If you could only recommend 1 online resource to a parent, what would it be and why?

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Permalink Reply by Steven Carpenter on February 26, 2009 at 3:38pm

I found this site--www.commonsensemedia.org--the other day. The site has an impressive collection of short videos and articles for parents about media issues with titles like "Facebook for Parents" and "Cyberbullying Tips." The videos/articles are arranged by topic and grade level.

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Permalink Reply by Shelley Krause on February 27, 2009 at 6:29am

Is there any way to engage the parents in order to learn about what they would likely find most helpful? Send out a poll and let them pick what type of link you focus on finding next (homework help, parenting tips, digital citizenship, "safe" online games)? Ask a few parents to suggest a link and a one-sentence review? Do mini bios of key folks in the community, both in school and on the PTA and/or School Board?

Ask the webmaster for site stats on the pages getting the most "hits"? Ask some "first year in the school" parents what they went looking for and couldn't find? (In my kid's school, this would have been the pricing info on school lunches.)

Here's one example, which I think isn't that great, actually, but sometimes those kinds of examples can be helpful, too:
http://www.spsk12.net/parents/default.html

This one's better in terms of content, I think, although still a little "clunky" from a graphics perspective:
http://www.rickardsmiddleschool.net/Parents-Resources.html

Here's another approach (I like the "click to display" lists within the categories):
http://www.wcpss.net/parents_students.html

If you do a Google search on "parent resource page middle school," you'll have MORE ideas than you'll ever be able to accomplish, probably! Surely SOMEONE out there has moved beyond link collection? Come back and do a little "show & tell" when you're done, okay?

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Permalink Reply by greg on February 27, 2009 at 11:35am

Hi Patrick,
One of our school web pages that gets plenty of hits is our homework help page located at

http://schools.u-46.org/index.pl?id=6487

Please feel free to use it.

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Permalink Reply by Kellie Kutkey on February 27, 2009 at 8:01pm

Hi Pat!
I always recommend for my parents/students who have questions regarding math: www.coolmath.com
This site is colorful, NON THREATENING, and interactive. There are lessons from basic fraction work, to Pre-Calculus.
It is an amazing resource for math!!

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Permalink Reply by Lorna Costantini on February 27, 2009 at 8:12pm

Hello Patrick. If you haven't found Parents as Partners at www.edtechtalk.com/live please stop by. We run a bi-monthly webcast the 1st and 3rd Monday of the Month specifically around how to support parents support their children. This Monday March 2, 2009 we will be hosting our first "Speakers corner". On February 23, 2009 we hosted an Elluminate session "Connecting with parents on Facebook, what does it mean to be a digital parent. The recorded session and other details are available at www.ourschool.ca

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Permalink Reply by Shuchi Grover on May 22, 2009 at 12:45pm

You're probably done with your parent resource page, Patrick, but here's a site (SmartBean) that is aimed at parents - bringing them news, articles, good web resources, recommendations for educational as well as just plain wholesome and fun reading, toys, etc. There seems to be a slant on kids and web 2.0/technology/ 21st century skills. The idea is to "empower parents in their decision making on all aspects of K-12 education and holistic development of a 21st century child."

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Permalink Reply by Chris on May 22, 2009 at 7:26pm

After 9 years of teaching, I've learned that the saying "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" is true about 99% of the time. The following website is not for every parent, but there are MANY I'd love to recommend it to:

Chris' top parent website resource

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Permalink Reply by Mark Marino on July 5, 2009 at 5:15pm

Wow, I think I just got rickrolled by that link --> not that it isn't relevant to parenting, but... when will I learn to check the rollover URL?

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Peterson on July 5, 2009 at 2:57pm

I don't necessarily have anything to add to this parent resource page, but I found this question to be very interesting! I find as a second grade teacher many parents ask me for websites. The truth is that I don't know of a lot of places to send them. The very sad truth is that their child probably knows more than I do because I'm from the "old fashion days" where the computer we know is an apple with the green font color! I've learned more, but I am still getting more information! I was wondering if you'd be interested in sharing what you did decide to share with your parents? This sounds like a great resource that we may need to pass on to those "modern" parents! Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Marino on July 5, 2009 at 5:13pm

Hi, I know this looks like just a typical collection of links, but I hope you would find some usefulness in SOS Classroom. http://sosclassroom.org. As I mentioned in my other post, this site began as a class project of my Writing with Technology students at USC, but it's goal is to collect resources especially for K-8 in Language Arts and Math -- at a time when many states are canceling summer school.

The links are crowdsourced. We get them from educators, parents, and students. More importantly, my students are vetting all the links to try to aim for the most useful content. We're working hard to organize these sites according to state curriculum standards.

It's hard to pour through the sites that have so many good links but sooooo many Google ads!

Hope this helps!

Best,
Mark

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Tallent on July 10, 2009 at 9:24pm

You have probably already put this together, but here is mine. I put this binder up on our school website: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=276 (I'm a parent not a teacher, but I do the newsletter and website for the elementary school.) It is some great, safe sites for kids. Feel free to copy it and add or delete sites.

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Permalink Reply by Angeleen Musyj on July 16, 2009 at 8:52am

A great website for parents of pre-school children to third grade is www.starfall.com It is fantastic in the classroom, especially if you have a smartboard!

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