Grades 6-8 Internet Online Databases and Curriculum Links

PreK - 5 | Grades 9 - 12

eTools in Chinese
eTools in Korean
eTools in Spanish

HCPSS Online Subscription Databases

Students should see their school's library media specialist for login information to these databases.

American History - From the explorers of the Americas to today's headlines, American History investigates the people, events, and themes of our nation's evolution.  Integrating American politics, science, culture, philosophy, and economics, this authoritative database explores the ongoing development of the United States. American Government contains nearly 15,000 primary and secondary sources, including overview essays, biographies, government and court documents, photos, maps, audio/video clips, statistics, and more.

CultureGrams - Concise, reliable, and up-to date country reports on 182 world cultures

NoodleTools - Generate, edit, and publish an MLA Works Cited list or APA References list using NoodleBib

Science Resource Center - Thousands of topic overviews, experiments, biographies, and illustrations can be found in articles from over 200 magazines, academic journals, and links to quality web sites [see your school library media specialist for login information].

SIRS Decades - More than 5,000 primary and secondary source articles highlighting key events, movements, people, and places in 20th-century America

SIRS Discoverer  - Easily retrievable full-text articles from approximately 1,200 newpapers, magazines, and U.S. government documents; includes World Almanac for Kids

SIRS Knowledge Source - Thousands of full-text articles from domestic and international sources exploring social, scientific, health, historic, business, economic, political, and global issues

Student Resource Center Junior - All core curriculum areas are covered with this premium selection of reference material, full-text periodicals and newspapers, primary sources, creative works, and multimedia [see your school library media specialist for login information].

Teaching Books.net - A timesaving portal to thousands of online resources of book-related resources you can use to explore children's and young adult books and their authors.  It provides immediate access to useful materials and exciting programs (short movies, audio book readings, book discussion guides, and more) that add a multimedia dimension to reading in the classroom, library media center, and home.

World Book Online - This is the online version of this popular encyclopedia.

Howard County Library

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Homework Help

• Pinchbeck's Homework Reference - Links to numerous reference tools
• Live Homework Help - Online tutoring service is provided through the Howard County Library(HCL); click on the question mark (?); requires an HCL library card

General Reference/Research

• Ask an Expert - Index of expert question and answer services available on the Internet
  
• Bartlett's Quotations - Search for famous quotes and phrases.
  
• Encyclopedia.com - Articles from the Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia Britannica - Concise articles from the scholarly encyclopedia are available in searchable format.
• InfoPlease - Allows students to search the encyclopedia, dictionary, and several almanacs
• Library Spot - A huge hotlink page to ready reference sources, online libraries and other online media (journals, newspapers, speeches, etc.)
• Merriam-Webster Online - Online dictionary and thesaurus
• Multicultural Calendar - Online calendar that allows searching holidays by month, country or holiday
• OneLook Dictionaries - Type a word, choose a dictionary.

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Biography

• American Authors on the Web - Provides access to sites about American authors
• Biographical Dictionary - Facts and figures on 18,000 people
• Biography.com - Search over 20,000 biographies of personalities and biographical special features.
• National Inventors Hall of Fame - Biographies of inventors, indexed by inventor, invention, or by date
• National Women's Hall of Fame - Search for biographical information about famous American women.
• Nobel Prize Laureates - Biographies and links to Nobel winners
• Presidents of the U.S. - In this resource you will find background information, election results, cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of the presidents.  

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Career Information

• The Career Key - This site has an excellent self-assessment tool to help students define possible careers based on both abilities and interest.  Groups of careers are offered as possibilites for the student to consider. Specific occupations the student chooses are then linked to the Occupational Outlook Handbook for further information.
• Career Magazine - This site gives tips and links for career opportunities.
• It's My Future - Describes opportunities beyond high school, including career options, military careers, financial aid and scholarships.
• Occupational Outlook Handbook - This site duplicates the print title published by the U.S. Department of Labor.  The site gives a descriptive listing of occupations including job outlook and average salary range.

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Countries, Maps, and Flags

• Google Earth - Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.
• Google Maps - This searchable site uses Google Earth satellite technology to assist with finding locations.
• Historical Map Web Sites - This site has historical maps from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the  University of Texas at Austin.
• Infonation - this site will compare statistics for up to 7 countries at once.
• InfoPlease - Countries of the World - This site includes maps, flags, facts, quizzes and crossword puzzles, to name only a few features!
• Map Machine - National Geographic provides electronic maps and links to a wide variety of map resources.
• Map Quest - This site gives driving directions from one specific address to another.  Directions may be obtained for the United States, Canada and Europe.
• Maps From Hanover College Dept. of History - This site has links to maps organized by continent.
• National Geographic Country Profiles - Check this site out for a wealth of country information.
• Outline Maps - Use this site to print or download a variety of outline maps for homework or classroom use.
• The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection - This site has multiple color maps from the University of Texas at Austin.  The site is organized by broad geographical categories (on second page of site) and also has links to other map sites
• World Flag Database - Use this site to find flags of all nations.

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Literature and Reading

• Booktalks - Plain and Simple - site by Nancy Keane that compiles booktalks searchable by author, title, subject and interest level.
• Encyclopedia Mythica - Provides key word access to articles pertaining to myths and mythological characters.
• Harry Potter - Check out this site for information about the hottest kids books around
• Virtual YA Index - Index from the Suffolk Cooperative Library System that lists links to Public Library websites that have dedicated websites for teens.

Maryland and Local Information

• Howard County Public Library - link to the homepage of  HCPSS' A+ Partner.  With a library card number, access to the library's online databases is provided.
  
• Maryland.gov - Easy-to-use information on Maryland from the Maryland Archives.
  
• Maryland Manual Online - The online version of the print manual - contains Maryland information from the Maryland Archives.
  

 News Sites, Magazines, Journals

• 50states.com - This website provides a directory with links to newspapers across the United States.
• Baltimore Sun -- Use the Baltimore Sun's page for today's headlines, sports, and weather.
• National Geographic World - Explore kid-oriented articles on a variety of topics.
• Newsweek - Online version of the popular weekly magazine
• Time for Kids - Affords kids an age appropriate version of Time magazine
• Time Warner's Pathfinder Network - Archives of all issues since 1994 are available in addition to the current issue. In the archives the cover of each issue, in thumbnail size, is shown in a browser window that is organized by date of publication.
• U.S. News and World Report - Archives of all issues since February 1997 are available, in addition to the current issue. Archives are organized by date of publication.
• Washington Post- In addition to the current issue the full text of issues printed during the previous two weeks are searchable and available free of charge.
• WTOP - Local news, traffic, and weather, 24/7

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United States

• American Memory (Library of Congress) - U.S. History primary sources, lesson plans, photographs and more.
  
• EPA Student Center - This site contains information about conservation, water, ecosystems, human health, waste and recycling, air, "in your neighborhood".
  
• Kids' Pages - FedStats - FedStats is a listing of kids' pages from many governmet departments and agencies, including NASA.
• Library of Congress - This site has links to legislative information and research tools including full text access to current bills in congress. It is useful for verifying publication of materials and for locating bibliographic information.
• National Archives and Records Administration - This site provides access to primary sources related to U.S. government and history.
• U.S. Census Bureau - The Census Bureau has information from the U.S. Census of 1990.
• USA City Link - Look at this comprehensive source for information on cities and states.
• U.S. Gazetteer - This site allows users to search for United States maps by zip code or city and state.  It is published by  the U.S. Census Bureau.
• The White House - Presents information about the federal government, presidential information, access to White House documents, and commonly requested federal services.
• Zip Codes - United States Postal Service Zip Code directory

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Other Grade Levels

PreK - 5 | Grades 6 - 8 | Grades 9 - 12

The Howard County Public Schools Home Page

Contact: Carol Fritts, Coordinator of Media and Educational Technology
Office of Media and Educational Technology
10920 Route 108
Ellicott City, MD 21042
410-313-7179