The findingDulcinea Blog

Sweet Sites | Don't Know Much About Music?

In the research section of our Web Guide to Music we’ve touted allmusic, an underrated encyclopedic resource of artist biographies and album reviews. If you’re reading a review of an album on Answers.com or in the iTunes Music Store, it often originates at allmusic.

Stream through your favorites in dozens of genres with Lala, a site that lets you both stream and download music. In a companion piece to this blog post on findingDulcinea, “Enjoying Music on the Web—Legally,” we discussed Lala and a few comparable sites. Lala stands out because of its extensive archive of 7 million songs, including classical, country, classic rock, pop, jazz and indie rock. Artist pages on Lala often include bios, as well as links to similar artists and Lala users who streamed or bought the artist.

Essentials of Music is a classical music destination with composer biographies, MP3 samples of their work and articles on major eras in classical music. The site is based on the W. W. Norton book title, “Essential Classics.”

Parents, get your children educated about classical music with Cincinnati Public Radio’s Classics for Kids, a site with radio shows, audio samples, articles on periods and composers, special features and games.

Mainstream and indie music fans alike will appreciate the new Billboard. The site used to be a hard-to-access database of music charts and news. Now it’s a glossy, colorful, multimedia-filled publisher with interactive music charts, news, interviews, concert coverage and more.

If you like Billboard, be sure to check out “5 Must-Book Music Sites,” a must-read for indie music fans that are just getting their feet wet online. It features five top sites in five categories—concert listings, MP3 blog, music magazine, lyric database and video site—as well as five runners-up.

Liz Colville
Senior Writer
Audience Development

Getting Acquainted With Blake Harrison of Flocabulary

Remember watching “Sesame Street” and learning the alphabet and some basic math skills? How about “Schoolhouse Rock” and learning the difference between an interjection and a conjunction, or how a bill becomes law? Did you forget how much fun learning could be?

Blake Harrison didn’t forget. Harrison, along with Alex Rappaport, founded Flocabulary, a teaching curriculum that uses educational hip-hop music to teach reading, vocabulary, math, science and social studies. The duo has taken their music on the road, held teaching workshops and created a current events series called The Week in Rap.

FindingEducation, a new tool that helps teachers save and share their favorite Web sites and assignments, spoke with Harrison about his inspiration for Flocabulary, how music enhances education and why teachers are seeing value in this unique approach. Read the full interview with Blake Harrison at findingEducation’s blog, Digital Teachers’ Lounge.

Introducing the On This Day Challenge

Today marks the official launch of findingDulcinea's brand new tool, findingEducation. It's an online resource that allows teachers and students to save and share their favorite Web sites, as well as post and share assignments with the findingEducation community. It's up and running now in alpha mode, and we'd love for you to sign up and take a look around.

In conjunction with findingEducation, we've launched the On This Day Challenge. We're asking students to write articles about historic events by conducting online research, with chances to win gift cards and cash and have their work published on findingDulcinea.

Click here to read everything teachers need to know about getting involved in the project. You'll find a section on motivating students to participate, advice for writing and researching an On This Day article, tips for evaluating Web sites, an FAQ and more. Learn about the mission behind findingEducation and the On This Day Challenge by reading our founder Mark Moran's message to the findingEducation community.

We'll be working toward building a community of teachers and students (and a collection of amazing Web resources) on findingEducation over the coming weeks and months, and would appreciate it if you'd spread the word. Sign up and tell your friends, whether they're teachers or parents, or just need a reminder of how much fun learning can be!

Sweet Sites | Swim the Web to Find Water Activities This Summer

It's hot outside; why not head to the water? We're continuing with last week's theme as we go in search of sites to help you find pools, beaches and water sports near you.

Swim.com will help you find a pool, public or private, in your area. The site contains entries from around the world and offers detailed information about each pool, including the pool's shape, whether it contains chlorine and if a lifeguard is on duty.

Keep your kids safe in the water by signing them up for swimming lessons. If you've never learned how to swim yourself, it's never too late to start. Swim.com also provides a database of swim instructors, listing name, years of experience, reviews (if any), rate and distance from you.

If you long for sand between your toes and the splashing of waves, Dr. Beach has just the right prescription for you. Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman provides a beach overview by U.S. region, and also issues a yearly list of the nation's best beaches.

Have fun (mostly) above the water with GORP's Paddling page, which offers resources to plan your next canoeing, kayaking or rafting trip, including information about where to go, what you'll need and how to improve your paddling technique.

Amy Goldschlager
Editor

Find your own "eureka!" sites using SweetSearch.

Consult our Travel Guides for sites to help you with more location-specific fun this summer.

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Sweet Sites | Use the Web to Find Summertime Fun, Wherever You Are

The temperature's warming up and you've got some free time, but you have absolutely no idea what to do with this glorious opportunity. Here are some sites that can help you with this high-quality problem.

Festivals.com allows you to search for U.S. events by region and type, including fairs, sporting events, crafts expos and motor shows. The site is particularly strong on music events; find out who's playing where in a variety of genres from alternative to zydeco.

Whatsonwhen offers information about intriguing events happening across the globe. Search by keyword or browse by destination or event type to learn more about a wide range of activities that includes both the North American Sand Soccer Championships in Virginia and the Baby-Jumping Colacho Festival in Castrillo de Murcia, Spain.

If your summer simply must involve a screaming tour of a roller coaster or a spin on the Ferris wheel, consult Theme Park Insider for help planning your next trip to the amusement park. The site offers reviews, park safety news and advice, tips to shorten your wait on ride lines, hotel information and more. 

Amy Goldschlager
Editor

Find your own "eureka!" sites using SweetSearch.

Consult our Travel Guides if you're looking for sites to help you with more location-specific trip-planning.

Get "Sweet Sites" in your inbox once a week.

Kicking Off the Summer on a Positive Note

Memorial Day may have started as a tribute to war veterans following the Civil War, but in modern times, it also marks the beginning of summer and is often celebrated with cookouts, parades and general warm-weather revelry. Although Weather.com says it’s expected to be rainy “for much of the nation” this weekend, that won’t stop millions of us from taking day or weekend trips to visit family, or explore new or familiar getaway spots.

This summer, we're in a recession, but that needn’t make us any more glum. Recent polls encouragingly suggest that money isn’t strongly tied to happiness. One poll by the Associated Press and mtvU shows that a higher percentage of college students are happier this year than they were last year. Many people are stressed about the economy and job market, including college students, but there is also evidence that those with higher incomes aren’t necessarily happier than those who aren’t. Education level more strongly correlates with happiness, says a study by Britain’s National Literacy Trust, so take some time this summer to feed your mind.

The recession “may actually be good for people,” as our positive news columnist Anne Szustek wrote earlier this week. Follow the lead of New Yorkers, who are reportedly volunteering more, shirking their “self-insulating” stigma. For families, summer is an especially active time, and it shouldn’t be any different this year. Sticking together and sharing experiences is even more important now. Find affordable alternatives for your family to enjoy this summer.

Liz Colville
Senior Writer
Audience Development

Sweet Sites | Play the Game: Reconnecting with Childhood Games on the Web

Nostalgic for the games you played when you were a kid? Here are three sites that can help you recapture those old memories and potentially share your childhood fun with your own children.

If the happiest moments of your youth involved tossing away all your quarters at the arcade, you might enjoy KLOV (Killer List of Videogames), sponsored by the International Arcade Museum. Search or browse the alphabet for detailed information and images of classics like "Burger Time" and more recent favorites like "Dance Dance Revolution." If you have hundreds of dollars and the floor space to spare, the site also includes whatever eBay listings for the game are available. Those with thinner wallets but deep devotion might be interested in purchasing the game manuals.

If your pulse used to race to the clatter of dice, the fluttering of cards and the march of plastic game pieces, than BoardGameGeek, a database of more than 30,000 board games, is for you. Plug in the name of your favorite board game into the search box for a brief description, images, forums discussing game play and listings for the game on eBay and the site's own marketplace. If you've got information about a particular game that appears to be missing from the site, you can add what you know via an online form.

Maybe you preferred to spend most of your kid downtime outdoors; in that case, visit GamesKidsPlay. The site isn't particularly elegant, but it does have a nice long list of rules for playground games, as well as jump rope and clapping game rhymes. If you're desperate to remember exactly how to play Red Light/Green Light," "Steal the Bacon" or "Spud," this site is an answer to your prayers.

Amy Goldschlager
Editor

Find your own "eureka" sites using SweetSearch.

Consult our Video Games Web Guide for more sites that will connect you with video games new and old.

The Significance of Brand Identity

Photo: Wilfredo Lee/AP

One of the stories we recently published on encontrandoDulcinea dealt with the outrage with which fans received the new “tween” edition of the TV cartoon character, “Dora the Explorer."

Dora and her animal friends are extremely popular Nickelodeon characters that appeal to an audience made up mostly of preschoolers. Because of its quality educational content that aims to teach kids about language and other essential skills, parents love the show. Dora has an ample fan base among Spanish speakers as well; early on after the release of the original show in 2000, Nickelodeon launched its Spanish version.

But when toy maker Mattel, in association with Nickelodeon, announced the release of a new edition of the Dora doll, aimed for kids between five and eight years of age, parents were outraged. The new doll is meant to be an older version of the tomboyish Dora, and has long hair and “shapely” legs.

Not only did parents and fans disapprove of the “voluptuousness” of the doll’s new look, they also felt cheated because of the radical change in a brand they had given their loyalty to.

Though it might seem trivial, this story illustrates the importance of building, and maintaining, the identity of a brand, particularly one that has so successfully captured the hearts of their customers.

For more on brand identity, check out our series "What's Next?," which has covered such companies as Nike, Trader Joe's, Costco, Target, Patagonia and Digg.

Anita Gutierrez-Folch
Senior Writer

Inspiring Kids and Teens to Become Volunteers

A teenage volunteer helps a special needs child in the program  Friendship Circle. (Rich Schultz/AP)

There’s a good reason why colleges like applicants with community service under their belts. Volunteerism is an often life-changing experience that helps young people mature, work with people they might never normally meet, see new places and respond to a higher calling, as President Obama implored us all to do during a commencement address to Wesleyan University’s Class of 2008. Below are sites that can help kids, teenagers and young adults shape their adult selves through volunteering.

DoSomething.org is a nonprofit organization that harnesses the Web to bring young people a large, searchable database of volunteer opportunities and funding sources to get their ideas off the ground. The organization gives $500 grants to motivated teens and young adults, and awards $100,000 to the best volunteer project proposal of the year.

Idealist.org’s Kids & Teens section is “an essential resource for kids who want to start a project of their own, or connect with youth organizations already involved in human rights, the environment or the arts,” says Senior Writer Sarah Amandolare in the article “Volunteer Opportunities for Kids.” The article lists a few more sites like Idealist.org and DoSomething.org.

Our Alternative Spring Break Web Guide points out that local or remote volunteer opportunities can be an enlightening way for a student to spend a couple of weeks. Find inspiration and help planning your volunteer trip in this guide.

One such travel volunteerism site is Global Works, which integrates service work with cultural immersion to give teens an alternative to more typical summer activities. Language immersion trips are also available, as are custom-designed trips for groups of 14 or more.

Learn more in the Philanthropy and Nonprofits Web Guide.

Liz Colville
Senior Writer
Audience Development

Great Web Tools for Teachers

The day in the life of a teacher is, simply stated, hectic. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the demands of the teaching day, there’s hope. Use the following Web resources to get organized, plan class lessons, stay connected with other teachers and find what you’re looking for, without leaving the confines of your classroom.

CalendarFly is the ideal resource for coordinating your professional (and personal) life. Post school activities, homework assignments, test information and other agendas on a calendar, and share it with teachers, parents, coaches, administrators and your students to keep them updated with your countless classroom events.

Check out Classroom 2.0 to tap into new resources for educators. Collaborate with teachers from around the world, share ideas, pose questions and find new (and possibly very creative) classroom activities.

Discovery Education’s Lesson Plans Library is the answer to overcoming the dreadful feeling of not having an engaging lesson planned for your class. Luckily, it covers grades K-12 and is categorized by subject to make your life that much easier.

FindingEducation is our ultimate educator’s tool to help you find the best online resources, share them with your students, make assignments and write quizzes. Additionally, when you or your students need to research a topic, you can use findingDulcinea through findingEducation to locate the most comprehensive and intelligent material available on the Web.

Jen O’Neill
Writer and Education Outreach

For even more education resources, use our Web Guide to Education to find e-learning tools, additional lesson plan ideas, parent resources and more.