet Public Library. 

http://www.ipl.org/youth/projectguide/ 

* Sea World/Busch Gardens Animal Resources: Animal Information Database. Presents reliable information about marine and land animals and conservation. 

http://www.seaworld.org/infobook.html 

* United States Geological Survey: News, fact sheets, and other resources about biology, geology, mapping and water. 

http://info.er.usgs.gov/ 

* VolcanoWorld: The best resource for volcano information on the Web. Images, answers to questions, and factual data from real volcanologists. Written for students and teachers. 

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/ 

SEARCH DIRECTORIES FOR KIDS:

* CyberDewey: A hotlist of Internet sites organized using Dewey Decimal Classification codes. 
http://ivory.lm.com/~mundie/CyberDewey/CyberDewey.html 

* KidsClick! Web search for kids by librarians. 

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/ 

* Yahooligans! The Web Guide for Kids: A Web guide for kids from Yahoo. 

http://www.yahooligans.com/ 

* Web Sources for Information on New Sites for Kids: Multimedia Schools "CyberBee" by Linda Joseph. 

http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/MMStocs/ MMScybertoc.html 

* School Library Journal "Surf For: A Thematic Guide to Internet Sites" by Gail Junion-Metz. 

http://www.slj.com/articles/surffor/surfforarchive.asp 

ELECTRONIC POSTINGS FOR NEW SITES FOR KIDS:

* BlueWebN 
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn 

* Kids Report 

http://kids.library.wisc.edu/ 

BOOKS WITH WEB SITES FOR KIDS:

Polly, Jean Armor. (November, 1999). "Internet kids & family yellow pages (4th ed.)." New York: McGraw- Hill. ISBN: 0072121858 

Miller, Elizabeth B. (September, 1999). "The Internet resource directory for K-12 teachers and librarians." Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN: 1563088126