T N.

I just got an email from Amazon about this site, that Sarah also reviewed. Oh goodness gracious, yet another one of these designer brands for discounted prices sites - this one might blow Gilt, HauteLook, ideeli, Rue La La out of the water as it's owned by the all-powerful, all-wonderful Amazon (yeah, I said it - a corporation is wonderful - dude, I got Jane Eyre for free the other day, within seconds, through these guys). I took a little looksy though I couldn't possibly afford the goods even at discounted prices, and there were some major winners. It's tempting not to place an order just to see if I can upgrade my cool rating to love. If anyone tries this site, please do tell!

Being at home with my poetry books makes me swoon constantly. I've been reading poetry again nightly (e. E. cummings, charles bukowski, emily $#*!inson, jack gilbert, leonard cohen, etc.) and when i hit on something lovely that i want to share with someone else, i use poemhunter to find the poem in copy and paste form. Most of the time it's fine, but once in a while, you hit the search button and get a spammy pop-up telling you've just won an ipad. Leave me to read langston hughes in peace, man!

Poetry is one of those things i'm not sure i could do in kindle form just yet, and on the computer it's even worse. However, i might read more poetry online if sites like poemhunter were a little more aesthetically pleasing and less sneaky-spammy.

I recently purchased a couple things for my iPhone through Best Buy - I realize I could have just driven a few miles there but there's never a guarantee that the story will carry what I need. Purchasing through bestbuy.com is easy, and I think the site is pretty well organized and easy to navigate.

Quicktime, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player - Nein!

I will only use VLC to play DVDs / video on my laptop. First of all, VLC is free. Second of all, it's not slow like Quicktime. Thirdly, it's not selective in what it wants to play the way Windows Media Player is - WMP says oh no, I want to play this psychedelic movement instead of the movie you're watching. Oh okay. I'd love to listen to scenes from Alfred Hitchcock films accompanied by psychedelic movement. That's quite fitting. Lastly, it's not buggy and doesn't totally ruin things the way that Real Player does.

www.videolan.org/vlc

I'm a late bloomer when it comes to some things: eating sushi, getting an iPhone, finding out that you don't have to suffer through motion sickness - that there's actually a pill for that kind of thing (which would have saved me a lot of suffering through my one week trip to Vietnam years ago). I stopped watching cartoons at the age of 6 or 7 and hardly read comics as a child (other than Beetle Bailey, for some very odd reason - why would a small Vietnamese girl feel drawn to Beetle Bailey?).

At the age of 25, through my desperate attempts at finding something that would engage one of my students, I found Calvin and Hobbes (or as another student referred to it, Calvin and Hobos). After reading a couple comics, I was hooked, and with this obsessive personality, I went out and bought every Calvin & Hobbes book I could find. It's probably the only thing that I consistently laugh out loud at - though I sometimes find myself concerned about Calvin's attitude and reckless behaviors' influencing my students' behaviors. After a second's thought though, I'm back at it.

When I left the first school at which I taught, I left my C&H collection behind for the boys to enjoy (which they did, immensely). I was reminded of those books as I recently found my extra copy of Yukon Ho! (not the best but still good) in a pile of books. Eventually I'll restore my collection, but the website will do for now - a C&H strip a day to accompany my cup of coffee - doesn't get much better than that.

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/

No utilice este sitio web. Ella es falso, es un equipo que genera el mismo mensaje para todos. Hay un montón de malas críticas de la versión americana del sitio: http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.gabriella-psychic.com

Kidshealth.org is kind of like a better, more accurate version of about.com for themes related to growing up. There are three sections to the site: the parents section, the kids section and the teens section. While many of the same topics are covered across the three sections, each takes a different approach as to how the material is covered (writing style, graphics, vocabulary, etc.) and how much is covered.

I use kidshealth in a couple of ways. One, it's a great, simple reference tool for parents who are just starting to learn about good nutritional habits, aspects of their children's development, facts about disabilities, etc. Two, it gives me good insight into how I can explain complex topics to children. For example, for a workshop for siblings of children with disabilities, I might see how Kidshealth approaches explaining what mental $#*!ation, Down Syndrome, autism, etc. It's really a comprehensive website, and one of the first I go to when I need to explain something to parents or students (and it comes in Spanish translations, so I'd give it double hearts, if I could).

It's hard to know which download sites are trustworthy. I needed the Bodoni font in a hurry so I checked Dafont on Sitejabber first. Fortunately there was at least one review, from a reputable reviewer so I went for it. In seconds and for gratis, I got what I needed! Dafont also shows you search results of other sites that offer the font (for a fee).

During the week I have little time to stop and read articles of interest, either ones that I run across or those in my Google Reader. Instapaper solves the problem by letting me click on my little ¨Read Later¨ toolbar bookmark when I´m on a website or article that I want to read later. It saves it all on my account and allows me to read it on the weekends, when I have more free time. Think of it as a temporary bookmark. The best part is that I can download all of the saved articles into Kindle form and get it sent to my Kindle.

A website full of free and simple worksheets for topics from math to reading to science and social studies. This site is really a jewel for our teachers who need simple, distraction free websites with big print and few problems per page. Working with children with special needs, we've found that super teacher worksheets allows us to accommodate to our students very easily!

Edhelper is full of ready-made worksheets, mini-books, activities, whole units etc. for levels from pre-k to high school. Teachers love Edhelper because they can supplement their activities and create homework easily. The subscription is $20 a year and $40 a year for all levels, up to high school. It's pretty worthwhile. I only wish the website was better presented (cleaner, better organized).

I've bought a number of ridiculous items from this website for babies of friends. One of those items included the peepee teepee (http://www.uncommongoods.com/item/item.jsp?itemId=*******; I have yet to find out if it really works). A lot of the products for babies are organic, colorful and/or old school (no flashing lights or buttons to push), and I just love sorting through that kind of stuff. I had absolutely no problems with the purchases, and my friends loved the goods.

Some people call Pitchfork Media elitist and pretentious, but all I know is that it's still the best source, for me, of discovering new music that I'm sure to like and of being updated on my favorite bands. Living in Guatemala, I'm unable to see live shows or to talk to like-minded folks about the stuff I like, but Pitchfork.com keeps me feeling in the loop.

Pitchfork was the only place that covered U. K. band Flotation Toy Warning months after some friends and I heard it used by Martin Pickle in a short film. It's the only place where I can find out about a possible Camera Obscura/M. Ward collaboration, watch Weezer covering MGMT's Kids, listen to some good tracks, and wait excitedly for a new Broken Social Scene album. Of course I like Pitchfork most of all because I agree with almost everything they say as well. If only Pitchfork came in the form of a skinny, faux-hipster with a job so that I could fall in love with it in person.

Per fellow SJ user Alex P.'s recommendation, I started perusing Lookbook.nu and now have it as a daily part of my everyday 'must-check', just as I do with the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee and James Franco's Tumblr (that one's for you, Alex!). Lookbook is a user-generated fashion website full of striving fashionistas who want to show off their hipster looks to the world. There are probably a hundred or more submissions a day - I can't get through them all in one sitting is for sure, and you can "hype" (vote) for favorite looks and follow certain fashionistas.

Unlike the Sartorialist, lookbook.nu can feel a little 'young' at times - nevermind the fact that most of the people with their photos up are between the ages of 14 and 26 (I surpassed that range long ago). However, I find the design of the website pretty brilliant - you never have to click on any "Next page" button. You just scroll and scroll to your heart's desire. Most of the outfits I find to be misses, but the thought that the next one may be hot is what keeps me going...

If you teach boys or know any boys at all, you'll need to familiarize yourself with legos. My students, from the youngest to the oldest, have always loved Legos, and as an educator, I see a ton of benefits in their use/play - development of: motor skills, creativity, motor and cognitive planning, visual spatial skills, etc. Not to mention the relationship skills involved - sharing ideas and pieces, planning out the play with peers, etc.

The lego online store is pretty amazing -- a veritable wonderland for any boy or girl. I do think that I could find many of these sets elsewhere for cheaper (I've found a good many at places like TJ Maxx) but for the special, harder to find stuff, go here!

Some short time ago I printed a long-sleeve shirt for my then boyfriend. As a gift for him, it was his favorite word to use in volleyball, so he could wear it while playing during the winter. Using Cafepress was pretty simple (especially because I just printed the word in the center of a plain long-sleeve shirt). I did wish there were more fonts available... but the process was easy and the shirt came in quickly.

Reading sure isn't easy, and because phonological awareness is a critical stage of literacy development, children who struggle to read may need more practice with those skills. Earobics is a program I've used in my school for years now - it's a research-based reading intervention targeting phonological awareness (though it purports to improve comprehension - presumably as a result of improved reading ability). The program itself is about $300 per disc (at least 5 years ago when we bought ours), and there are versions for pre-K to 3rd grade. It's perfect for the classroom that allows for differentiated, individualized instruction with time for students who need remediation. The activities are well-designed and appealing to the students; ours love Earobics time.

For those who can't afford the $300 disc or who want to supplement it with other computer-based activities, Earobics has a free game site called Game Goo which reinforces phonological awareness through various games:

www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html

I'm sure that most ebook reader owners already know about this site - thousands and thousands of free ebooks that can be downloaded in Epub, Kindle, HTML and text formats for pretty much any ebook reader.

The site could be prettier, but hey, these guys work off of volunteers' sweat and a love of $#*!ens and Twain. We can trade aesthetics for scholar.

I just came across this and felt like I needed to write this review now, that's how excited I was about this website. This is like a wiki for all skills that are now obsolete. This includes: eating from a trencher, dueling with swords, riding a rope tow, playing marbles, FORTRAN programming (though the logic is still good, it says), etc.

Each entry includes: the field under which the skill falls, the time the skill went obsolete (some are in the future, for example, driving a car is predicted to become obsolete in about 50 years time), what replaced it, knowledge assumed and when it was useful.

Seriously, this could take up the next 6 hours of my life. I hope the internet doesn't become obsolete for at least another 60 years. I mean, this is kind of brilliant.

Working with children with special needs requires that I think about the adjustments that need to be made for each student. For students who feel overwhelmed when I put a worksheet with too many problem sets or exercises on one page (unless I fold the page, which is one simple accommodation), there are sites like handwritingworksheets.com. Here you can create custom-made handwriting worksheets. You dictate the content, type and size of lettering, etc. without needing to log in or do anything besides create the worksheet.