Weally Wonderful Websites – V5.4
Author: Gerry Kennedy © September 2011
Numerous web sites that accommodate students who have different learning styles and needs exist and are used daily in classrooms throughout Australia. It is often difficult to locate and remember the links for useful education based sites, as well as for access, communication, use with Interactive Whiteboards, switches and other devices. Remembering and storing favourites and keeping track of them are also difficult if educators move from one classroom to another or from one location (e.g. home) to school.
Programs such as Delicious ( provide opportunities for users to store and keep favourite and important web URLs (an abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator). Delicious uses a non-hierarchical classification system in which users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen index terms. A combined view of everyone's bookmarks with a given tag is available; for instance, the URL " displays all of the most recent links tagged "maths". Its collective nature makes it possible to view bookmarks added by other users.
Delicious has a "hotlist" on its home page and "popular" and "recent" pages, which help to make the website a barometer of Internet trends. Users can access it on any internet connected PC or Notebook so that users can reference their own links, and that of thousands of others who have stored and tagged similar content. It is a free service and is protected by password access.
Design Principles Employed in this Document
- To make it easier and faster to locate sites, especially when working with students for greater autonomy and independence, I have chosen to record URLs in an MS Word Document, with the data arranged in a table format.
- The document can then be stored on school servers or classroom computers or saved to external hard or USB thumb drives for quick and easy access at school or at home. No need to remember a specific web address!
- The MS Word file format can also be converted to a PDF, or to Large Print, or it can be converted into MP3 format (using free TTS and text-to-audio software such as Balabolka ( or Wordtalk (see below). Reversioning into alternate formats, as well as to hard copy, caters to different learning/access needs.
- Each web site has a thumbnail representation to CRTL-Leftclick on (i.e. hyperlinked to the corresponding web home page or relevant start page of a site). This provides a visual cue for students who are very youngand also caters to non-readers, the print handicapped or those with dyslexia or other learning difficulties or people who are ‘visual learners’.
- To navigate to the site required, simply CTRL-Left click onto the graphic representation of the site in the left hand column.
- The sites are grouped according to KLA (Key Learning Areas) and a brief description and blurb is provided so that teachers, support staff, parents and students can quickly identify sites that might cater to their needs more quickly before randomly navigating to them. It saves efforts to try to type the correct URL, some of which are quite challenging.
- To assist students who require Text-to-Speech technology so that they can listen to the text being voiced as they read, download and install a free copy of Wordtalk V4.2 ( It will appear as an ‘add-in’ in MS Word 2007/2010 or as a new toolbar in MS Word 2003.
- Another handy free program is Orato ( It will voice any text that is copied to the clipboard (i.e. the user highlights or selects text in any application, website or CD and then pressesCtrl-C keys).
- Sections are separated with corresponding page numbers and the headings are coloured for easier referencing.
- Categories are all listed for easy location and navigation throughout the document. To navigate quickly to a page, press Ctrl-G and type in the desired page number and then press Enter or click on the Go To button.
- A NEW feature: Sites added from a previous version are now marked in a yellow highlight with NEW added to suitability.
Please email or contact me and share other sites that you have discovered or use in your classrooms with students so that this document can become an ongoing resource, to be updated every month or so and then republished and shared. This is Version 5.4 and I hope to expand it to many more pages in 2011. Please also report lost, missing or dead links to me at: . Please feel free to distribute/republish this document and post this document to other sites “as is”.
Note: Up-to-date copies of Weally Wonderful Websites, and other articles are available at: and at
These are resources are all available as downloads in MS Word format and on other sites in PDF format.
Research and Data Collection / 3
Dictionary and Thesaurus / 4
eBooks & Free Books Online - Updated / 5-7
Talking Books / 8-10
Literacy Activities & Games - Updated / 11-13
Spelling and Phonics / 14-15
Brainstorming & Mind Mapping / 16
Organisation & Planning - Updated / 17-18
Mathematics - Updated / 19-24
Science - Updated / 25-27
Cause and Effect and Switch Activities
(many activities also suitable for Touch Window and IWB) / 28-30
Music - Updated / 31-34
Problem Solving - Updated / 35
Teaching Resources for Educators - Updated / 36-42
Disability Related Resources - Updated / 43-44
Freeware & Open Source - Updated / 45-46
Web Browsers - Updated / 47-48
Geography and History - Updated / 49
Art & Design - Updated / 50-53
iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Resources - Updated / 54-56
Typing and Keyboarding - New / 57
Blogging and Online Communities - New / 58
Remember: Press CTRL-G and then the page number (e.g. 23) to move directly to that page.
To decrease and enlarge the document view, hold down the CTRL key and roll the mouse wheel forwards (to increase) and backwards (to decrease) the page magnification.
Some advice to parents and educators about using online resources:
- Websites content sometimes changes in design, appearance and location and even functionality over time.
- Some sites update daily (e.g. news services) whilst others may look slightly or completely different over time.
- The URL (or web address) or web links can sometimes change, be redirected or fail (as there may be some short or long term maintenance on the site).
- Some sites are closed, shut down or taken over by other companies or individuals and redirection notices posted.
- Add favourite or useful sites to the Bookmark’s or Favourites in logical sections/folders on a school or home computer
- Use online sites such as and to store web links (with annotations and tags) so that they can be located and referenced on any computer/location that has internet access
- If you discover sites that are appropriate and meet your needs, use a text highlight colour and ‘paint’ or highlight the section(s) in this document for easy referral for yourself, students or other colleagues.Blue highlights mean that they are newly added.
- Be aware that some sites download large amounts of data (especially video, music and rich multimedia content) so be sure not to over extend your internet usage allowance, particularly at home.
- Some programs require certain privileges to download and/or to install them. If in doubt, ask for IT support or advice.
- Some programs are very large in size so be sure to check available disk space or download usage/time so that the file can be safely and securely acquired.
In addition:
- Always have up-to-date firewall and virus protection software installed and active.
- Make sure security, content and privacy settings are active and set to appropriate levels.
Research & Data Collection / Description and Suitability
/ A picture based interface encyclopedia for students in primary of for students who have different learning needs. Navigation is easy and the topics cater to younger students. An ideal resource to be used online in classrooms as content is relevant and safe.
Suitable for: Very young children and those with different abilities.
/ : Encyclopedia.com is an online library and research Web site. Encyclopedia.com puts millions of articles from some of the world’s most authoritative and highly respected publications at a student’s fingertips. It is a free online encyclopedia and features premier titles like The Columbia Encyclopedia, Oxford’s World Encyclopedia, and the Encyclopedia of World Biography.
Suitable for: Upper primary and secondary students.
/ : Britannica Online For Kids is an essential online homework helper for children aged 6-14 years. It covers core subjects - Mathematics, English and Science as well as History, Geography, the Arts and many more subject areas. Britannica Online For Kids provides access to curriculum relevant encyclopedia articles, learning activities,games and videos for Years 3 through 10 in Australia and New Zealand.
Suitable for: Lower and upper primary and junior secondary students
/ : The Children's Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originated by Arthur Mee and published by the Educational Book Company, a subsidiary of Amalgamated Press of London.
It was published from 1908 to 1964. Walter M. Jackson's company Grolier acquired the rights to publish it in the U.S. under the name ‘The Book of Knowledge’ (1910). Each search will also generate appropriate images, photographs, drawings, maps and other pertinent illustrations.
Suitable for: Lower and upper primary and junior secondary students
/ : The Fact Monster provides students with an Encyclopedia Search that has access to more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. It offers an inviting uncluttered interface and the information is appropriate for most students in primary and secondary schools.
Suitable for: Lower and upper primary and junior secondary students
/ : An interesting concept, with the rudimentary topics of an encyclopedia represented in cartoon descriptors. This will appeal to students who enjoy cartoons and require simplified content for research in an amendable format.
Suitable for: Lower and upper primary and junior secondary students
/ The New World Encyclopedia organizes human knowledge in a way that allows a reader to learn information, not just for its own sake, but for its value to the world as a whole. The underlying goal of the encyclopedia is to promote knowledge that leads to happiness, well-being and world peace. The New World Encyclopedia is an ever-expanding body of knowledge that currently contains thousands of carefully selected articles.
Suitable for: Lower and upper primary and junior secondary students
/ : Freepedia is a series of free encyclopaedias. They currently specialise in the historical research of writers and period properties but they also intend to branch out into other areas. Entries usually include a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The text within each entry is linked to other relevant pages in the encyclopaedia and on the web.
Suitable for: Secondary and tertiary students
Dictionary and Thesaurus / Description and Suitability
/ : This is a very clear and uncluttered web site. The word definitions appear quickly and in a large clear font. All dictionary words and definitions are sourced from Encarta® World English Dictionary and 2009 Microsoft Corporation. The site content was developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Suitable for: Lower and upper primary and junior secondary students.
/ : Provides meaning and definitions for millions of words. It also has a Flash Card game across word puzzles and links to other sites for thesaurus and word game activities. A free app for iPhones, iPads, Androids and other mobile devices is freely downloadable for portable access to this very flexible dictionary.
Suitable for: Upper primary, secondary and tertiary students.
/ : Babylon online dictionary provides meanings for words in numerous categories. More than 1400 dictionaries and 75 languages are available. Users can search myriads of terms, expressions and phrases and it covers a wide range of fields such as Law, Science, Medicine, Music, Business and many more.
Suitable for: Upper primary, secondary and tertiary students.
/ : An extremely comprehensive and powerful online resource. It is ‘busy’ and quite cluttered in design but itoffers a great deal of flexibility with many options. It provides some online activities such as a Spelling Bee, Hangman game and word of the day. Multiple language support caters to LOTE students and those who wish to work in languages other than English. Note: A free toolbar add-in is available for Mozilla Firefox browsers and has a great deal to offer more capable students.
Suitable for: Upper primary, secondary and tertiary students.
/ : Dicts.info is an extensive free Dictionary Project. It represents an extremely comprehensive resource site that lists every conceivable resource to do with meanings, derivations and contexts of words as well as free downloadable dictionaries, portable apps and other related resources.
Suitable for: Upper primary, secondary and tertiary students.
/ : Lingoes is an easy and intuitive dictionary and text translation software, It offers lookup dictionaries, full text translation, capture word on screen, translate selected text and pronunciation of words in over 80 languages. These languages are English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Arabic, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Thai and more...
Suitable: Upper Primary and Secondary through Tertiary and ESL students
/ : The Sage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus is a professional software package that integrates a complete dictionary and multifaceted thesaurus of the English language into a single and powerful language reference system. The Sage can look up words directly from almost any program (Internet Explorer, MS Word, Mozilla Firefox, MS Outlook) and is also 100% portable. Due to popular demand, The Sage's dictionary is online.
Note: Only the definition database is consulted.
Suitable for: More capable Upper Primary and all Secondary and Tertiary students
eBooks & Free Books Online / Description and Suitability
/ : Bartleby is an internet publisher of literature, reference and verse providing students, researchers and curious readers with unlimited access to books and information on the web at no cost.
Suitable for: Upper primary and junior secondary students.
/ : Gutenberg.org is one of the most useful web sites for locating and obtaining free eBooks that are out of copyright (i.e. published over 50 years). Texts can be acquired in a number of text, HTML and PDF formats as well as in popular eBook formats including ePub and Plucker. Students can download over 33,000 free eBooks to read on a PC, iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android or other mobile phone. They provide high quality books. Their free books were previously published by bona fide publishers and digitized with the help of thousands of volunteers.
Suitable for: Primary and Secondary and Tertiary students as well as all educators.
: / : ‘All Books Should Be Free’ is a source of free audio books. Books Should Be Free hosts hundreds of free audio books in a wide range of categories and offers titles for readers of all ages. The audio books can be downloaded from Books Should Be Free website and or via iTunes software. All of the audio books in the collection are either public domain or Creative Commons works. Books are illustrated with a cover page for easier identification. Suitable: Readers of all ages.
/ : The Online Books Page is a website that facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet and aims to encourage the development of online books, for the benefit and edification of all. Major parts of the site include:
An index of hundreds of thousands of online books freely readable on the Internet ; Pointers to significant directories and archives of online texts ; Special exhibits of particularly interesting classes of online books ; Information on how readers can help support their growth
Suitable: Readers of all ages
/ A listing of sites that provide access to eBooks in the public domain that may be freely accessed, as well as some other books under specified conditions. This website lists links to free digital libraries in Australia and New Zealand as well as free eBook websites.
Suitable: For readers of all ages
/ :Bookshare offers accessible books to people all over the world with qualifying print disabilities. Thousands of accessible books are available for download to International Members, based on copyright permissions granted by publishers and authors. Currently Bookshare has over 90,000 books available to their members in over 30 countries.
Suitable: For readers of all ages
/ Gizmo’s Free Listings: This is a listing of 260 sites that legally offer free books (eBooks) for download or for online viewing. The author discovered these sites, all or most of which should offer free eBooks as a reference. They should be authentic but some have not been thoroughly checked.
Suitable for: Readers of all ages
/ World Public Library is a subscriber service. The World Public Library Association Collection boasts more than 500,000 eBooks all published in the PDF format and are available in over 90 languages.