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Thanks to all who responded, I received many great responses and quite a few requests for a hit. I am including a list of the web site links below. Some are links to individual sites and some are links to a compilation of sites. Thanks again! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ (Save the Tree Octopus) The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is sufficiently goofy, I've found (that water/dihydrogen monoxide hoax site is over my head, I think). I haven't looked at it too in-depth to know if there is inappropriate material on it. It's a well-done site, so it looks valid except for the octopus in the pine tree, of course. The bonus is that if you type in octopus in Google, the PNTO is pretty much the first hit you get. A travel agent is second or third, and a literary magazine is like 5th. So, of the first 10 hits for octopus, at least 5 are useless if trying to do research. It helps "sell" the fee- based databases a little bit. This one seems okay for the age group in question: Mankato, MN Home Page http://descy.50megs.com/mankato/mankato.html As for the rest, well you might have to sort through them a bit, since I haven't personally viewed them all. Most of the sites below are collections of fake sites. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/C49/ http://hostings.diplomacy.edu/baldi/malta2001/polpro/political% 20protest -77.htm http://monkeyfilter.com/link.php/6058 http://www.proscenia.net/pronews/discussion/110203_fakewebsites.html http://www.philb.com/fakesites.htm www.thedogisland.com http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ This website encourages visitors to help save the "Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" It's colorful, and hopefully, obviously a hoax http://www.buydehydratedwater.com/ This site offers to sell visitors "dehydrated water". It might take you a minute or two to explain what dehydrated means, but other than that, it should be at their level Another site to look for is "Lake Michigan Whale Watching," which is currently down, but will hopefully reappear soon. http://www.idiotica.com/cranium/encyclopedia/ If you go to my library skills blog at: csslibraryskills.blogspot.com I have a 2 part lesson on web site evaluation that I've used with my 5th and 6th graders. It's called "When in doubt...doubt." I think all the websites are okay. There are good ones and hoax ones. I think you'll be able to tell them apart. The kids really liked this. Feel free to use the blog if you'd like. Have a look at the lists at http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/bogusweb/ http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/EvalSoft/ just did this with my fifth graders. Type in "facts about beluga whales" into google and its the first site. www.idiotica.com/encyclopedia/content/Beluga.htm - 6k - I found the site in the LM Net archives but I had to look at a lot of sites that didn't work for 5th grade to find this one. We talked about what information comes from, how it might be dated (ex: a 1999 book about Mars wouldn't include the Mars rover information). Then looked at the NASA website together using a worksheet I created. I emphasized they had to think about the source and look for clues: (URL address for .com/.org/.edu) was it dated,updated (a lot of them didn't realize lots of websites have old information), were there ads, was the organization identified, was the writer identified, could you contact him. etc. Then I sent them to the computers to google the beluga website. The last clue asked them to skim the content and compare it with what they might know about whales and what makes sense. They were asked to reach a conclusion about whether they should trust the site and identify the clues they used to make their decision. Then we went over the site together. I had them leave their paper behind so I was able to get an idea for whether they were getting the concept. Some did and some didn't but at least all of them were exposed to the ideas. Hope this helps. I'll be happy to send the "clues" sheet if you'd like. Its at my work computer or I'd attach it now. Good luck. Have you used www.idiotica.com/cranium/encyclopedia It is the Facts About Series Silly reports that are easy to have kids check facts especially the Albert Einstein and Mars. They also like the World chocolate supply nearly exhausted article. I use it all the time with my students 5th - 8th. We also use the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie http://zapatopi.net/afdb/ http://www.umbachconsulting.com/miscellany/velcro.html http://descy.50megs.com/mankato/mankato.html http://www.hcs.k12.sc.us/high/nmbh/misinformation/ Item 5 was made by me simply to prove that even "dumb" answers can be placed on the web. From this list: http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/documents/TCEA/hoaxtable.html I suggest the Burmese Mountain Dog or the Jackalope. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. 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