4Kids.org - Week of October 1, 2000

Week of October 1, 2000

Wired And Winning--The Harry Eichler School

Start spreading the news. The Harry Eichler School, Public School 56 in Queens, N.Y., is our first Cool School of the Month. This second- to sixth-grade school boasts four computers per classroom and 25 in the lab. Students go to computer literacy lab twice a week and "produce a piece of writing or practice a math skill," said Principal Ann Leiter. Neme Alperstein's Astre 5 class for gifted and talented students has fielded nine ThinkQuest Junior teams in three years. Six teams were finalists and three won awards. Madeline, a former Astre 5 student and two-time ThinkQuest winner, said of the school: "It was fun. Everything was revolving around computers. We did reports from the Internet." Learn more about this high-tech school at http://home.att.net/~alperstein. Congratulations to The Harry Eichler School. Enjoy your 4Kids award pack. (This site is no longer available.)

Is your school cool? Nominate it at 4Kids.org/nominations

Visit the Featured Web sites to find the answers

What is interesting about the Astre 5 class portraits?

They are in black and white.
They are all animals.
They are all drawings.

What is the proper term for the skin of a leech?

body wall
exterior organ
slime field

When did Alfred Nobel invent dynamite?

1876
1866
1886

Vital Signs A-OK

If you think you know your body pretty well, you'll be pumped up by HHMI's BioInteractive Web site. It has loads of info about the human body, including animations of body parts such as the heart and ear. Take a tour of The Virtual Museum, and then ask a scientist a question. Finally, check out Cool Science for Curious Kids and learn why butterflies don't look like caterpillars. Be amazed by the miracle of the human body at www.hhmi.org/biointeractive.

A "Nobel" Cause

The Nobel Prizes now have a presence on the Web at the Nobel E-Museum at http://nobelprize.org. Learn about the history of the prizes, awarded each October since 1901 for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics. Did you know that Alfred Nobel, the namesake for the Nobel Prizes, invented dynamite and holds more than 350 patents? This is one prize site.

How do you celebrate your birthday?

Speak Out Here!

Party time

This month I will be celebrating my brother's birthday, so I hopped online and found some info about birthdays. At www.kidsparties.com click on Birthday Traditions From Around the World to learn how birthday celebrations started and how people celebrate birthdays all over the world.

I went to ZOOMparty at http://pbskids.org/zoom/party to get some ideas about celebrating birthdays. It has suggestions for games to play, recipes for meals, snacks, beverages and birthday cakes. It even has instructions for making invitations or for sending e-mail invitations to all your guests.

I decided that I wanted to send my brother an e-mail birthday card. I found the perfect card at www.animatedgreetingscards.com. It's a singing cartoon I hope he likes.

We have fun celebrating birthdays in my family. And with all the ideas on the Internet, it-s easier than ever to plan a birthday party. I hope you all find some cool things about birthdays online, too.

--Amy

Ask Amy a Question