Do you sometimes feel you're fighting a losing battle due to lack of supplies, support or time? Perhaps these resources will make your life a little easier. (We're listing a few of our personal favorites, along with links to all the top-rated archives on the web.)

A Visiting Author can bring excitement and energy to school reading and writing programs. But many schools haven't been able to afford an author...until now. Real Kids, Real Adventures author Deborah Morris, featured in Something About the Author (Gale Publishing, 1997) and the International Authors and Writers Who's Who (IBC, England, 1999), offers schools "Virtual Author Visits" in addition to personal school presentations.

The Real Kids, Real Adventures Young Writers' Clubhouse is a great (FREE!) resource for young aspiring authors. Hosted by author Deborah Morris, the award-winning Clubhouse provides writing tips, true stories of young people who've had their work published, a FAQ and an "Ask the Author" option. It's practically next door, so check it out!

LD Online is a well-organized resource for those interested in the subject of learning disabilities. It is endorsed by leading organizations such as the National Education Association and Learning Disabilities Association of America.

Video Placement Worldwide offers teachers free high quality sponsored educational videos and other materials. Videos are arranged by grade-level appropriateness and by subject area to make browsing a snap. Teachers may order free videos directly on-line and there's no cost (not even shipping), no catch and no obligation except to complete a brief 1-page postage paid survey giving some demographic feedback on the videos use.

Human Anatomy Online is an interactive site featuring hundreds of graphics, educational information and animations relating to the anatomy.

Funbrain.com just added a free, non-commercial teaching resource, a "Quiz Lab" which allows teachers and parents to create quizzes for students online. When the students complete the quiz, the results are emailed to the teacher along with the most frequently missed questions.

The Physics Classroom is an online tutorial covering motion concepts such as kinematics, Newton's laws, vectors, projectiles, work and energy, and momentum. It offers instruction, questions to check understanding, and a wealth of informative graphics. There are more than 70 pages, more than 600 informative graphics, and more than 200 questions with accompanying answers and explanations.

Adventure Online is a site we couldn't resist. It's dedicated to bringing adventure and adventure learning to K-12 classrooms and Internet explorers. It features games, adventure news, expeditions and other adventure related projects.

GOALS: Global Online Adventure Learning is where explorers of all ages are invited to embark on exciting online adventures. Their GOAL is to intrigue you with "the adventures, the sciences, the technologies and the underlying laws of nature" that make them possible.

AskERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) is the place to go for lesson plans, publications, educational digests and more.

Awesome Library The Awesome Library organizes your exploration of the World Wide Web with 10,000 carefully reviewed resources.

Invite an Author: A great site that provides links and other information about children's book authors who visit schools.

My Homework Helper: A fantastic collection of help-sites for teachers and students alike, divided by subject/grade level.

CEARCH: Cisco Educational ARCHive provides information to help educators and schools connect to the wealth of educational resources available on the World Wide Web.

Freebies for Teachers: More free stuff from The Mining Company. "A list of free teacher resources that I hope can be used to stretch both the schools' budgets and the students' minds."

TeachNet provides everything from brainteasers, lesson plans and student activities to a classroom humor section. Very nice.

QUEST: NASA's K-12 Initiative: Their mission (should they decide to accept it) is to provide support and services for schools, teachers and students to fully utilize the Internet and its underlying information technologies as a basic learning tool. Lots of online resources, projects, curricula enhancements, grant information, etc.

NASA'S Aerospace Education Services Program has excellent resources designed to "increase awareness and understanding of scientific and technological developments". Great science, literature, math, language, astronomy and writing resources, as well as museums and exhibits, cross-curricular projects and more.

Classroom Connect is a monthly K-12 guide to using the Internet in the classroom. It includes the "Classroom Web" (a database of school Web sites); "Conference Web" (educational conference listings from around the world); "Products" (books, videos, software, seminars, etc.); and a "Jump Station" (links archive).

A Teacher's Guide to the U.S. Department of Education is a "road map" to all the programs, services, publications and other educational resources available from the DOE.

Web66's WWW Schools Registry is the Internet's most comprehensive list of K-12 school web pages. It includes listings across the globe. (For instance, you can learn that St. Margaret's School in Brunei Darussalam is online. And if, like us, you have no earthly idea where "Brunei Darussalam" is, Web66 very kindly connects you to "CityNet" so you can find out!)

Busy Teachers' WebSite K-12 is an award-winning site organized by subject area. Gives direct links to source materials useful to K-12 teachers.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a comprehensive, well organized subject guide to links to assist educators in the classroom.

The ClipArt Folder has hundreds of mostly TIFF-format graphics ready for download and use in desktop publishing programs. Great for classroom newsletters and bulletin boards.

Barry's Clip Art is a one stop source for all of your clip art needs with 4000+ images, virtual postcards and more!

The Gifted Resources Home Page contains links to all known online gifted resources, enrichment programs, talent searches, summer programs, gifted mailing lists, early acceptance programs and more.

Cells Alive! uses graphics, animation and video to introduce the subject of how our bodies fight infection.

History/Social Studies Site for K-12 Teachers

The Web Site for K-12 Teachers: The major purpose of this home page is to encourage the use of the World Wide Web as a tool for learning and teaching and to provide some help for K-12 classroom teachers in locating and using the resources of the Internet in the classroom.

PedagoNet: Learning Material & Resource Center. Similar to a newspaper's classified section, organized by subject matter, this new but growing site is designed to facilitate the exchange of educational resource material.

Little Explorers lets children browse the World Wide Web using a pictorial interface.

Teachers First provides access to lots of materials, and lesson plans, all organized by subject and grade level with short reviews written by teachers. Very easy to use and "teacher-friendly."

Questions? Suggestions about resources, links or other helpful information you'd like to see added to the Teacher's Lounge? Write to us at inbox@realkids.com