The Association for Library Services to Children Announces Exceptional Website for Children

ALSC Announces Exceptional Websites for Children

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has added recommended Web sites to "Great Web Sites for Kids" (http://www.ala.org/greatsites), its online resource containing hundreds of links to outstanding Web sites for children.

Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to websites of interest to children 14 years of age and younger, organized into diverse subject headings, from astronomy and space to zoos and aquariums, from games and entertainment to geography and maps. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers.
 Members of the ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee review and evaluate potential sites for inclusion and vote on the sites to be included. They also regularly check the entire site to ensure currency and re-evaluate sites when necessary.
 The newly added sites are: 

• Aaron Shepard’s Folktales - www.aaronshep.com/stories/folk.html 
• Academic Skill Builders - www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ 
• BAM! Body and Mind - www.bam.gov/ 
• Book Worm for Kids - www.bookworm4kids.com/ 
• Census in Schools - www.census.gov/schools/census_for_kids/ 
• Chicos - www.chicos.net/ 
• Cool Science for Kids - www.hhmi.org/coolscience/forkids/index.html 
• Dogo News - www.dogonews.com/ 
• Enchanted Learning - www.littleexplorers.com/languages/spanish/Aisfor.shtml 
• Exploratorium Science of Gardening - www.exploratorium.edu/gardening/feed/index.html 
• Games for Change - http://www.gamesforchange.org/ 
• Genna’s World - http://www.gennasworld.com/ 
• If I Was King of the World www.ifiwasthekingoftheworld.com/ 
• Jefferson Lab - http://education.jlab.org/ 
• Lab TV - www.ndep.us/LabTV.aspx 
• MakeBeliefsComix - www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/ 
• Math Apprentice - www.mathapprentice.com/ 
• Mr. PicassoHead - http://www.mrpicassohead.com/ 
• Nourish Interactive - www.nourishinteractive.com/ 
• NSA www.nsa.gov/kids/ 
• Pat Mora - http://www.patmora.com/ 
• Plimoth Plantation - www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html# 
• Smarty Games - www.smartygames.com/ 
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne extension -http://urbanext.illinois.edu/kids/index.html
• US Mint for Kids - www.usmint.gov/kids/ 
• Wacky Web Tales - www.eduplace.com/tales/ 
• You Are Here www.ftc.gov/youarehere/

Members of the 2010 Great Web Sites for Kids Committee are: Meagan Albright, co-chair, Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Carla Morris, co-chair, Provo City (Utah) Library; Ryan Baker, San Jose (Calif.) State University; Rachel Fryd, Free Library of Philadelphia; Sharon Ledford, Harrison Elementary School, Lexington, Ky.; Elizabeth Medley, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Jacqueline Partch, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore.; Amanda Sharpe, UCLA; and Stephanie Simpson, Charlotte, N.C.

The complete listing of great sites with annotations and selection criteria can be found at www.ala.org/greatsites.
(American Libraries Direct, June 9, 2010)