Rubrics

Teachers often use rubrics (a written plan for how to grade something) when they are grading things like projects, speeches, writing papers, etc. Ask them ahead of time if you can get a copy. Keep it out so your child (and you) can refer to it as you work on these types of things. Teach your child how to make a plan to achieve the desired level. This is great practice for kids, and it teaches them that they can control the outcome of their grades.

I graded all of the students' writing papers this way. I tried to teach them these skills, but a little extra practice with it at home goes a long way to help "make it stick."

Website Review ~ Animal Corner

Website: animalcorner.co.uk
Appropriate for ages: 7-12
Helps with: Science, Research    

Review: This website is full of animal information. It's not the most kid friendly layout, but they will quickly figure it out. Kids might like to even just look around on the site just for fun, but I can see it being a big help if they have to write an animal report. Animals are categorized by where they live to help kids find what they are looking for.

Website Review ~ Books.Google.com

Website: http://books.google.com/
Appropriate for ages: All Ages
Helps with: Reading and Research

Review: This is a collection of books and older periodicals. The nice thing about this site is the variety. Also, since it is run by Google, it is very organized and easy to navigate through. Many of the periodicals cover topics of science and history so they will be wonderful for research. The books, however, can be disappointing at times. The problem is not the variety or amount of books. The problem is that they often omit the end of the book. This is mostly due to copyrights. By leaving the end off, they can possibly get you to buy the book from them. I would just suggest that you scroll through books and see if the end is missing before you get too involved. Otherwise, this is a great book resource, and closer than the library.