ValleyReads

Swing into baseball fever.  Shoeless Joe by W .P. Kinsella
An Iowa farmer builds a baseball stadium in his cornfield, hoping his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, will play in it.

Chicks with Sticks by Elizabeth Lenhard
Four teenage girls from very different social cliques at their progressive Chicago high school become friends after forming a knitting club.

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Ruby Oliver, a moderately popular fifteen-year-old who has suddenly become a social pariah, begins seeing a psychiatrist and makes a list of all her past boyfriends in an attempt to understand where her life went wrong.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds
Provides identification information and color photographs of 544 birds of western North America.

Civil Rights Timeline, from infoplease

Civil Rights Movement, from wikipedia
scroll past the information about Northern Ireland and Canada and look specifically for the US, where you will see links for various aspects

African American Civil Rights, from wikipedia

Civil Rights Leaders, from thinkquest

USA History:  Civil Rights
scroll down until you see the Campaigners 1900-2000

Emako Blue by Brenda Woods
Monterey, Savannah, Jamal, and Eddie have never had much to do with each other until Emako Blue shows up at chorus practice, but just as the lives of the five Los Angeles high school students become intertwined, tragedy tears them apart.

How I Created my Perfect Prom Date by Todd Strasser
When Brad asks someone else to the senior prom, Nicole resorts to a desperate measure–she decides to make her next-door neighbor over into a dream date.

Black and White by Paul Volponi
Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught.

Book of Firsts by James Buckley, Jr.
Presents a listing of more than one thousand famous “firsts,” from the first dental filling to the first E-mail message.

Use the subscription database.  The user name is CA1032 and the password is vikings, then you must click on the orange box for SIRS products.  Once there, search “cold war”.  You’ll get 458 great results.  http://www.proquestk12.com/

An overview of the cold war http://history1900s.about.com/cs/coldwaroverview/

Another http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ColdWar.htm

One more http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/index.asp

And don’t forget the obvious:  search for your indivdual person or event

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade50.html

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1950s.html

http://www.chiff.com/pop-culture/1950s.htm

http://www.answers.com/topic/1950s-1

And last but not least, try the SIRS database.  Click on this link, type the user name CA1032 and the password vikings, then click on the orange SIRS products box.  Search 1950’s, and then look at the many choices of people and topics within the list of results.

Checkout the electronic database.  The user name is CA1032 and the password is vikings.  Click on the orange SIRS products box to access it.

Would you like to use an electronic encyclopedia?  The user name is valley11 and the password is vikings.

Below are some websites I found that may, or may not, be helpful to you.  They will not have every event on Mrs. Champion’s assignment, but they may have the one you are researching.

World War II Timeline

Photos of World War II from the National Archives

The History Place

About.com

Don’t overlook the obvious pathway to finding a website by typing your event into Google.  Then you must take the time to evaluate whether you have found a good website.  Ask yourself if it is reliable, unbiased, informative and accurate. Is the author an expert on this subject? (yes to all of these means good).  Are there ads or errors, or is it trying to sway your opinion?  (yes means bad) You may need to look at more than one to compare the quality of the information you find.

And one more option… follow this link to the Yahoo Directory of websites about WWII.  Other folks find websites and add ones they judge to be good to the list.  Is there something there for you?

Any book by Michael Crichton. 
He died in November and reading a book he wrote would be a fitting tribute.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Tally is faced with a difficult choice when her new friend Shay decides to risk life on the outside rather than submit to the forced operation that turns sixteen year old girls into gorgeous beauties, and realizes that there is a whole new side to the pretty world that she doesn’t like. 

Mob Princess by Todd Strasser 
High school junior Kate Blessing is part of a mob family; but when her mother gets fed up with Bobby’s cheating and moves out, it is Kate who steps up to help run the “family business.”

The  Christmas Almanack by Berard and Patricia del Re
A collection of miscellaneous facts and information about Christmas. Includes Christmas customs, stories, music, and recipes, among other things.

http://chompchomp.com/exercises.htm

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/apostrophes/index.html

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/reading_comprehension/middlehigh_school/

http://www.quia.com/cb/6344.html

http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/articles/1999/08/capper

http://www.teachersfirst.com/getsource.cfm?id=8225

http://freerice.com/

Nutrition and Fitness

My Pyramid

President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports

Teen Health

Kids’ Health

Sprout

Teens’ Health Food and Fitness

Physical Fitness Guide for Kids and Teens

Fitness  Benefits for Teens

Nutrition and Fitness

Center for Young Womens’ Health nutrition and fitness

Young Mens’ Health nutrition and fitness

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
In the city of Ember, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle’s dangerous work for Britain’s intelligence agency, MI6.

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
After learning about his magical ancestry and his own warrior powers, sixteen-year-old Jack embarks on a training program to fight enemy wizards.

Ultimate Aircraft by Philip Jarrett
Text and plentiful photos profile the most significant and famous aircraft from around the world, throughout history, and present a biographical dictionary of famous aviators and contributors to the development of flight.