Larry Ferlazzo, Teacher

The Best Websites

(under construction)

This page lists direct links to sites that I believe are the best on the Web for learning and teaching. I have omitted sites and lists that are specifically for teachers. This page is designed for student self-access.

You can find more thorough reviews of all of these sites on my blog at Websites of the Year.

The title of each list is also a link that will take you to a complete review of all the sites on that list.

Best 2.0 Applications For Education
Best 2.0 Applications For ESL/EFL Learners
Best Online Learning Games

Best Internet Sites For English Language Learners
Best Social Studies Websites

Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation & Citizenship
Best Websites For Students Exploring Jobs & Careers

Best Sites For Learning Economics & Practical Money Skills

Best Websites To Teach And Learn Life Skills

Best Sites For Students To Easily Create & Display Online Projects
Best Websites For Teaching & Learning About U.S. History
Best Websites For Intermediate Readers
Best Websites For Beginning Readers
Best Websites For K-12 Writing Reinforcement
Best Sites To Learn About U.S. Presidential Elections
Best Visually Engaging News Sites
Best News/Current Events Websites For English Language Learners
Best "Today In History" Sites

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education -- 2007

1. Tumblr

2. Bookr

3. VoiceThread

4. Show Beyond

5. Daft Doggy

6. Community Walk

7. One True Media

8. Fleck

9, ESL Video

10. CircaVie

11. SMILE & CLEAR

12. Footnote

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For ESL/EFL Learners -- 2007

1.VoiceThread

2. Daft Doggy

3. Bookr

4. Scribd

5. Show Beyond

6. Imagination Cubed

7. Dvolver MovieMaker

8. One True Media

9. Sims On Stage

10. ESL Video

11. CircaVie

12. Jottit

13. Blabberize

14. Community Walk

15. SMILE & CLEAR

The Best Online Learning Games -- 2007

1. Wordmaster

2. A Break In The Road and Sound Factory

3. Yahoo English Learning

4. Launchball

5. Qtoro

6. Twenty Questions Game

7. Free Rice

8. Bitesize Literacy and Math

9. The Senses Challenge

10. Philologus

11. Class Tools

12. Line Rider 2

The Best Internet Sites For English Language Learners -- 2007

1.Online TPR Exercises

2. Starfall

3. Oxford Student Sites

4. The Everyday Life Project

5. Peace Corps Training Manuals

6. Wordbuilder

7. English Interactive

8. Hello World English

9. Raz-Kids

10. Brainpop

The Best Social Studies Websites -- 2007

1. Hippocampus
2. Awesome Stories
3. ZIPskinny
4. Learn About Congress

5. The Greatest Race On Earth

6. HotPads

7. The Traveler IQ Challenge

8. Zero Footprint Kids Calculator

9. Nations Illustrated

10. Geography Challenge

11. Maps: Finding Our Place In The World

12. Consumer Consequences

13. Hot Shot Business

14. Wikijunior: Ancient Civilizations

15. I Know That

16. DirectGovKids

17. Brainpop

18. HRW Social Studies Homepage

Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation & Citizenship

1. EL Civics For Students

2. U.S. Citizenship

3. Community Organizing Toolkit

4. U.S. Citizenship Podcast

5. Civic Participation

6. Interactive Learning Modules

7. American Epic

8. List of Questions In The New Citizenship Test

9. Online Citizenship Class

10. Ben's Guide To U.S. Government

Best Websites For Students Exploring Jobs & Careers

1. The Learning Edge

2. Career Voyages

3. Hot Shot Business

4. Career Capture

5. Penny's Search

6. Bioworks U

7. California Career Zone

8. Emurse

9. Everyday Life

10. Kids Work

11. Words Revision

12. Occupations

13. Sacramento Job Outlook

Best Sites For Learning Economics & Practical Money Skills

1. Everyday Life

2. Brainpop Economics Movies

3. Banking On Our Future

4. Hot Shot Business

5. Savings Quest

6. Get Real

7. Financial Fitness For Life

8. Hands On Banking

9. Lemonade Stand

10. Coffee Shop

11. Ice Cream Stand

12. Spend Well

The Best Websites To Teach and Learn About Life Skills
1. Everyday Life
2. Learning Edge
3. English For All
4. TV 411
5. Literacy Exercises
6. Life Skills Lessons
7. Student Lessons
8. Driving Test Tutorial
9. Envelope Reading Lesson; Reading Maps; Reading Maps 2
10. Awesome Places

The Best Sites For Students To Easily Create & Display Online Projects
* Jottit
* Bookr
* Big Huge Labs Slideshow
* oSkope
* ZeeMaps
* Just Crosswords
* Snappoll
* Poll Junkie

* Go To Quiz

* Edublogs

Best Websites For Teaching & Learning About U.S. History

1. Mr. Nussbaum
2. Brainpop U.S. History Movies
3. Digital Vaults
4. Footnote
5. Awesome Stories
6. U.S. History From HippoCampus
7. The Making Of A Nation
8. Glencoe Multilingual Dictionary
9. MacMillan Audio Glossary
10. iCue

The Best Websites For Intermediate Readers

1. Into The Book
2. Awesome Stories
3. Web Language Lab
4. California Distance Learning Project
5. Learning Resources
6. The Learning Edge
7. Four Stories

8. CBBC Newsround
9. Voice Of America Special English News
10. PBS News Flash Five
11. Discover! Simulations
12. Brainpop
13. Time For Kids

Best Websites For Beginning Readers

1. Starfall

2. Literactive (get password from Mr. Ferlazzo)

3. Cbeebies

4. Bitesize Literacy

5. Leading To Reading

6. Kiz Club

7. Childtopia

8. Story Place

9. Clifford Activities

10. Talking Books

11. Woodlands School

The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Reinforcement
1. BBC Bitesize Writing
2. BBC RAW (especially Writing Stories and Every Picture Tells a Story)

3. BBC Skillwise (especially The Virtual Traveller)

4. Essay Punch (click on "Try The Demo")

5. Writing Fun

6. Story Plant

7. Create A Tale

8. Great Source

9. Brainpop

10. Sample Essays

11. Protagonize

Best Sites To Learn About U.S. Presidential Elections

1. Brainpop Election Movies

2. Barack Obama Slideshow

3. John McCain Slideshow

4. Where They Stand

5. National Mock Election Game

6. Political Party Predictor

7. Candidate Match Game

8. President For A Day

9. Are You Presidential Material?

10. All About Electing A President Of The United States

11. Ben's Guide To Election Of The President

12. How The U.S. President Is Elected

13. Election Playbook

14. Presidential Election Vocabulary

15. 270 To Win

16. Pick Your President

17. Video Biographies of Obama & McCain

18. Scholastic Election 2008

19. Eight Steps To The White House

20. Ask A President!

21. Choose Your Candidate

22. Joe Biden Slideshow

23. Sarah Palin Slideshow

24. Political Dashboard

25. Inside The Issues

26. My Debates

27. Compare The Candidates

28. An Electoral College Primer

29. Electing A U.S. President In Plain English

30. Barack Obama Lesson Plan (listen and then go to "Online Exercises")

The Best Visually Engaging New Sites
1. Doodlebuzz
2. Spectra Visual Newsreader
3. Yahoo News Globe
4. Visual Headlines
5. News Map
6. World News Map
7. Reverbiage
8. Newsmap Virtual Earth
9. Interceder
10. Newsline
11. World News Today
12. Discovery Earth Live
13. Breaking News Map

14. Newser

Best News/Current Events Websites For English Language Learners
1. BBC Learning English News
2. Voice Of America Special English News
3. International Herald Tribune (click on headline, then click on "Listen to Article")

4. Reuter's Slideshows

5. CBBC News Round
6. Breaking News English
7. Voice Of American Special English Webcasts

8. English Club

Best "Today In History" Sites

1. The History Channel: This Day In History

2. BBC’s On This Day

3. MSN Encarta On This Day

4. The New York Times: On This Day

5. Jump Back In Time