Find Info/Quick Links

Encyclopedias:

Britannica School
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en
http://www.dkfindout.com/uk

Encyclopeadia Britannica School is the online version of Encyclopeadia Britannica for students. It is a fantastic place to start your research on a wide range of topics. To access it outside of school you will need a password, ask Mrs Phillips or your teacher.

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand is guide to the country’s peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy, institutions and society.

DKFindOut is an easy to use free online encyclopedia from Dorling Kindersly, a leading illustrated reference publisher.

Kidzsearch Encyclopedia for Kids is based on the Simple English Wikipedia, which is similar to the regular Wikipedia, but written at a level much more appropriate for English language learners or kids. Articles are imported from Simple Wikipedia and screened and/or simplified when required to make it more appropriate or understandable for younger readers. Another important difference is that pages can't be changed by unauthorized staff, so there is no risk of inappropriate content ever appearing. NOTE: all information found on Kidzsearch needs to be verified and cross-checked if using this for your homework.

Homework Help:

www.anyquestions.co.nz
https://www.anyquestions.govt.nz/many_answers
http://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/browse_audience/browse-audience-kids/

AnyQuestions.co.nz is a free online reference service for NZ school students. Staffed by friendly librarians, it is open Monday to Friday 1–6pm. The aim of the service is not to give students the answer, but rather to teach them valuable information literacy skills so they can find the information for themselves.

ManyAnswers.co.nz is home to 100s of answers to the most popular questions asked on AnyQuestions.co.nz. It's free and easy to use, 24 hours of the day, and better yet if you can’t find the answer you are looking for you can submit a question.

Christchurch City Libraries Kids has great resources for learning, fun, and play. Check out their homework resources, as well as eResources (requires a library card number and password / PIN.)


Databases:

Not sure where to start? Try searching Epic Discovery

natlib.govt.nz/epicschools
https://ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/ITKE?u=per_k12
http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=ehan
https://ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/NGMK?u=per_k12
https://ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/MSIC?u=per_k12

Through EPIC you can access databases containing thousands of international and New Zealand magazines, newspapers, biographies, substantial reference works, and images. If using from home you will need the username and password - ask Mrs Phillips or your teacher.

Gale in Context Elementary (formerly Kids InfoBits), is an easy to use general information resource aimed at primary school students which covers a wide range of topics such as animals, arts, geography, technology and more. If using from home you will need the username and password - ask Mrs Phillips or your teacher.

Designed with students and educators in mind, Explora provides a safe, trustworthy environment for students to look up articles and facts for research papers, class projects or homework. Explora provides students with easy-to-use features and age-appropriate content from the world’s leading magazines and reference books by searching across two Epic databases (Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre and MasterFILE Complete) using an interface developed especially for school students. If using from home you will need the username and password - ask Mrs Phillips of your teacher.

National Geographic Kids brings together a complete archive of National Geographic magazine (from 2009 to the present) - every page of every issue - along with a cross-searchable collection of National Geographic books, maps, images, and videos. If using from home you will need the username and password - ask Mrs Phillips or your teacher.

Created specifically for middle school students, Gale in Context Middle School combines the best of Gale's reference content with age-appropriate videos, newspapers, magazines, and primary sources. Categories cover a range of topics including cultures, government, people, history, literature, science, social studies, and many more.


Dictionaries:

http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/
http://maoridictionary.co.nz/

Oxford English Dictionary Online is a searchable version of the Oxford English Dictionary. To access it outside of school you will need a password, see Mrs Phillips.

Te Aka Maori Dictionary As well as the words one would expect in a traditional dictionary, Te Aka has encyclopaedic entries including the names of plants and animals (especially native and endemic species), stars, planets and heavenly bodies, important Māori people, key ancestors of traditional narratives, tribal groups and ancestral canoes. Māori names for institutions, country names, place names and other proper names are also provided.

Biographies:

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies
https://ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/BIC?u=per_k12

Te Ara Biographies contains more than 3,000 life stories originally published in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.


Gale in Context Biography provides access to an extensive range of current and historical biographies of notable people. It is searchable by name, nationality, and occupation.


Country profiles:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
http://www.everyculture.com/

The BBC's country profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions. They also include audio and video clips from BBC archives. To access the profiles use the search box and enter the name of the country you are interested in. Select the result that says Profile, for example Samoa profile.

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Click on the Reference tab to find a range of maps and flags of the world.

Use the alphabetical listing in The World Culture Encyclopedia to find the country you are interested in. Covers a wide range of topics relevant to a country's culture including social customs, gender roles, religion, and celebrations.


History:

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/
History.com
http://www.kahurumanu.co.nz/
PapersPast

NZ History contains information organised in three broad categories: Culture and Society, Politics and government, and War and society.It includes links to guides, external websites, and a calendar of historical NZ events.

History.com topics are text articles which can also feature related video and audio clips, interactives, and photo galleries on a huge range of historical topics. Also includes section on this day in history.

Kā Huru Manu, The Ngāi Tahu Cultural Mapping Project, is dedicated to mapping the traditional Māori place names and associated stories within the Ngāi Tahu rohe (tribal area). Place names are tangible reminders of the Ngāi Tahu relationship with the landscape of Te Waipounamu. Over 5,000 place names have been mapped and fully referenced from whānau manuscripts, published books, 19th century maps, newspaper articles and a vast array of unpublished material.

PapersPast contains more than three million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1945 and includes 93 publications from all regions of New Zealand.


News:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/
http://www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz/

Stuff provides online access to local, national and international news, including the online version of The Press.

Created by a NZ based teacher, Kiwi Kids News covers local and international current event news especially for kids. Requires registration for full access.


Search engines (other than Google!):

http://www.sweetsearch.com/
http://search.carrot2.org/stable/search

Kiddle is a visual search engine for kids, offering safe kids web, image, and video search. Results are vetted by editors.

SweetSearch is a Search Engine for students. It searches only the 35,000 Web sites that its staff of research experts, librarians and teachers have evaluated and approved.

Carrot2 organizes your search results into topics. With an instant overview of what's available, you will quickly find what you're looking for.




Images:

http://search.creativecommons.org/
https://pixabay.com/
http://dp.la/info/gif-it-up/select-collections-available-for-re-use/

A fantastic resource to help you find images, video, and music that have Creative Commons licences which allows you to legally reuse them for your school work.

Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons CC0, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist - even for commercial purposes.

All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.

All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.

This is a small sampling of select DPLA, DigitalNZ, and Trove collections that are believed to be available for re-use. Please note that the rights status of individual items may vary within these collections, so always check the individual rights statement associated with an item before reusing it.